Prints in UK (Photobox?)

SimonG156

As subject really. Just coming up to my 1yr renewal and when I took out a sub I was keen to be able to order prints in the UK and this was being actively pursued by Smugmug back then.

I was wondering if this was any further advanced than a year ago? I'd have thought this was the number one requirement for all UK users, and halves the usefulness of Smugmug in the UK for me. With this feature my renewal would be automatic, without it it is very far from that.

(I currently use Photobox who produce very good results at good prices.)

Cheers!
Simon

Andy

SimonG156 wrote:

As subject really. Just coming up to my 1yr renewal and when I took out a sub I was keen to be able to order prints in the UK and this was being actively pursued by Smugmug back then.

I was wondering if this was any further advanced than a year ago? I'd have thought this was the number one requirement for all UK users, and halves the usefulness of Smugmug in the UK for me. With this feature my renewal would be automatic, without it it is very far from that.

(I currently use Photobox who produce very good results at good prices.)

Cheers!
Simon

We don't have any current plans to work with Photobox - but we are continually looking at possibilites of printing in other lands! Thanks for letting us know how important this is for you.

Jaunty

Andy wrote:

We don't have any current plans to work with Photobox - but we are continually looking at possibilites of printing in other lands! Thanks for letting us know how important this is for you.

Just to confirm that unfortunately unless UK printing comes around before next renewal it will be a tough decision for me to!

Ben

Jaunty wrote:

Just to confirm that unfortunately unless UK printing comes around before next renewal it will be a tough decision for me to!

This is something that has come up several times in recent weeks, and something that is very seriously being looked at. It is a monster sort of project, something not easily done at all. That means it definitely won't be happening in the near future, but we are looking at options to at least get the ball rolling. We know how important it is to our overseas customers.

Jaunty

Ben wrote:

This is something that has come up several times in recent weeks, and something that is very seriously being looked at. It is a monster sort of project, something not easily done at all. That means it definitely won't be happening in the near future, but we are looking at options to at least get the ball rolling. We know how important it is to our overseas customers.

Thanks for your time. If I am uploading all my pics I only want to do it once and if friends can't (easily) print snaps that they want fom Smugmug then it has to make me consider alternatives, it is the only thing really that would make me think about changing.

thebigsky

As another UK based customer, I'd also like to suggest some sort of partnership with Photobox.

NaturalEye

Another vote!

razer

Me also

I Simonius

I think it's important to understand that as far as UK users are concerned printing via SM is virtually a nonexistant option. Please try to imagine what SM would be like for you in the Sates without any printing option. I understand it's a high priority, but unless that equates to something actually being provided for UK printing then it doesn't really make any difference how high a priority it is.

There MUST BE printers in the UK that are acceptable as printing is being done here all the time. I'm sure the biggest part of the difficulty is that SM backs up all it's prinintg in the States with it's excellent customers service and I imagine this is the aspect that is the hardest to reconcile with UK printing

Might SM consider an arreangement with someone here in the UK to act as Customer service representative and who could work directly with the printing agency ( i.e. an agreement would have to be set up), and that way there could be some quality control over the printing service?

Obviously there would need to be the volume to warrent setting this up, as someone would have to be paid ( I might volunteer). Perhaps at the moment there just isn't enough UK business for SM to warrent setting it up in this way, but the market is huge and SM has the best hosting package so Im sure it could be made to grow.

SimonG156

Simon King wrote:

There MUST BE printers in the UK that are acceptable as printing is being done here all the time. I'm sure the biggest part of the difficulty is that SM backs up all it's prinintg in the States with it's excelent customers service and I imagine this is the aspect that is the hardest to reconcile with UK printing

Even Picasa-level integration where there is just a button to say "send these photos to Photobox" and then take me to their site to order would be a start. At least it would be only one upload (for me) of my photos. SM and Photobox (or similar) presumably have somewhat larger bandwidth than my 128kbps uplink.

Keithl

Simon King wrote:

...I understand it's a high priority, but unless that equates to something actually being provided for UK printing then it doesn't really make any difference how high a priority it is....

Hi Simon,

I don't know where you get the idea that it's a high priority. Andy explicity said that it isn't a few weeks ago:

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=316887&postcount=20

Cheers,
Keith

Jaunty

Keithl wrote:

Hi Simon,

I don't know where you get the idea that it's a high priority. Andy explicity said that it isn't a few weeks ago:

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=316887&postcount=20

Cheers,
Keith

Hadn't really picked up on that. Well, I guess I will just see where we are at my renewal.

I can print for myself from iPhoto (easy and good quality, but expensive) but that is obviously not the point. I want my friends to be able to print from Smugmug with a UK supplier. Or even to charge for cetain gig shots (not that anyone would buy mine at the moment). I'm confused to be honest as to why it is so difficult to replicate elsewhere a process that Smugmug have already gone through in the States. Maybe us poor relations can have a reduced subscrption to reflect the reduced service?!

cabbey

Jaunty wrote:

I'm confused to be honest as to why it is so difficult to replicate elsewhere a process that Smugmug have already gone through in the States.

If I recall correctly from the last time I did a print order, the credit card transaction takes place with smugmug, not the printer. Trying to set this up with foreign printers would lead to a rather bizare transaction where the goods are paid for in the US, but produced and delivered in the UK. All sorts of weird tax implications and import/export duties and such come into play. Very little of that is well documented or explained by either government. Or else SM would have to become a business entity in each country they serve, which makes for more interesting corporate taxes. It's enough to lead a business owner to :booze. I'm sure it's reasons related to this that caused other companies like amazon.co{m,.uk} and such to follow that pattern. Heh, it might actually be easier to have the ezprints folks print them and do international shipping.

Maybe us poor relations can have a reduced subscrption to reflect the reduced service?!

heh, he's got a point there guys, one of the greatest parts of smugmug is cut off from our foreign friends.

SimonG156

cabbey wrote:

Trying to set this up with foreign printers would lead to a rather bizare transaction where the goods are paid for in the US, but produced and delivered in the UK. All sorts of weird tax implications and import/export duties and such come into play.

I suppose getting someone in America to recognise there are actually real, living people outside its' borders is step one. Step two is getting the print service!

And the implications of being an agent for another company in another country aren't really that bad, we use banks and money and electronic communications now.

Sometimes us crazy Europeans even visit other countries - just for fun!

razer

Good point really, what are the chances of the printing being done in the US and then internationally shipped? Surely that woudl be easier to setup?

SimonG156

razer wrote:

Good point really, what are the chances of the printing being done in the US and then internationally shipped? Surely that woudl be easier to setup?

The current service will ship to th eUK. It is mainly economies. The "local" on line print shop I use, Photobox will deliver tomorrow for £1.50 if I order now. It is also more economic. A couple of 8x10s, some 7x5 and 50 6x4s the charges could be anything from $10 to $50 for expeditied shipping.

cabbey

SimonG156 wrote:

I suppose getting someone in America to recognise there are actually real, living people outside its' borders is step one. Step two is getting the print service!

Some of us are bloody well aware of that. Remember that 48% of us didn't vote for Emperor George the Second and his Regime. (actually, it's 48% of those who voted, if you factor in the folks that didn't even bother to vote it would be much higher.) So please don't tar the entire country with the brush he deserves.

To be fair, you could pick any two countries or economic unions to play the parts of the US and UK in that... it's nothing specific to the US. Japan and the EU is an example a friend of mine is trying to work through at the moment for his MBA program... take payments in Euros in the EU for a custom product produced in Japan and paid for in Yen, then delivered to the EU by way of a Taiwanesse shipper. It's no less insane just because the US isn't involved.

SimonG156

cabbey wrote:

Some of us are bloody well aware of that.

I was being a little disingenious - I did put a wink at the end of the message.

And we too have a democracy in which the minority of voting voters gave the current government a massive majority of seats in our elected chamber. Perhaps we could appeal to the UN to issue sanctions to help force them out?

(Somewhat bigger wink)

gubbs

I've ordered large prints from smugmug, and have been really impressed with the quality, the pics look absolutley fantastic!

Whilst I'm more than happy with the smugmug quality and service I wasn't comfortable in using the service to sell prints from the few weddings that I've done. This is simply because, I'm sure that the fact the transaction is done in dollars and shipped from the USA would discourage sales.

There are a number of UK based sites set up for pro-sales, but the ones I've come across just don't compete with smugmug's feature and customisation options. They also tend to be expensive in comparison. So it seems to me that I'm left with the prospect of having to pay more for less. Doesn't seem right to me

As an alternative to smugmug setting up with non US printers I'd be happy if we could just have a currency option with self fullfilled orders. Is that feasible??

I Simonius

Keithl wrote:

Hi Simon,

I don't know where you get the idea that it's a high priority. Andy explicity said that it isn't a few weeks ago:

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=316887&postcount=20

Cheers,
Keith

aaaah!

Oh well

SimonG156

Any progress on UK printing in the six months since this exchange?

Andy

SimonG156 wrote:

Any progress on UK printing in the six months since this exchange?

Hi Simon - no there is not and I do not expect any in the near term. Sorry I don't have a better answer for you.

Ephemeral

Could you at least tell us the reasoning. Financial? Logistical? Contractual? The Brits talk funny?

I mean, tell us you've got an exclusive deal with your present company and at least I know why you are not gonna think about UK based printer.

Please? I'll buy more prints from you?

thebigsky

Reading between the lines it looks like it's a non-starter, I don't get the impression there's a great deal of motivation to pursue this, probably due to a low percentage of UK users. Ho and indeed hum, perhaps Smugmug could license their code to someone in the UK to set up a UK Smugmug.

I have some spare time this summer :-)

Charlie

Andy

thebigsky wrote:

Reading between the lines it looks like it's a non-starter, I don't get the impression there's a great deal of motivation to pursue this, probably due to a low percentage of UK users. Ho and indeed hum, perhaps Smugmug could license their code to someone in the UK to set up a UK Smugmug.

I have some spare time this summer :-)

Charlie

Ephemeral wrote:

Could you at least tell us the reasoning. Financial? Logistical? Contractual? The Brits talk funny?

I mean, tell us you've got an exclusive deal with your present company and at least I know why you are not gonna think about UK based printer.

Please? I'll buy more prints from you?

It has nothing to do with these reasons

The issue with multi-lab support is few companies have ever been able to pull it off and keep great service, because it gets so much harder to master. We've all seen good companies who were once the leaders in pro print sales offer good service until they went multi-vendor...

I'm not saying we won't offer other print options, but right now, we're really cool with providing unmatched service levels with our current lab.

And, prints to UK ship really fast.

Stustaff

Andy wrote:

It has nothing to do with these reasons

The issue with multi-lab support is few companies have ever been able to pull it off and keep great service, because it gets so much harder to master. We've all seen good companies who were once the leaders in pro print sales offer good service until they went multi-vendor...

I'm not saying we won't offer other print options, but right now, we're really cool with providing unmatched service levels with our current lab.

And, prints to UK ship really fast.

Ive mentioned it before and I'll mention it again here, I ship all my prints to the UK from smugmug and will continue to do so!

Admittedly the current exchange rate makes it more realistic cost wise(long may it continue).

I have had a delivery at its quickest in 5 days and at its longest at 10 days.
The extra time is well worth the advantages of the quality and print guarentee imo.

Currently I hide carts from my customers and get them to e-mail me what images they want and then order them for them.
It is another step to the process but does mean I know what is happening AND can add my markup without having to have a Pro account, I can also review the images before I order them.

The big change I would like to see which would allow me to let customers order directly would be a better shopping cart, one that when a user selects there country as the UK shows £'s and delivery rates and times and a small paragraph explaining why there prints are made in the USA(guarantee-quality etc).

Also people earlier on suggesting photobox! I have used them in the past and wasnt impressed quality wise at all! I have however used snapfish recently for a batch of 8 6x4's and was very impressed, same paper as smugmug and also very good quality.

thebigsky

Stustaff wrote:

Also people earlier on suggesting photobox! I have used them in the past and wasnt impressed quality wise at all! I have however used snapfish recently for a batch of 8 6x4's and was very impressed, same paper as smugmug and also very good quality.

That's interesting, I'll give them a go, thanks for that.

Charlie