Recouping membership fee

[Fireball]

I'm brand new to SmugMug, using the 14-day free trial period right now. My question is, I want to be able to make my photos available for purchase but it seems you can only do that with a pro account. My fear is not being able to recoup the $149/year fee in sales. Do you have any problem with that?

I only do photo shoots on the side as a part-time business but have more and more people wanting photos from me when I've been at a scene and taken photos. I'm losing money just printing them off a few 4x6 photos when the images belong to me, and I have to pay for the 8 ink cartridges for my Epson printer, if you know what I mean.

Just getting my feet wet in selling images right now. For the last few years I've just been burning a high resolution CD for my clients, and they print them off wherever they want.

Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

[J Eddington]

Charrie, I would say give it a try. Part of it will depend upon how much you sell and if you underprice yourself! Once you have your account I bet you will sell more. Figure out how many you expect to sell and then price so that you recover your fee and make some money for yourself. Now go get that Tax ID if you don't already have it.

[HeatherLou]

Cherrie, my first year with Smugmug, I was afraid of the same thing. I made just enough, (internet is not my primary way of selling, I get there initial order by projection proofing) to cover my cost of Smugmug. Now I do know, that you can't just give them your sales, to pay for it, so what I do is when its close to my renewal time, I have them send me all of my sales, and I pay for my next year by debit card, so it does even out!

[Fireball]

Tax ID? Okay, that's a whole other thing I don't know about. You have to have one to have a pro SmugMug account? Which also means paying taxes, right? I've been losing money for the past couple of years since starting to do photo shoots because I'm still adding to my equipment and definitely not charging enough, etc. At what point do you need a tax ID?

[SmugMug]

Originally Posted by Fireball

Tax ID? Okay, that's a whole other thing I don't know about. You have to have one to have a pro SmugMug account? Which also means paying taxes, right? I've been losing money for the past couple of years since starting to do photo shoots because I'm still adding to my equipment and definitely not charging enough, etc. At what point do you need a tax ID?

You can just send us a w-9 form and enter your Social Security number for the time being. If you earn over $600 commissions then you will need to report it as income and pay taxes on it.

Here is a good page for you to go over: http://www.smugmug.com/help/reporting

There are lots of codes floating around for a discount on your first year of SmugMug service.

Look forward to working with you!

Markham

[Fireball]

Well, I didn't make that much last year so maybe I don't need to go with a pro account afterall unless business picks up this year. :)

[AndrewCCM]

That $600 rule is for FEDERAL INCOME TAX.

You still have to have a STATE TAX ID if you make any sales and collect state/local SALES tax. Of course, you're in OK...so I am not familiar with how the state deals with it... Online sales fulfilled outside of the state may require different sales tax and/or require none. But any sales you make inside the state, typically require you to collect and pay SALES tax to the state.

If you are going into business of any kinda and collecting money, you need to contact your state/local tax office. Otherwise, you're asking for trouble. It doesn't matter if you're getting your feet wet or not. If you take money, you have to pay tax.

Good luck.

[SmugMug]

Originally Posted by AndrewCCM

That $600 rule is for FEDERAL INCOME TAX.

You still have to have a STATE TAX ID if you make any sales and collect state/local SALES tax. Of course, you're in OK...so I am not familiar with how the state deals with it... Online sales fulfilled outside of the state may require different sales tax and/or require none. But any sales you make inside the state, typically require you to collect and pay SALES tax to the state.

If you are going into business of any kinda and collecting money, you need to contact your state/local tax office. Otherwise, you're asking for trouble. It doesn't matter if you're getting your feet wet or not. If you take money, you have to pay tax.

Good luck.

SmugMug charges sales tax to any California resident that buys any print/gift from any of our Pros. That is because we are headquartered here and we are doing the selling for the Pro. Otherwise sales tax is not charged to anyone outside of CA.

I do concur it is good to talk to your tax adviser accountant for more details.

[Redneck]

Been there, done that.
Cherrie, Smugmug Pro was for me the best thing I could have done. It gave me as a passionate photographer a professional looking appearance and boosted the sales. And the best thing is you don't have to worry about the fulfillment of the orders. The prints are of high quality, processing and shipping is fast and your customers will be very satisfied.
IMO the Smugmug Pro account is a very good investment that pays for itself in a short time frame. After all, of course you have to deliver good pictures.

[Johnnycb]

Use the code word......"Flickr" and you'll save $$.

jb

Johnnycb added 2 Minutes and 27 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Markham,

Any word on when SmugMug Pro will launch?

Before Summer?

[SmugMug]

Originally Posted by Johnnycb

Any word on when SmugMug Pro will launch?

Before Summer?

SmugMug Pro is going to come in phases so we don't have an official launch date. It is important to note that coupons are being worked on as we speak!

Other aspects like Packages and EZ Customizer etc are coming soon as well.