Can people order prints of my photos online? A straightforward question that has a straightforward answer: Yes. If you travel abroad as part of a group, often there will be an exchange of addresses at the end of the trip, and subsequently a few photos mailed around ("Took this of you two"). Sometimes other people get a great shot of something you missed (e.g. you had diarrhoea during the Valley of Kings tour). Rather than guess what prints people might want, how about letting them choose, order, and print their own?
Find a local service
There are a number of websites that let you achieve the above. I looked at PhotoBox, an award-wining UK site:
Launched at the beginning of year 2000 PhotoBox was the first online photo sharing and printing service in UK and Ireland and has grown to be the market leader... Pro Gallery allows photographers to create a retail ready online showcase of their photos in minutes. PrintButton bolts on sophisticated e-commerce and print ordering facilities to existing image websites and image archives.
PhotoBox: simple to use and customize
Register for a free account, upload a few photos, and create a Pro Gallery to make them public and available for purchase:
You will even get your own URL so you can direct potential customers direct to your gallery/ shop-front. For example, mine is here:
Within limits, you can customise your gallery homepage, choose what products you want to offer and at what prices, and provide a commentary on each photo. In addition to prints, your images can be used to create and sell a range of products including calendars, etched glass cubes and keyrings, t-shirts, greeting cards and postcards, cushions, canvas wall hangings, mugs, mousemats, placemats, coasters, stickers, and CDs (although you'll have to pick up to six):
Unfortunately there are a few interface quirks for Mac users (e.g. the buttons in the bottom frame, above), although hopefully these can be sorted as the site's developers have been informed.
Quality
My three trial orders (calendars, prints) where promptly processed and delivered, arriving well-packaged and in perfect condition. I was happy with the quality, and look forward to offering my fellow travellers photo souvenirs as of our next holiday.
Great review, I'm currently giving Photo4Me a go. If they turn out not so great then I'll try Photobox. It's a shame both of these services are in the UK.
Hi Levi. Just had a look at the Photo4Me website. It looks a bit like a "work in progress" at the moment, and there's currently no information about who is behind the site which puts me off. I get the impression that perhaps it's an individual, especially with the prominent PayPal logo. I hope the prints meet your expectations.
Hi Bruce,
I found this link through our server log.
http://www.photo4me.com has been going for 4 years and it is run by myself. We are currently enjoying a growing community and regular sales. The site is not an 'upload and share my images with my friends site' it's aimed at people trying to sell their images as posters etc for decoration in private homes and offices. As a result many of our members only upload the best of the images they have.
And yes it's a work in progress but a site which listens to it's community, and implements ideas when they are brought up by it's members. It's free to join and the share of proifts is very low, compared to many other sites out there which charge for uploading, and therfore I think we are in a very competitve position.
Regards
Jon
OK, thanks for the clarification Jon.