SmugMug vs ... ?

I'm a Zenfolio user myself, though I think they recently changed their pricing so might be far more expensive these days. I think they've also dropped one of the key benefits that drove me to go that way 10 years ago - unlimited storage. I use zenfolio as a bit of a backup system with only a fraction of the photos I've uploaded actually visible.

The selling side of things is relatively straight forward though, and loads of options. The interface is pretty good and the blogging is reasonable. Designing your website is relatively easy, though always tough to get right balance between ease of use and number of options. They're leaning more towards the latter.

I use Zenfolio albeit I got it long ago, and like Tricky01, seem to benefit from 'grandfathered' pricing. It has what I need- the ability to set my own domain name, a shopping cart, and links to commercial printers in most regions. I think it's broadly similar to Smugmug.

I don't really need all the storage for the selling photos side of things. Only a fraction of these are on display for purchase.

I think ultimately, anything that lets you load 'large' images and has a shopping cart should suffice for any casual or amateur photographer. Do Wix or Squarespace offer free trial periods? I've had a look at Squarespace and that looks easy and appealing.

I use Zenfolio, but I'm not entirely satisfied. I have the cheapest option, that includes unlimited storage but NO sales. I used to have the sales option & it was "only" $120.00 US for the year, but now it is nearly double that, I believe, if you want to have a sales cart, etc. The annoyance is less the cost than the fact the price doubled for something I already had.

So instead I don't sell through the site. I still have password-protected galleries, and in theory you could sell the password via PayPal to allow full size downloads. There would be pitfalls to that. But for weddings I prefer to deliver the photos as prints or on a USB stick. The galleries allow convenience for online display, family access.

Furthermore, my best-paid, and primary, work is as a second shooter for another wedding photographer. I simply give her my memory cards at the end of the shoot & she pays me. No need for an online shopping cart.

If I were a landscape photographer I'd buy a domain, use maybe Zenfolio to host the photos, but pay for a separate shopping cart service or fulfillment service.

Maybe.

RE: pitfalls--

Once you sell the password, the client will print as much as they like, or might share the password with family and friends, and this would be looked at as 'lost income' by many photographers (because you are paid only once, for the password/access, and get nothing for the prints themselves). Of course, if you detect such behavior, you can change the password or make it time-limited.

The client may make poor choices in file resolution and printing, and then blame you for poor-quality prints (granted, you can make it clear in the contract that you are not responsible, but anyone who sees the finished product might avoid patronizing your business in the future). This is one reason why many photographers do not release full size files or RAWs to the client, but instead control even how the prints are made.

The original Zenfolio sales system allowed the photographer to order proofs, confirm quality, and then could have the prints fulfilled by ZF's provider (shipped straight to client). I assume it still works that way. It was good. I'm pretty sure MPix was their partner, and did the printing. The photographer got only a percentage of the print sales, so for wedding photos it would not cover labor, travel, etc. But it was nice for landscapea and such, if you priced the prints appropriately.

Problems could arise with the password, or the website, or the client may not understand how to download -- tech issues beyond your control that can make you look bad to the client.

PayPal and other sites are required to account for the type of transaction involved, and may see the activity as strange - i.e. you might get flagged as trying to avoid taxes or VAT, if you don't set it up right and make sure all taxes and such are accounted for -- though I think PayPal is pretty well automated for taxes in the U.S. (For example, in Pennsylvania, sales tax would need to be applied-- other states may not have any).

I had one client struggle to figure out the password use, and how to download from ZF, but other than that, I can't say that I've ever actually suffered any of the pitfalls above.

Thank you,that makes a lot more sense.

I suppose what I'm (still! but it's not your fault @alpha_in_exile, I'm really stupid!) struggling with is reconciling the 'demand' for print sales facility 'baked into' the online hosting platformss vs acknowledging only 0.1% of all photos taken will be printed at all...

It could well be that these ordered prints from photographers on SmugMug/Zenfolio et al represent 99% of that 0.1% (ie 0.099% of the entire number of photos taken, if that) but thats not a market I'm all that familiar with: my currentone is for events and I supply them to the client/Media 'Lead' running the event in the knowledge they'll use them on their website/Social Media only etc...

Really interesting discussion, thanks!

alpha_in_exile wrote: ... In my case, I have thousands of shots on my ZF and don't really relish moving them or sorting them anytime soon.

Indeed, after more than 10 years my photo collection at Zenfolio is now rather large.

I checked how much I'm paying and it's still $US100 a year for the full pro version with your own domain name and shopping cart. I don't think I could afford to switch to anything now!

There is also (for me) the added convenience of the shopping cart linked to printers in N America and Europe. Printing and posting anything from NZ would be slow, very expensive and the risk of damage much higher.