Basic v Power v Pro

ejg1890

I am considering which route to go for a SmugMug account - basic, power or pro. Actually 90% probability it will either be a power or pro account. I'm just trying to determine if the extra $90/year is worth it for the pro account. I am an amateur photographer an have never sold not attempted to sell anything. There are many more options available for selling photos with the pro account.

The question I have for amateurs is do you sell enough (assuming 100-200 photos) to warrant the pro account and what that account includes over the power account?

Appreciate any feed back or experience from other amateur users.

Thanks

Jim G

Andy

Hi Jim, I'm sure folks will chime in. And I'll answer any specific questions you have Here's a list of features that Pro has over the other account levels:
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/photo-sharing-features/
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/professional-photo-hosting-sell-photos/

Dan7312

The image size limit is 24MB for all levels now... that chart has not caught up with that yet.

Andy wrote: »

H
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/photo-sharing-features/

tomnovy

Just remember that if you are based in Europe - forget selling your photos. Smugmug prints only in US:(

denisegoldberg

You should also be aware that you will still need to market your photos in order to get sales. Just selecting a pro account level doesn't do that for you.

--- Denise

ejg1890

Dan7312 wrote: »

The image size limit is 24MB for all levels now... that chart has not caught up with that yet.

Thanks. I did read this was a new feature in the latest "upgrade" after I had posted this message. One other area of concern is copyright and downloading. I have a small number of photos that have been downloaded and used off of Flickr even though the are small and 72ppi. I wanted to avoid that on SmugMug with the much larger file sizes.

Jim G

denisegoldberg

ejg1890 wrote: »

Thanks. I did read this was a new feature in the latest "upgrade" after I had posted this message. One other area of concern is copyright and downloading. I have a small number of photos that have been downloaded and used off of Flickr even though the are small and 72ppi. I wanted to avoid that on SmugMug with the much larger file sizes.

The only account level that supports copyright via smug is the pro level.

>>> correction after Andy's comment (below). What I meant to say is that the only level that supports applying a visual copyright on your photo via smug is the pro account. Yes, you always own your copyright. And I believe if you have a copyright in your file that it is maintained although it doesn't appear to be visible when looking at photo info.

Pro accounts can select Medium as the largest display size.
Power accounts can select XLarge as the largest display size.

You can't prevent web downloads with any account level; that's the nature of the web. If an image can be accessed in a browser it can be downloaded. See http://pro.blogs.smugmug.com/2008/07/04/right-click-protection-and-image-security/.

--- Denise

ejg1890

denisegoldberg wrote: »

You can't prevent web downloads with any account level; that's the nature of the web. If an image can be accessed in a browser it can be downloaded. See http://pro.blogs.smugmug.com/2008/07/04/right-click-protection-and-image-security/.

--- Denise

I understand. I was thinking of what is the maximum size that can be downloaded (via right click mouse) and presence of a watermark.

Jim G

Andy

tomnovy wrote: »

Just remember that if you are based in Europe - forget selling your photos. Smugmug prints only in US:(

Hi Tom, I know you want a Eur. lab. But this statement isn't entirely factual or accurate, we have tons of pros all over the world selling prints, from our labs. You can do it today. We hope to one day have local currency in the cart (working on the underpinnings of that now)!

Andy

denisegoldberg wrote: »

The only account level that supports copyright via smug is the pro level.

Not entirely accurate Your photos are always yours. YOU own the copyright to them. You can display copyright notice on your whole website with customizing as Power or Pro. And even Basic customers can always put a copyright notice in every caption and or gallery description if they wanted to.

The most security (blocking down to mediums, watermarks, and the right click protection) is at the pro level.

denisegoldberg

Andy wrote: »

Not entirely accurate Your photos are always yours. YOU own the copyright to them. You can display copyright notice on your whole website with customizing as Power or Pro. And even Basic customers can always put a copyright notice in every caption and or gallery description if they wanted to.

The most security (blocking down to mediums, watermarks, and the right click protection) is at the pro level.

Sorry, I corrected my post above so avoid confusing anyone. My intent was to discuss the ability for smug to place a visible copyright on the photo, but you're right, my answer as phrased was not correct.

--- Denise

Andy

denisegoldberg wrote: »

Sorry, I corrected my post above so avoid confusing anyone. My intent was to discuss the ability for smug to place a visible copyright on the photo, but you're right, my answer as phrased was not correct.

--- Denise

No worries!

Dan7312

By visual copyright do you mean wartermark? Or does the copyright that is in the metadata appear in the photo info?

denisegoldberg wrote: »

.

>>> correction after Andy's comment (below). What I meant to say is that the only level that supports applying a visual copyright on your photo via smug is the pro account. Yes, you always own your copyright. And I believe if you have a copyright in your file that it is maintained although it doesn't appear to be visible when looking at photo info.

ejg1890

One other question or clarification after reviewing the smugmug levels again. Is there tha ability to sell photos at the Power level? I had thought there was but the comparison does not indicate so. Now I realize the Pro Account permits the photograper to set their own price. I thought the Power Level permits sale of photos but at the standard price set by Smugmug.

Thanks

Jim G

denisegoldberg

ejg1890 wrote: »

One other question or clarification after reviewing the smugmug levels again. Is there tha ability to sell photos at the Power level? I had thought there was but the comparison does not indicate so. Now I realize the Pro Account permits the photograper to set their own price. I thought the Power Level permits sale of photos but at the standard price set by Smugmug.

The Power level permits sales at smug's prices. You do not get any notification of the sales though; you must be at pro level to set prices and get sales notifications / credit.

At any level you can set your galleries to not allow sales.

--- Denise

ejg1890

denisegoldberg wrote: »

The Power level permits sales at smug's prices. You do not get any notification of the sales though; you must be at pro level to set prices and get sales notifications / credit.

At any level you can set your galleries to not allow sales.

--- Denise

Yu do receive the profit for your sales at the power level correct?

Thanks

denisegoldberg

ejg1890 wrote: »

You do receive the profit for your sales at the power level correct?

There is no profit at the power level.

You only receive profit at the pro level, and that's assuming that you have set the prices for your photos above the smug price.

--- Denise

t_hedlund

denisegoldberg wrote: »

The Power level permits sales at smug's prices. You do not get any notification of the sales though; you must be at pro level to set prices and get sales notifications / credit.

At any level you can set your galleries to not allow sales.

--- Denise

Wow , i didn't realize that you don't get any notication of sales. I thought none of my stuff was selling. Is there anyway to check to see how many photo's i have sold?

denisegoldberg

t_hedlund wrote: »

Wow , i didn't realize that you don't get any notication of sales. I thought none of my stuff was selling. Is there anyway to check to see how many photo's i have sold?

Only at a pro account level.

And even then you must have your prices set above the smug base price (although you do get notified if you have priced your galleries and you give someone a coupon to purchase at cost).

--- Denise

tiknak

Digging this old thread up.

One difference I have read about through lurking is that the maximum file size on Power is XLarge and Pro is Medium. What is the max file size for Basic?

Besides this and the features listed here what other differences are there between the accounts, if any?

denisegoldberg

tiknak wrote: »

One difference I have read about through lurking is that the maximum file size on Power is XLarge and Pro is Medium. What is the max file size for Basic?

From the security & privacy section of the help page at http://www.smugmug.com/help/picture-storage:

If you'd rather your visitors didn't have access to view your high-resolution original images, select a smaller size as your Largest size. Power and Basic Smuggers can block original, X3L, and X2L by choosing to display XLarge as their largest size. Pros can block even the large size by choosing to display medium as their largest size.

--- Denise