To Smugmug or not to Smugmug [Archive] - AusPhotography:: Australia's Premier Photography Forum::

MKemp

30-04-2010, 7:52am

Morning,

Im looking for an Australian version of something like Smugmug.

Any ideas?

Ive currently got a test Pro account and am really happy with it except the fact it is based in the states and you sell in US dollars. Otherwise Smugmug is really good in my opinion.

Any help would be welcome.

ricktas

30-04-2010, 8:11am

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I @ M

30-04-2010, 8:13am

About the only one that springs to mind other than the site advertisers Rick has posted about is redbubble (http://www.redbubble.com/), it gets fairly mixed reviews but it is Australian based, or was the last time I looked.

ricktas

30-04-2010, 8:34am

There is also http://www.photoartgallery.com/

Omytion

01-05-2010, 12:38pm

I'd vote against Rebubble because it's so awkward, IMO it's horrible. I use smugmug and Redbubble and I really don't enjoy updating my Redbubble.

ricktas

01-05-2010, 12:46pm

I'd vote against Rebubble because it's so awkward, IMO it's horrible. I use smugmug and Redbubble and I really don't enjoy updating my Redbubble.

I have to agree about redbubble. Closed my account ages ago. It started off as a great concept, where high quality work could be placed for sale, but then they added the communities, groups etc. They also originally planned to take the redbubble name out to home shows etc, and promote it to the general public as a way to get some great art for their walls. They did that really early on, and then no more.

They seem to have gone from being a great art sales website, with a wonderful business plan to being just another photography and art forum, which has sales of artwork as an extra. Much like AP (except we don't sell work). I think the initial business concept was much better for RB, than what it has ultimately become.

Xenedis

01-05-2010, 1:11pm

I have to agree about redbubble. Closed my account ages ago. It started off as a great concept, where high quality work could be placed for sale, but then they added the communities, groups etc. They also originally planned to take the redbubble name out to home shows etc, and promote it to the general public as a way to get some great art for their walls. They did that really early on, and then no more.

I only joined RedBubble in 2008. I tend to be rather monogomous, in that I don't like to have multiple photographic gallery presences. I have a home base for my images.

I use RedBubble only to publish the images I consider saleable. While I had hoped to get involved in the community, etc., at first, as time has gone on I've decided to use it only as a sales channel. I maintain membership in a number of groups, but I don't get involved in the discussions or use BubbleMail.

For discussions, it's hard to beat AP. :-)

Wayne

01-05-2010, 1:36pm

I think Smugmug is the best by far, except the USD pricing and prints coming from the USA, altough, you can sell digital image downloads and clients can get the prints themselves.

I have tried several Aus based one's including the one's noted here and they do not have the same functionality and their databases seem much slower at the back end increasing load times considerably for the end user.

Allann

01-05-2010, 1:53pm

i love my smugmug account, been using pro now for a couple of years with quite a few sales. i use redbubble as a way to let people buy direct from austalian site on request. It is a pain to update and the interface is horrible but is a means to an end. You can use my personal coupon ( N7xfE9UERRKGU ) in the Coupon field of the signup form if you need a small discount.

Xenedis

01-05-2010, 2:09pm

I've never tried SmugMug, but it does appear to have some good features that other hosting sites don't.

For me, Flickr is home -- it's the first site I joined, and I have a lot of my work there, and have built up a community of friends and contacts; so I'm not looking to move.

MKemp

03-05-2010, 11:03pm

Thanks guys Ill take a look and see what I like

Wayne

03-05-2010, 11:32pm

If you want a 50% off coupon code for Smugmug let me know.

andrask

04-05-2010, 5:31pm

Although I started earlier on in AP. my main photo community is now Flickr where I've developed a network around my favourite genres of geometry and abstractions.

I've recently been looking at the more sales-oriented sites. It seems Zenfolio (http://www.zenfolio.com/) has as many if not more advocates than Smugmug. Both seem offer 14 day free trials BTW.

Philr

04-05-2010, 5:40pm

Smugmug gets my vote too! I find it very simple and easy to use.

beaco

25-05-2010, 12:05am

redbubble seems to be one of the biggest

peterb666

25-05-2010, 12:19am

I was looking at Redbubble earlier this evening and somehow came across an image of Camel Rock which I have recently photographed myself. The image was quite ordinary.

I did a serach for all Camel Rock images and I must say that I thought that the general standard of photos posted on that site is not what you would expect if these are photos for sale. If people can get money for those photos, I could make a fortune. Somehow, I think not.

Xenedis

25-05-2010, 6:07pm

I was looking at Redbubble ...I did a serach for all Camel Rock images and I must say that I thought that the general standard of photos posted on that site is not what you would expect if these are photos for sale. If people can get money for those photos, I could make a fortune. Somehow, I think not.

Ah, but the fact that RedBubble allows people to sell images doesn't mean they choose to (it's completely optional), or that they have material anyone would want to buy.

I have a smallish presence there, and only post my better work which would be likely to sell. For that reason, I don't post any portraits there, even though many of my best images are portraits.

peterb666

25-05-2010, 9:53pm

I have a smallish presence there, and only post my better work which would be likely to sell.

I know your images are very appealing and should sell well, but is Redruble worth the effort?

Redrubble seems to be trying harder to orientate itself to communities and stuff like that, do many really go there to buy images? I gather what was a purpose built site may be having an identity issue.

Xenedis

25-05-2010, 11:04pm

I know your images are very appealing and should sell well, but is Redruble worth the effort?

I have sold a few things, but not for a while.

I don't do marketing, and in this day and age, getting people to actually pay for images is rather difficult indeed.

The advice I've read is that you've got to market yourself -- not on RedBubble itself, but elsewhere. I provide a "buy at RedBubble" link from my image pages if those images are on RB, but otherwise that's it.

Redrubble seems to be trying harder to orientate itself to communities and stuff like that, do many really go there to buy images? I gather what was a purpose built site may be having an identity issue.

I'm not sure. I went there purely to sell images, and I keep a small presence there only as a sales channel; I have a few group memberships, but I eventually abandoned the idea of getting involved with the community.

Like most sites, it's becoming bigger and less personal.

MKemp

02-06-2010, 9:48am

coolie21

02-06-2010, 12:16pm

campo

02-06-2010, 12:31pm

Don't see a link to your site
In your first post you said you didn't want SmugMug because it is based in the US - the site you have gone for doesn't seem to be Australian either. $480 a year is way more than a SmugMug Pro account, what factors influenced your decision? Just curious

I'm keen to hear too as $40/month is way more then the unlimited everything that SmugMug provides for less!

I suspect it could be the flexibility for printing...definitely not a strong point for SmugMug

Keith

02-06-2010, 12:46pm

In the end I have gone with www.onlinepictureproof.com

So far so good. No hidden costs. No commission. $40 per month. 10GB room. Easy to load photos. Easy to view. Full setup and EXTREMELY easy to use.

Have a look at mine... took me an hour to set everything up how I wanted it. Just need to put on final touches as per usual. Only problem I have is gallery issues.

I was with onlinepictureproof for a year or so, and have just recently (this week) moved over to smugmug. They are about the same to use, but for $480 a year was just too much for me, now I am paying less than $200, or without the need for ordering less than $100!

kiwi

02-06-2010, 12:53pm

Let's get some perspective I pay 5.35 AUD a month for an Australian host provider

I have my own website created with a dowloadable template and took maybe 2 days to develop with zero knowledge of HTML or websites. Mine is a simple site, but I think it works OK. No fuss.

FREE website content manager
FREE wordpress blog
FREE Gallery2 picture hosting that supports direct upload from lightroom, FREE ecommerce, FREE paypal.
FREE gallery security with password protected galleries etc

So, yeah, one click upload, as many pics as I want within reason (remember I am only storing 100K files there). Im up to close to 50000 pics onsite right now you can buy.

What I dont get is direct fulfillment. No big deal, I just have a manual process of converting orders and uploading those orders onto my online lab who send pics back to me or can direct to client for $7.50 extra. Unless the volume becomes ridiculous this works.

Unless you are doing wither big volumes or big sales (sport equates to neither of those) than $40 a month is a waste of $$$

Wayne

02-06-2010, 1:06pm

Kiwi, can you sell digital images directly from your site?

kiwi

02-06-2010, 1:25pm

sure, why not. all i do is take the order and the payment then seperately email the file

Wayne

02-06-2010, 4:02pm

So customers can't take delivery without you sending it manually.

Have you had any difficulty emailing 10+Mb files suitable for large format printing?

kiwi

02-06-2010, 4:18pm

ahh, sorry, I thought you were talking aboyt my "facebook" file option.

For large files I arrange a 3rd party drop box or I load the full res file in a special gallery and give them access to download it from there depending on the situation.

MKemp

02-06-2010, 5:39pm

Do you sell you images at full res or just at 72dpi?

kiwi

02-06-2010, 5:59pm

It depends really on what the client wants, my facebook files are only 72dpi, my digital files are 240 usually. If I supply to media typically it's via FTP at 300 dpi resized to 2048 x 2048. I haven't needed to do anything else to date

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wayne

02-06-2010, 9:37pm

I too thought about the cheap hosting option, but having to manually "process" the order and either email (maybe too large for mail servers and mailboxes) or upload a Hi-res version to a gallery and password protect it, is what tipped me over the edge to use Smugmug. I thought you may have had an alternative that could deliver Hi-res to a client in real time....