Slowly I Turned, or How to Find a Photo Fulfillment Site
I’m still (slowly) kicking around company to use for print fulfillment. Right now it’s down to either ImageKind or Zenfolio.
I have a few pictures up on ImageKind right now. I must say I’m not thrilled by the user interface on the site. Unless I’m doing something wrong, it’s a tad clunky to upload a batch of pictures. And it takes a lot of effort to keyword and set up printing options for each image.
The thing that I don’t like most is the overall look of the site. It has a little bit of a low-rent feel to it, like it’s best suited for amateurs.
On the plus side for ImageKind is the price: free for the basic services which, let’s face it, is where I am now. I can upgrade to one of the other services later on, like the $100/year package that sounds loverly. Also on the positives is the fact that IK is owned by CafePress, so they undoubtedly know a thing or two about order fulfillment. And because it’s CafePress, there are a bajillion things I can get my photos printed on besides paper, from t-shirts to keychains to underware.
On the other hand is Zenfolio. First, it’s not free. The basic account is about $25 and it goes up to $100/year for all the hoopty-doo. Try as I might, I think that’s the only negative I can come up with. Wait… Also, I should mention, ZP is only the website; for actual order fulfillment, they link over to Mpix. Want a t-shirt of that flower? That’s yet another company. Granted, all these entities seem to play well together, but with IK everything has their name on it.
I really like the overall look of the ZP site. Nice and clean, and there’s even a little gizmo so you can adjust the shade of the background. Also, Mpix offers drop shipping, meaning prints can be sent out without their return address or any mpix branding. Less confusing for the customer (“I didn’t order anything from this Mpix, who’re they?”) and that means better name recognition for me. Or less brand dilution?
Lookit me, talking all marketingy.
I must say I’m leaning towards ZP. There’s something cleaner and more intuitive about the site that I’m attracted to. They have a 2-week free trial I think I’ll take advantage of before I get off my wallet.
Why not have pictures on both sites? Hey, there are only so many hours in the day. I can’t devote that much energy to keeping track of all these sites, plus the usual Twitter and all the rest. I’m just a one-fulfillment-house kinda guy, is all.
The title of this post, Slowly I Turned? What’s that mean? It’s an old Abbot and Costello routine that crossed my mind as I was considering the above. I guess I could have put a link in for Step by Step, but that would be just silly.
Any thoughts?
