Printing photos for profit

hcsteve

Joined: 2005-06-20
Posts: 4
Posted: Mon, 2005-06-20 19:00

Hi all,

I'm working on developing a site on top of G2, and I must say I'm loving it so far. I like the ability to print through PhotoWorks and Shutterfly, but what we really need is the ability to print at a profit.

I spoke to a sales person at Shutterfly, who told me that this type of integration would cost about $15k. I tried to contact EZPhoto, but have not heard from them, and I have yet to contact PhotoWorks.

I'm sure someone has tried to do this before, but I have yet to find it in the forums or on the web. Has anyone worked with any of these services (or others) before? If I can find a service that allows me to set my own pricing for prints, I'll gladly contribute a module for it.

Thanks in advance,
Steve
 
valiant

Joined: 2003-01-04
Posts: 32509
Posted: Mon, 2005-06-20 19:14

i guess the paypal module is something you should monitor. the thread about the paypal module is also in this forum.
 
hcsteve

Joined: 2005-06-20
Posts: 4
Posted: Tue, 2005-06-21 14:56

Thanks valiant, but the important thing for me is the actual order fulfillment, not just the ordering. After a little more searching I found this:

http://phatcatphoto.com/events/gallery/albums.php

Which looks like Gallery 1 using a service called PrintRoom for order fulfillment. PrintRoom charges $99/yr for a professional account, which looks like it supports this type of thing. I have contacted the people from PrintRoom, so if everything works out, I should be able to post a module here for integration with them if anyone is interested.
 
drhiii

Joined: 2003-04-27
Posts: 397
Posted: Thu, 2005-06-23 02:41

Yes, I would be interested in this.

hcsteve wrote:
Thanks valiant, but the important thing for me is the actual order fulfillment, not just the ordering. After a little more searching I found this:

http://phatcatphoto.com/events/gallery/albums.php

Which looks like Gallery 1 using a service called PrintRoom for order fulfillment. PrintRoom charges $99/yr for a professional account, which looks like it supports this type of thing. I have contacted the people from PrintRoom, so if everything works out, I should be able to post a module here for integration with them if anyone is interested.
 
hcsteve

Joined: 2005-06-20
Posts: 4
Posted: Thu, 2005-06-23 21:03

Still haven't heard back from PrintRoom sales. I'll post again when I find out if this is actually possible or not.
 
drhiii

Joined: 2003-04-27
Posts: 397
Posted: Thu, 2005-06-23 21:06

Looking forward to your news. These things are rarely as easy as they sound. So good on ya for sticking with it.

hcsteve wrote:
Still haven't heard back from PrintRoom sales. I'll post again when I find out if this is actually possible or not.
 
hcsteve

Joined: 2005-06-20
Posts: 4
Posted: Fri, 2005-07-01 16:50

Good news! I've been talking to a sales rep from PrintRoom, and they can provide printing services that work with Gallery with their $99/yr pro plan. They charge a percentage of the sale price, plus the cost of the print, and I've yet to see any code, but I'm optimistic about getting this to work. I still have to present this to my customer and get them to agree to the price, but I'm happy to report that the PrintRoom rep I spoke with was very eager to help. He says that they even have sample code to interface with their API.

This brings me to an unfortunate point - if I base my module on their sample code, I will probably be unable to release it under GPL due to licensing issues. I haven't even gotten to this point in negotiations with them yet, but I hope to convince them that by releasing this module, more people would choose to use their services and pay their printing fees. Would anyone else here be interested in using this module? If you want, PM me so as not to clog up this thread.

Steve
 
gte451f

Joined: 2005-07-09
Posts: 1
Posted: Sat, 2005-07-09 01:00

Hi,

I noticed that you were talking with printroom.com about order fulfillment while you did the hosting via Gallery. I would like to hear how this comes out and perhaps even the terms of your arrangment with Printroom. Could you also share how you integrate the two parts (Gallery and printroom)?

Jim
 
jmacdoug2005

Joined: 2005-05-29
Posts: 95
Posted: Sun, 2005-07-10 23:42

I own a Digital Pro Lab in New Jersey. I offer the same services as printroom. I take 12%. I fullfill the orders and drop ship. For details give me a call.

Jeff MacDougall
Owner/VP
New Vision Lab
250 Lackland Drive
Suite 5
Middlesex, NJ 08846
732-356-4490

Open M-F 9am-5pm EST
 
LadensIII

Joined: 2005-07-13
Posts: 41
Posted: Wed, 2005-07-13 01:09

Where is your website?
 
jmacdoug2005

Joined: 2005-05-29
Posts: 95
Posted: Wed, 2005-07-13 01:40

http://www.newvisioncolorlab.com

My consumer site is http://www.myphotostogo.com
 
Atlanta Mike

Joined: 2005-12-05
Posts: 3
Posted: Mon, 2005-12-05 03:20

I know this thread is a little old, but I was wondering if anyone was working on a Printroom module or if anyone else was still interested?

I use gallery on my "family" site, but don't use it on my professional photo site because I can't figure out how to get it to work with Printroom.

I know alot of people (me included) just put photos on the web for others to view with no intent on selling them. But I also shot sports for money and would love to use gallery. I am supprised there are not more people wanting this, maybe there are and I have just not searched enough on this site.

Atlanta-Mike