online sales Deposits.

Glort

After giving the online sales away as a bad joke for me, I have recently been asked to put some individual competitors shots online a few times.

The last one was a father who was seperated from the Mrs and Daughter and lived some distance away. He was at teh event with the kid and mother but had to leave and couldn't see her compete.
He asked me about the pics and was dissapointed when I said I ddn't put them online and he explained the situation. I gave him a card and said if he emailed me with a description of his daughter to refresh my memory, I'd put them up for him to see.

He not only emailed but rang me and seemed very genuine and greatful.
I put the pics up in a seperate gallery and linked the pricelist etc. Got a very nice email back thanking me and saying he'd do an order on the weekend (3 weeks ago) but so far no orders.
A couple of other people imploring me to put their kids pics up at recent events were similar.

I really don't want to put the pics online, so far i am yet to sell a single image this way but I also realise if I say no to these extenuating circumstance requests, I'm going to look like a mongeral.
I'm annoyed at wasting my time putting up shots which are probably looked and copied but never purchased.

What I'm thinking of doing is telling people I can put them up but there will be a $30 deposit to do so ( which is my minimum purchase value) which will come off whatever they order. That way I'll get something for my time in finding the images and putting them up wether they buy or not.

Just wondering if anyone else has done anything like this and discovered any hidden traps or problems with the idea?

Frankly I'm not in the least bit worried if it puts people off, that's half the idea, sort the genuine buyers from the tyre kickers. I also think if they are motivated to order one print they are going to be more motivated to order more while they are at it.

This will only be for special requests for individuals, i have no intention of uploading all the shots again.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Rocketman766

Having followed your online sales adventures, I think this is a good option. If $30 is your minimum purchase value, they would not be losing anything, unless they don't buy, which is the whole reason for the deposit.... keep you from wasting time. Sounds like a good idea to me. This will weed out the lookers and the serious buyers.

Would you leave them posted for only a specified period of time? As long as that would be long enough for them to view and make a decision about how many and what size prints to order, shouldn't be a problem. Also, I have to assume that you are already doing this, but I would only upload a low res pic, something that could not be easily printed from and also include a nice watermark across it. The low res option might only work if you can upload the high res image for printing after the order is placed... If you offer digital downloads and they are priced higher than your minimum print purchase/deposit price, they may see that as a way to get the digital images for less. Now that would likely be someone who has seen your site and puts a bit of thought into it, which is not likely going to happen, but just tossing it out there.

Lance.

Glort

Thanks for the feedback Lance.

I hadn't thought about the time I had them up but I guess a month should do it and I can easy tell them that so they can pull their fingers out.

I am only uploading low res files with my company name right across the middle of the pic so would look pretty ordinary to print. If they pay their money and want to download the low res copyrighted shots for faceache or whatever, I don't really care. If I could get $30 out of every competitor at an event i'd be doing great!

The digital download is something I hadn't got that far to thinking about but I might throw that in too. I hate sending prints. Packaging is a pain and extra cost and so is having to post them as i don't go up the town more than once a week usually. Then I always seem to get ones that are missing or damaged. Being able to just put the images in a folder for them to download would be a much better option.

So far i'm thinking this deposit thing is a great idea. We always get people whingeing when we say we don't put them online but the 10 or however many events i tried it with I didn't get a single sale. This way I can avoid the complaints by doing what they want but get a commitment from them to make it worth my while.

It will be an interesting exercise, my feeling is I won't get any takers but I'll be more than happy to be pleasantly surpised otherwise.

Snowgirl

Hi. Haven't been around much because I'm in Vancouver for ten days playing with my grand toddlers.

However, I think the deposit idea is a great one. You know my feelings about shooting on spec.

At the last show I had a few pre orders. Those folks pay me up front to shoot their rides (dressage) and that includes access to their online gallery for one month. That's sort of like your deposit. Works well. The other deal I have is that for every print they order they get a web ready image to share on Facebook or wherever. It is discretely watermarked as a form of advertising. The online gallery has a honkin biG watermark across the middle.

Let us know if it works for you.

Glort

Hi Snow,
Sounds like you having fun with your hands full. :0)
At least I guess its nice and warm where you are atm. Everyone is complaining of the cold here. Down to a "freezing" 5C over night with a top of 16C today.
Can't wait for the nice warm 30C days to come back!

I would love to get the pre paid Idea to work, even just pre booked coverages of the competitiors but haven't been able to figure that one out yet. I have put up signs and made A frames promotinig it but hads not been effective. It didn't work too bad earlier in the year when I shot a state level Dresage event. We made it known we were only shooting the Saturday when we covered everyone and then anything sunday was by request. We were asked to do about a dozen competitios out of 170 but they all bought so worth while for sure.

The idea with the free web pic is a great one.
With the shots already put in a folder it's real easy to run the gallery software again maybe in a bigger size and better quality with a more discreet watermark.
With a bonus like that, I may just achive an online sale yet!

Snowgirl

You never know what will work.

The downside to pre-booking is that you have to be on site all day to accommodate the riders schedules.

Being a long distance granny has its advantages. I'm just a large play toy! Loving it!