Fotomoto experiences

[hartacus]

Hi all,

Does anyone have any experiences to share of using Fotomoto to sell prints?

I'm thinking of starting to offer prints for sale. I already have a website related to my photographic endeavours so it sounds like a bit less work than setting up on another platform. I also has a free tier which is a must for me; cash is tight and this is a hobby.

I'm in Australia so perspectives on international shipping would be great. I understand they print and ship from the Bay Area in the US, which wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me as long as the international shipping experience and rates are reasonable.

I've tried looking for reviews online but most seem to be from about 2009-10.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Derek Lofgreen]

Yes Fotomoto is a Bay Photo product that makes it easy to integrate a shopping cart system directly into their printing services. It is a little dated as far as design and UI but the UX is really pretty good. Set up is easy, really easy. The down side is that you are locked into using Bay Photo exclusively. Don't get me wrong, they are an amazing lab and top notch. I use them. The thing is you are in Australia so your customers will automatically be charged the international shipping. I would send them an email and ask them about the shipping costs to Australia before you decide.

It looks like you have some great labs in Sydney that you could use to self fulfill orders. You havn't mentioned what your web site is hosted on. Is it a platform like squarespace, wordpress or homegrown? I would look for some solution that lets you self fulfill the orders through a local lab. I know PhotoShelter has that ability but it does cost some $$. Not a lot to get started but it costs.

Hope it helps.

D.

 

[hartacus]

Yes Fotomoto is a Bay Photo product that makes it easy to integrate a shopping cart system directly into their printing services. It is a little dated as far as design and UI but the UX is really pretty good. Set up is easy, really easy. The down side is that you are locked into using Bay Photo exclusively. Don't get me wrong, they are an amazing lab and top notch. I use them. The thing is you are in Australia so your customers will automatically be charged the international shipping. I would send them an email and ask them about the shipping costs to Australia before you decide.

It looks like you have some great labs in Sydney that you could use to self fulfill orders. You havn't mentioned what your web site is hosted on. Is it a platform like squarespace, wordpress or homegrown? I would look for some solution that lets you self fulfill the orders through a local lab. I know PhotoShelter has that ability but it does cost some $$. Not a lot to get started but it costs.

Hope it helps.

D.

Thanks for your reply, really appreciate your insight into using Fotomoto. I've taken your advice in asking about the international shipping, and I've also set up an account to investigate the options. It actually seems a little better than I had expected, on two fronts: 1. there is an option to use it as a shopfront only and do manual fulfillment e.g. through a local lab, and you can choose which option to use per order, and 2. their international shipping is cheaper than what I could ship for locally - I even asked them to confirm the shipping rates because I couldn't quite believe that, but yes, Australia Post is just expensive at low volumes.

So it looks like not a bad option given my criteria. I like that both item prices and shipping prices are controllable. I also like that I can fulfill through a local lab if I want to, because I do like my lab, but I'm also very time poor at the moment and it may not always be viable.

I have my own website built with Wordpress. It is currently a modest camera repair blog, but if I take this option (instead of e.g. Darkroom or SmugMug), I plan to set up a gallery on there as well. And I might even try both methods and see what fits.