New for Pros: Photo Extras Help You Sell More Through Bay Photo
One of your top requests over the years has been, “Can I offer my customers mat and frames when they buy from my site?” Which spurred us to come up with today’s catalog-busting release, Photo Extras.
What are Photo Extras?
They’re à la carte upgrades available for prints you sell through Bay Photo. Your customers can choose them through an ‘Add Photo Extras’ button under each item in the shopping cart, before they check out.
What are the options?
There’s tons! Frames, mats, contemporary mounting options and even paper surface textures are all available with a few mouse clicks. And they can be purchased in lots of different combinations to create something truly unique.
- Mats. 3 professional picks: 1.5″ wide mats in White, Off-White and Black.
- Frames. 14 tasteful types: Flat wood, box wood or aluminum in a variety of colors. All served with clear, shatterproof acrylic.
- Mounting. 7 sturdy selections: 2mm Styrene, Bevel mount, Gatorfoam and 3/4″ Standouts.
- Finishes. 5 awesome alternatives: Pebble, Canvas and Linen surface textures, Satin Laminate and scratch-resistent Protective Coating.
*Note that not all options are available for all print sizes.
Swing by our general catalog page to get more info about each choice.
How do I use them? Do I have to?
Photo Extras are on by default for all Pricelists set to Bay Photo. Open up your Pricelists manager and create a new Pricelist with Bay Photo as the print lab. Be sure the “Allow Photo Extras” box is checked at the bottom of the page. That’s it!
If you’re already using a Pricelist that sells through Bay Photo, you’re already offering your customers the full array of goodies because it’s on by default. You don’t have to do a thing.
But you don’t have to offer Photo Extras if you don’t want to. Disable them by opening up your Bay Photo Pricelist and uncheck “Allow Photo Extras” at the bottom.
Can I set my own price for Photo Extras?
Right now, Photo Extras are only available at the default price, but you’ll still earn a profit on the print portion of the order.
We’re pretty sure some Pros will want to set a markup on each Photo Extra upgrade (just like the other goodies in your catalog), but don’t worry — it’s on our radar!
Are they covered by Coupons and Packages?
At this time, no. Photo Extras aren’t yet available for prints purchased in Packages, and Coupons apply just to the print portion of each order. We didn’t want you, the Pro, to end up covering the unexpected cost of a ginormous mat and frame. That wouldn’t be fair, would it? More about Coupons and Packages.
Your customers will love Photo Extras because they get it all in one step: Ready-to-hang, beautifully finished prints without a trip to the framing shop.
Which means you’ll sell more and make more money.
We hope that you’ll tell your clients about them, give them a try and share your feedback with us. Our ears are perked.
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This is awesome. I’ve wished for this at http://www.jeffsinon.com for a looong time! Thanks SM!
Awesome! Thanks SmugMug!
This is terrific news, I always thought the omission of a framing option from Bay Photo was a serious deficiency in the products I offer my customers.
This is great, but….. one thing I’ve asked for is the ability to AUTOMATICALLY add mounting on any image 11×14 and above. I don’t want my customers to even think about it. I want to set my price for the print and have that price automatically include mounting and they just never even have an option to purchase an unmounted print.
Hi David and we appreciate your feedback. We do have Pros wanting to sell only mounted prints but keep in mind that we already offer mounting options like Standouts and prints mounted on gatorboard and matboard through WHCC and EZ Prints, that aren’t part of Photo Extras. You can offer them in certain sizes only, if you wish.
That’s nice, except for a couple of problems:
1) I don’t want part of their order coming from WHCC and part of it coming from Bay Photo
2) In fact, I don’t want to switch to WHCC just for this feature
3) You should know: The number one reason why many of my orders are processed directly via Bay Photo ROES instead of going through smugmug is this very reason. (i.e. this is lost income for smugmug).
You can’t have two labs on one gallery, so this isn’t really a great solution…
Thanks for the additional feedback, David. This is definitely the kind of stuff we’re looking for!
I whole heartedly agree with david, nothing about a photographer says “cheap” more than a print 11×14 and above not mounted on styrene. Please make this the default for those size prints or at least an option to be the only option. Thank you.
I agree with David, this still does not solve my problem of wanting to offer my large prints mounted as a standard feature. I also dont want to use WHCC just for this feature! I have been waiting for this for years so its disappointing that its an extra only and we cant set the pricing. It would work if we could set the price to zero for the mounting and pay for it out of the print profit which will be marked up accordingly.
Amazing! I was just about to order some photos and buy mats and do it locally. Now I don’t have to
That’s nice, except for a couple of problems:
1) I don’t want part of their order coming from WHCC and part of it coming from Bay Photo
2) In fact, I don’t want to switch to WHCC just for this feature
3) You should know: The number one reason why many of my orders are processed directly via Bay Photo ROES instead of going through smugmug is this very reason. (i.e. this is lost income for smugmug).
Sorry, my reply went to the wrong place.
Agree with David Terry… I’d like to make mounting and texture standard on all my large prints.
Hi Tim, thanks for the request. We hear you, loud and clear.
When are you going to offer printing “extras” from Bay Photo such as PHOTOS WITH BORDERS. Please!!!
Cynthia, thanks for that great suggestion. You’re surely not the only Pro who’d like to see borders on prints. Could you vote for this here so we can keep track of that request? http://feedback.smugmug.com/
I have already voted –more than once!– for borders on prints…going back many months now. How long, and how many votes will it take before SmugMug finally ‘hears’ that borders is something we Pro users want…??
Another vote for prints with boarders!
If only I could spell them correctly
I agree with adding of boarders. Right now, I have to create an image with a boarder and upload it. It is a pain, if someone wants a different boarder.
Cynthia – The new version of Picasa from Google will automatically add borders to your image with the click of a button. They offer one style border with Outer and Inner Thickness, Corner Radius, and Caption Height. You can choose the color of both the outer and inner color. I prefer their simpler “Museum Matte” which is just the Outer and Inner thickness. You use sliders to establish the exact width you want for both thicknesses. I used it when I wanted to create an odd sized image that would fit a standard size print.
http://www.wild-side-photography.com/Photos/Revisit-the-Classics/20573890_HrnMRD#!i=1751095802&k=R7Xj93W
Maybe this is something for SmugMug to imitate–if you trust your customers with the multitude of choices they can make to alter your image.
Hopefully you’ll launch this with Loxley also asap. There’s no point offering the service to us across the pond if it’s not going to be the same service. Loxley have a vast selection available for me to order this is the next step to making this bigger and better. I agree with many points others make on here also. If your going to offer something ground breaking make it truelly ground breaking. This is a great idea but it only scratches the surface.
Also 15% of a €10 order dosen’t bother me atall, but 15% of say a €700 euro order is crazy, I could pay an employee to edit a wedding, design and album and process 10 orders for that fee. Just my 2 cents, IMO it’s a great but flawed system.
it discourages me from running large print orders through yourselves as I have 2 part time employee’s that I get way more out of.
On small scale orders I see this being incredible, I never have to touch it and you manage it perfectly. Sounds great
I’m just concerned about the flat rate 15%. Maybe others think it’s great all round. I see loads of great feedback and honestly I love it so far with the online viewing area and potential for re-selling.
But I won’t let big orders go through this, I don’t think it’s good value but am open to be corrected on this and listening………..
Awesome! Time to go through my price lists and double-check everything.
How come we are limited to only some of Bay Photo’s frame options? http://bayphoto.com/mounting-finishing/framed-prints/frame-profiles.htm
Hi Jason, we picked the most popular, best-selling options to offer through Photo Extras, but if there’s something that we find you absolutely have to have let us know. We’ll see about adding more options down the line.
I just thought some of the other frame choices looked nice…
Great new feature – already ordered a framed print to see what the product looks like for my customes – thanks smugmug!
WHCC also offers frames & mats. If you could make them available thru SmugMug, you could get mounted prints & framing from one lab. It would be nice to be able to make some profit on frames & mats too.
You said this is only availabe at the default picture price? So since I sent my prices on my images I can’t use this?
Hi John, you can sure enable Photo Extras. You’ll still earn your profit on the print portion of the order.
Finally!!! Thank You!!!
Great idea but it needs a little work. I will continue to order frames manually via my WHCC account so that I can mark it up in addition to marking up the print. Depending on the client or event, I switch from lab to lab so it would be great to offer framing on any of the labs. I will hold off until some more tweaks are made. Also, for the person wanting borders…. I use Efex’s borders and have them embedded on the print before I load it to the SmugMug site… so it comes from the lab with a border on it, no matter which lab I use. I used to use WHCC for proofing and they offer the client choices of borders, but I found that my clients didn’t know how to work it very well, for whatever that’s worth. (Sorry this is so long. )
Hi Cindy and thanks for sharing your workflow on offering borders to your customers! And of course for the feedback.
What a wonderful option! I hope that everyone will be patient. This is something new and comes with bugs. (isn’t technology wonderful?). Thank you SmugMug. I look forward to the better extras that come out of this……….
Great idea! How about a Loxley options for us BritMuggers? Oh, and package options too… (hint, hint)
Seems like potentially a good idea, will these be available through Loxley in the UK. I would also like mounted photo option ( in the one place ) The less clients need to think about the better.
However 15% of a print order is high enough. I imagine you’ll be looking for 15% of a full frame order and I am just curious to know if this is the case. If so it would seem expensive and a luxury that would be stupid of me to use as opposed to actually being benifitial.
Just curious is all, overall Smugmug is awesome and very happy currently. 15% is a bit steep on prints etc, 15% on a frame order would be bonkers IMO
Hi Nick, the 15% would just apply towards the marked-up part of the order for which you earn profit, which is to say just the print portion. Not Photo Extras, since they are not available for Pro pricing at this time.
Would love to have this available as an option with Loxley Colour in the UK, would help sell more “non-standard” print sizes which better suit images like 12×8 vs 10×8.
I’m with Nick and Jonathan on this one – please Smugmug, can you get Loxley to offer something similar? I know they do wall mountings but as yet not through Smugmug… I’m sure that this will help us photographers sell our wares even more easily and make us all richer as a result. Otherwise, please keep the innovations coming – I’m a true Smugmug convert! Keep up the great work!
Hi Ed, helping you sell more and make you richer is exactly what we had in mind when we dreamed this.
Thank you for the input — it seems like there’s quite the demand for Photo Extras overseas,
Please Please Please offer framing and mats for pictures that are 8X10 and up.. 8X10 matted to a 11X14 frame is the perfect and heavily purchased options for smaller rooms and offices. Also many give this size as gifts. I do not see where framing and matting was available for lower than 8X14.
Hi Scott, I’m not sure I follow. Are you looking for mat/framing for prints larger or smaller than the 8×10 size?
I read Scott’s comment to be he wants framing and mat/framing for images AT the 8×10 size and I wholeheartedly agree!!
This is great news but please allow us to set our own prices in the future. “…Which means you’ll sell more and make more money”. Right now it just means that Bay Photo sells more and makes more money. I still get the same print sales.
Hi Jesse and thanks for weighing in. We’ve gotten so many requests over the years about you wanting to offer ready-to-hang options for prints, we figured that giving them the option makes it that much more likely they’ll buy from you, period. You still earn your profit on the print portion whether or not they choose a Photo Extra, but we hope the ease of use will motivate them to click that button and seal the deal.
I’m excited about the new extra’s but I often, very often get asked if they could buy collages when I allow my customers to buy on their own. I also get request for sport mounts for baseball and football etc. Do you think this will ever be added. My customers often ask if they can buy from shutterfly for these reasons. I would love smugmug to offer them.
At this time we don’t have collage templates in the gallery itself, although you can create collages as the gallery owner via MyCanvas: http://www.smugmug.com/prints/catalog/ABCP#More
As for sport mounts, could you vote for this on our feedback forum? I’m sure you’re not the only sports photographer who’d love to offer this: http://feedback.smugmug.com
Currently my print lab is ez prints. The ez prints lab does not have the photo extras feature? If no, then how can i change my print lab to bay photos.
H Irfan, right now Photo Extras are offered through Bay Photo only, but you can always create a new Pricelist set to Bay Photo, then apply it to all of your galleries. Here’s how to do that, and if you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to ping our heroes: http://smu.gs/r6pZ4M
I too would love to see this rolled out for Loxley,especially if customers could see what their order would look like framed and matted as we can see when using Loxley ROES.
This is great. I just tried it as a customer. It would be great if the image of the print changed to reflect the selection of the frame and mat so the customer can see how the color of the frame and the mat go with the picture. Otherwise they have to guess if their choice works. It is a lot of money to not have a better idea of what they are buying.
+1 for this idea…
Hi Don, this is a great idea. Thank you for sharing it with us!
DITTO to Don’s comment.
100% agree!!!
Framing is really good to offer. But, if you want me to enthusiastically promote frames and such a little piece of the pie would be in order.
I agree – give me a piece of the pie and I will promote. Otherwise I’ll wait until I receive incentive.
same here – why should someone profit 100% of my image and I not receive a percentage. No go.
I actually would like to leave customers with the option to choose from two labs. At this point I have to ask them which they’d prefer (as both offer different price points and different products) before setting up their gallery – but if my customers could choose for themselves, right here on SmugMug, after seeing the options? That would be fabulous! That way they could order small prints from EZPrints and their enlargements from WHCC (which is what makes the most sense economically and quality-wise).
Thank you!
Just wanted to add my 2 cents – this is a great addition to the lineup. Thanks, Smuggy!
Forgot to mention: I’ll also chime in for some of the ideas put forward above. First: the ability to offer a choice of labs within one gallery (would be awesome indeed). Second: updating the thumbnail of the image to reflect the mat/frame chosen would be a truly wonderful (not to mention SLICK) addition. As Don McCunn said, it would be a huge help to our customers, and might even reduce possible dissatisfied/returns.
Again, this is great news. Yowza!
Thanks smugmug! I can’t wait for our customers to give the framing option a try!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
GREAT STUFF! I know my clients will be just as thrilled as I am. Thanks, you fabulous Smuggies, you!
Great idea, but can we have it with Loxley in the UK please?
It’s nice to see mounting as an option but as others have mentioned, I don’t want my customers to have to figure this out on their own. It would be great to make it a “standard” choice on the set up end instead of something that a customer chooses in their cart. For that reason, I will unfortunately have to continue to sell prints larger than 8×10 offline from my SM proofing site if I want to print with Bay.
Agreed
Excited about this option! I’m guessing it will really help sales because most people don’t want to have more work to do once they’ve purchased something. One suggestion, though: Instead of having the button say “Photo extras,” why not go with “Add mat, frame or mount”? You certainly have room to be crystal clear on that button.
LOL, never mind. Just got the feature added to my page and I see you’ve already changed the button. Brilliant!
Hi Holly, glad to hear it!
Nice for customers to have frames and matting available, but if I can’t make any money offering these extras … why offer them?
Hi David, we believe that because these options save your customers a trip to the framing store (and a long wait), they’ll be more inclined to buy prints from you.
WONDERFUL! I have been wanting this for years. I would love to use smugmug bay for my one stop shop but the lack of mounting on styrene has been stopping me. Have not tried it yet. I wholeheartedly agree with everyone that I would like mounting to be the only option for prints over a certain size. Its just totally necessary and should be the only option my customer sees. Im going to try it out though. Ive stayed away from SM ordering for awhile because I find the styrenen mounting so necessary, glad I might be able to come back!
when will be able to add a frame fee?
George, we can’t give ETAs on stuff we’re working on but you can be sure that this feedback to let Pros set markups on the Photo Extras has been noted. It seems to be pretty important to all of you. Thanks!
Nice! I am liking this option.
I like SmugMugPro – but what would really make me LOVE it would be if you offered the option to create custom products! I would LOVE it if I could sell my photo package fees, custom book orders, or whatever else I might fancy on my SmugMug account. That is my biggest complaint with SmugPro right now. Something similar to what RedCart offers would be AWESOME! I don’t mind the order fees since you guys are doing all the work, but I would like to offer more products in my store!
Hope you guys can offer this sometime soon! If so, I’d be so in LOVE!
Thanks for the great feedback, Jo. We love it, and really appreciate you taking the time to type this all out for us!
Hi, I like this feature but am a little confused by two things: 1. When I click on Buy This Photo, I expected to see Photo Extras right there, so I could try different extras to see how they looked before deciding on the final purchase. However, seems you have to choose what you want and you only get shown the extras when you click on Checkout, which is counterintuitive to online shopping (you click on what you want how you want it BEFORE you click on Checkout). 2ndly, my smug doesn’t say “Photo Extras” in that button. It says “Add Frames and More”. Did you change the title, or does it say this because I am accessing an owner-buy? I need to know what to tell people to look for if they want framing. Also, not sure how many people will go for frames that don’t have a matting option. Personally, if I am going to frame something, I mat it. Framed images without mats just don’t really make it, in my opinion. Especially frames, no mats, and acrylic instead of glass.
Agreed!
Double agree! Especially regarding seeing the product before ordering it. This would boost sales for all of us.
OK, just read through comments and see you changed the button for clarity. And yep, I see the mat tab now. So the things I’d still like addressed are being able to see the options BEFORE checkout (many people in online shopping won’t click on checkout until they are ready to . . . check out . . .meaning they are done shopping and have made their choices). And then also – I can’t see a way that customers can see what their choices look like on their image. For example, if they choose a certain frame and mat, how do they know what that looks like on their image? Or is that also right in front of my nose and I’m not seeing it?
Hi Kara and thanks for taking the time to send us all this great feedback. We’ve never had the ability to preview what your image looks like on any merchandise product, but this has been something that people have asked for, so you’re not the only one! It’s a great idea, though. Would you mind voting for this on our feedback forum? http://feedback.smugmug.com/ This will help our Product team prioritize the requests that are coming in and see what you want most.
Understood – but it’s different not being able to see what your image will look like on a ceramic tile and not being able to see what it will look like with certain color and style mat &/or frame. That would be like ordering without being able to preview the crop based on the image size. I wouldn’t be willing to do it and fully expect most of my customers wouldn’t be willing to do it either.
It all seems great in theory,
Smugmug branding isn’t something I signed up to initially.
I asked was it deletable and I was told it was, I don’t think it is?
Photo Extra’s!!! These need to be available through LOXLEY too ASAP.
Key Rings, Mugs and the knick knack stuff customers want as well as the high end stuff.
This should work great for schools Photography, but I don’t see print bundle options? Certain galleries could be set up for schools specifically at a better rate for the bulk order and then allow 10 working days before the order is processed in order to full fill everything at the one time.
Possibly you should integrate a Studio Management software??
Your missing many many tricks. Money making ones for yourselves!!!!!
It’s an awesome product, but why are photo extras after the check out button???
Seems like a clear error, most people are finished shopping at this point.
I would like to offer certain photobooks also and framing. Loxley offer both, please set this up!!!
15% to process smaller orders is fine.
15% of a 10×8 or even a 12×10 isn’t an issue for me nor is 15% of 20 10×8′s
But 15% of a 60×40 framed is obscene.
As would a 40 page 16×12 photo book for instance.
Perhaps on the lower end your percentages are fine but on the higher end way way off?
It’s kinda like even if you get LOXELY set up for Photo Extras where is the incentive for me to process large orders??
I could hire an employee for the same Money as some orders and have them for a full days work as opposed to one order with to hight a percentage taken.
That said I still love SMUGMUG!!!
I really do, it’s a rough Diamond. Can some of these issues be dealt with or considered please???
Schools and Creche orders or a bulk shopping centre product would be very important to me…. With all the usual extras.
Mounting for these is also important…
I asked Loxley to arrange a phone call to me today from themselves and Smugmug, I got nothing!!!! Need to speak to someone about setting up pricelists. I have one done and it’s fine but I don’t want to do more until I speak to someone in case I’m missing stuff than could be benifitial.
Thanks…
Nick
Hi Nick – This is incredible feedback and it’s crystal clear to us that you’ve been thinking about these issues for quite some time. We can’t say how much we appreciate you taking the type to write this all out for us, and giving us your side of the story. Our team always follows the comments and feedback on this blog and you can be sure we’ve noted yours.
It sounds like you may still have some questions about selling through your SmugMug account, so please do send us a message either through our help portal, or by chatting directly with one of our Support Heroes: http://help.smugmug.com/
We’re always happy to help.
Great idea and much needed, But until I make a profit from this add on I will continue to have clients order through me and have the framing done locally with a price reflecting that difference. Wish it were otherwise but I am not in business to make money for others without making it for myself. Saying we will sell more prints is possible and beside the point. For sure our clients will spend more money, yet we will not see any of it.
Totally agree. I will wait until the profit is shared, since because of our artwork THEY are able to make a profit…not the other way around.
Really glad to see that framing and matting is now an option. I’m confused however as to why there can’t be a markup? Ive sold framing and matting for years in my studio and never did it for the cost of the frame and mat. Doesn’t quite seem fair now does it?
“Can I set my own price for Photo Extras?
Right now, Photo Extras are only available at the default price, but you’ll still earn a profit on the print portion of the order”.
I was just told by a client that my prices for framed prints was “ridiculous”. He said it would be cheaper to just order a print from me and have it locally matted and framed by a picture shop for less. It was like 25% less. Can smugmug do something about their 15% markup on these more expensive items so we don’t have to mark it up so much to actually make money? I think my customer may have ordered the framed print if the cost difference was like 10-15% over him doing it with the local shop.
Why didn’t you just sell him the unframed print? What’s the point of trying to get cheap people to shell out for frames if you’re not going to see a significant improvement in profit?
Does the gatorboard option include a mounting block or hanger? I cannot find that information anywhere.
Hi Dee, the Gatorboard mounts don’t come with hanging hardware, but the 3/4 Standout mounts (slightly different product) come with holes drilled in the back. Hope this helps!
I would love to be able to sell some of my landscape images through my smugmug site, but there’s no way I’m going to do that until I can sell *only* mounted prints with no option for unmounted. Hope this gets fixed… and that it doesn’t take a year for it to happen.
Agreed with Tim Kamppinen.
I would love to offer featured prints available as specific products – mounted, framed, or gatorfoamed, etc, etc, etc – so that I can advertise these items and make coupons for them. Having no ability to specify a particular option without the ability to remove it, such as mounting, is all that stops me from being able to do this.
BayPhoto is getting orders for framing because of our photos. I want to offer an entire package from start to finish and have my markup on the entire product.
I have a question, as a new Pro-subscriber to SmugMug. Do I get any type of discount off of the pricing the public sees/uses if I order my own prints matted and framed through my smugmug site to be used in my upcoming gallery shows or for my own personal use?
Hi Beverly, here’s how it works: As a Business-level Pro you have the ability to set a custom pricing that include a markup. This way you earn profit when people buy from you. The price is any amount you specify over our base catalog prices, which are the prices you see here:
http://www.smugmug.com/prints/catalog/ABCP#BayPhoto
When you are logged in to your SmugMug account we know it’s you and we won’t charge you your own markup. So anything you buy from your own site will be at the above catalog prices.
The frames and mats that are offered via Photo Extras can’t currently be marked up with the rest of your pro pricing, so you get to buy them at the same price as your customers do.
Hope this makes sense! If you still have more questions about how it works and need to bounce more ideas off of us, our heroes are always standing by: http://help.smugmug.com/
Any updates on when the markup on “Photo Extras”? There is no incentive for me to offer them without making any money on it. Thanks
Jacek, we have never been able to give ETAs about new things we are delivering, and we still can’t. We know it may be frustrating to hear, but we do listen to your feedback on how our features work for you… or not. Thanks for weighing in.