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SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

skasol
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p.2 #1 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

thomashammer78 wrote:
I am on Smugmug but I just got an email that they are raising their prices to $300 a month for a business account thats $150 more a year than it was.... I AM OUT.

Is there any portfolio sites like smugmug that have access to print studios and fair prices?

as a struggling photographer 300 a year is too much for me to pay, It was hard enough to cough up the $150.

Thomas

I am with you as well, when I got the email, I was like I am OUT. that isn't a small price raise that was 100% increase.

Sep 04, 2012 at 03:05 PM

sskoutas
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p.2 #2 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

I've been with Smugmug for years. When I got the price increase notice, I read it. I watched Baldy's video. I looked at what they give you for the money, and how long it's been since there's been a price increase. I looked at how much storage costs with alternatives. I looked at my website and the tools that they give me to customize it and keep commerce going on it. I looked at the quality of my website's presentation, the exposure it gives me, the rave reviews I get from clients when they get their prints, and the huge files these guys host. I thought a while and remembered all of the times that I needed tech support badly and got it in minutes... from someone who cared. I thought about the continuous improvements these guys make.

I looked at the competition. Has anyone gone to see how much a similar package costs at Zenfolio? If I'm reading correctly, it's $250/yr. Plus Smugmug is offering grandfathering for it's longtime subscribers. Plus they are offering several tiers of service.... if you don't want to pay $300, look at the cheaper options. You can still have a pro gallery without commerce for a much lower price.

One thing I am sure of... these people did not make this decision lightly. I wish more businesses were run by people who displayed half as much integrity and pride in their service. Calling this a greed move is a clear indication that you've had very little actual interaction with them.

I'm staying a Smugmug customer.

Sep 04, 2012 at 05:08 PM

Ralph Thompson
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p.2 #3 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

I'll bet other vendors follow suit. Most all the pro vendors were at the same price... Once one goes, they'll all likely follow suit... but they'll wait to see who jumps ship from SM and then raise their prices once the dust settles...

Sep 04, 2012 at 07:06 PM

Brit-007
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p.2 #4 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

I decided to move to Smug earlier this year. I was with Printroom and they are ok except when paying promptly. My unfortunate thing is that I did not have time to go through setting up my site as it is a little confusing on the way it is done. I purchased a remplate and had that modified for my site. I am already invested so I have no choice but to stay.

I am just wandering if their extra costs are for those photographers that upload video. Perhaps there should have been an option for video at a higher price and those that do not need video, then maybe an increase was warrentied but perhaps only say $50.

Sep 04, 2012 at 07:45 PM

sskoutas
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p.2 #5 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

Brit-007, you make a good point, and they tend to listen. Why not drop that as feedback and see what they say?

Sep 04, 2012 at 08:51 PM

trenchmonkey
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p.2 #6 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

sskoutas wrote:
I've been with Smugmug for years. When I got the price increase notice, I read it. I watched Baldy's video. I looked at what they give you for the money, and how long it's been since there's been a price increase. I looked at how much storage costs with alternatives. I looked at my website and the tools that they give me to customize it and keep commerce going on it. I looked at the quality of my website's presentation, the exposure it gives me, the rave reviews I get from clients when they get their prints, and the huge files these guys host. I thought a while and remembered all of the times that I needed tech support badly and got it in minutes... from someone who cared. I thought about the continuous improvements these guys make.

I looked at the competition. Has anyone gone to see how much a similar package costs at Zenfolio? If I'm reading correctly, it's $250/yr. Plus Smugmug is offering grandfathering for it's longtime subscribers. Plus they are offering several tiers of service.... if you don't want to pay $300, look at the cheaper options. You can still have a pro gallery without commerce for a much lower price.

One thing I am sure of... these people did not make this decision lightly. I wish more businesses were run by people who displayed half as much integrity and pride in their service. Calling this a greed move is a clear indication that you've had very little actual interaction with them.

I'm staying a Smugmug customer.

+1 count me in too, Steve

It's the cost of doing business right. I finally raised MY prices this Spring,
for prints/downloads by about 40%...having left them untouched for ~3 yrs. Sales are up...go figure.

Sep 04, 2012 at 09:00 PM

RKnecht
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p.2 #7 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

sskoutas wrote:
I've been with Smugmug for years. When I got the price increase notice, I read it. I watched Baldy's video. I looked at what they give you for the money, and how long it's been since there's been a price increase. I looked at how much storage costs with alternatives. I looked at my website and the tools that they give me to customize it and keep commerce going on it. I looked at the quality of my website's presentation, the exposure it gives me, the rave reviews I get from clients when they get their prints, and the huge files these guys host. I thought a while and remembered all of the times that I needed tech support badly and got it in minutes... from someone who cared. I thought about the continuous improvements these guys make.

I looked at the competition. Has anyone gone to see how much a similar package costs at Zenfolio? If I'm reading correctly, it's $250/yr. Plus Smugmug is offering grandfathering for it's longtime subscribers. Plus they are offering several tiers of service.... if you don't want to pay $300, look at the cheaper options. You can still have a pro gallery without commerce for a much lower price.

One thing I am sure of... these people did not make this decision lightly. I wish more businesses were run by people who displayed half as much integrity and pride in their service. Calling this a greed move is a clear indication that you've had very little actual interaction with them.

I'm staying a Smugmug customer.

With all the negativity towards Smugmug right now, I couldnt have expressed my thoughts any better.

It took me 3 years to get my business where it is right now. I strongly feel that Smugmug's customer support helped me get to where I am right now. Thanks Smugmug. I'll be staying as well.

Sep 05, 2012 at 01:48 AM

Grantland
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p.2 #8 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

thumbs up to Smugmug. you guys are the best!

Sep 05, 2012 at 09:17 PM

mulder32
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p.2 #9 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

I've already made the switch to Zen. Price being equal, overall I think Zen is better.

www.focalpointphotowi.com

Sep 07, 2012 at 02:58 AM

Jamesbjenkins
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p.2 #10 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

What other product or service do you know that hasn't raised their prices a penny in 7 years?

SM offers everything a photog could ask for, especially if you're a pro. Their customer service is wonderful beyond words. Every time I have to reach out to them it's positive.

Sep 07, 2012 at 09:25 PM

terrat
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p.2 #11 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

I does not sound like a matter of "customer loyalty" on the part of photographers is important. The question is will your customers stay loyal to you -- buy in the same quantity at the higher price after you pass your increased cost along?

Sep 11, 2012 at 07:56 AM

chez
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p.2 #12 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

terrat wrote:
I does not sound like a matter of "customer loyalty" on the part of photographers is important. The question is will your customers stay loyal to you -- buy in the same quantity at the higher price after you pass your increased cost along?

Really? 1st price increase in 7 years and you cannot handle this? So you will have to charge your clients an extra $1.00...who cares. Your prices to your customers haven't gone up a penny in the last 7 years?

Sep 11, 2012 at 11:59 AM

anthonysemone
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p.2 #13 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

trenchmonkey wrote:

+1 count me in too, Steve

It's the cost of doing business right. I finally raised MY prices this Spring,
for prints/downloads by about 40%...having left them untouched for ~3 yrs. Sales are up...go figure.

+2 to the Monkey.... when I did clinical practice many years ago, following an influx of new minted shrinks in my locale, my private practice began to show reduced revenue. I consulted with a dear colleague. He passed along wise advice, and it showed immediately in my bottom line: "My revenue went up, both because I was charging more and as well because I began to get new patients."

Full disclosure: I'm not in practice any more

and I don't have a subscription with SmugMug.

Sep 11, 2012 at 12:58 PM

pepperman
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p.2 #14 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

I have been with SmugMug for years and I thought that the increase for existing customers was an increase to $250. I have been looking also, however I am also considering the unlimited upload which allows me to use this in essence as an offsite back-up for all of my images. Just another thought.

Sep 11, 2012 at 04:30 PM

cineski
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p.2 #15 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

Heaven forbid anyone with a company actually make any profit.

Carson Wilcox wrote:
Greed

Sep 11, 2012 at 06:20 PM

sskoutas
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p.2 #16 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

I'll give you another thought. 7 years ago the predominant cameras in this forum were what? The 5D (12MP), 20D (8MP), 1D mark IIn (8MP) and their Nikon counterparts (no disrespect intended... I don't know their product line well). None of these were shooting video. Now you've got many cameras shooting 15-36MP. Let's not forget about video. Smugmug is letting members store unlimited images, and unlimited 1080p HD videos, up to 20 minutes long each.

And while I agree with pepperman that you can think of Smugmug as backup, you also have to remember that this isn't a one-way trip. Once your images and video are uploaded to Smugmug, they are also served to your viewers. I'm not even trying and I have had many thousands of unique viewers per month. I can't imagine what the company as a whole has for bandwidth and redundant storage requirements.

Then figure in the cost of prints, should you want to do it yourself. The printers, the space, the time, the ink, the shipping, the liability for an unhappy customer should prints not be right...

No thank you. The more I think of it, the greater a deal Smugmug is.

Sep 11, 2012 at 07:46 PM

chris78cpr
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p.2 #17 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

mulder32 wrote:
I've already made the switch to Zen. Price being equal, overall I think Zen is better.

www.focalpointphotowi.com

No offense is intended here, but the way the galleries are presented make me more inclined to stay away from Zen. The equivalent smugmug galleries seem to be a lot slicker and better presented.

Not trying to offend, just offering my opinion.

Sep 12, 2012 at 12:36 PM

chip_master
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p.2 #18 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

In 7 years compute, storage, and bandwidth pricing has plummented the same things that enabled camers pixels and video to come into mainstream, memory to be come so cheap also is there on the backend that smugmug uses.

It seems a large part of the increase is the 40 extra people. What is funny is in my short enure I see nothign that them 40 people might have enabled, perhaps more longtime people can educate me.

I didi a quick comparesion and zenfolio works for me at nearly 1/2 the price, I'm gone...

sskoutas wrote:
I'll give you another thought. 7 years ago the predominant cameras in this forum were what? The 5D (12MP), 20D (8MP), 1D mark IIn (8MP) and their Nikon counterparts (no disrespect intended... I don't know their product line well). None of these were shooting video. Now you've got many cameras shooting 15-36MP. Let's not forget about video. Smugmug is letting members store unlimited images, and unlimited 1080p HD videos, up to 20 minutes long each.

And while I agree with pepperman that you can think of Smugmug as backup, you also have to remember that this isn't a one-way trip. Once your images and video are uploaded to Smugmug, they are also served to your viewers. I'm not even trying and I have had many thousands of unique viewers per month. I can't imagine what the company as a whole has for bandwidth and redundant storage requirements.

Then figure in the cost of prints, should you want to do it yourself. The printers, the space, the time, the ink, the shipping, the liability for an unhappy customer should prints not be right...

No thank you. The more I think of it, the greater a deal Smugmug is.

Sorry bad business practice to not raise prices if the true cost was going up than shock your customers and try and explain. Who has been watching the ship? The trend in video has been there every since the 5DMKII came out, the climb in pixels was obvious... Someone missed the larger trend IMHO.

Jamesbjenkins wrote:
What other product or service do you know that hasn't raised their prices a penny in 7 years?

SM offers everything a photog could ask for, especially if you're a pro. Their customer service is wonderful beyond words. Every time I have to reach out to them it's positive.

Sep 12, 2012 at 05:34 PM

sskoutas
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p.2 #19 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

chip_master wrote:
I didi a quick comparesion and zenfolio works for me at nearly 1/2 the price, I'm gone...

Where are you getting this pricing? I'm at their site right now, and I see tiers of $30, $60, $120, $250 (commerce level). Smugmug's new pricing is $40, $60, $150, $300, and while I don't have time to compare features, I assume the tiers are comparable. That's not taking into account the grandfathering for existing Smugmug members, which is $250 for existing top-tier members. What am I missing?

Sep 12, 2012 at 08:10 PM

miccullen
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p.2 #20 · SMUGMUG crazy rise in price... alternatives?

sskoutas wrote:
What am I missing?

Anything meaningful, given your entire post is based on your guess, because although you had time to type a response, you didn't have the time to bother to check any of the info the post is about.

Sep 12, 2012 at 09:49 PM

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