Anyone using (or have used) Photoshelter here?

[joshmcculloch]

Hello everyone,

Just doing some research into considering Photoshelter for my website, not so much from a DAM and archiving solution (Peter got me setup there:-) but from an e-commerce aspect.  I do my own website, and can't afford to have a custom e-commerce solution, but was wondering about peoples experiences with Photoshelter.  I would like to be able to sell prints, but mostly license stock images from my site directly.  Any opinions?

Cheers, Josh
www.joshmcculloch.com

[peterkrogh]

Josh,
I'll be meeting with them in San Francisco next week.  I think they have a very good service, but I have not played with it much.
Peter

[joshmcculloch]

Thanks Peter,

I'm keen to hear your opinion and comments.

I'm also curious as to whether anyone has personal experience with Digital Railroad and how it compares to Photoshelter.  Anyone making any income from either?

Cheers, Josh

[BobSmith]

Sort of in between a full custom solution and using a third party site are things like LightboxPhoto of ImageFolio Commerce.

http://www.lightboxphoto.com

http://www.imagefolio.com

i've used ImageFolio for a few years and am currenlty setting up a LightboxPhoto site.  LightboxPhoto is strongly preferred.  ImageFolio Commerce hasn't been updated in years and it shows.  LightboxPhoto offers a really nice rights managed selling system designed specifically for stock photo sales. 

Bob Smith

[steve_watkins]

Hi Josh,

Sorry, haven't used PhotoShelter or DR, but if you want to put an e-commerce site together yourself for a low budget - without compromising on features and quality - then check out Pixaria at www.pixaria.com

It's a very slick PHP based script and is about the most professional looking and functioning on the market. It is owned by an independent PHP developer, which has the upside of a very personal service and involvement from Jamie the owner, who is constantly upgrading the package. I think it is a much better option than say Lightbox Photo.

If you already do your own website then it shouldn't be too tricky to wrap your head around Pixaria. I'm currently developing my own Pixaria-based section to my own site. There are some front-end demos on the website, but no back-end ones at present. Definitely worth a look if you want to go down this route.

Cheers,
Steve

[pburwell]

I've been using Lightboxphoto for over a year and am really happy with it.

[joshmcculloch]

Hey Peter,

Any thoughts on your meeting with the folks at Photoshelter?

Cheers, Josh

[peterkrogh]

Josh,
Good meeting with Photoshelter.  I think they have a good service, and we are working to include some new functionality.
What do you want to do with it?
Peter

[joshmcculloch]

Hey Peter,

I have signed up for Photoshelter, and have started uploading, keywording and pricing images.

I would like to use it for a few things:

1) Running my own stock sales.  They seem to be the leader in this area, as they now have Fotoquote RM pricing now built in, and full E-Commerce sales and downloads that I don't have to be involved in.

2) Having a place for clients to view proofs and download final files.

The one thing that seemed to be lacking is the promotion on their end...  Digital Railroad seems to be marketing themselves very heavily to Ad agencies, etc in the hopes of having them use DR photographers and images.  Any idea what photoshelter is doing on the marketing end of things?  Do you have an idea how many image buyers are actually coming to Photoshelter? 

Anything you think would be a drawback to going with them?  Any chance of you spilling the beans on new functionality? 

Cheers, Josh

PS: For anyone that's interested, my photoshelter site is here:  www.photoshelter.com/user/joshmcculloch

[peterkrogh]

Josh,
I think you will see Photoshelter do more promotion in the near future.
Peter

[joshmcculloch]

Hi Everyone,

In case anyone is interested, here is a bit of an update with my photoshelter site...

One of the coolest things you can do with Photoshelter is customize your corner of photoshelter to look and act like your own website.  If you're quite web and code savvy, you can do the customization yourself, but I opted to have the designers at Photoshelter do the customization for me...  Have a look at how well the transition is between my site and my photoshelter archive here:  www.joshmcculloch.com

In a period of a month, I went from my basic website with a few galleries, to almost 700 images online that are keyworded and priced (with 300 more coming online in the next couple weeks!), with full keyword search, lightboxes, and E-Commerce sales capabilities.  Not bad for $30 a month.  I priced out a site like this for myself a while back and I was looking at $10000 and I can almost guarantee it wouldn't have been this good!  While I haven't seen any sales yet, I'm very optimistic this will make my clients more likely to license images from me instead of my competitiors, as I am one of only a few that have this capability in my market.

I also spoke with with one of the Execs at Photoshelter with regards to Marketing, and it seems they have some big plans moving forward.  Here's hoping!  

Hope this info is useful!

Cheers, Josh

[danaltick]

I'm a Digital Railroad user myself.  I'm very impressed with it.  Haven't looked into Photoshelter, but it sounds like the two are both good services.  I think in order for these services to succeed in the fight against the big stock agencies. they are going to need good funding.  I read some encouraging news about DR the other day that keeps my hopes up http://www.digitalrailroad.net:80/corpsite/press_02-05-07.html.

Dan

[davepatt]

I justed subscribed to PhotoShelter and I love it.  I am on their basic plan at the moment busy uploading my images.  I am very impressed with what Josh has done.  I will be upgrading soon so I can do the customization and selling.  Fantastic site.  It will be interesting to see what they do for marketing.  Any hints from your discussions with them Peter?

Dave

[peterkrogh]

I need to get an update, but have been traveling quite a bit and unable to keep up.
Peter

[RW]

I signed up for PhotoShelter earlier this month and love it. Not only does it compliment my site, it makes my site a lot more functional and looks better in my opinion. I've sent a few lightboxes and galleries to clients quite painlessly. Much easier to do things straight off your website than having to dig through your computer to find things. And you get more for your money than DRR. Customer service is great.

feel free to take a look at my site: www.rwongphoto.com