Exposure Manager

[jchooper12]

I am wondering why these places charge a 10% to 20% commission on the sales of photos from their sites when customers are already paying much more for the account that allows you to see the photos??? Everything is automated between the company and the print company so why should should EM or whoever get any of the profit??? The print company is already just doing their business so they are getting paid normally, and EM/others, they have already created the link between the two companies, so that should just be paid for in the membership. To me, it seems like they are more like the companies that own tollways, just collect money. Why should I be giving up 10% to 20% just for that? I hope someone can explain this to me. I am already paying for the service.

[JohnT]

They are in business to make a profit, and the commission is just one of the means of doing so.

[Titaniumblade]

True, but 10%-20% is pretty steep, along with the monthly fees you have to pay for some of these sites and limitied space and bandwidth.

[jchooper12]

They do give you unlimited storage for your photos, but you are right, you only have so much bandwidth for viewing. My main issue is that 10% of my sale for something that requires 0 interaction between EM/Others and the printer, hmmm. EM does not even have to handle shipping, the printer does, wow, the more I think of this, the more of a scam it seems to be. Maybe someone from one of these companies can provide some feedback on this subject, I would love to hear their answers. I know, I don't have to use them, but hey, I like EM for the most part, just not when it comes to them getting a cut for nothing.

[Davidtxs]

exp manager is 99 bux a year for unlimited storage and a 20 gb dl limit i get tons of hits and have never gone past 3gb just dont put 500k files on it and the dl stays low. EMs commision is 10 percent that includes CC cost as well so commision on a 50.00 order is 5 bux its worth that to me to have someone handle the credit card transaction and ship it out its pretty reasonable to me just my opinion

[jchooper12]

But, what if you sale $1000 of photos (I wish!!!) but if you did they get $100, the CC fee would not be that high and the print company would still handle the s&h and all that. THis fullfillment stuff stinks for sure but man, there has to be a limit to how much these companies should really get. God, what if you where the shooter for a kids baseball league and had sales ranging in the thousands, would you really want a company getting all that $$$ in comission. Once again, I know I don't have to use them for sales, but it is easy to use, quick to setup, etc.

[AndrewCCM]

I am happy with EM...and I don't want to deal with CC processing...I also just want a place to dump files quickly with a front-end that matches my site. Zero interaction. I take way too many pics and get way too few sales (after the fact) on the majority to make it worth my time to do it any other way. Being able to just dump em, and be done with it is well worth the 10% to me personally. But I understand your point.

[Titaniumblade]

Originally Posted by AndrewCCM

I am happy with EM...and I don't want to deal with CC processing...I also just want a place to dump files quickly with a front-end that matches my site. Zero interaction. I take way too many pics and get way too few sales (after the fact) on the majority to make it worth my time to do it any other way. Being able to just dump em, and be done with it is well worth the 10% to me personally. But I understand your point.

Andrew I had to go take a second look at what EM was offering. Your right for 100.00 a year it is pretty nice. If you dont mind I will PM you later for more details!

[jchooper12]

For $100 a year with ease of use and unlimitied storage I think it is worth it also, I just don't think I will use it for sales.

[AndrewCCM]

Originally Posted by Titaniumblade

Andrew I had to go take a second look at what EM was offering. Your right for 100.00 a year it is pretty nice. If you dont mind I will PM you later for more details!

Do a quick Google search and you can find coupons... I got my unlimited account for $75 for the year.

[Titaniumblade]

Originally Posted by AndrewCCM

Do a quick Google search and you can find coupons... I got my unlimited account for $75 for the year.

Its not the money, but the options on the custome side of things. The page I see of yours and the examples are pretty plain...Which is not a bad thing, just wanted to know if that is all they offer. Since you use them all figured I would save some time and ask you (the Expert).

[AndrewCCM]

I don't do a lot of custom stuff other than made my template semi-match my website. I do wish they offered a flash based gallery vs. the HTML layout. But really, I pretty much wanted something simple, not gawdy and effective. As far as custom stuff, I believe you can do a lot with it via CSS, etc.. I just don't have the time to fool with it much. For that matter, I need to do that with my old website. I haven't updated it or the galleries in nearly a year! LOL

It might be worth doing their demo (15 days I believe) to see if it is customizable for your taste.

[Titaniumblade]

Yes having a site done in FLASH is the one thing I really want, but the price they want for those is like not worth it.

As far as the gawdy sites, oh heck no, just want something very clean, fast and easy to nav. But also want to be able to change it up easy as possible. Smug is pretty good, but still seems clunky and I dont like uploading via HTTP...

[AndrewCCM]

My site is mixture of flash and html. But the Exp. Mgr. deal is pretty much straight HTML. It works though... I considered SmugMug (and I realize they are now sponsors, EM used to be I believe)...But found the look of their interface a bit "cheesy" in my opinion. Kinda screamed amateur to me.. Perhaps I didn't look at it close enough, but the thumbs up/down, etc.. just didn't do it for me personally.

[Titaniumblade]

I hear you loud and clear on the amateur look! You can remove the thumbs up and down and rating system..thats not an issue it's just a check box and comments as well. Just getting it tweaked down enough to look very clean is the problem. You can do it, but it takes time, that I really dont have right now. Also no FTP this just kills me, as I have had HTTP uploads fail and its so much slower than FTP. and if it fails you have to start all over again if you are dumping mass images out there. But they are working on the flash part, some of it is working today such as the slide show is now flash..but thats about it for now. No word for FTP comming, I am sure they dont offer it for a reason, but no word on that either.