REMOVAL ORDER SELF FULFILLMENT

NormFord

Hi,

From the Land of Ozz
Because of the high costs of freight and order receipt times involved, I have been advised by the Heroes to turn off my shopping cart and process orders myself locally.
Have any of you gone down this road? Whats the Good Bad & the Ugly of doing this.
It doesn't worry me as I've been doing this for over 20+ years but not using SmugMug.
Any feed back would be appreciated.

Regards

Norm Ford

AceCo55

Another Smugger from "the land down under"!!

That's exactly what I have done.
In fact I down graded to the "Power" account as the only feature I was using in the "Portfolio" account was the custom watermarking.
You situation will probably be different, but I only upload 1200pixel images with my watermark already applied to every photo.
So I turn off Smugmug watermarking.
I have a Wufoo contact form where the First and Last names form the "subject" when people email me about files or prints.
This makes it easy to identify which email came from which person (I then make a separate folder in Outlook for each person so that I keep all correspondence with that person within their folder. I find it a lot easier to go back and check what someone has said in an earlier email)

I have also created an Excel file that records the orders and tracks at what stage each order it at.

I use Dropbox, email attachments or DVD's to send files to customers (I charge a flat $4 delivery for disks)
I print from home.
If I print A4, I send it in a stiff cardboard envelope (from eBay) with another thick cardboard sheet (eBay) inserted as well. I have never had a print arrive damaged.
If I print A3 or A2, I send in a postal cardboard tube (got them via eBay) with plastic caps on each end
I basically charge something like cost+5% for shipping

NormFord

Thanks Ace for your ideas.

I'm surprised that my query got posted as I got an error message " NO BODY".
I've no idea of what that means. I also got a response from a guy where my subject got screwed up with SBI and he thought I was spamming SBI.

But you ideas sound great.

Do you get many requests for downloads as I've not consider that as an option?

I can get locally (Brisbane) A3 printed on 320gsm, on a Xerox Colour Laser for under $20 , then plus about $10 for a mailing tube & postage within Australia

Cheers

Norm

AceCo55

Downloads would account for probably double the numbers compared to prints.

I shoot local sports and offer the option of getting specified files ... or a season package (all their photos from the season).
Season packages DO impact on people just ordering specific files. So quite a few people don't bother ordering specific files (UNLESS they want a bigger, high resolution file) - they just until the end of the season and get them all.

I also offer three digital file sizes:
Small = 1200px (long side), approx 400-500kB
Medium = 1800px (long side), approx 1.2 - 1.5MB
Large = 3000px (long side), approx 4..0 - 6.0MB

Season packages are almost always ordered in the ""small" size
Individual, specific files are usually ordered as "medium" or "large"
I also include a small (800px, 100kB) version when people order medium or large files (just so it is easier for them to share)

I also do multi-photo sports posters - framed which have been popular for birthdays, Xmas etc

You can look at what I offer by using my link in the signature below.
Just note - I don't do this as a business. Just a keen hobby.
So my prices would not be sustainable for a business!