Image Management System - Third Light

[Marky P]

Hi Guys,

Just thought I'd post a quick link to the IMS I use for clients to view and purchase their photographs online via username/password accessed online albums.

I've been using this system since September 2004 and it has been superb.

From print preview and ordering to accepting credit/debit cards, this system is superb for photographers.

I'm pointing the system out as it has just been upgraded to Version 5 and it is a stomping piece of kit that makes life so much easier.

The programme is Third Light IMS and a free trial version is available from www.thirdlight.com

For the record I do not receive any benefits whatsoever from this nor do I have any financial interest in the company. This is NOT a spam, I am simply recommending a cracking IMS for photographers as a satisfied customer of the company - credit where credit due!

Mark

[BarryM]

Only issue i have with this is that it sends images out from photobox, now anyone with half a clue, and in this case most seen as they are ordering via the internet, can check up photobox print prices, which i think is a no no. Dont get me wrong, photobox is excellent but when trying to open a gallery to sell images, one click away gave the actual print price, which isnt good business for the tog as such.

[Marky P]

When the clients order photos via your IMS, no mention is made about photobox/printbutton. The new V5 has branded invoices within the packaging with your details on.

To all intent and purposes, you are doing the printing

Mark

[BarryM]

Ahh gotcha, my apologies then, but if photobox is printing, are they sending out images directly to customer, just wondering cos i have to have mine sent here, so i can get invoice details and remove packaging. Then i send on to client, in my own packaging/wallets and they have no idea.

[JBMUK]

I used IMS for 18 months, but most orders were verbal or by email so I stopped paying the £80 per month.. I dont have a problem using photobox as any switched on client knows what you can get prints for and understand that its the photographer they pay for, not simply the printing..

ims is great for photographers to share and have their own branded pages/directories..

[england1965]

Only issue i have with this is that it sends images out from photobox, now anyone with half a clue, and in this case most seen as they are ordering via the internet, can check up photobox print prices, which i think is a no no. Dont get me wrong, photobox is excellent but when trying to open a gallery to sell images, one click away gave the actual print price, which isnt good business for the tog as such.


It's always an aspect of Photobox that bugged me - but I sell it to my couples that the Gallery is there "for their guests" - the couple get the images on CD/DVD as part of their Portfolio. They choose to send the link to their guests. If they want to get landed with sorting prints out for their guests - that's up to them. I know one couple who bought a DVD burner to copy their disks for all the guests. Fine by me - I'd been paid before then :)

Any extras from the gallery is a brucie bonus

Cheers

Mark

[lostmysnorkel]

Sorry, but set-up fees then £65-80 per month. Then 5% on card fees etc etc.

That's like ten times more than it costs me to sell images on-line at the moment.

I use Paypal's free Shoping Cart for all my on-line orders.

It's simple really:

Rather than pay £100-200 for a 'Set-Up Fee' I spent an hour or so on Paypal's website creating, copying and pasting the HTML code for the buttons.

I then created a HTML table (another hour) with the print sizes, prices and Paypal buttons in. Saved this as a template.

To produce a client gallery after a wedding, I set Photoshop off on a web gallery automate task and go and make a cup of tea.

Come back with my tea and open the gallery in a HTML editor, then copy and paste the Paypal table into the image pages.

Add a link to the gallery from my home page and upload.

Finish my tea and call the couple to tell them their gallery is on-line.

The last wedding I did, with a gallery of 218 images took little over an hour from firing off the web gallery automate command to uploading the pages.

As for fees and such - I think it's around 1.8% +20p per order and that's all Paypal charge. No standing fees or monthly charges. More than £50 in the Paypal account and it's a free transfer to your bank account.

Every time an order is placed, an email arrives telling me what images have been ordered by whom and where to send them. Ordered from Photobox the customer usually gets them, via me and in my packaging within 3-5 days.

It works, it's cheap, and once you have the table saved it's pretty quick.

[BarryM]

A great method you have there pal, ive always been interested selling reprints via online, and would use paypal too. I might just look into that a bit further. Do you find most of your customers are aware of what paypal is and use it??

[lostmysnorkel]

The beauty of this is, if YOU have a Paypal merchant account, your clients DON'T NEED ONE! They can pay with any credit or debit card, or, of course their Paypal account if they have one.

To be honest, the real benefit I find is that by putting the images on-line, the couple get a week or two to proof and decide which ones to go in the album. Then when I see them again to put the album together, they already know, more or less, which shots they want.

As well as that, as an example, a wedding I did three or four weeks ago, has earned me £200 in reprints, all for the sake of the extra hour's effort!

[JBMUK]

paypal is very useful like this, I use it to sell montages and dvd... so must agree with lostmysnorkel..

[lostmysnorkel]

Finally!
After nearly 1,200 posts.
Thank you jbm - I can go to bed happy now!
... so must agree with lostmysnorkel..
:lazy2: :lazy2: :lazy2: :lazy2: :lazy2: :lazy2:

***sarcasm3** ***sarcasm3** ***sarcasm3** ***sarcasm3**
Sorry...just couldn't resist!

[GlenJDiamond]

Hi there,

Can we have an idiots guide posted up for this technique please.

or...

Can you post a link to a site that contains your paypal'd semi-automated gallery then we can have a look at the "source" html to see how you have created it.

thanks
Glen
A1photoimaging
http://www.professional-wedding-photographer-kent.co.uk

Sorry, but set-up fees then £65-80 per month. Then 5% on card fees etc etc.

That's like ten times more than it costs me to sell images on-line at the moment.

I use Paypal's free Shoping Cart for all my on-line orders.

It's simple really:

Rather than pay £100-200 for a 'Set-Up Fee' I spent an hour or so on Paypal's website creating, copying and pasting the HTML code for the buttons.

I then created a HTML table (another hour) with the print sizes, prices and Paypal buttons in. Saved this as a template.

To produce a client gallery after a wedding, I set Photoshop off on a web gallery automate task and go and make a cup of tea.

Come back with my tea and open the gallery in a HTML editor, then copy and paste the Paypal table into the image pages.

Add a link to the gallery from my home page and upload.

Finish my tea and call the couple to tell them their gallery is on-line.

The last wedding I did, with a gallery of 218 images took little over an hour from firing off the web gallery automate command to uploading the pages.

As for fees and such - I think it's around 1.8% +20p per order and that's all Paypal charge. No standing fees or monthly charges. More than £50 in the Paypal account and it's a free transfer to your bank account.

Every time an order is placed, an email arrives telling me what images have been ordered by whom and where to send them. Ordered from Photobox the customer usually gets them, via me and in my packaging within 3-5 days.

It works, it's cheap, and once you have the table saved it's pretty quick.

[lostmysnorkel]

Hi Glen,

The 'Idiot's Guide' - I am assuming you have a Paypal Merchant Account set up, if not, get one!

1: Log in to your Paypal account and click on "Merchant Tools"
2: On the right hand side, click 'Paypal Shopping Cart'
3: Within the text under STEP !, there is a link to the Shopping Cart Page - Click it
4: Click 'Get Started'

5: Enter your product info in the boxes provided, ie: Print Size, Price, select your button type, then click 'Add More Options'.

6: Enter your postage rates, and set up the Options Choices.
I use a Drop-Down menu for Colour/Black & White/Colour Gloss/B&W Gloss/Sepia as standard finishes.

7: You can play with the 'Customise page style' etc, and I also have my own Payment Return PAge which brings clients back to my website after completion.

8: When happy with your choices, click the 'Create Button Now' button and you will be given 2 sets of HTML code.

Copy & Paste the first block of code into your website. This will place the Paypal button in the web page, when clicked on by a customer, it will add that item to their shopping cart.

Your customer is now in the Paypal site, and clicking on 'Checkout' will be walked through the payment process.

I have found that the Shopping Cart summary web page opens in a new window when an itwm is added so have never needed the 'View Basket' button also provided.

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You do need some semblance of HTML literacy for this bit - but I'm a real dunce and I manged it!

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Once you have created the code for ONE Paypal button, you can alter the code yourself for different products and prices.

This is how I created a table as a template, with the different sizes and prices attached to each button.

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Hope this helps, to have a look at a page with the table in place, click the link below:
http://www.m2visions.com/KAR-806/pages/KAR-806-001.htm

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I have also created separate pages for Canvas Prints and Photo Gifts, although these require the client to enter the image code themselves. WHich is simply achieved by adding a 'Text Box' at stage 6.

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I used to use a software package called 'Fast eCart' which is incredibly easy to use, BUT, had to enter each print size as a separate product with it's own image etc etc. There was talk of adding the option for different sizes/options/prices of the same product in an upgrade but I've never gone back to look to be honest.

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Hope this all makes sense - if not PM me and I'll try and explain a bit better. (BTW - I'm off on hols for a week so may take a while responding)

[GlenJDiamond]

thanks - I'll take a look and see if I can set up a "dummy" set on my other website.