No Cropping Please!

nrshapiro · September 26, 2008

Please tell me there's a way to do this and I'll be forever a Smugmug customer.

The new cart is nice but I never want to sell a customer a size that needs cropping. Yet that's pretty hard for me to manage since I do sell a variety of sizes and aspect ratios. I don't want to have to set prices for each photo separately, it would be enormously time consuming.

Customers find the number of products, if you allow for "all possibilities" overwhelming, and most don't really understand the downside of "needs cropping in checkout".

For example, I'm loading a gallery now, where I'm trying to crop most to 8x10, but many will still have to be 3:2 ratio just because of the way I composed in camera, and some (group shots) need to be 2:1. I don't want the customer to have to figure out what the right print size is!

So I was delighted to see "Hide photos that need cropping" in the new cart. But customers may not even see that. I really really really need the ability to set my galleries to default to that.

Is there a way? I hope I hope. Pretty please?

Andy · September 26, 2008

Customer satisfaction went up through the roof when we put the crop tool in the cart years ago. For you pros, no need to worry! Use our Proof Delay feature.
Proof Delay allows you to review the order before it's sent to print,
make corrections and changes to the cropping as well as auto versus true
color. Best of all, you have the opportunity to totally replace any
image that is ordered, with your choice of a replacement, still allowing
you to adjust the crop and color setting after replacing it. For more
info on this, please see the links below which would eliminate any
problems in the future:

http://www.smugmug.com/help/proof-retouch-replace
http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Proof+Delay

nrshapiro · September 27, 2008

Thanks Andy--I know about that and already have used it. But it doesn't really solve the problem I stated.

I don't know many Landscape or fine art photographers who want to give their customers the ability to crop. That's my main area, though now I'm doing people too -- and I'm finding dealing with aspect ratios and having a clean product gallery showing all the products is really cumbersome there too.

I have no objection to including the crop tool for pros or customers who want it. I just want a way to set the DEFAULT for a gallery so that my customers at least initially see only the products that match the aspect ratio I have uploaded.

If I upload something in 2x3 aspect ratio, it greatly simplifies the number of products the customer has to look through in the cart, and improves the quality of the result, if they on;y see 2x3, 4x6, 8x12, etc. More importantly, when I upload a group shot at 2:1 ratio, I don't want customers to have to figure out what matches through all the other ratios! There are only a few print products that are appropriate.

The feature to show only matching products is already there. It's just buried in a place most customers won't see. And there's no way I can set my galleries up to default that way. That's all I want.

The beauty of smugmug pro is in it's customizability--so it gives you convenience while letting you have it your way. Really, this is a killer deal for me. As much as I like the convenience of smugmug, this just makes it unattractive and undesirable.

Andy · September 28, 2008

nrshapiro wrote:

The feature to show only matching products is already there.

Could be tough but I'll surely ask! Thanks for giving us the suggstion.

agallia · October 21, 2008

Cropping, Shipping Questions

Andy wrote:

Customer satisfaction went up through the roof when we put the crop tool in the cart years ago. For you pros, no need to worry! Use our Proof Delay feature.
Proof Delay allows you to review the order before it's sent to print,
make corrections and changes to the cropping as well as auto versus true
color. Best of all, you have the opportunity to totally replace any
image that is ordered, with your choice of a replacement, still allowing
you to adjust the crop and color setting after replacing it. For more
info on this, please see the links below which would eliminate any
problems in the future:

http://www.smugmug.com/help/proof-retouch-replace
http://wiki.smugmug.net/display/SmugMug/Proof+Delay

Andy, I am getting ready to place an order for several large prints ASAP as logged-in Owner. I read the following statement in your Pro Proof links:
"On orders that don't make a profit (orders placed when you are logged in or in galleries with no image pricing in place) the order does not appear in sales details and cannot be modified. Therefore, we send these orders straight to process and print, even if proof-delay is set for the gallery." I have a few questions:

Stupid Question - I want the option to crop before printing, even though ordered as Owner. I assume the statement quoted doesn't preclude that option, does it?
Regardless of Proofing days set, will order be processed immediately on clicking SHIP IT?
IMPORTANT! I have a deadline to meet for receiving prints. What are shipping options and how quickly can I get delivery after SHIP IT?

Regards,

Andy · October 21, 2008

agallia wrote:

Andy, I am getting ready to place an order for several large prints ASAP as logged-in Owner. I read the following statement in your Pro Proof links:
"On orders that don't make a profit (orders placed when you are logged in or in galleries with no image pricing in place) the order does not appear in sales details and cannot be modified. Therefore, we send these orders straight to process and print, even if proof-delay is set for the gallery." I have a few questions:
Stupid Question - I want the option to crop before printing, even though ordered as Owner. I assume the statement quoted doesn't preclude that option, does it?

Regardless of Proofing days set, will order be processed immediately on clicking SHIP IT?

IMPORTANT! I have a deadline to meet for receiving prints. What are shipping options and how quickly can I get delivery after SHIP IT?

Regards,

Your order, logged in as owner, will go immediately, no proof delay and no cropping by you after the order is placed.

Shipping: http://www.smugmug.com/prints/shipping.mg

agallia · October 21, 2008

Andy wrote:

Your order, logged in as owner, will go immediately, no proof delay and no cropping by you after the order is placed.

Shipping: http://www.smugmug.com/prints/shipping.mg

Thanks, Andy. I know I have a good Crop Tool in galleries...which is what I will use. Make a duplicate and crop, right?

Andy · October 21, 2008

agallia wrote:

Thanks, Andy. I know I have a good Crop Tool in galleries...which is what I will use. Make a duplicate and crop, right?

Sure that'll work

JohnBiggs · October 24, 2008

Andy wrote:

Sure that'll work

No, No, No, That doesn't make any sense. Yes it will work, but it's not needed.

After you place everything in the shopping cart, click check out. On the next screen you can adjust all your crops just like a customer can. All you can't do is change the crop once the order is completed.

agallia · October 24, 2008

JohnBiggs wrote:

No, No, No, That doesn't make any sense. Yes it will work, but it's not needed.

After you place everything in the shopping cart, click check out. On the next screen you can adjust all your crops just like a customer can. All you can't do is change the crop once the order is completed.

Hi, John
Thanks greatly for your reply. When I posted earlier, I had not yet tried to order Owner prints and must have been really, really tired

. After looking at the Smugmug Help/Cropping page, it is perfectly clear ...cropping at Shopping Cart is available for all orders. Good to know that pre-cropped duplicates are not needed.

l4pi · January 20, 2009

Can a customer see crops applied on a delayed order?
I know this is an old thread, but can't seem to find and answer to a question and this was the closest one in the search I could find......

Customer ordered 5 x7 and 8x 10's and did not crop them leaving white on the two sides. I know I can crop them as they were proof delayed, but is there a way for her to log back into her order and see the crops that I applied before they are printed. I would feel a lot better if she had a chance to see and approve the crop before I submit them

Thanks

Andy · January 21, 2009

l4pi wrote:

I know this is an old thread, but can't seem to find and answer to a question and this was the closest one in the search I could find......

Customer ordered 5 x7 and 8x 10's and did not crop them leaving white on the two sides. I know I can crop them as they were proof delayed, but is there a way for her to log back into her order and see the crops that I applied before they are printed. I would feel a lot better if she had a chance to see and approve the crop before I submit them

Thanks

No, she can't see your crops online, sorry

Make them. If she's not happy for any reason, Our Guarantee covers you!

http://www.smugmug.com/prints/our-guarantee.mg

l4pi · January 21, 2009

Thanks Andy.

I just wanted to save everyone that hassle if she is not happy. You know how those moms are when it comes to the cheerleading daughters....lol.

BTW, the guarantee has saved me on one occasion and it is a very nice perk to have, just did not want to abuse it.

Andy wrote:

No, she can't see your crops online, sorry

Make them. If she's not happy for any reason, Our Guarantee covers you!

http://www.smugmug.com/prints/our-guarantee.mg

No Cropping Please!

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