ExposureManager

DTMPhotos · January 9, 2006

Ok...At the risk of getting beat, I recently was informed about a smugmug like company called exposuremanager. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with them and could compare them to SM? One of the things that drew me in is that on pro sales, they only take 10% rather than 15% (that would have been nearly $500 for me in '05)? Note that they use EZPrints as well and you also can "self-fullfill" which is nice for products that they don't carry (for file sales or for one of my hot new products which are acrylic statues from Denny Mfg). Thoughts?

Thanks!
Derek

jfriend · January 9, 2006

Previous discussion of exposure manager

DTMPhotos wrote:

Ok...At the risk of getting beat, I recently was informed about a smugmug like company called exposuremanager. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with them and could compare them to SM? One of the things that drew me in is that on pro sales, they only take 10% rather than 15% (that would have been nearly $500 for me in '05)? Note that they use EZPrints as well and you also can "self-fullfill" which is nice for products that they don't carry (for file sales or for one of my hot new products which are acrylic statues from Denny Mfg). Thoughts?

Thanks!
Derek

For a previous discussion of ExposureManager, check out this thread and scroll down to message #23 (I don't know how to make a link into the middle of a thread) and start reading from there.

My synopsis is that they have some things (especially for pros) that smugmug does not and smugmug has some things that they do not. You need to decide which is more important for you. In particular, you should understand whether exposuremanager has the same level of customer service for print orders, shopping cart issues, online support for site custmization, etc... that smugmug has (I have no idea, just an important thing to check).

Andy · January 9, 2006

jfriend wrote:

For a previous discussion of ExposureManager, check out this thread and scroll down to message #23 (I don't know how to make a link into the middle of a thread) and start reading from there.

John, click on the post number, it gives you a single post view:

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=173750&postcount=23

Then you can link a single post

jfriend · January 9, 2006

Not single post, whole thread, viewing a particular message

Andy wrote:

John, click on the post number, it gives you a single post view:

http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=173750&postcount=23

Then you can link a single post

I knew that and have done that several times today. I didn't want a single post because the exposure manager discussion starts at post 23, but goes for a number of posts in the thread. I wanted an anchor on that message so the whole thread would be scrolled to that position.

Andy · January 9, 2006

jfriend wrote:

I knew that and have done that several times today. I didn't want a single post because the exposure manager discussion starts at post 23, but goes for a number of posts in the thread. I wanted an anchor on that message so the whole thread would be scrolled to that position.

Ah ok - in such cases I just link it both ways.. becuase many folks miss the "view thread" part of a single post link .

jfriend · January 9, 2006

Found it.

Andy wrote:

Ah ok - in such cases I just link it both ways.. becuase many folks miss the "view thread" part of a single post link .

Actually, you just gave me an idea. If you go to the single post and then click on the thread link in the upper right corner, you find a link that does what I want. It shows the whole thread, but scrolled to the message I want. The link looks like this: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=173750#post173750 and it works.

Cindy · January 10, 2006

Just checked out the links and ExposureManager...
Hi Derek,

I just checked out the links and went through the Exposure Manager site again. (taking a mind break from photo paperwork - lol - so I come here for creative thinking - oh boy...)

Anyhow I didn't spend much time their but very quickly noticed several real pros & several real cons...
cons:
- no 'luster' uggghhhh - i love luster
- no croping: hmmmm that means the lab decides

unless you upload for every possible crop

or proof and upload only the sizes requested - uggghhh
- I wasn't at all impressed with the way pages loaded from the sites I visited... they all looked very messy random loading
only a couple came close to 'looking pro okay'... my site is no where near where I want it yet but I think it's got most of theirs beat allready. (very humbly and treading water I make that statement though lol)
I ran into some short term confusion while clicking photos to find out how to view larger sizes (not stated). I didn't figure it out but instead just kept clicking as many of my customers would and eventually I got a bigger size. hmmmmm
- after adding some stuff to the carts at first glance I thought how cool... but then realized not only could I not crop I couldn't tell where the lab intended to crop. Most customers wouldn't ever question it but if I were offering to sell on-line via the lab I don't want the lab deciding where to crop.

Pros:
- filenames are listed in the cart
- you can offer packages

not sure how hard it is to set up but it was easy for me as a customer to select and add to the cart which is what really counts
- I'd love to offer multiples of items - heck I'd love to offer the cards (choose one card, pack of 10 or pack of 25, etc... that would be great for holiday and event customers) so some of the gift options are by far greater... still I would never trade luster for more products... NEVER
- It appears with the exception of 4x6's that all their products are priced cheaper than smugmug which kinda got to me... I mean hey their both using the same lab so way is their such a big price difference on some items... but then again I got to thinking I'm not on the inside, don't know what it takes to offer product x verses x, etc so maybe I'm overreacting. I'm quite positive my customers ask the same question regarding my products... cheaper at such & such verses using me

so I decided to shut up and trust that SM would lower to prices on such items whenever it's feasable for them to do so.

I shared all this because I to want more options and a better ability to offer customers what they want, etc., etc... but I havn't found anything better than Smugmug so far. I'm hopeful and confident Smugmug will enlarge our product base to include items such as the card packs in time. I understand they're searching for away to add print packages, discount coupons etc... I can hardly wait for wishlists that customers can save, share or send to friends & family members. I beg for this stuff all the time :-) but I'm also thankful they're not offering these things until they've worked out bugs and researched till their green to find the best possbile way to do this. All in all I guess I've grown very close to Smugmug in the short year I've been here. They're kinda like an extended family once your here for awhile. They listen to me complain and still patiently answer all my stupid repeated ?'s when I don't get it. They add changes all the time (sometimes quicker than I'm ready for). Even though they won't say when my guess is that many of these things will be added soon simply becuase of the rate they work to improve. Stick around a month or so and then we'll count what's changed

flyingpylon · January 11, 2006

At my "day job" we sell and service products. On the service side, we can classify customers in 3 fairly distinct groups.

1. Do it for me

2. Help me do it

3. Do it myself

I think most of the photo sharing / selling sites out there can be classified in much the same way when comparing the services they provide and the customers (photographers) they've targeted.

In my opinion, Smugmug falls into the first category. You essentially outsource your entire print selling operation to them. You have a fairly large amount of design customizability options, but the actual process of selling, printing, etc. can't be customized much.

Exposure Manager (and others like Photo Reflect) seem to fall into the second category. They provide more flexibility in the process of selling, but don't provide as much (if any) customer service (to end users/photo buyers).

The third category is for people who want full control of every part of the process and are willing to provide all of their own customer service. These people really require their own web site and online store, which means they will have to acquire the expertise to implement these things or will have to hire someone to do it for them.

The problem of course is that while many people will fit cleanly into one category or another, some people just don't. And given the relative "newness" of online photo sharing, it's hard for any one company to address every category's needs. In addition, many people just don't understand the difference between the various categories.

So in the end, there is no "best" online photo service. There are different ones, and each appeals to different types of users. The key to finding the right one for you is understanding what your needs are, and aligning those with your expertise and budget.

DTMPhotos · January 12, 2006

The grass is always greener...
Ok...Your responses were helpful and I also spent a little more time both investigating their site and reading through their message group on Yahoo...

Clearly they have some interesting features (ability to self-fullfill would be nice for those products that you can't currently "order" via smugmug such as electronic downloads and some products such as the acrylic statues from Denny Mfg) but in the end, Smugmug just has a couple of features that I can't do without:

1) Professional look and feel even if you don't customize. I'm pretty much using stock smugmug panels as I just don't have the time to do the customization I'd like. It would take allot of time and focus to do some of what I'd like but the stock look just has so much of a professional look.

2) Professionally run. As part of my investigation, I noticed that the folks at EM weren't collecting CA sales tax (EM is in CA, I'm in CA, and my customers are in CA). They gave some run around about why they didn't...I asked some rather pointed questions and suddenly, coming on Monday, they're going to start collecting CA sales tax. Smugmug is run like a business and not a hobby. They've always taken the smart way through the legal paths and I like being associated with that.

3) Color management. The very thing that actually brought me to SM in the first place. They were one of the few online services that actually spoke to color spaces and what space to be in when you upload. The good news (and even occassionally the bad news!) is that the prints from EZPrints always match to my profiled display.

4) Customer support. Look for it on EM. You won't find anything about guarantees, satisfaction, anything like that. I want my customers to be satisfied the first time but if they're not, knowing that my customers can either come to me or with the SM satisfaction guarantee, go to SM who will respond right away.

So...The grass is always greener, but I think I'll stay on this side of the fence!

Andy · January 13, 2006

DTMPhotos wrote:

Ok...Your responses were helpful and I also spent a little more time both investigating their site and reading through their message group on Yahoo...

Clearly they have some interesting features (ability to self-fullfill would be nice for those products that you can't currently "order" via smugmug such as electronic downloads and some products such as the acrylic statues from Denny Mfg) but in the end, Smugmug just has a couple of features that I can't do without:

1) Professional look and feel even if you don't customize. I'm pretty much using stock smugmug panels as I just don't have the time to do the customization I'd like. It would take allot of time and focus to do some of what I'd like but the stock look just has so much of a professional look.

2) Professionally run. As part of my investigation, I noticed that the folks at EM weren't collecting CA sales tax (EM is in CA, I'm in CA, and my customers are in CA). They gave some run around about why they didn't...I asked some rather pointed questions and suddenly, coming on Monday, they're going to start collecting CA sales tax. Smugmug is run like a business and not a hobby. They've always taken the smart way through the legal paths and I like being associated with that.

3) Color management. The very thing that actually brought me to SM in the first place. They were one of the few online services that actually spoke to color spaces and what space to be in when you upload. The good news (and even occassionally the bad news!) is that the prints from EZPrints always match to my profiled display.

4) Customer support. Look for it on EM. You won't find anything about guarantees, satisfaction, anything like that. I want my customers to be satisfied the first time but if they're not, knowing that my customers can either come to me or with the SM satisfaction guarantee, go to SM who will respond right away.

So...The grass is always greener, but I think I'll stay on this side of the fence!

Wow this has totally made our day

I've made sure that everyone at SmugMug has seen this, thanks so much for the very kind words - and we will do our very best to continue to provide you the level of service you've come to expect!

ExposureManager

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