I am trying to figure out if I can place a time frame on my galleries? I want to give my clients a certain amount of time to view and order their images . . . is there a way to set that without going in and deleting each gallery when their time is up? I just don't have time for that.

Thanks

Hi GraceJoy,

There's not a way to add a time limit to your galleries, without managing them, by hand. Sorry.

Rather than deleting them, you might want to consider just adding a new password, so they're not accessible.

Wish I had a different answer for you. We do have some requests for that, and would love for your vote to be counted, too. Just go here: http://feedback.smugmug.com/forums/17723-smugmug
And type the words gallery expiration date to find that one. Votes and comments are welcome.

Lindy
SmugMug Support Hero

We had the same thought... How do we put a time constraints on ordering? Then it hit us, rather than trying to lockout the potential buyer, just increase the prices. Or more appropriately, offer a discount code that will last for the limited period (this you can definitely do). Then when the time has elapsed, the prices effectively increase, thus encouraging quick ordering. And if they still want to order later, they can, paying for the privilege as well.

We've only just started using the idea, but I will definitely come back and let you know how it goes. Our fingers are crossed...

Drew

In my experience, the biggest bane in selling photos is that people procrastinate to buy them. They have all the best intentions, but they just don't pull the trigger. A lot of people tell me they want to wait until the end of the (sport) season and order all at once to save on shipping. I used to wait eagerly for the end of the season for massive orders to roll in, but it only spiked marginally.

So this year, I started offering coupons. Post the gallery, offer a juicy coupon that is valid for one week. It worked really well at the beginning of this year's football season, but its effectiveness has tapered off. (Of course it doesn't help that there are a half-dozen soccer moms out there shooting and giving their pics away for free.)

I did have one gallery earlier this year that would get tons of views but very few sales. I posted a link that the gallery would expire in one week. This did produce a couple orders.

For now I'm sticking to the one-week coupons. Its the easiest way to offer an incentive to buy now instead of later, without me having to go through and change prices or accessibility. If anyone else would like to share a technique, I'm all ears.

Originally Posted by botpix We had the same thought... How do we put a time constraints on ordering? Then it hit us, rather than trying to lockout the potential buyer, just increase the prices. Or more appropriately, offer a discount code that will last for the limited period (this you can definitely do). Then when the time has elapsed, the prices effectively increase, thus encouraging quick ordering. And if they still want to order later, they can, paying for the privilege as well. We've only just started using the idea, but I will definitely come back and let you know how it goes. Our fingers are crossed... Drew

Originally Posted by woodsphoto In my experience, the biggest bane in selling photos is that people procrastinate to buy them. They have all the best intentions, but they just don't pull the trigger. A lot of people tell me they want to wait until the end of the (sport) season and order all at once to save on shipping. I used to wait eagerly for the end of the season for massive orders to roll in, but it only spiked marginally. So this year, I started offering coupons. Post the gallery, offer a juicy coupon that is valid for one week. It worked really well at the beginning of this year's football season, but its effectiveness has tapered off. (Of course it doesn't help that there are a half-dozen soccer moms out there shooting and giving their pics away for free.) I did have one gallery earlier this year that would get tons of views but very few sales. I posted a link that the gallery would expire in one week. This did produce a couple orders. For now I'm sticking to the one-week coupons. Its the easiest way to offer an incentive to buy now instead of later, without me having to go through and change prices or accessibility. If anyone else would like to share a technique, I'm all ears.

I think these are both great methods versus having a gallery closed to viewing. One of the things that I've had requests for is pictures from years ago of someone's old car. A photo that meant nothing to them at that time now means the world to them. And if you're using coupons to get the recent sales, scenerios like mine can be much more profitable. You could even increase prices by each year as you keep an archive.

what about if you change the URL? I think there is a customization for that correct? Lindy, if I have already given the link to the customer, and after their time period runs out, I go in an set a custom URL, would the 1st link I gave them still work?

Stephanie,

Renaming a gallery or assigning it to a different category / subcategory, won't break the link. That's what the galleryID_key after the gallery nicename is for - it makes sure that the link keeps on working.
To prevent access to a gallery, you could just set a password or change the password on the gallery.

thank you for your answer. That is probably be what I will do.

And what you can do is put something like 'Call xxx for password' in the password hint field and that will show up when people try to access the gallery if you want them to be able to on a restricted basis.