Paypal here, but can we really sell outside the US?

rharrisrharris Registered Users Posts: 89 Big grins
edited May 26, 2011 in SmugMug Pro Sales Support
Very greatful that paypal is now a part of smugmug, thank you for your hard work! But my question is that, for international smugmug users, is selling via smugmug/paypal really an option? I mean, having prints sent from another continent is not entirely practical - postage is higher, things can get lost, customer service is much more difficult as you can't simply pick up the phone, and things take much, much longer to arrive.

Many people have a lab that they use in their own country, or have a calibrated system at home. For this purpose, would it not be straight forward to add a 'home print' (or similar) option, instead of simply bayphoto/ezprints? This way you can use the integrated system/set your profits/collect orders but simply get a list which you can refer to and then sort out the order directly.

Does that sound like something that could be put into development? Or would it breach some sort of contract you have with the 'selected' labs?

Many thanks for your support!

Comments

  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited May 23, 2011
    rharris wrote: »
    Very greatful that paypal is now a part of smugmug, thank you for your hard work!

    Right now, Paypal is only available as the method to pay our non-US pros. Just wanted to clear that up :D
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited May 23, 2011
    rharris wrote: »
    Very greatful that paypal is now a part of smugmug, thank you for your hard work! But my question is that, for international smugmug users, is selling via smugmug/paypal really an option? I mean, having prints sent from another continent is not entirely practical - postage is higher, things can get lost, customer service is much more difficult as you can't simply pick up the phone, and things take much, much longer to arrive.

    Many people have a lab that they use in their own country, or have a calibrated system at home. For this purpose, would it not be straight forward to add a 'home print' (or similar) option, instead of simply bayphoto/ezprints? This way you can use the integrated system/set your profits/collect orders but simply get a list which you can refer to and then sort out the order directly.

    Does that sound like something that could be put into development? Or would it breach some sort of contract you have with the 'selected' labs?

    Many thanks for your support!

    Stay tuned, we have some exciting things coming thumb.gif
  • rharrisrharris Registered Users Posts: 89 Big grins
    edited May 23, 2011
    You tease ;-)! Many thanks Andy, can see myself staying with smugmug for a long time if they a solution to this was found!
  • TalkieTTalkieT Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
    edited May 24, 2011
    rharris wrote: »
    You tease ;-)! Many thanks Andy, can see myself staying with smugmug for a long time if they a solution to this was found!

    Bear in mind, this feature (support for non-US currency) has been requested for several years... It really seems as if something is starting to happen here - but nothing happens quick round here :-(

    As an immediate solution to your issue (possibly), it's possible today to integrate Paypal into your smugmug site to accept payments in your own currency through Paypal. The downside is you need to handle the provisioning of the order (be it prints or digital images) yourself.

    Check out the customisation forum and search for "Paypal".

    Cheers - N
    --
    http://www.nzsnaps.com (talkiet.smugmug.com)
  • borgborg Registered Users Posts: 13 Big grins
    edited May 24, 2011
    Thank you very much for Paypal payment... But there is another big thing... Is it possibility for our customers to pay with Paypal?
    I know that many of buyers don't want to leave their credit card numbers on Internet...
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited May 24, 2011
    borg wrote: »
    Thank you very much for Paypal payment... But there is another big thing... Is it possibility for our customers to pay with Paypal?
    I know that many of buyers don't want to leave their credit card numbers on Internet...

    It's something we'd love to add. Stay tuned.
  • Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited May 24, 2011
    borg wrote: »
    Thank you very much for Paypal payment... But there is another big thing... Is it possibility for our customers to pay with Paypal?
    I know that many of buyers don't want to leave their credit card numbers on Internet...

    U should be able tpo intergrate PayPal into your site....but you also have to self fulfil the orders.....I just send the client an email invoice get payment send image file to my local Processor (whom I have been using for over 20+ yrs)...pick up print, package and mail it after second invoice for shipping and packaging......I ship 99% of all prints flat and that costs a bit more than rolled in a tube.......

    Good Luck.
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

  • rharrisrharris Registered Users Posts: 89 Big grins
    edited May 25, 2011
    FWIW adding seperate paypal buttons for ordering prints just isn't clean enough for me, no matter how you do it. It involves many different steps for both the buyer and seller - rather than simply "this is what I want, I'll click buy, I'll pay".

    Seems I have partly misunderstood this update though... payment to the smugmug owner through paypal... So the currency in the smugmug checkout system is still USD, so no real advantage over the old system for me yet... people still won't buy.

    @TalkieT: Yes, I'm one of the people who has be 'asking' about these sorts of issues for years too... I just hope they follow through and progress, as I know few semi pros in the UK use smugmug because of this reason.. I mean I'll struggle to find any that I know, because the print buying system just won't work. There are third party options out there, but then that's extra annual expenses, and taking you away from the main site.

    @Andy: Is different currencies in the smugmug checkout system something we should "Stay tuned for"? Just wink if you're not allowed to say ;-)
  • borgborg Registered Users Posts: 13 Big grins
    edited May 25, 2011
    After several months here, I haven't a single sale... Probably because I shot stock photography, not events, editorials or weddings...
    So, buyers probably will chose some big stock agency than want to leave their credit card data on my website, even if I have here less prices here than om stock agencies for same image....
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited May 25, 2011
    rharris wrote: »
    @Andy: Is different currencies in the smugmug checkout system something we should "Stay tuned for"? Just wink if you're not allowed to say ;-)

    Yes mwink.gif
  • rharrisrharris Registered Users Posts: 89 Big grins
    edited May 26, 2011
  • borgborg Registered Users Posts: 13 Big grins
    edited May 26, 2011
    Smug is excellent site... But we need some features to bring here a big part of customers from stock sites...
  • TalkieTTalkieT Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
    edited May 26, 2011
    Andy wrote: »
    Yes mwink.gif

    Spectacular... HOw about this one?

    Will the multiple currencies be just those that you are now able to pay the pros in, or all currencies supported by Paypal (for example?)

    Cheers - N
    --
    http://www.nzsnaps.com (talkiet.smugmug.com)
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited May 26, 2011
    TalkieT wrote: »
    Spectacular... HOw about this one?

    Will the multiple currencies be just those that you are now able to pay the pros in, or all currencies supported by Paypal (for example?)

    Cheers - N

    Neil, we'll have more to say on this in the future I'm sure. Sorry I don't have more for you right now.
  • TalkieTTalkieT Registered Users Posts: 491 Major grins
    edited May 26, 2011
    Andy wrote: »
    Neil, we'll have more to say on this in the future I'm sure. Sorry I don't have more for you right now.

    Fair enough... I was initially upset that the pro payment only included a small number of overseas currencies but realised that a USD balance in my Paypal isn't a bad thing to have.

    If the customer payments however are constrained to the same small subset of international currencies, then I feel you will have totally missed the point. Sounds like you're involved with Paypal now though, and I think from my understanding that you'd have to actively work hard to exclude currencies.

    Cheers - N
    --
    http://www.nzsnaps.com (talkiet.smugmug.com)
  • SamirDSamirD Registered Users Posts: 3,474 Major grins
    edited May 26, 2011
    borg wrote: »
    After several months here, I haven't a single sale... Probably because I shot stock photography, not events, editorials or weddings...
    So, buyers probably will chose some big stock agency than want to leave their credit card data on my website, even if I have here less prices here than om stock agencies for same image....
    borg wrote: »
    Smug is excellent site... But we need some features to bring here a big part of customers from stock sites...
    The battle in the stock photo usage arena is changing every day. With facebook and twitpic allowing very loose control of images, there have been many cases of creatives simply using these 'free' images versus a properly licensed stock image. I mean, how would an individual really know unless they ran across it? And then if you've already given away your rights, what can you really do? The stock agencies will have some real competition from this. I can see agencies poping up overnight that scrape all this data and categorize it quickly and sell it next to nothing.

    Selling photos is becoming a really tough business. You need to have the right shot, the right place, the right cost. And if you don't, there's always someone else with a DSLR that was there...
    Pictures and Videos of the Huntsville Car Scene: www.huntsvillecarscene.com
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