Comments on: Zenfolio Review and Sales Update

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Per Ed’s point above, Zenfolio does give you an interesting option that may work for the international user, aka self fulfillment. They charge a flat 4%, and you can ship the product to the customer yourself using any print method you choose. Sure, it will be more work for you, but it will be a way to get your customers your prints and get all the exposure that Zenfolio gives you.

I also found this great SmugMug vs Zenfolio review guide that goes into a lot of detail in case anybody is interested. They also have SmugMug Coupon codes

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

It really depends on what you’re looking for, if you’re looking for a site to upload your photos and not working about a storage limit then I think the medium and high end zenfolio accounts are excellent, and these work even if you are “overseas”. As for selling pictures then perhaps it’s not the greatest if you’re overseas as shipping etc will be done from the US. However you can compare the cost of shipping these overseas to the cost of doing it locally.

If you’re overseas you could also use this as a showcase and then just get your clients to order their choices from you; little bit more work involved but still not a bad solution.

The other site to check out is smugmug. They also have unlimited video storage options, which I think is a definite benefit for most people. It’s not really useful for me to have to store videos on Youtube and pictures on zenfolio, and I think that this is the major drawback of Zenfolio.

If you’d like a $5 discount at smugmug feel free to use this coupon code: MjmiE0xAHBhwQ that I found on the net. (This is not my code as I’m a zenfolio user).

By: New Cool Features I like from Zenfolio | Ivan Makarov - Photography Blog

New Cool Features I like from Zenfolio | Ivan Makarov - Photography Blog — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

[...] services we grow to like, and for me one of these services, as I have written in the past (here and here), is Zenfolio. I like that they are constantly improving and upgrading their services, and they [...]

By: andrew

andrew — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks for the info, too bad you can’t make $$ from all account levels.

By: Ivan Makarov

Ivan Makarov — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Navdeep
You’re likely correct. I think it’s primarily for US based customers, since they use US printing labs.

Andrew
I signed up for Premium account. That’s the only option that gives you a chance to earn profit on your sales. Unlimited storage is nice too. You can upload few Gb from a wedding shoot and not worry about it.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks for the review. I’ll need to pass it on to some friends that may consider using the service.
I’m curious what service plan you signed up for:
Basic, Unlimited or Premium? and why? I see basic only has 1 gb of storage….? thats less than 100 photos for me.

By: Navdeep

Navdeep — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Ivan,

Its cool you made few bucks out of it.
Yes I remmember I read your “imagekind” post. I am not sure if Zenfolio thing would work here in India.

By: Ivan Makarov

Ivan Makarov — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Ari –
Good question. The buyers that bought the most are (1) friends who like my work or do it as a favor to me (kind of like buying a book friend wrote that you know you won’t read otherwise), (2) clients from a formal shoot who feel it is a one way to thank me for pictures they enjoyed, since I typically deliver high res pictures as part of my shoot. Finally, (3) few people simply like the picture they saw on Flickr and they contact me asking how they can purchase a print, but most of sales come through the first two categories.

By: Ari

Ari — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Wow that’s impressive that you’ve made that much money. I need to step up my game and improve my photography… that much money would help me get my dslr in no time! Lol.

Seriously though… out of curiousity’s sake… what kind of people tend to purchase your pics? Is it people that you’ve already set up a shoot with?