Cropping, Pricing, Disclaimer by SBG

SyBerGuy

Hello,

This is my first post of Digital Grin so a quick introduction. I am an Advanced Amateur photographer and use Nikon's D700 body, SB-900/600 speedlights, 24-120 f4 zoom lens.. and older Nikkor AI lens. Below are a few quick questions-

Cropping-
I do not want to crop (either myself or a buyer) on a few of my images. That is, mainly the ones in which I have already placed a nice colorful picture frame around the image. Prior to uploading files to SM I will be adding a ¼ inch white border around a few images.
Q:1- Will this be alright? Even though it is suggested not to put in frames or stroke lines around the image.
Q:2- What size images when ordering prints will fit on a printed page (with needing to crop)?
I believe the 4 x 6, 8 x 12 and what over sizes (up to around 16 x 20 size).


Pricing-
I had viewed a screen Catalog EZ prints and it had a Standard Size price listing. (I am assuming it had already been marked up 130% which I had done for my Portfolio and using Bay Photo base prices). Then I clicked away and when I went back I now see Catalog Bay Photo and EZ prints (no pricing).
Q:3- What is the story on all this? And now no price listing…? (which is alright with me).

Q:4- A "Ball Park" guess on how much I should mark up prints?
I first marked up 200% and then went to 130%..... Again I am not a Pro and have no overhead
expenses (office, retail location or a lot of equipment, etc)

Disclaimer_
I want to put on my first opening SM page a short Disclaimer.
Q:5- Any suggestions on wording? For example, ordering of product(s) and purchases are final (no refunds of money). However, we will attempt to resolve any issues you might have, if they arise.

Any help will be most appreciated,

SyBerGuy
Metro NYC
http://syberguy.smugmug.com/

SteveM

Cropping-
I do not want to crop (either myself or a buyer) on a few of my images. That is, mainly the ones in which I have already placed a nice colorful picture frame around the image. Prior to uploading files to SM I will be adding a ¼ inch white border around a few images.
Q:1- Will this be alright? Even though it is suggested not to put in frames or stroke lines around the image.
Q:2- What size images when ordering prints will fit on a printed page (with needing to crop)?
I believe the 4 x 6, 8 x 12 and what over sizes (up to around 16 x 20 size).

Q1: With a Pro account, we highly suggest you make use of Proof Delay, which will allow you to review customer orders before they go to print. During the Proof Delay period, you'll be able to adjust (or remove) cropping, however, we don't recommend adding borders or framing, due to bleed-trim at the lab, where typically around 1/8th inch will be trimmed away, potentially making borders uneven.

Here's info on both Proof Delay and Bleed-Trim:
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93355-proof-and-retouch
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93360-bleed-trim-margins-on-prints

Q2: This depends on the aspect ratio the image was shot in or cropped to, and the print size ordered. Typical dSLRs shoot in the 2:3 aspect ratio, which is perfect for 4x6, 6x9, 5x15, 8x12, 12x18, 16x24, 20x30 etc.

Pricing-
I had viewed a screen Catalog EZ prints and it had a Standard Size price listing. (I am assuming it had already been marked up 130% which I had done for my Portfolio and using Bay Photo base prices). Then I clicked away and when I went back I now see Catalog Bay Photo and EZ prints (no pricing).
Q:3- What is the story on all this? And now no price listing…? (which is alright with me).

Q:4- A "Ball Park" guess on how much I should mark up prints?
I first marked up 200% and then went to 130%..... Again I am not a Pro and have no overhead
expenses (office, retail location or a lot of equipment, etc)

Q3: It sounds like you may have inadvertently changed your portfolio pricing from using EZ Prints to Bay Photo. You'll need to set separate portfolio pricing for each, as each lab offers different products (for example, Bay Photo does not offer matte finish) and their base prices are both different.

Q4: This is really too personal for us to comment on. It has a lot to do with your demographic, training, equipment, expenses, and skill. It's very personal, and while some might charge $50 for an 8x10 portrait, others may charge $2.99 or $10. My advice is do NOT undervalue yourself. Think long and hard and charge appropriately what you and your time are worth. For the absolute best advice, head over to the Mind Your Own Business forum here on Dgrin: http://www.dgrin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29 This is a frequent topic of discussion, and your peers and pros will be happy to weigh in.

Disclaimer_
I want to put on my first opening SM page a short Disclaimer.
Q:5- Any suggestions on wording? For example, ordering of product(s) and purchases are final (no refunds of money). However, we will attempt to resolve any issues you might have, if they arise.

Q5: My suggestion is, don't do it. Instead of dissuading your (potential) customers at their very first impression of you, your site, and your work, consider instead encouraging them with the SmugMug guarantee! http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93275-our-print-guarantee We highly suggest you leverage this. It will instill buyer confidence, and the burden is on SmugMug to make things right for you and your customers, and we do it every day! When selling through SmugMug, we do expect all of our pros to adhere to a high standard of quality, but even still, sometimes returns/refunds will be necessary. We'll take care of that for you.

I hope this helps, SyBer. Shout with more questions or if you need a hand with anything!

SyBerGuy

Thank you SteveM for your post. It was very helpful... and now I have to follow-up on your comments and suggestions.

Tx,

SyBerGuy
Metro NYC

SamirD

And for the no-crop issue in Q1/2, you can make certain sizes unavailable, and thereby remove all the items that would require/use user cropping. Combining this with the proof delay will ensure that the crop (or lack of in your case) will be exactly what you want.