Photo Cart is AWESOME!

[Sonny]

After many years of using websites like Photoreflect, Smugmug, and Exposure Manager, Michelle & I decided to make the jump to Photo Cart. The aforementioned site are pretty much a one-stop-shop solution, but all of them have their short comings.

Photo Cart is in a league of their own. The software, which is a one time purchase of $329 (worth every penny), is designed for photographers. No monthly fees cutting into your profits! You set Photo Cart up on the back of your website. We use NoblePay (Authorize.net) to handle all our credit card orders which costs about $25 a month. Even PayPal still takes 3% commission per transaction. On one $1,000 order, that's already $30.

Photo Cart has a lot of options which can be slightly overwhelming when you first start, but after spending a full day, I started to get familiar with it.

[janetg]

and just so you know...tim is phenomenal. i've had pc for 3+ years now, but only started using it to it's fullest about a year ago.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by janetg

and just so you know...tim is phenomenal.

Yes he is!

[chris swift]

I've been working with Tim for many years and his product is fantastic.

He even listed NoblePay on his resources page as a processor that works with PhotoCart which was really cool of him.

Many of my photography clients use PhotoCart and Honestly I don't think I've ever heard a bad thing about him or his product.

Keep up the good work Tim

-Chris

Originally Posted by Sonny

After many years of using websites like Photoreflect, Smugmug, and Exposure Manager, Michelle & I decided to make the jump to Photo Cart. The aforementioned site are pretty much a one-stop-shop solution, but all of them have their short comings.

Photo Cart is in a league of their own. The software, which is a one time purchase of $329 (worth every penny), is designed for photographers. No monthly fees cutting into your profits! You set Photo Cart up on the back of your website. Now use NoblePay (Authorize.net) to handle all our credit card orders which costs about $25 a month. Even PayPal still takes 3% commission per transaction. On one $1,000 order, that's already $30.

Photo Cart has a lot of options which can be slightly overwhelming when you first start, but after spending a full day, I started to get familiar with it.

[Kalrog]

Holy dead thread resurrection batman!

I am looking at moving from a SmugMug hosted solution to something more self handled as it will work better with my current workflow and profit structure. Photo Cart came up as a good option and I would like to get some recent thoughts on it if anyone is able to do so. I am technically competent so I am not afraid of running a website or dealing with that side of things. Does anyone have it hosted from a GoDaddy site specifically as I'm there for at least another 8 months.

Specifically what I am interested in is the option for self fulfillment and the significantly lower transaction fees offered by a self hosted solution. I would like the option of an automated fulfillment solution for event type stuff (sports etc.) so the best of both worlds would be great but I think I am willing to do the manual stuff for the events in order to get the benefits of the self hosted stuff.

Any thoughts on this anyone? Other options?

[janetg]

photocart is great..and it does just what you want. i usually pdf out my orders, and use mpix pro for fulfillment - the shipping is just about the cheapest around and for certain types of fulfillment - it's good enough quality. i do not host with go-daddy, but if you check the photocart forum, there has been discussion on it.

[Redneck]

Since I noticed how Smugmug is treating their pros (charging higher print prices than the lab, charging shipping cost while the lab offers free shipping etc. in addition to the annual fee and the commission) I'm considering switching to a self hosted solution.

Are you guys still satisfied with Photo Cart? What is good, what is bad?

One thing that really bothers me is that I haven't seen one "pretty" or "appealing" sample of website integration yet. The demo site on Photo Cart Demo looks dull and ugly to me and I couldn't find any nicer one so far. That's why I'm wondering if the PC layout can be customized well or not.

[Sonny]

We still love using Photo Cart. It's the best thing we've to get away from companies like Smugmug, Zenolio, etc. I will say this, Photo Cart fits our needs.

You can "pimp out" your Photo Cart website. If you need help with a Photo Cart make-over this lady does a great job and she is very affordable. She has a bunch of her samples on the website.

http://lovebugsphotographydesigns.com/?cat=16

[Kalrog]

I'm still with PhotoCart and I do still like it a lot.

The thing you need to be aware of though, is that PhotoCart is really intended to be a sales solution - it isn't something that you probably want to be your entire site. At least not straight out of the box. You will almost certainly want some sort of CMS to handle the static portions of your site - things like contact info, product offerings, portfolios, etc. With one link being the one to the client galleries and ordering/proofing.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by Kalrog

I'm still with PhotoCart and I do still like it a lot.

The thing you need to be aware of though, is that PhotoCart is really intended to be a sales solution - it isn't something that you probably want to be your entire site. At least not straight out of the box. You will almost certainly want some sort of CMS to handle the static portions of your site - things like contact info, product offerings, portfolios, etc. With one link being the one to the client galleries and ordering/proofing.

Good point Nathan.

[Redneck]

Thanks guys. That was pretty much what I was hoping to hear.
I'm aware of the fact that PC is just the "shopping cart" part of the website and I actually like it that way.
I think I'm ready to make the change to Photo Cart. Since my SM Pro account is still good for 5 months I have plenty of time to build a professional website and to think of every little detail (I hope).

[Redneck]

I'm a license holder of Photo Cart since last week and I have to agree: PHOTO CART IS AWESOME.

It is a lot of work to customize it to your special needs though. It took me a week to set everything right. I hope it's smooth sailing from now. Right now I'm in love with PC and mostly love the thought not paying any commission or over priced prints.

[Kalrog]

Now you just have to pick which lab you will use. Since that choice isn't made for you anymore. You can stick with Bay (like you had with SmugMug) but keep in mind that you could also use WHCC, Millers, etc. And one more I found that I really like is Pounds. They are national, but they also have an office local to me and their service is great.

[Redneck]

Yeah, I know. I'll stick with Bay for now, had nothing but great experience with them. I tried Miller's a couple of weeks ago and got totally disappointed. Their complimentary test order looked promising but the first real order was horrible. They cut all images aslope leaving a white border on one side and it took them 5 days to get it done correctly. Never happened with Bay.

[jkderby]

WEB site for Photo Cart?