Smugmug Review

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to sell prints online.  I run a local sports website, KernSports.info and I had a lot of parents wanting to purchase printed copies of the pictures we run on our website.  I did not want to deal with having to fulfill the orders myself and I spent a week searching the internet trying to find a solution.

I grew frustrated as I looked around.  Several sites offered free version of their membership but I always found I could not actually sell prints with the free version.  Or every time a print was ordered I had to go back to the website and upload a high resolution copy of the picture for them to print.

I wanted an all in one service.  I wanted to upload the photo and forget about it.  I wanted the website to then handle the transaction, send the photo over fro printing and ship it.

One of the first sites I found was SmugMug.com.  But I was reluctant to use it because it has a monthly fee.  You will probably notice a theme along this blog and that is that I am cheap and I do not like to pay for anything.

But after a week of frustration I finally realized what I wanted was going to cost money.

SmugMug offers several different levels of membership.  As best that I can figure to actually sell photos you have to be on their $20 a month plan or higher.

One of the features I like about this plan is it allows you to control the price your prints sell for.  For example, a simple 4 x 6 has a $0.49 cent cost to print.  I recent ran a sale price for only $0.99 per print.  So that left $0.50 left for every picture sold.  SmugMug kept about $0.07 commission (yes I know I should not have to pay a commission on top of a monthly fee but their is no way around this) and I kept the rest.  

The website handled the transaction, sent the picture over to the printing service and shipped the photograph directly to the buyer without me having to do anything at all.

The other great thing about Smugmug is that you can upload an unlimited number of photos.  I find myself using it as an online storage backup.

You can customize your page and set it up with different themes.

The also offer a variety of security features including right click protection and watermarking of your proofs.  

Although I have not sold a lot of prints yet, I remain optimistic that this is a great way to sell photographs.  Even if you get started with a lower priced plan (they start at $5 a month) I think it is a great way to start building an online collection to share with friends and family.

You can view my page at VincentMartinez.smugmug.com.