Charges for photos

Fred Zepplin

Well, I was going to sign up for Smugmug, and I thought the 29.99 initial charge was reasonable. Then I read about the 15% deduction from sales and worse, the fact Smugmug keeps your money till it accumulates to 500 bucks or more and then only sends out checks once a month. What photographer can afford to have his money tied up like that? To me it's an insane arrangement that only benefits Smugmug and smacks of arrogance and extreme corporate greed. I'm aware I can go elsewhere, and have. I'm just amazed anyone would allow themselves to be shafted in such an extreme fashion. If I wanted to get a monthly paycheck I'd get a real job, not be a self employed photographer. All the other sites I use, you simply load the image, and pay the fee, and it's done. I get my money, the site or processor gets the money they charge and it's all done, we get paid right away, the way it should be done. The only advantage to the payment set up here is to Smugmug. Getting the interest on the float has to be huge.

fish

Hey Fred, you can save $5 if you use my coupon: ZhWlkhimCnkeI

gus

See how fred has highlighted some words in his post...how do you do that ?

marlinspike

Fred Zepplin wrote:

Well, I was going to sign up for Smugmug, and I thought the 29.99 initial charge was reasonable. Then I read about the 15% deduction from sales and worse, the fact Smugmug keeps your money till it accumulates to 500 bucks or more and then only sends out checks once a month. What photographer can afford to have his money tied up like that? To me it's an insane arrangement that only benefits Smugmug and smacks of arrogance and extreme corporate greed. I'm aware I can go elsewhere, and have. I'm just amazed anyone would allow themselves to be shafted in such an extreme fashion. If I wanted to get a monthly paycheck I'd get a real job, not be a self employed photographer. All the other sites I use, you simply load the image, and pay the fee, and it's done. I get my money, the site or processor gets the money they charge and it's all done, we get paid right away, the way it should be done. The only advantage to the payment set up here is to Smugmug. Getting the interest on the float has to be huge.

Fred, I take it you are not a real photographer. First off, you don't get a pro account for $29.99. Secondly, you don't have to wait for $500. They automatically send it if you make $500 within one month. If you don't make $500 within one month they send to you when you get $200 or when you ask. Another thing, that 15% includes credit card fees and processing fees. Have you looked at other sites catering to pros? 15% is the lowest I've found. I hate to jump to conclusions, but I smell a troll.
Richard

Fred Zepplin

I'm to be jumped on for a simple question?

marlinspike wrote:

Fred, I take it you are not a real photographer. First off, you don't get a pro account for $29.99. Secondly, you don't have to wait for $500. They automatically send it if you make $500 within one month. If you don't make $500 within one month they send to you when you get $200 or when you ask. Another thing, that 15% includes credit card fees and processing fees. Have you looked at other sites catering to pros? 15% is the lowest I've found. I hate to jump to conclusions, but I smell a troll.
Richard

Define "real" photographer. I make a living selling prints. I also know what credit card fees cost since I am a merchant. The average cost for a business the size of Smugmug is 2% MAXIMUM. Small timers like me pay up to 5%. If this is the kind of response I'm to get to a serious question, I see this is not only not the site for me, but not a forum I want to participate in. Also there is no reason for me to wait for any amount of money. I both need and deserve my money immediately. If a site like Sumgmug was providing me a free service, well, they may have a leg to stand on for keeping a percentage and charging me at the same time. When I pay them however, they should provide me with service.

Enjoy the company of the "real" photographers here, my dear boy. I won't be back.

fish

Fred Zepplin wrote:

Define "real" photographer. I make a living selling prints. I also know what credit card fees cost since I am a merchant. The average cost for a business the size of Smugmug is 2% MAXIMUM. Small timers like me pay up to 5%. If this is the kind of response I'm to get to a serious question, I see this is not only not the site for me, but not a forum I want to participate in. Also there is no reason for me to wait for any amount of money. I both need and deserve my money immediately. If a site like Sumgmug was providing me a free service, well, they may have a leg to stand on for keeping a percentage and charging me at the same time. When I pay them however, they should provide me with service.

Enjoy the company of the "real" photographers here, my dear boy. I won't be back.

Fred, the responses you've received so far were from members of the Digital Grin forum, not official employees of smugmug.com. If you want to take offense at the comments, then so be it. There are lots of other photo-sharing sites available if you don't like the smugmug terms of service. However, imho, few (if any) of the other photo sharing sites provide the value and performance that you get with smugmug...and NONE of the other photo forums/communities are as non-competitive and helpful as dgrin.com.

I have no vested interest in either smugmug or dgrin...just a very satisfied customer and volunteer.

I hope you reconsider.

gus

Fred Zepplin wrote:

cost

This underlining is also something ive been trying to master. Any ideas how to do it ?

cmr164

Humungus wrote:

This underlining is also something ive been trying to master. Any ideas how to do it ?

Look at the top of your edit window when you do a reply. The B,I,U stands Bold , Italic , and Underline. The little drop down arrows on the top allow you to chose font, font size and font color.

marlinspike

Fred Zepplin wrote:

Define "real" photographer. I make a living selling prints. I also know what credit card fees cost since I am a merchant. The average cost for a business the size of Smugmug is 2% MAXIMUM. Small timers like me pay up to 5%. If this is the kind of response I'm to get to a serious question, I see this is not only not the site for me, but not a forum I want to participate in. Also there is no reason for me to wait for any amount of money. I both need and deserve my money immediately. If a site like Sumgmug was providing me a free service, well, they may have a leg to stand on for keeping a percentage and charging me at the same time. When I pay them however, they should provide me with service.

Enjoy the company of the "real" photographers here, my dear boy. I won't be back.

Ok, I'm a little testy today since my shutter broke, and I apologize for that, but I still think you're finding the 15% fee ridiculous to be ridiculous. First of all, the reason I didn't think you could make your money as a photographer is that you found a $29.99 fee to be just reasonable. You get a lot of server space, a lot of bandwidth, a lot of customer service, and lot of labor, all that stuff costs big. Also, when someone reports half-facts (the $500 thing), they automatically are put on my possible troll list. Also, "what photographer can afford to have his money tied up like that" I don't see how somebody could make their living with photography and make less than $500 in print sales/month. Also, these other sites you are talking about, what sites are these? How would you like smugmug to pay? Paypal? Because that's opening up a whole nother can of worms. Oh, and I realize credit card fees are between 2 and 3% for a large company, but there's a lot more to the 15% than credit card fees. Not to mention I don't know of a similar site that has a lower fee.
Richard

fish

Fred, you may want to consider sending an email to help@smugmug.com, rather than posting in the forum. You may get a better, more personal response that way.

Just a thought.

Andy

well, allow me to relate my experience here

Fred Zepplin wrote:

Define "real" photographer. I make a living selling prints. I also know what credit card fees cost since I am a merchant. The average cost for a business the size of Smugmug is 2% MAXIMUM. Small timers like me pay up to 5%. If this is the kind of response I'm to get to a serious question, I see this is not only not the site for me, but not a forum I want to participate in. Also there is no reason for me to wait for any amount of money. I both need and deserve my money immediately. If a site like Sumgmug was providing me a free service, well, they may have a leg to stand on for keeping a percentage and charging me at the same time. When I pay them however, they should provide me with service.

Enjoy the company of the "real" photographers here, my dear boy. I won't be back.

fred, sorry you are taking this so personally. it's a forum now, for 15%, i'm happy that smugmug takes care of

* billing
* collecting
* sending the print order to ezprints
* fulfillment
* customer service (a print isn't right? they handle it, not me)

and if you take the time, to read carefully, the terms on the help section, you can see that money of any amount will be paid out upon request..


you can read it all here

now, gut it up, rethink this, and maybe, just maybe, you can actually learn something here at dgrin...

Mongrel

oh jeez where do I even start with this?

Unbelieveable?
Arrogant?
blah...blah...blah...

Dear Fred,

Frankly I don't understand why you even bothered . Did it make you feel better to get that off of your chest? I certainly hope so, because it didn't do much for me at all.

Obviously, you need to take your business elsewhere. Smugmug is just a nasty rotten greedy faceless corporate entity preying upon the unsuspecting professional print seller :uhoh . Imagine the gall of charging 15%! And on top of that making you 'wait' for 'your' money. :cry

You really should consider the Flea Market circuit and doing your own prints and framing. You can charge whatever you like and you can only accept cash payment. Totally eliminate the middle man and give yourself full control .

For a lowly dawg like me, I'll happily give Smugmug INC. my $100, upload an unlimited amount of photos and GALDLY turn over 15% of *my* money. Why? Let's see...

I don't have to print anything.
I don't have to mail anything.
I don't have to get involved with handling the money.
I don't have to track my transactions.
I don't have to maintain my own website.
I don't have to pay server fees.
I don't have to *do* anything but process my shots, upload them, and set the pricing.
I GET great support, almost immediately.
I GET great stability, and haven't lost a picture yet.
I GET a nice layout, interface, cobranding, etc. etc. etc. ALL without even having a CLUE.
I get the advice and support of great Photographers here at dgrin, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy like a good cherry fire on a sub-zero night.



there's more, but I've got some pitchas' to upload

In closing, I for one hope you don't return, unless you have an apology in hand- and a serious change in attitude

gus

What he said...on ya mongs

Mitchell

Having said all that, is anyone making any money here at smugmug? Should a lowly amateur like me pay the $100 for the professional site just so I might sell some of my pictures?


mitch

GREAPER

Humungus wrote:

See how fred has highlighted some words in his post...how do you do that ?

BOLD makes the letters pop OUT like that I think.





Thanks Cletus for the arrow trick...

luckyrwe

How do you do the red arrow?

GREAPER

luckyrwe wrote:

How do you do the red arrow?

It pays to read EVERY thread here at Dgrin


ARROW TRICK HERE

luckyrwe

GREAPER wrote:

It pays to read EVERY thread here at Dgrin


ARROW TRICK HERE

My brain is too full, I need to archive some of the info to a DVD or something. :confused

marlinspike

Mitchell wrote:

Having said all that, is anyone making any money here at smugmug? Should a lowly amateur like me pay the $100 for the professional site just so I might sell some of my pictures?


mitch

You only sell the photos you actively market and that have an audience. Don't expect sales if you just put some photos up and don't tell anyone.
Richard