I have 15GB - I only upload small files for viewing and I delete older galleries (6-12 months old) regularly.
I live in Australia so the commerce side of Pro account is irrelevant - NO-ONE is going to order a print from USA and wait weeks for it to arrive. So I self-fulfill. I know it is probably an extravagant waste, but the only "Pro" feature I use is customised watermarking. (Yes I know I could watermark before I upload, bit it just saves me one extra step - I normally post 500 - 1000 photos a week).
So I will be going with the new "portfolio" subscription. It is not the most sensible choice financially but I want the customised watermarking. (If I were to drop back to "Power", my 29000 photos would immediately become clean - and I can't be bothered watermarking them and uploading all my galleries again.
It sounds like Portfolio is probably the right level for you, but you should know that existing watermarks do not disappear if you went back to "Power". They are already in place and Smugmug does not remove them. What would change at the "Power" level is you would lose your ability to apply new watermarks to existing photos or custom watermarks to newly uploaded photos.
...you should know that existing watermarks do not disappear if you went back to "Power". They are already in place and Smugmug does not remove them. What would change at the "Power" level is you would lose your ability to apply new watermarks to existing photos or custom watermarks to newly uploaded photos.
Business and Portfolio customers: We'll also automatically remove any watermarks you've applied to your photos if you're downgrading to the Power or Basic accounts. However, this can take a while so don't be alarmed if you still see them.
This new tool was developed as part of the tool set that allows you to move to a lower priced account on your own - that was also something previously handled by the heroes, but is now self serve.
Looks like the engineering team has time to spare for new "features" after all.
Fantastic new feature. It's in the same ballpark as the other **NEW** "feature" that costs me more money to maintain a SmugMug account. Yay!
What's next? A brand new feature that will block any and all PayPal/Google Wallet links on the Power and Portfolio accounts? Wouldn't want a self-fulfilled shopping cart working on any level that's not the "Business" level now, would we? Or, a *NEW* feature that requires a SmugMug logo to remain on any Power level accounts?
Who needs n-level deep galleries, pricing options that actually work, better product selection and upselling of products? Naw.. Those just add bloat...
This new tool was developed as part of the tool set that allows you to move to a lower priced account on your own - that was also something previously handled by the heroes, but is now self serve.
That doesn't really matter what project it was part of. What matters is that you guys decided that you would now remove custom watermarks when downgrading accounts and you spent engineering resources to implement that to consciously make it more painful to downgrade than before. That starts to smell like the parts of Apple that I really don't like (lets lock them in the best we can and make it painful for them to switch/downgrade).
That doesn't really matter what project it was part of. What matters is that you guys decided that you would now remove custom watermarks when downgrading accounts and you spent engineering resources to implement that to consciously make it more painful to downgrade than before. That starts to smell like the parts of Apple that I really don't like (lets lock them in the best we can and make it painful for them to switch/downgrade).
From what I can tell watermarks are automatically removed so it actually makes it easier to downgrade than it did before.
I had a trick before to remove watermarks from all images - From your homepage click "Homepage Layout" button, then click Timeline. Then click the "all" link. You will then be taken to a 'gallery' of all the photos on your site. Click Tools > Many Photos > More > Watermarking, then click 'remove', 'select all', then click the Watermark button. Doing that would remove all watermarks and it was the easiest way to do it. It's much easier for the person downgrading now than it was before.
From what I can tell watermarks are automatically removed so it actually makes it easier to downgrade than it did before.
I had a trick before to remove watermarks from all images - From your homepage click "Homepage Layout" button, then click Timeline. Then click the "all" link. You will then be taken to a 'gallery' of all the photos on your site. Click Tools > Many Photos > More > Watermarking, then click 'remove', 'select all', then click the Watermark button. Doing that would remove all watermarks and it was the easiest way to do it. It's much easier for the person downgrading now than it was before.
That depends on your point of view, guess. This is a desirable feature, if and only if the downgrading customer wants their custom watermarks removed. Now, you've removed any choice in the matter.
I've been on SM Pro for about 4 years. I have 76.1 GB loaded. I have deleted a few galleries over the years, but really once I load a gallery I don't go back and delete after a certain time period.
I am one of those with marginal sales. I chose a pro account because of the ability to sell prints and the watermarking mainly. I really liked that I could possibly sell enough through smugmug to cover the costs of the hosting. So far, I have managed to cover the cost of the service (barely) each year except one. Still, even for the year that I didn't cover costs with sales through smugmug, I had some self-fulfilled orders that made up the difference. A pro account is very worth it to me at $150/yr. and even at $200/yr. I really really really have to decide if it is worth me staying with it at the higher rate. I doubt I would keep portfolio level. Sorry, but that seems like a wasted level to me. It doesn't offer enough for the price difference. I don't think I'd be happy with a power account either. I have one of those that I intended to use for family pictures and stuff I wouldn't want on a 'pro' site, but I have found that I miss the features (like watermarking) in the pro account so I end up loading everything on the pro account anyway.
This is an agonizing decision for me. I really love smugmug. I know there are a lot of features that I don't use and don't even care about, but the ones that I DO use are in the highest price level. I just don't know if I can justify it anymore once my renewal date comes up. I'm not angry or mad about the price hike because I understand that it is a business decision. I'm just not sure that I can justify paying the new price. I'm thankful I have time to mull it over.
I'd look at the various other options out there to see if you can find one that meets your exact needs at the price point you want. I've looked at zen, and their feature mix is a bit different on each price point than SM. Not something that's worth spending my time moving 1tb over to them, but something that might be perfect for someone else.
I couldn't find the features I needed at anything other than zen's top tier, so it's basically the same money for me with either solution.
That doesn't really matter what project it was part of. What matters is that you guys decided that you would now remove custom watermarks when downgrading accounts and you spent engineering resources to implement that to consciously make it more painful to downgrade than before. That starts to smell like the parts of Apple that I really don't like (lets lock them in the best we can and make it painful for them to switch/downgrade).
That depends on your point of view, guess. This is a desirable feature, if and only if the downgrading customer wants their custom watermarks removed. Now, you've removed any choice in the matter.
Ok, I see what you mean now. I never thought of people wanting to keep their watermarks even if they downgraded. It was always mentioned by us heroes that it was a requirement that the downgrading pro remove their watermarks before we would downgrade them.
The issue is that a week, month, or year(s) later the former Pro user turned Power/Basic emails the help desk asking us how to remove their watermarks. Since they aren't a Pro anymore they can't remove the watermarks. That caused a lot of problems and the new automatic watermark removal solves that.
Ok, I see what you mean now. I never thought of people wanting to keep their watermarks even if they downgraded. It was always mentioned by us heroes that it was a requirement that the downgrading pro remove their watermarks before we would downgrade them.
The issue is that a week, month, or year(s) later the former Pro user turned Power/Basic emails the help desk asking us how to remove their watermarks. Since they aren't a Pro anymore they can't remove the watermarks. That caused a lot of problems and the new automatic watermark removal solves that.
Now, if you're a pro customer with a site full of custom watermarks and the new business level is too expensive and the portfolio level makes no sense without commerce, you have no option of keeping your watermarked site when you downgrade to power. Maybe this wasn't your motivation, but it feels like you're trying to force the user to stay at portfolio if they want to keep their watermarks (well actually you are).
You could have given the user a choice. There are some users who want to keep them and it was known before that you could keep them if you wanted to.
Now, if you're a pro customer with a site full of custom watermarks and the new business level is too expensive and the portfolio level makes no sense without commerce, you have no option of keeping your watermarked site when you downgrade to power. Maybe this wasn't your motivation, but it feels like you're trying to force the user to stay at portfolio if they want to keep their watermarks (well actually you are).
You could have given the user a choice. There are some users who want to keep them and it was known before that you could keep them if you wanted to.
agree 100%
In fact here's what really rubs salt in this wound...
When I first caught wind of the new changes I emailed smug help regarding the watermark/power downgrade situation on Sept 2 and I was told:
"Bea Nagy SEP 02, 2012 | 12:50PM PDT
Hi Rich,
Thanks for contacting SmugMug.
If you do not remove the watermarks before the downgrade, they'll remain on your images and you'll not be able to remove them after the change. You'll not be able to apply watermarks to the images you upload after you changed to Power.
Now as stated on that same page with a date of Sept. 6 is the BRAND NEW policy that pretty much screws those of us that would like to downgrade (for various reasons) but don't want to just give our work away due to the loss of existing watermarks...I'll gladly add my own from this point on (as the pre-Sept 6 policy stated) - but to force removal of existing totally leaves me "up the creek without a paddle" I'm not going to download all my galleries add my own watermark and reupload come on now.
At the very least allow us the option of downgrading before the Oct 15 date with the old options for existing watermarks at power level.. . don't even understand why anyone would want to remove the watermarks anyhow??
As it is you've announced the price change with some notice - then while no one was alerted you've changed other features immediately - shouldn't I have a valid argument that I had been in direct contact with you regarding changes and ramifications and was told one thing yet before I could act on it (I was hoping for new options you've hinted at here on dgrin) you've done a 180 degree change - talk about feeling violated !!
Now as stated on that same page with a date of Sept. 6 is the BRAND NEW policy that pretty much screws those of us that would like to downgrade (for various reasons) but don't want to just give our work away due to the loss of existing watermarks...I'll gladly add my own from this point on (as the pre-Sept 6 policy stated) - but to force removal of existing totally leaves me "up the creek without a paddle" I'm not going to download all my galleries add my own watermark and reupload come on now.
At the very least allow us the option of downgrading before the Oct 15 date with the old options for existing watermarks at power level.. . don't even understand why anyone would want to remove the watermarks anyhow?
-rich56k
Common now... Weren't you watching the videos that they released? I'm pretty sure the kid wearing the hat that was 2 or 3 sizes too big said they were trying to find a strategy for dealing with the ever increasing costs of bandwidth amongst other things. So clearly part of that plan is to have you download a few hundred gigs of data, watermark it (thereby marginally increasing the size) and then re-upload it all the while paying $90 less per year. It's friggin genius. These guys should take over the administration of Social Security.
Now, if you're a pro customer with a site full of custom watermarks and the new business level is too expensive and the portfolio level makes no sense without commerce, you have no option of keeping your watermarked site when you downgrade to power. Maybe this wasn't your motivation, but it feels like you're trying to force the user to stay at portfolio if they want to keep their watermarks (well actually you are).
You could have given the user a choice. There are some users who want to keep them and it was known before that you could keep them if you wanted to.
More and more frustrating - take a look at my exchanges with support on this very topic, and note the date!
Tomasz Nowicki
SEP 08, 2012 | 10:50PM PDT
Caroline,
Yes, you will need to remove the watermarking from your galleries prior the change to Power account. Otherwise you will see watermarked photos.
Caroline
SEP 08, 2012 | 12:50AM PDT
Tom I want to know if the watermark is embedded in my originals if I downgrade to Power?
Caroline
Tomasz Nowicki
SEP 08, 2012 | 01:00AM PDT
Caroline,
No, they will not be embedded to your original files. But you will need to remove them before downgrade - otherwise the watermarks will stay like that on your previews and you will not have the feature to remove them.
That depends on your point of view, guess. This is a desirable feature, if and only if the downgrading customer wants their custom watermarks removed. Now, you've removed any choice in the matter.
That is exactly my situation - I post photos for viewing and then I self-fufill (since I am in Australia, the commerce features are essentially useless to me). If the watermarks on my present photos were to remain I could start adding my watermark before uploading new files. That means I could drop back to a "Power" account. But if the watermarks are going to be removed, I am not going to watermark and upload my current 29,000 images in a whole bunch of galleries. So there is no point in me trying to downgrade to "Power" - it is just too much work. The "Portfolio" account seems to be the odd one out - I'm not sure who is supposed to serve. I can only use the watermarking feature of it - so I'm paying $90 extra just for watermarking (which I could easily do myself - but it would then leave my present 29000 photos "clean" and therefore vulnerable). My other option is to stay at Portfolio for this coming year, but start uploading watermarked images. By the end of the year I will have deleted all of the existing photos and so all of the photos will be watermarked when I drop back to "Power"
My opinion does not necessarily make it true. What you do with my opinion is entirely up to you. www.acecootephotography.com
I am actually kinda happy about all of this, I am taking a look at zenfolio and finding a bunch of the things I was wait for smug mug to implement. I can export my price list, upload and link pdf files have many more gallery levels and I can have visitor collect favorites. Not sure what else I will find/
I have not committed to leaving but I am seriously looking at Zen.
to me it makes absolutely no sense to pay for hosting of any kind unless you can protect your images somewhat atleast...
we all know and understand that right click protection is no protection at all....and watermarking whole not really
true protection makes things a little more work for the thieves....and I believe all levels should be protected at least that much....
from where I sit right now I will have to pay$200 for next year...so for $80 less I can have a site with pretty much all the amenities
I have now plus integrated PayPal ... or down grade to Power and not have any Protection and have to code in all the PayPal
buttons ......
I just have never got the whole fact SM touts how much better they are than ll the other services, but for the bottom tiers I
do not see thay are any better at all than FLICKR... jmho
Now, if you're a pro customer with a site full of custom watermarks and the new business level is too expensive and the portfolio level makes no sense without commerce, you have no option of keeping your watermarked site when you downgrade to power. Maybe this wasn't your motivation, but it feels like you're trying to force the user to stay at portfolio if they want to keep their watermarks (well actually you are).
You could have given the user a choice. There are some users who want to keep them and it was known before that you could keep them if you wanted to.
This is EXACTLY what they are doing. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a reason for anyone to choose Portfolio over Power. The fact that they have changed their policy on keeping watermarks and have implemented code to do this is all very slimy.
Kinda makes a mockery of the assertions that the changes are to address cost and support issues. The changes are to stop hobbyist photographers getting any sensible utility out of Smugmug unless they pony up $150 or $300.
Kinda makes a mockery of the assertions that the changes are to address cost and support issues. The changes are to stop hobbyist photographers getting any sensible utility out of Smugmug unless they pony up $150 or $300.
The honest answer is that it hasn't really been a big question until now. Most of our customers tell us those features all go hand-in-hand, so they need all of them. I hadn't thought about breaking Watermarks out of that bundle, or moving it down to Power. But we'll certainly think about it.
Please break it out and move it to Power!!
I'd even suggest after making power level watermark capable adding a $15 (yes that's still a 25% increase - which is huge by any normal business standards) increase so that would more equally spread out the features many want without the need to sell and then your price levels wouldn't be so lopsided (they'd be $40, $75, $150, $300).
Or at least offer us current pro account holders to downgrade to Power and retain the previous watermarks - hell I'll add my own from this point on - but to force us to lose existing w/marks - which by the way was a pretty sneaky change (no notice, support heros still claiming that was the case after you chenged the page and software) is really leaving many of us no alternative but to move on - something I really don't want to do, but will if no new w/ mark option are added.
Kinda makes a mockery of the assertions that the changes are to address cost and support issues. The changes are to stop hobbyist photographers getting any sensible utility out of Smugmug unless they pony up $150 or $300.
Cheers - N
Hmmmm... what is worse? A pro photographer competing with a bunch of hobbyists that want to watermark their photos with SmugMug's help at ALL TIERS or a pro photographer competing with a bunch of hobbyists that easily get their nice photos jacked with no watermarks because SmugMug wants to steer us towards competing with all of the other free photo sites. Facebook good, watermark bad? Pro (Business) user? Are we sure we want that search box for anywhere but our own sites?
I'm not sure I want to know the new features SM is working on anymore.
All of which is pretty much meaningless (except custom watermarks) without the ability to set prices.
How many pro photographers want/need Pro labs, print marks or custom back printing when they can only sell at the SM published price?
Take away the Pro labs, add back the option to set pricing and proof delay (critical if selling above cost) and you have the "hobbyist" account that is missing.
This is a shocking thread to read. I am a semi-professional photographer who just signed up for the SmugMug business package. I came looking for ideas/solutions how to integrate the SmugMug galleries into my site so my customers can have a unified experience. I do all my own coding and am very comfortable with that.
I chose the Business package not because I make a lot of money, but because I want to communicate with my clients and let them pick their favorites. I was initially fooled into thinking that the thumbs up/thumbs down feature accomplished this. Not so. The fact that this favorites feature is only available in the most premium account is, I think, really misguided. And the backend management of these favorites - registering an "event" in one control panel for the "gallery" in another control panel, new "galleries" that contain favorites - is completely retarded. Also, the two sections look like they were designed in completely different eras.
I understand how difficult it is to please everybody, but the way you guys have things set up right now is really strange and I just wonder if it's going to get stranger. And I am very upset that I forked down the money only to find out by reading from your own support forums that you are 1-2 years behind on your promises to deliver features.
I do not use SmugMug for RAW storage. I use other services for that. But I do want a photo service that I can integrate into my site and have full control over it design-wise and can let my customers pick their favorites. What the hell is so complicated about that? What should I do - stick with SmugMug or go with Zenfolio?
All of which is pretty much meaningless (except custom watermarks) without the ability to set prices.
How many pro photographers want/need Pro labs, print marks or custom back printing when they can only sell at the SM published price?
Take away the Pro labs, add back the option to set pricing and proof delay (critical if selling above cost) and you have the "hobbyist" account that is missing.
This is exactly right. How hard is it to understand? Who cares about this stuff if you can't set your prices? No one. So the only possible benefit (now that SM has suddenly changed their policy on watermarks) of Portfolio is watermarks. So SM is asking people to pay $90 per year to keep their watermarks.
Just for the sake of accuracy, and to put some perspective on this for folks that land on the thread that may not know all the facts...
The advantages to Portfolio over Power are:
[snipped the minor difference]
Brilliant, you are still alive and reading. Now how about answering the question as to why there is a $90 difference between power and portfolio? Bonus marks if you don't reference back to the spin from the owners.
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Looks like the engineering team has time to spare for new "features" after all.
This new tool was developed as part of the tool set that allows you to move to a lower priced account on your own - that was also something previously handled by the heroes, but is now self serve.
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Fantastic new feature. It's in the same ballpark as the other **NEW** "feature" that costs me more money to maintain a SmugMug account. Yay!
What's next? A brand new feature that will block any and all PayPal/Google Wallet links on the Power and Portfolio accounts? Wouldn't want a self-fulfilled shopping cart working on any level that's not the "Business" level now, would we? Or, a *NEW* feature that requires a SmugMug logo to remain on any Power level accounts?
Who needs n-level deep galleries, pricing options that actually work, better product selection and upselling of products? Naw.. Those just add bloat...
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From what I can tell watermarks are automatically removed so it actually makes it easier to downgrade than it did before.
I had a trick before to remove watermarks from all images - From your homepage click "Homepage Layout" button, then click Timeline. Then click the "all" link. You will then be taken to a 'gallery' of all the photos on your site. Click Tools > Many Photos > More > Watermarking, then click 'remove', 'select all', then click the Watermark button. Doing that would remove all watermarks and it was the easiest way to do it. It's much easier for the person downgrading now than it was before.
Support Hero
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I am one of those with marginal sales. I chose a pro account because of the ability to sell prints and the watermarking mainly. I really liked that I could possibly sell enough through smugmug to cover the costs of the hosting. So far, I have managed to cover the cost of the service (barely) each year except one. Still, even for the year that I didn't cover costs with sales through smugmug, I had some self-fulfilled orders that made up the difference. A pro account is very worth it to me at $150/yr. and even at $200/yr. I really really really have to decide if it is worth me staying with it at the higher rate. I doubt I would keep portfolio level. Sorry, but that seems like a wasted level to me. It doesn't offer enough for the price difference. I don't think I'd be happy with a power account either. I have one of those that I intended to use for family pictures and stuff I wouldn't want on a 'pro' site, but I have found that I miss the features (like watermarking) in the pro account so I end up loading everything on the pro account anyway.
This is an agonizing decision for me. I really love smugmug. I know there are a lot of features that I don't use and don't even care about, but the ones that I DO use are in the highest price level. I just don't know if I can justify it anymore once my renewal date comes up. I'm not angry or mad about the price hike because I understand that it is a business decision. I'm just not sure that I can justify paying the new price. I'm thankful I have time to mull it over.
Sherry
I couldn't find the features I needed at anything other than zen's top tier, so it's basically the same money for me with either solution.
Want faster uploading? Vote for FTP!
Ok, I see what you mean now. I never thought of people wanting to keep their watermarks even if they downgraded. It was always mentioned by us heroes that it was a requirement that the downgrading pro remove their watermarks before we would downgrade them.
The issue is that a week, month, or year(s) later the former Pro user turned Power/Basic emails the help desk asking us how to remove their watermarks. Since they aren't a Pro anymore they can't remove the watermarks. That caused a lot of problems and the new automatic watermark removal solves that.
Support Hero
You could have given the user a choice. There are some users who want to keep them and it was known before that you could keep them if you wanted to.
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In fact here's what really rubs salt in this wound...
When I first caught wind of the new changes I emailed smug help regarding the watermark/power downgrade situation on Sept 2 and I was told:
"Bea Nagy SEP 02, 2012 | 12:50PM PDT
Hi Rich,
Thanks for contacting SmugMug.
If you do not remove the watermarks before the downgrade, they'll remain on your images and you'll not be able to remove them after the change. You'll not be able to apply watermarks to the images you upload after you changed to Power.
Please visit the following help page for further information about downgrades and let us know when you'd like us to change your account to Power
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/91812-how-do-i-downgrade-my-account- ..."
Now as stated on that same page with a date of Sept. 6 is the BRAND NEW policy that pretty much screws those of us that would like to downgrade (for various reasons) but don't want to just give our work away due to the loss of existing watermarks...I'll gladly add my own from this point on (as the pre-Sept 6 policy stated) - but to force removal of existing totally leaves me "up the creek without a paddle" I'm not going to download all my galleries add my own watermark and reupload come on now.
At the very least allow us the option of downgrading before the Oct 15 date with the old options for existing watermarks at power level.. . don't even understand why anyone would want to remove the watermarks anyhow??
As it is you've announced the price change with some notice - then while no one was alerted you've changed other features immediately - shouldn't I have a valid argument that I had been in direct contact with you regarding changes and ramifications and was told one thing yet before I could act on it (I was hoping for new options you've hinted at here on dgrin) you've done a 180 degree change - talk about feeling violated !!
-rich56k
Member: ASMP; EP; NPPA; CPS
Common now... Weren't you watching the videos that they released? I'm pretty sure the kid wearing the hat that was 2 or 3 sizes too big said they were trying to find a strategy for dealing with the ever increasing costs of bandwidth amongst other things. So clearly part of that plan is to have you download a few hundred gigs of data, watermark it (thereby marginally increasing the size) and then re-upload it all the while paying $90 less per year. It's friggin genius. These guys should take over the administration of Social Security.
More and more frustrating - take a look at my exchanges with support on this very topic, and note the date!
www.carolineshipsey.co.uk - Follow me on G+
[/URL]
www.acecootephotography.com
$60 for Power
Only $90 more to be allowed to watermark.
Smugmug has answered all the obvious questions and just steadfastly refuses to acknowledge or answer the tricky issues.
Cheers - N
http://www.nzsnaps.com (talkiet.smugmug.com)
I have not committed to leaving but I am seriously looking at Zen.
http://www.realphotoman.com/
Work in progress
http://www.realphotoman.net/ Zenfolio 10% off Referral Code: 1KH-5HX-5HU
we all know and understand that right click protection is no protection at all....and watermarking whole not really
true protection makes things a little more work for the thieves....and I believe all levels should be protected at least that much....
from where I sit right now I will have to pay$200 for next year...so for $80 less I can have a site with pretty much all the amenities
I have now plus integrated PayPal ... or down grade to Power and not have any Protection and have to code in all the PayPal
buttons ......
I just have never got the whole fact SM touts how much better they are than ll the other services, but for the bottom tiers I
do not see thay are any better at all than FLICKR... jmho
This is EXACTLY what they are doing. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a reason for anyone to choose Portfolio over Power. The fact that they have changed their policy on keeping watermarks and have implemented code to do this is all very slimy.
borealphoto.smugmug.com
Yep... $90 per year just for watermarks.
Kinda makes a mockery of the assertions that the changes are to address cost and support issues. The changes are to stop hobbyist photographers getting any sensible utility out of Smugmug unless they pony up $150 or $300.
Cheers - N
http://www.nzsnaps.com (talkiet.smugmug.com)
Please break it out and move it to Power!!
I'd even suggest after making power level watermark capable adding a $15 (yes that's still a 25% increase - which is huge by any normal business standards) increase so that would more equally spread out the features many want without the need to sell and then your price levels wouldn't be so lopsided (they'd be $40, $75, $150, $300).
Or at least offer us current pro account holders to downgrade to Power and retain the previous watermarks - hell I'll add my own from this point on - but to force us to lose existing w/marks - which by the way was a pretty sneaky change (no notice, support heros still claiming that was the case after you chenged the page and software) is really leaving many of us no alternative but to move on - something I really don't want to do, but will if no new w/ mark option are added.
Just adding some food for thought...
-rich56k
Member: ASMP; EP; NPPA; CPS
Hmmmm... what is worse? A pro photographer competing with a bunch of hobbyists that want to watermark their photos with SmugMug's help at ALL TIERS or a pro photographer competing with a bunch of hobbyists that easily get their nice photos jacked with no watermarks because SmugMug wants to steer us towards competing with all of the other free photo sites. Facebook good, watermark bad? Pro (Business) user?
I'm not sure I want to know the new features SM is working on anymore.
Just for the sake of accuracy, and to put some perspective on this for folks that land on the thread that may not know all the facts...
The advantages to Portfolio over Power are:
Access to the Professional Print Labs (which is the important one imho): Bay Photo & WHCC (Loxley forthcoming)
Our Print Guarantee applied to Pro lab printing: http://tinyurl.com/9cjh5tu
Custom watermarks: http://tinyurl.com/9j9f2fk
Our exclusive Printmark feature: http://tinyurl.com/8recazx
Custom Backprinting: http://tinyurl.com/8f5sa2l
The commerce functionality of the Business level adds:
Built-in Price and Sell tools: http://tinyurl.com/bsp6ur2
Coupons: http://tinyurl.com/9zc8f3o
Packages: http://tinyurl.com/9lk8xzd
Events/Faves: http://tinyurl.com/8w99xal
Proof Delay: http://tinyurl.com/8dj3l9g
All of which is pretty much meaningless (except custom watermarks) without the ability to set prices.
How many pro photographers want/need Pro labs, print marks or custom back printing when they can only sell at the SM published price?
Take away the Pro labs, add back the option to set pricing and proof delay (critical if selling above cost) and you have the "hobbyist" account that is missing.
I chose the Business package not because I make a lot of money, but because I want to communicate with my clients and let them pick their favorites. I was initially fooled into thinking that the thumbs up/thumbs down feature accomplished this. Not so. The fact that this favorites feature is only available in the most premium account is, I think, really misguided. And the backend management of these favorites - registering an "event" in one control panel for the "gallery" in another control panel, new "galleries" that contain favorites - is completely retarded. Also, the two sections look like they were designed in completely different eras.
I understand how difficult it is to please everybody, but the way you guys have things set up right now is really strange and I just wonder if it's going to get stranger. And I am very upset that I forked down the money only to find out by reading from your own support forums that you are 1-2 years behind on your promises to deliver features.
I do not use SmugMug for RAW storage. I use other services for that. But I do want a photo service that I can integrate into my site and have full control over it design-wise and can let my customers pick their favorites. What the hell is so complicated about that? What should I do - stick with SmugMug or go with Zenfolio?
This is exactly right. How hard is it to understand? Who cares about this stuff if you can't set your prices? No one. So the only possible benefit (now that SM has suddenly changed their policy on watermarks) of Portfolio is watermarks. So SM is asking people to pay $90 per year to keep their watermarks.
Brilliant, you are still alive and reading. Now how about answering the question as to why there is a $90 difference between power and portfolio? Bonus marks if you don't reference back to the spin from the owners.
Cheers - N
http://www.nzsnaps.com (talkiet.smugmug.com)