So help us to understand how to handle a situation that comes up now and then, and hopefully together we can think through a solution.
When a lab changes the price of an item, if it's higher than they currently offer it to us, it's a dilemma. It doesn't happen often but we expect it to happen more as we add labs and more items like frames, etc.
Right now our choices are:
1. Raise the price we charge the pro. This doesn't work for many pros because they price a small amount higher than the product costs, so they would be under water for each sale. And Hell hath no fury....
2. Notify pros who sell that item. That's an issue because the response rate is low and it's a hassle for our pros. The majority just want us to handle it (raise the price), but some are understandably passionate about not doing that, as we're seeing here.
3. Eat the loss. That's what we do now, which keeps us from lowering the price of other items, and eventually causes us to get our prices and the lab's out of sync and people start to question why some items are cheaper at the lab. The perception becomes that we're ripping them off.
4. Discontinue the product and assign a new product ID for the higher-priced item. But Hell hath no fury like a pro who thought they were selling something, but weren't. Or have to hassle figuring out a price change when they're busy shooting.
The good news is this happens very infrequently, but the labs tell us that as Kodak and Fuji get themselves in deeper trouble, for example, or the labs experience supplier issues for certain frames, etc., we should be prepared.
So how best to handle this? We know we can't please everyone, but we'd love to please as many as possible.
My pick, I say option #2 because you will at least warned us (IF properly warned beforehand, a failure to read is OUR fault, kinda like an insurance policy). But in saying that, is there not an heads up from your printing company if they are raising prices? Do they give you a 30 day notice or something?...I'm guessing yall have yearly contracts arrangements and those prices are negotiated before renewing yearly (if not I'll shut up due to my lack of knowledge). The only reason I say this is because when I do new galleries I basically do a copy of my prices from a previous gallery. When doing that, I notice that new sizes are available for pricing from previous pricing listing which I set a price at that time.
If the pro doesn't change their price, charge them the difference. Are there that many pros who charge a price that would actually lose money on price fluctuations? Not good business to begin with and they would be better off selling at default prices.
What you could do is have a minimum profit percentage which would would cover price fluctuations. Either the pro has to offer prints at cost or there has to be a minimum profit markup at the time of setting the price. Come up with a percent based on the past history. The idea isn't to creating a floating retail price changes, but at least set a price that would cover fluctuations. Anyone setting a price that WOULD be affected isn't pricing to make a profit anyway. You bill customers for a percentage of their profits, couldn't you bill customers when they lose money? You shouldn't have to eat those costs.
If your analysis shows having at least 10% markup would cover any price changes, make us charge at least 10% and have that as the price that will change. Once a pro starts charging a percentage greater than 10% or whatever the minimum wold be, the retail prices don't change.
Or if the price is so low that it would be affected, then default to cost.
I just found this today when I got the e-mail, and I have already put it into play. I was a bit worried about the fact that it was based on a profit percentage over cost, but I found a way to work around it before I set my test pricing as my default.
I like my prices to be pretty much a round number, so I set the round up to be ".00" on all items, then set up a price structure where, with my minimum profit, I can take a whole lot of cost increase from the labs before I come up with a product increase. 99% of my sales come from 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10, priced at $20, $30, and $50 respectively. I don't know that the Smugmug costs on those core items has changed so much that it would be any problem. even larger sizes, 11x14, 16x20, 20x30, are calculated so close that I doubt I will see it change by a dollar without noticing.
On top it this, I use Star Explorer to do pretty much all of my gallery creation and uploading, and I can confirm that after I set my new price list as default, Star sets prices of new galleries at the default price list. In the infrequent cases where I need another price structure, I can just go set it to another price list really quickly after I create the gallery. No problem.
Before this change I was actually so afraid of price changing that I would hardly ever do it, not wanting to make a mistake that would cause me to give my whole body of work away. Now I just don't see any reason to be afraid of it!
I don't think proof delay has anything to do with your gallery pricing. Notice that pricing isn't even set via the gallery settings. It's a whole separate thing.
In the 30+ yrs i have been doing pro photography I have never seen a lab change prices in mid stream of their year.....so if their price lists came out in July...it was set in stone until next july even tho it stated on the price list that prices could change without notice , but that is mostly legal garbage....also pricing does not just affect the price of prints or merchandise...a ton of PROs price weddings to include prints and other merchandise and if labs or anyone starts mucking with prices then we the PROs have to eat the loss....I have used labs in Fl, Chicago, Los Angleles and other cities as well as 3 right here in Wichita...now it is down to 1 for me here locally...but each had items or services the others did not and if prices were going to change I was notified well (at least a month) in advance by letter and phone, normally it was 6 to 8 weeks in advance ... B/W film could fluctuate with the price of Silver but it was nwever enough to cause me a prob.... it film was going up the camera store I bought from called me and sent me a written notice.....
But still having to MUCK (and I am keeping the language pretty much G rated) with profit percentages is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE and is a DEAL KILLER FOR ME ... ... ... It will make me start setting up trial accounts until I find another host company I like.....
In the 30+ yrs i have been doing pro photography I have never seen a lab change prices in mid stream of their year.....so if their price lists came out in July...it was set in stone until next july even tho it stated on the price list that prices could change without notice , but that is mostly legal garbage....also pricing does not just affect the price of prints or merchandise...a ton of PROs price weddings to include prints and other merchandise and if labs or anyone starts mucking with prices then we the PROs have to eat the loss....I have used labs in Fl, Chicago, Los Angleles and other cities as well as 3 right here in Wichita...now it is down to 1 for me here locally...but each had items or services the others did not and if prices were going to change I was notified well (at least a month) in advance by letter and phone, normally it was 6 to 8 weeks in advance ... B/W film could fluctuate with the price of Silver but it was nwever enough to cause me a prob.... it film was going up the camera store I bought from called me and sent me a written notice.....
But still having to MUCK (and I am keeping the language pretty much G rated) with profit percentages is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE and is a DEAL KILLER FOR ME ... ... ... It will make me start setting up trial accounts until I find another host company I like.....
Yep. There is an assumption, at least in my eyes, that when you go to the pro level, you are entering into a win/lose situation. We should be notified of any price changes, but ultimately it us up to us to set the price. If we set it below the actual cost, then we should eat the difference.
We use smugmug to help us out, but stuff like this should be up to the pro. I want smugmug to make it easy for me to fulfill orders and concentrate on that. Setting prices is something the pro needs to have control over. If the pro sets low prices, that is their concern. If they want to increase their price based on the increase of base cost, they should opt in the program. If they don't, then make it an agreement the pro gets billed if it goes under the price.
Maybe there should be another level of pro membership. I have been shopping around for another service that doesn't have commission based on the final retail price. I have found some but they charge more per year than smugmug. Doing the math, if my business takes off like I hope it does, the extra cost would more than make up difference. How about another level of pro that isn't a baby sitter level that is all about fulfilling print orders straight up without having a commission? I would pay twice what I am now for that level of service.
1. Raise the price we charge the pro. This doesn't work for many pros because they price a small amount higher than the product costs, so they would be under water for each sale. And Hell hath no fury....
2. Notify pros who sell that item. That's an issue because the response rate is low and it's a hassle for our pros. The majority just want us to handle it (raise the price), but some are understandably passionate about not doing that, as we're seeing here.
These, but in reverse order.
Alert the Pro, hopefully with enough advance warning that even the slow responders can make necessary changes before the price change (say one month to be safe, or whatever you deem "fair").
After the "grace period" is over the rates go up. SmugMug is a business and should not be eating the cost for a lazy/inattentive Pro. If the Pro's pricing doesn't have sufficient profit then they get charged the difference. It is their business, they should be taking care of it.
And as I said before, you could make it "opt-in" by allowing those Pros who want fixed pricing to select a check box (or whatever) to force the final price and allow back-end calculation of profit. This would also serve as their acceptance and understanding of the second part (being charged for shortages in the event of supplier pricing changes).
Additionally, you could target the email notification to only those Pros who have the option turned on.
I just have to emphasize that this new system is way better than what we had before. I do agree I would prefer to have it so that we just drop our desired price into a box, and that be as it stays until we change it, but I have an acceptable workaround. Any pro should understand enough about how the profit is calculated to be able to price things accordingly.. The issue comes up when a cost change causes our shopping cart prices to become different from what we might have published. For the main products that I sell, I think things can change a lot before that would really happen. For larger sizes, I don't know that I really care, as I don't publish most of that anyway. If someone wants a huge print, I don't mind if they pay me $769.83 cents today and $772.54 cents tomorrow.. or vice versa...
I guess I just don't see it as such a big deal as others. It took me all of two hours to create a new default price list, a two hour timeframe I would be spending this season anyway as part of an annual review. Now I can just copy that one and make ammendments to put into play in special cases..
I just have to emphasize that this new system is way better than what we had before. I do agree I would prefer to have it so that we just drop our desired price into a box, and that be as it stays until we change it, but I have an acceptable workaround. Any pro should understand enough about how the profit is calculated to be able to price things accordingly.. The issue comes up when a cost change causes our shopping cart prices to become different from what we might have published. For the main products that I sell, I think things can change a lot before that would really happen. For larger sizes, I don't know that I really care, as I don't publish most of that anyway. If someone wants a huge print, I don't mind if they pay me $769.83 cents today and $772.54 cents tomorrow.. or vice versa...
I guess I just don't see it as such a big deal as others. It took me all of two hours to create a new default price list, a two hour timeframe I would be spending this season anyway as part of an annual review. Now I can just copy that one and make ammendments to put into play in special cases..
Thanks! I just want to emphasize again that unless you are setting your profits in a currency different than the lab or are opted into lab sales, your final price even in a fixed-profit system would very rarely change. There won't be frequent fluctuations.
I do like the new system, but I do understand the desire of some pros to have a fixed price they can advertise to clients.
My solution (yeah, it's easy to suggest but a bear to code, but here it is):
Allow those that want a final fixed price to opt into a fixed price format. The requirement would be that every item they sell needs a minimum 100% markup. (What are the odds of an item's cost doubling in the course of a year? Almost zero, right?) Pick a date each year -- September 30, January 1, whatever -- that each opted-in pro has to have each item marked up by at least 100%. Any price increases from the lab during the subsequent 365 days would be eaten by the pro (unless they made manual mid-year corrections). As the 365 days starts to wind down, pros would need to review their prices to make sure that each item was still selling for at least a 100% mark-up; any pro that did not do this once-a-year review would run the risk of SmugMug automatically changing the prices on each item below the 100%, which in turn would change the pro's final price (this automatic adjustment would only be done to pros who have opted into the fixed price format).
Example: I have two products for sale. Item A costs $50 and item B costs $60. I mark up Item A by 100% and sell it for $100. I mark up Item B by 200% and sell it for $180. By the designated date (let's use January 1) I have these two products for sale and both meet the required 100% markup. During the course of the year, Item A's cost rises to $55 and Item B's cost rises to $70. During this time, my final price hasn't changed -- I'm just not making as much. As the next January 1 approaches, I get a message that my markup on Item A has dropped below 100% and I need to set a new final price. I set a new final price at or above the 100% markup and I'm good. If I fail to change my price, then SmugMug automatically raises my final price to $110 (100% of the new $55 cost). Meanwhile, Item B is still comfortably above the 100% markup threshold and I can either change my final price or leave it alone.
Under this scenario, pros would only have to do a once-a-year price review. Pros who routinely use mark-ups of 200% or more could probably go years without having to change their final prices. And these mandatory 100% markups and automatic final price changes (with a warning) would only be done for pros who have opted in to the fixed price format.
Thanks! I just want to emphasize again that unless you are setting your profits in a currency different than the lab or are opted into lab sales, your final price even in a fixed-profit system would very rarely change. There won't be frequent fluctuations.
Let me tell you a funny story, I work in IT for a company that provides accounting software for Petroleum Companies. These companies are lubricant, diesel and gasoline distributors as well as CStore owners.
Up until about 8 years ago our Lubricant dealers never had more than 1 price change a year for Bulk lubricants, you know quarts, 5 quarts 55 gallon drums etc of motor oil and lubricants. Life was good, then consolidation in the market and commodities pricing took over. They had never had more than 1 price change a year in forever (generations). Now they almost change daily, and we have had to take our software and move in that direction.
With Smugmug talking about labs issues, Kodak and Fuji's solvency and chemical prices. I just don't want you to make promises like that about frequency you cannot keep.
Baldy asked for Smart help and I have seen many great suggestions here on this thread. If I lose profit because of my set price, Lab stuff changes, it changes, I want to be that master of my ship. I want a notice that it has changed based on my preferences of how I price. Then I can raise or lower my prices like I need to. If I am not responsive enough to that then I need to be reminded or if it cause a loss to Smugug then that product cannot be offered for sale. With fair warning 30 days should be sufficient, we cannot get upset by emails from Smugmug good or bad because, I know everyone loves the sales email and sees them. Don't complain about price changes etc for you lab.
One thing that I want to make sure is that you figure out a way so Smugmug never loses money on a Pro Sale, I know that digital downloads have been an issue for you and print pricing it seems has been an issue at times for Pros that price incorrectly. I would think that everyone would want to make sure that you make money and we can set accurate prices to make sure we can continue to provide both of our service to our customers without interruption in the future..
I love most of the changes but I think one key feature is missing. How can you apply a markup % based on the base cost of the item? For example, items with a base cost that are very inexpensive (maybe less than a dollar) would get a large markup whereas a product with a high base cost (say 50.00 or higher) would get a much smaller markup.
I love most of the changes but I think on key feature is missing. How can you apply a markup % based on the base cost of the item? For example, items with a base cost that are very inexpensive (maybe less than a dollar) would get a large markup whereas a product with a high base cost (say 50.00 or higher) would get a much smaller markup.
No matter how you do it, you are still going to have to go into the profit block and adjust the profit level so that you come up with the sales price that you want. You need to do that with every product on the list, indeed would have to do it with every product anyway.
First, I suggest you NOT use internet explorer to do pricing. Other geeks can tell you why, but Firefox just does it better. Not sure about Safari.
Start by creating a new blank pricelist, then select EZ of Bay as your lab. I selected Baymyself started with 2000% markup and applied it as a starting point.
Open up the Print-Standard Products, and then the 4x6.
Select rounding to the next .00...
I want my 4x6 to be priced at $20, so I entered 16.00 into the profit block for a rounded price of $20. (actually, $15.98 gets me $20 as well..)
This way if the cost goes up to 22 cents from 21cents, your price stays the same.
Do this for every product until you come up with what works for you. You will have to lower the profit on the larger items, as you noted, but you just have to make the decision one way or another anyway. Yes, it's time consuming, but its time consuming to review your prices anyway..
I have two base price lists now created, one for EZ and one for Bay. EZ is my default, but I have the one for Bay, as I use that on galleries where I want to order for myself, or for galleries that have my masterpieces (if I have any) so they can be treated differently.
After you do that, you can duplicate either one to adjust up or down for any particular gallery. You can also make a gallery template that offers at cost, or maybe you want one at cost plus a penny or cost plus a dollar..
You can do this extemely easily if you set you profits up easily, and never have to worry about a penny increase in the cost of a 4x6...
Doesn't sound like it. Seems like if you set your profit to a certain $ amount and the base price increases, then your price that customers see would change as well.
Changing a gallery's pricelist does NOT change the proof delay setting. Test it for yourself... You will see that the two have nothing to do with eachother..
And it would seem good thing if someday the setting for a particular price list be one of the selections found in gallery settings, maybe in the Essentials section..... But I'm just dreaming here..:D
Doesn't sound like it. Seems like if you set your profit to a certain $ amount and the base price increases, then your price that customers see would change as well.
I'm ging to have Santa drop a copy of post #138 into your stocking!
Changing a gallery's pricelist does NOT change the proof delay setting. Test it for yourself... You will see that the two have nothing to do with eachother..
No... but if you don't earn a profit (.01) you don't get a proof delay email (at least, that's how it used to be - if something changed I don't know about it). When selling to friends/family, I set the prices to .01 above cost and then I get proof delay to fix their pics just like I would any customer.
This shows I do not have items priced in these first three categories, but I do - if I drill down these menus there are items there with prices. Just FYI
This shows I do not have items priced in these first three categories, but I do - if I drill down these menus there are items there with prices. Just FYI
yeah, something we're aware of and trying to track down. I fixed the stats on your pricelist for you. Thanks for the heads up.
My pricelist data isn't loading after a supposed successful migration. Any thoughts? It gets as far as the header for the 'manage pricelists' page and no further.
My pricelist data isn't loading after a supposed successful migration. Any thoughts? It gets as far as the header for the 'manage pricelists' page and no further.
I can pull up your pricelist management screen in every browser in our test suite. Shoot an email to http://help.smugmug.com and our heroes will get you sorted out.
I can pull up your pricelist management screen in every browser in our test suite. Shoot an email to http://help.smugmug.com and our heroes will get you sorted out.
Thanks for the offer, but it came up now. I have a sneaky suspicion it was the sub-par wifi signal from the coffee shop I was in earlier. Cheers!
No... but if you don't earn a profit (.01) you don't get a proof delay email (at least, that's how it used to be - if something changed I don't know about it). When selling to friends/family, I set the prices to .01 above cost and then I get proof delay to fix their pics just like I would any customer.
Actually that changed a couple of years ago, with the introduction of coupons. You are now notified of all sales, with and without profit, and your proof period applies to all except download sales.
Comments
My pick, I say option #2 because you will at least warned us (IF properly warned beforehand, a failure to read is OUR fault, kinda like an insurance policy). But in saying that, is there not an heads up from your printing company if they are raising prices? Do they give you a 30 day notice or something?...I'm guessing yall have yearly contracts arrangements and those prices are negotiated before renewing yearly (if not I'll shut up due to my lack of knowledge). The only reason I say this is because when I do new galleries I basically do a copy of my prices from a previous gallery. When doing that, I notice that new sizes are available for pricing from previous pricing listing which I set a price at that time.
If the pro doesn't change their price, charge them the difference. Are there that many pros who charge a price that would actually lose money on price fluctuations? Not good business to begin with and they would be better off selling at default prices.
What you could do is have a minimum profit percentage which would would cover price fluctuations. Either the pro has to offer prints at cost or there has to be a minimum profit markup at the time of setting the price. Come up with a percent based on the past history. The idea isn't to creating a floating retail price changes, but at least set a price that would cover fluctuations. Anyone setting a price that WOULD be affected isn't pricing to make a profit anyway. You bill customers for a percentage of their profits, couldn't you bill customers when they lose money? You shouldn't have to eat those costs.
If your analysis shows having at least 10% markup would cover any price changes, make us charge at least 10% and have that as the price that will change. Once a pro starts charging a percentage greater than 10% or whatever the minimum wold be, the retail prices don't change.
Or if the price is so low that it would be affected, then default to cost.
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I like my prices to be pretty much a round number, so I set the round up to be ".00" on all items, then set up a price structure where, with my minimum profit, I can take a whole lot of cost increase from the labs before I come up with a product increase. 99% of my sales come from 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10, priced at $20, $30, and $50 respectively. I don't know that the Smugmug costs on those core items has changed so much that it would be any problem. even larger sizes, 11x14, 16x20, 20x30, are calculated so close that I doubt I will see it change by a dollar without noticing.
On top it this, I use Star Explorer to do pretty much all of my gallery creation and uploading, and I can confirm that after I set my new price list as default, Star sets prices of new galleries at the default price list. In the infrequent cases where I need another price structure, I can just go set it to another price list really quickly after I create the gallery. No problem.
Before this change I was actually so afraid of price changing that I would hardly ever do it, not wanting to make a mistake that would cause me to give my whole body of work away. Now I just don't see any reason to be afraid of it!
Bravo Smugmug Heros!
www.HoofClix.com / Personal Facebook / Facebook Page
and I do believe its true.. that there are roads left in both of our shoes..
www.HoofClix.com / Personal Facebook / Facebook Page
and I do believe its true.. that there are roads left in both of our shoes..
But still having to MUCK (and I am keeping the language pretty much G rated) with profit percentages is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE and is a DEAL KILLER FOR ME ... ... ... It will make me start setting up trial accounts until I find another host company I like.....
Yep. There is an assumption, at least in my eyes, that when you go to the pro level, you are entering into a win/lose situation. We should be notified of any price changes, but ultimately it us up to us to set the price. If we set it below the actual cost, then we should eat the difference.
We use smugmug to help us out, but stuff like this should be up to the pro. I want smugmug to make it easy for me to fulfill orders and concentrate on that. Setting prices is something the pro needs to have control over. If the pro sets low prices, that is their concern. If they want to increase their price based on the increase of base cost, they should opt in the program. If they don't, then make it an agreement the pro gets billed if it goes under the price.
Maybe there should be another level of pro membership. I have been shopping around for another service that doesn't have commission based on the final retail price. I have found some but they charge more per year than smugmug. Doing the math, if my business takes off like I hope it does, the extra cost would more than make up difference. How about another level of pro that isn't a baby sitter level that is all about fulfilling print orders straight up without having a commission? I would pay twice what I am now for that level of service.
These, but in reverse order.
Alert the Pro, hopefully with enough advance warning that even the slow responders can make necessary changes before the price change (say one month to be safe, or whatever you deem "fair").
After the "grace period" is over the rates go up. SmugMug is a business and should not be eating the cost for a lazy/inattentive Pro. If the Pro's pricing doesn't have sufficient profit then they get charged the difference. It is their business, they should be taking care of it.
And as I said before, you could make it "opt-in" by allowing those Pros who want fixed pricing to select a check box (or whatever) to force the final price and allow back-end calculation of profit. This would also serve as their acceptance and understanding of the second part (being charged for shortages in the event of supplier pricing changes).
Additionally, you could target the email notification to only those Pros who have the option turned on.
you can now click the products header bar and it will expand/collapse the entire list of products
we will improve the discoverability and UI in a later release, but I wanted to get this out.
have a holly jolly.
I guess I just don't see it as such a big deal as others. It took me all of two hours to create a new default price list, a two hour timeframe I would be spending this season anyway as part of an annual review. Now I can just copy that one and make ammendments to put into play in special cases..
www.HoofClix.com / Personal Facebook / Facebook Page
and I do believe its true.. that there are roads left in both of our shoes..
Thanks! I just want to emphasize again that unless you are setting your profits in a currency different than the lab or are opted into lab sales, your final price even in a fixed-profit system would very rarely change. There won't be frequent fluctuations.
My solution (yeah, it's easy to suggest but a bear to code, but here it is):
Allow those that want a final fixed price to opt into a fixed price format. The requirement would be that every item they sell needs a minimum 100% markup. (What are the odds of an item's cost doubling in the course of a year? Almost zero, right?) Pick a date each year -- September 30, January 1, whatever -- that each opted-in pro has to have each item marked up by at least 100%. Any price increases from the lab during the subsequent 365 days would be eaten by the pro (unless they made manual mid-year corrections). As the 365 days starts to wind down, pros would need to review their prices to make sure that each item was still selling for at least a 100% mark-up; any pro that did not do this once-a-year review would run the risk of SmugMug automatically changing the prices on each item below the 100%, which in turn would change the pro's final price (this automatic adjustment would only be done to pros who have opted into the fixed price format).
Example: I have two products for sale. Item A costs $50 and item B costs $60. I mark up Item A by 100% and sell it for $100. I mark up Item B by 200% and sell it for $180. By the designated date (let's use January 1) I have these two products for sale and both meet the required 100% markup. During the course of the year, Item A's cost rises to $55 and Item B's cost rises to $70. During this time, my final price hasn't changed -- I'm just not making as much. As the next January 1 approaches, I get a message that my markup on Item A has dropped below 100% and I need to set a new final price. I set a new final price at or above the 100% markup and I'm good. If I fail to change my price, then SmugMug automatically raises my final price to $110 (100% of the new $55 cost). Meanwhile, Item B is still comfortably above the 100% markup threshold and I can either change my final price or leave it alone.
Under this scenario, pros would only have to do a once-a-year price review. Pros who routinely use mark-ups of 200% or more could probably go years without having to change their final prices. And these mandatory 100% markups and automatic final price changes (with a warning) would only be done for pros who have opted in to the fixed price format.
Howzzat sound?
The Railroad Photographer
www.railroadphotographer.com
Let me tell you a funny story, I work in IT for a company that provides accounting software for Petroleum Companies. These companies are lubricant, diesel and gasoline distributors as well as CStore owners.
Up until about 8 years ago our Lubricant dealers never had more than 1 price change a year for Bulk lubricants, you know quarts, 5 quarts 55 gallon drums etc of motor oil and lubricants. Life was good, then consolidation in the market and commodities pricing took over. They had never had more than 1 price change a year in forever (generations). Now they almost change daily, and we have had to take our software and move in that direction.
With Smugmug talking about labs issues, Kodak and Fuji's solvency and chemical prices. I just don't want you to make promises like that about frequency you cannot keep.
Baldy asked for Smart help and I have seen many great suggestions here on this thread. If I lose profit because of my set price, Lab stuff changes, it changes, I want to be that master of my ship. I want a notice that it has changed based on my preferences of how I price. Then I can raise or lower my prices like I need to. If I am not responsive enough to that then I need to be reminded or if it cause a loss to Smugug then that product cannot be offered for sale. With fair warning 30 days should be sufficient, we cannot get upset by emails from Smugmug good or bad because, I know everyone loves the sales email and sees them. Don't complain about price changes etc for you lab.
One thing that I want to make sure is that you figure out a way so Smugmug never loses money on a Pro Sale, I know that digital downloads have been an issue for you and print pricing it seems has been an issue at times for Pros that price incorrectly. I would think that everyone would want to make sure that you make money and we can set accurate prices to make sure we can continue to provide both of our service to our customers without interruption in the future..
Thanks
www.phabulousphotos.com
Sportsshooter.com Member
http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=10162
Jason Scott Photography | Blog | FB | Twitter | Google+ | Tumblr | Instagram | YouTube
Ditto! We need to be able to tell our customers how much a 4x6, 4x7, 8x10, etc costs!!!
Jason Scott Photography | Blog | FB | Twitter | Google+ | Tumblr | Instagram | YouTube
No matter how you do it, you are still going to have to go into the profit block and adjust the profit level so that you come up with the sales price that you want. You need to do that with every product on the list, indeed would have to do it with every product anyway.
First, I suggest you NOT use internet explorer to do pricing. Other geeks can tell you why, but Firefox just does it better. Not sure about Safari.
Start by creating a new blank pricelist, then select EZ of Bay as your lab. I selected Baymyself started with 2000% markup and applied it as a starting point.
Open up the Print-Standard Products, and then the 4x6.
Select rounding to the next .00...
I want my 4x6 to be priced at $20, so I entered 16.00 into the profit block for a rounded price of $20. (actually, $15.98 gets me $20 as well..)
This way if the cost goes up to 22 cents from 21cents, your price stays the same.
Do this for every product until you come up with what works for you. You will have to lower the profit on the larger items, as you noted, but you just have to make the decision one way or another anyway. Yes, it's time consuming, but its time consuming to review your prices anyway..
I have two base price lists now created, one for EZ and one for Bay. EZ is my default, but I have the one for Bay, as I use that on galleries where I want to order for myself, or for galleries that have my masterpieces (if I have any) so they can be treated differently.
After you do that, you can duplicate either one to adjust up or down for any particular gallery. You can also make a gallery template that offers at cost, or maybe you want one at cost plus a penny or cost plus a dollar..
www.HoofClix.com / Personal Facebook / Facebook Page
and I do believe its true.. that there are roads left in both of our shoes..
You can do this extemely easily if you set you profits up easily, and never have to worry about a penny increase in the cost of a 4x6...
www.HoofClix.com / Personal Facebook / Facebook Page
and I do believe its true.. that there are roads left in both of our shoes..
Doesn't sound like it. Seems like if you set your profit to a certain $ amount and the base price increases, then your price that customers see would change as well.
Jason Scott Photography | Blog | FB | Twitter | Google+ | Tumblr | Instagram | YouTube
Changing a gallery's pricelist does NOT change the proof delay setting. Test it for yourself... You will see that the two have nothing to do with eachother..
www.HoofClix.com / Personal Facebook / Facebook Page
and I do believe its true.. that there are roads left in both of our shoes..
www.HoofClix.com / Personal Facebook / Facebook Page
and I do believe its true.. that there are roads left in both of our shoes..
www.HoofClix.com / Personal Facebook / Facebook Page
and I do believe its true.. that there are roads left in both of our shoes..
No... but if you don't earn a profit (.01) you don't get a proof delay email (at least, that's how it used to be - if something changed I don't know about it). When selling to friends/family, I set the prices to .01 above cost and then I get proof delay to fix their pics just like I would any customer.
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93355
Jason Scott Photography | Blog | FB | Twitter | Google+ | Tumblr | Instagram | YouTube
This shows I do not have items priced in these first three categories, but I do - if I drill down these menus there are items there with prices. Just FYI
Jason Scott Photography | Blog | FB | Twitter | Google+ | Tumblr | Instagram | YouTube
yeah, something we're aware of and trying to track down. I fixed the stats on your pricelist for you. Thanks for the heads up.
I can pull up your pricelist management screen in every browser in our test suite. Shoot an email to http://help.smugmug.com and our heroes will get you sorted out.
Thanks for the offer, but it came up now. I have a sneaky suspicion it was the sub-par wifi signal from the coffee shop I was in earlier. Cheers!
Because clearly my customers are retarded and don't follow instructions regarding coupons. And there is no feature for doing a SALE. (I've requested that feature here: http://feedback.smugmug.com/forums/17723-smugmug/suggestions/879819-offer-items-or-packages-on-sale )
But now I can no longer take pricing and just discount 15% or whatever.
So I say... leave it as it and add a sale feature. No but seriously this is another serious limitation of price lists.
Actually that changed a couple of years ago, with the introduction of coupons. You are now notified of all sales, with and without profit, and your proof period applies to all except download sales.
ann
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