Third Party Printing, Pricing & Fulfilment...

[Mr Pid]

After running my own portfolio website for a few years I want to add the option to sell prints, not just of photography but artwork as well.

I am currently torn between Format and Smugmug to host the portfolio and do back end fulfilment.

One thing I cannot seem to determine is whether Format allows for individual pricing per picture. I would be looking to sell at different price points for artwork and photography prints, despite some being the same size. I can see that Smugmug offers this option, but only other most expensive plan which isn't cheap when you add on the commission from sales as well.

The additional dilemma I currently face is whether to do competitively priced prints without limited run, or a limited run with a higher price point. Being an artist myself, I would want a piece of art, and a photography print, to feel special and unique to me, so would say that the rigmarole of having the print shipped to me, to then be signed and sent on to the customer would be a better option.

The second point is Format seem to favour Printspace for their fulfilment and Smugmug favour Loxley (being UK based). I have had good experiences with both of these labs so not too fussed on this, but again price may be a deciding factor.

Just looking to see if anyone has a two pronged approached to their website selling similar sized products at different price points and what sort of workflow works best?

I am trying to work smarter, not harder

 

[Mintchocs]

Just my two pence, a limited run would apply to people who see your work as an investment with the potential of increasing in value over the years. Cheaper prints would be for people who are more likely to buy your work because they find it appealing. The former would be more applicable to a photographer who has established a name while the latter would be for someone just starting out.

 

[Mr Pid]

Having done further research I am leaning towards the exclusivity element over low margins and high turnover.

I visited one of my local stores and saw lots of artwork on display, lots of which I had seen in friend's houses so felt that I didn't want to fall into this trap of "selling out" so to speak. That's not to say that if a big company wanted to licence something I would turn them down ;-)

I am still thrashing out which web host would be better. I think I will start a trial on Format and see how it compares to Smugmug

 

[Stuart_65]

I'm looking at options for an online portfolio and only recently heard of Format, which looks good. Have you (or anyone else) used it much now, and if so how have you found it?

 

[Mr Pid]

I opted for Smugmug in the end. As good as Format appeared it does not give you options for bespoke pricing, you can only have blanket pricing for all of your products.

Smugmug allows me to price certain photos or galleries differently, which is important for me as I will sell artwork for a higher price than photo prints.

 

[jerry12953]

Good luck with your sales.....