Newbie questions.

Press-Republican

Ok, so we just paid for the SmugMug account and I have the majority of my galleries set. Now it's time to release it to the world and start selling. Here's the issues I am faced with:

1. We're a newspaper, we sell full page reprints and photo reprints. Is there a way to set the cart up to accept white borders on photos? For full page reprints which are 10.625x21.5 there is no size that's close. We'll use the 16x24 but it always returns a request for cropping.

2. So far this year we sold over 480 products with another photo hosting site. The majority were 5x7 and 8x10 photos. We expect that with SmugMug that will increase since customers have a greater inventory of photo options and the prices are able to drop. I don't forsee an issue but we were always able to give people a 5-10 day turn-around from order to receipt of print. Anybody think I'll have to change my pitch? (We're east coast and I check photo orders each morning and throughout the day.)

3. I do wish that regular visitors were able to create the holiday cards for photos in our gallery. Seems a shame that only the owner can do that.

4. Any suggestions on layout? (Our template shell matches our main site layout so there is no room for adjustment there.) http://press-republican.smugmug.com We have had to make some special pages to fit our needs. The only thing I might do is place the gallery titles above or below the gallery photo.

Thanks, I look forward to ordering sample prints and items to kick off our new site once we're 100% ready.

gluwater

Press-Republican wrote:

Ok, so we just paid for the SmugMug account and I have the majority of my galleries set. Now it's time to release it to the world and start selling. Here's the issues I am faced with:

Hi Press-Republican
I'll answer your questions inline below.

1. We're a newspaper, we sell full page reprints and photo reprints. Is there a way to set the cart up to accept white borders on photos? For full page reprints which are 10.625x21.5 there is no size that's close. We'll use the 16x24 but it always returns a request for cropping.

We scale images to fit the print size. If you'd like to print a 10.625x21.5 on a 16x24 with white borders you'll need to add the white borders before uploading. So make your canvas size 16x24 and have your 10.625x21.5 centered on that with white borders.

2. So far this year we sold over 480 products with another photo hosting site. The majority were 5x7 and 8x10 photos. We expect that with SmugMug that will increase since customers have a greater inventory of photo options and the prices are able to drop. I don't forsee an issue but we were always able to give people a 5-10 day turn-around from order to receipt of print. Anybody think I'll have to change my pitch? (We're east coast and I check photo orders each morning and throughout the day.)

That shouldn't be a problem as long as they choose 3-5 day shipping or faster. Orders are turned around at the lab in 1-2 business days and the rest is up to the shipping options the customer chooses. We offer from 6-10 business day shipping to Next Business Day shipping. Here's a help page on our shipping options:http://www.smugmug.com/prints/shipping.mg.

3. I do wish that regular visitors were able to create the holiday cards for photos in our gallery. Seems a shame that only the owner can do that.

Sorry about this, we've heard the same thing from many users and by next winter that should be a reality but for now only account owners can create cards.

4. Any suggestions on layout? (Our template shell matches our main site layout so there is no room for adjustment there.) http://press-republican.smugmug.com We have had to make some special pages to fit our needs. The only thing I might do is place the gallery titles above or below the gallery photo.

This one is up to you, I'm sure others will chime in with suggestions. You can also ask for suggestions in the Customization Forum.

Thanks, I look forward to ordering sample prints and items to kick off our new site once we're 100% ready.

Hopefully that has answered all your questions. If not please post back here again.