I have been using photoreflect to publish and display my event photos for the last 6 months or so. I seem to have problems everytime I try to publish or do anything with thes program. The customer service is good but we haven't solved the problem yet and I know I am losing customers that are coming to the site and not finding anything.
Is there another software/company that others would recommned?
PR is horrible... agreed. Free services? Well, you get what you pay for. Yeah, it's free on the front end, but you lose 18% on every sale and try to get anyone on the other end at PR and it's hope and pray. Now that onlinesales are dwindling even more, I don't expect them to get any better anytime soon.
If you want to go in a different direction, you're looking at full control of your merchant site and really, I have an affordable option for you...
I have heard nothing but good things about them. You have full control over your customers, images, and sales. It's definitely more complicated to learn, and you'll have to make time to learn the system, but it could be the answer to your problems. No money taken on the backend and the software is very affordable.
We were about to make the switch ourselves, but decided to invest our time and money in marketing to new leagues for T&I. Onlinesales are on the decline over here.
Instaproofs works well for me. Support has been top notch when it comes to changing orders, as well as off the wall stuff I've asked for. They do a lot of mods to help keep their offerings current.
You can sell anything you can think of. You keep your workflow, upload via FTP (uploading down res jpegs only to keep the speed up).
Photocart is the way to go, it is very easy to learn and modify to your business. Tim, is always available to answer questions along with the forum members. You can create any type of pricing and/or picture options along with downloads and CD's. It also sends out emails, ie confirmations, invoices, shipments etc. automatically.
If you go down the route of having your own website Gallery2 has (now) pretty good (and free) ecommerce plugins though you may still need to get the prints done and shipped yourself or using another plugin
if you are fairly tech savvy you could always look into doing a zencart through someone like godaddy. your investment would be minimal, however your costs would be greatly reduced.
I've used Photoreflect and found it to work well. The only thing I did not like was that it did not present the images in the best possible light. So, I moved on.
I now use Smugmug and am generally pleased, but wish they would add a couple of features that they have been working on for a long time, but not yet rolled out (coupons and packages).
I don't know about declining sales, either, because mine are way up for this year vs. same period last year.
Also, while many sports guys do sell online, you might have better luck in the Pro Forum since I would think that Pros would generally be doing this kind of thing day in and day out.
I'm actually amazed that someone thinks their customer service is good, or even adequite. It's been a while since I've needed the assistance of customer service, so maybe things are changing.
I've been a Photoreflect user for over 5 years and have never really had any issues with uploads or customer viewing, but I do have a completely different opinion about their customer service....... and I'd prefer not to be a potty mouth.
I'm going to agree with Paul. We went from Photo Reflect to Photocart and it's saved us a lot of money and frustration. Also don't forget Dave's Uploader..
I have to agree with Paul . I have been with photocart coming on 2 full years I think its been nothing but great, and just recently there was an upgrade which are no charge buy the way. But if your business flow is really huge you might just think about out sourcing all of your printing to relieve the printing burden on your self. Personally I like knowing that I have control from the shutter to the customer. When my print orders are over 8x10 I use a printing service, but I still crop adjust my images to my liking or a customers request, then fill over the internet. poster place I also even host on a friends server so my overhead is as low as possible. The only other thing I may do some day is purchase a printer to handle a 20" width to print to be able size 20 x 24 images. If you feel like it click on my www link to peruse my photocart. At the photocart site there is a forum for all of your questions or feel free to email me.
Andy
Luke,
I need to get on the phone with you and ask you how you are running your web site paging (is it all photocart driven?) looks good!
Can you do a search with Photocart? I shoot motocross and I have a search feature on my site that allows customers to look for their photos by their bike #. Saves valuable time and my sales have increased since I implemented this.
