Is it worth upgrading from Power to Pro if you're not in the US?

Kalyr

Hi,

I'm currently have a $60 a year Power account. Given that I'm a hobbyist rather than a pro, and my photography is very UK-centric, would upgrading to a Pro account be worth the money for me?

Until SmugMug partners with a Europe-based lab for those of us on this side of the Atlantic, I can't see myself making anything on sales, so the only real benefit of a Pro account is the ability to watermark my images. Is that worth $90 a year for a hobbyist photographer?

BradfordBenn

I have upgraded to Pro for the main reason of watermarking. So for me, it was well worth it.

A more in depth reason can be found at http://www.bradfordbenn.com/2010/03/why_smugmug/ but the watermarking and custom domain was what sold me on Pro.

fredjclaus

Watermarking and sales are the two big things you get for your upgraded price. Naturally you don't want to use the American labs if you are in England. If you can benefit from the watermarking, I'd say yes. If not, I'd say stay at power.


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cabbey

fredjclaus wrote: »

Naturally you don't want to use the American labs if you are in England.

Don't be so sure about that. A friend in Ireland gets his prints from Bay, even with shipping factored in he gets them cheaper than printed at the local place down the street from him... and in about the same turn around time. Which leaves me wondering what's wrong with his local lab, but that's a different conversation.

rharris

A question I've been considering. I've been using Pro for 2-3 years now, but probably not worth it. If you've got software it's very quick to just churn out a batch of watermarked photos, doesn't really take any time. They're just watermarked, the file numbers will still correspond to the right files to print... obviously just don't sent watermarked prints out, but that's pretty basic!

The one thing to consider for me is the events package, where people have a folder and can select images they want for print. But I've been using this, and half the people (maybe more) still just quote the file numbers (renamed, so straight forward). So the benefit is even more diluted IMO. I think I'll likely be downgrading to "power" or lower when I renew, which is due in a week or two I think.

smugmug have promised development for non US folk regarding paypal and an ordering system, but have failed to deliver so far. If someone could chime in with a timeline on any such developments it might make me re-consider keeping a pro-account.

rharris

cabbey wrote: »

Don't be so sure about that. A friend in Ireland gets his prints from Bay, even with shipping factored in he gets them cheaper than printed at the local place down the street from him... and in about the same turn around time. Which leaves me wondering what's wrong with his local lab, but that's a different conversation.

An example, but a rare one. 98% of people I've spoken to (both people who use my site, and other uk smugmug users) are put off by US pricing, and definately the idea of ordering prints from another continent. There is no way I'd recommend this to any clients, being able to fix an error quickly and without hassle across continents just wouldn't work. My lab can send things out the same day and I can pick up the phone to discuss anything with them. Glad it works for you (or your friend), but it's not an entirely realistic solution for the vast majority.

FrankC

No - not really worth it.

I'm in a similar situation to you (being in Ireland) and have got tired waiting for SM to come up with the (very) long promised European options.

I'm now gradually moving most of my work to Zenfolio - who provide multi-currency, 2 European labs, self-fulfilment and a lot of other features I find very useful.

I will probably keep my SM account for another while, but not sure.