Packages 1st, then a la carte??

CnDp

Sorry if this has been posted, but I've spent over an hour looking through old posts and haven't specifically seen this asked yet...

I'm a new Pro user starting to set up my SmugMug site for my photography business to allow ordering directly through my clients' galleries. I've previously done my ordering manually for my clients and I had the rule of requiring a package to be purchased before allowing a la carte purchases. Is there a way for me to set this rule in the new SM pricelists/packages? After a few hours of searching and playing it appears that I can only offer both as EQUAL options but I really need it to be set up as an "if...then" sort of thing --> "If you order a package, then you can order individual prints as an add-on."

I swear I saw that something like this was possible with the old version, though I didn't have it long enough to dig into it or fully understand it. Or else we were at least able to set a minimum purchase price, maybe? By this I mean, if I can't say you must order a package first then I can at least set a minimum purchase requirement for a la carte ordering.

I just don't see what's stopping someone from ordering just (1) 4x6 and calling it good.:scratch

Am I making sense here? Is there any solution? Or am I missing a feature that allows these wonderful things??

Thanks!
Tiffany

rainforest1155

Hi Tiffany and welcome to Dgrin!

What you're looking for isn't a feature we currently offer. You can either allow for a la carte sales or disable them completely by not adding any products to your pricelist.
Keep in mind that for each order your customer also pays shipping and they might be interested in getting all they want the first time to avoid additional shipping cost.

The only time when you can set a minimum purchase amount is for coupon use. That way you could allow for a coupon use only if a certain minimum purchase amount is met. You can find more on coupons here:
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93347-managing-coupons

CnDp

Thanks for the reply! I was hoping the answer would be different, but I had a feeling that was the case. It would be amazing if this was a possible feature in the near future because it would help keep SmugMug as a one-stop shopping place for portrait photographers. The fact that I will still be putting orders in manually for my clients who want add-ons with their packages means that I could basically do my printing and gallery hosting from anyone else (other than SM) because it's not really changing my work flow unless I give in and only offer one or the other to keep the client in control (of both ordering and spending!). You should bring this up with whoever is in charge of new features because if coupons can do it, then it seems like it could be incorporated somehow with packages too.... just a suggestion if you guys get bored!

Thanks again for the thorough reply!

rainforest1155

Hi Tiffany,
Would you mind adding this to our feedback pages?
http://feedback.smugmug.com/forums/17723-smugmug
That way other users can vote and comment on your suggestion, and we can keep track of all suggesrions made.
Thanks!

CnDp

Thanks! I went to submit it and found that someone already had the suggestion so I made sure to give it all my votes. With all the new changes, I think this would help make ordering more complete!! To anyone else with this problem, go to rainforest1155's link above and be sure to mark your vote and comment so that they see it's a needed feature!!! Go go go!!

btouch

I voted for your suggestion! I really need this in order to make the move to using SM more. For example, when shooting prom sessions, I require the clients to purchase a package (there is no session fee) and then they can order a la carte. I get more customers when I don't charge a session fee. They feel like they are getting something of value when they pay for the package instead.

Without this option, I basically end up uploading "proofs" for my clients, they tell me the file name of the photos they want and I order them manually and collect the money upon delivery... a PAIN! Plus, I could do this "online proofing" for free... don't need a SMpro account for that!

CnDp

Good!!! I'm glad others are voting for it because I do the exact same thing. I've had my pro account for several months now and haven't used the online ordering once because no one ever just wants the base package. I've even tried setting up different price lists to accomodate different needs, but that's just not efficient. They really need to make this an option somehow.