digital download

bhambham Registered Users Posts: 1,303 Major grins
edited February 6, 2012 in SmugMug Pro Sales Support
Ok, so recently I started to use the new price lists features. But no when a customer buys a download, smugmug is now charging me .49 as their base price and deducting it from the profit, before charging their other 15%. Why?
:puke1
"A photo is like a hamburger. You can get one from McDonalds for $1, one from Chili's for $5, or one from Ruth's Chris for $15. You usually get what you pay for, but don't expect a Ruth's Chris burger at a McDonalds price, if you want that, go cook it yourself." - me

Comments

  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited January 31, 2012
    We announced that here
    http://news.smugmug.com/2011/12/13/why-pricelists-will-change-your-life/
    there are significant costs for us regarding selling digital content and we had to make sure we won't lose money on transactions priced at very low levels.
    Andy

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  • bhambham Registered Users Posts: 1,303 Major grins
    edited February 1, 2012
    Andy wrote: »
    We announced that here
    http://news.smugmug.com/2011/12/13/why-pricelists-will-change-your-life/
    there are significant costs for us regarding selling digital content and we had to make sure we won't lose money on transactions priced at very low levels.

    More than selling a 4x6 print?
    What costs?
    Isn't that why we pay an annual pro membership fee?
    Let alone additional 15% of the transaction, so you take a cut every time we try to increase our profit. You are becoming like the government.

    Announced it, seems more like hidden with new features. I guess now I need to make sure and read the fine print with smugmug as well.
    "A photo is like a hamburger. You can get one from McDonalds for $1, one from Chili's for $5, or one from Ruth's Chris for $15. You usually get what you pay for, but don't expect a Ruth's Chris burger at a McDonalds price, if you want that, go cook it yourself." - me
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited February 1, 2012
    bham wrote: »
    What costs?

    We have storage and delivery costs, credit card transaction costs, customer service that we provide on the transaction, and more.
    Andy

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  • SegfaultSegfault Registered Users Posts: 14 Big grins
    edited February 1, 2012
    bham wrote: »
    More than selling a 4x6 print?
    What costs?
    Isn't that why we pay an annual pro membership fee?
    Let alone additional 15% of the transaction, so you take a cut every time we try to increase our profit. You are becoming like the government.

    Announced it, seems more like hidden with new features. I guess now I need to make sure and read the fine print with smugmug as well.

    That 4x6 print requires a $2.99 S&H fee that prevents SM from losing any money and covers their cost of processing the transaction with the credit card companies.

    A $0.01 download is going to cost SM a fixed fee just to process the credit card.

    As somebody who sells a bunch of digital downloads (5k and 10k race photos mostly), I would have preferred that they did something similar to the S&H fee: a per order handling fee rather than per item and then giving me the option to eat the "handling" fee.

    Another option would be to enforce a "minimum price" such that their 15% cut would cover their cost.

    So there are 3 ways of dealing with the issue of folks who were selling downloads for absurdly low costs (whats the point?).

    I understand SM's side in that they could no longer afford to keep losing money with every 10 cent transaction, but wish there was a bit more feedback into the solution.
  • SamirDSamirD Registered Users Posts: 3,474 Major grins
    edited February 2, 2012
    Segfault wrote: »
    A $0.01 download is going to cost SM a fixed fee just to process the credit card.
    Not necessarily. Merchant fees are based on a percentage. There is a fixed cost for some cards, but it's a fixed fee for the whole account, which would mean a fixed monthly fee for the hundreds of thousands of transactions, not a fixed fee per transaction. Unless this all has changed in the last 5 years...

    That being said, digital is where everything is going, so print sales are inevitably going to decrease, hence revenues decrease. SM can't raise fees because people won't sign on, so the money has to come from somewhere. Profiting on digital is an interesting move, but it does make financial sense. I mean, if you just want to give it away, that's what facebook, photobucket, etc. is for. You don't need to be on SM to do that.
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  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited February 2, 2012
    SamirD wrote: »
    Not necessarily. Merchant fees are based on a percentage. There is a fixed cost for some cards, but it's a fixed fee for the whole account, which would mean a fixed monthly fee for the hundreds of thousands of transactions, not a fixed fee per transaction. Unless this all has changed in the last 5 years...
    This is incorrect, sorry.
    Andy

    Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
  • jfriendjfriend Registered Users Posts: 8,097 Major grins
    edited February 3, 2012
    SamirD wrote: »
    Not necessarily. Merchant fees are based on a percentage. There is a fixed cost for some cards, but it's a fixed fee for the whole account, which would mean a fixed monthly fee for the hundreds of thousands of transactions, not a fixed fee per transaction. Unless this all has changed in the last 5 years...

    That being said, digital is where everything is going, so print sales are inevitably going to decrease, hence revenues decrease. SM can't raise fees because people won't sign on, so the money has to come from somewhere. Profiting on digital is an interesting move, but it does make financial sense. I mean, if you just want to give it away, that's what facebook, photobucket, etc. is for. You don't need to be on SM to do that.
    It's easy to give it away on SM too - I do that all the time for kid's sports parents. You just make the originals available and install my download original button. Zero cost for you or the viewer - doesn't use the shopping cart or digital download system as it isn't needed.
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  • SamirDSamirD Registered Users Posts: 3,474 Major grins
    edited February 6, 2012
    Andy wrote: »
    This is incorrect, sorry.
    I guess things have changed then. ne_nau.gif
    jfriend wrote: »
    It's easy to give it away on SM too - I do that all the time for kid's sports parents. You just make the originals available and install my download original button. Zero cost for you or the viewer - doesn't use the shopping cart or digital download system as it isn't needed.
    That's true too. The only disadvantage is that you can't track exactly what's been downloaded.
    Pictures and Videos of the Huntsville Car Scene: www.huntsvillecarscene.com
    Want faster uploading? Vote for FTP!
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