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SmugMug Doubles Prices for Pro Photographers

etrigan63

Active member
Just in case someone missed the news - SmugMug Doubles Prices for Pro Photographers » Echenique dot com

I, for one, have started looking at migrating to Zenfolio even though I just renewed SM in July. It's one thing to raise prices, but to double them for aspiring professionals is practically predatory. The CEO of SmugMug (aka "Baldy") claims that storage costs are mainly to blame. As an IT professional of 28 years, I can safely state that storage costs only ever go down as storage densities are always going up and the cost per storage unit always heads in the opposite direction. This is a thinly veiled excuse to charge the heaviest users of their service.

Zenfolio's top end offering is $250/yr, but that is for big studios with multiple users. They offer a much more reasonable single user studio rate of $120/yr. SM's new top end offering is $300/yr with all the bells and whistles and $150/yr for a Portfolio site that cannot make a profit. Apparently, SM is weeding out the small fry.:mad:
 

bradhusick

Active member
As long as you don't need to set custom pricing I think you can use SmugMug as usual for $150 per year, minus discounts like NAPP. I think it's still a good value.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I use this heavily 3 times a year doing the fashion shows so I need to read the e-mail I got from them. I do custom pricing so I'm sure there is a increase for me.
 

etrigan63

Active member
I do need to set custom pricing as well. I do like to make a profit on my work as I would like to buy new camera gear. I had just discovered their package pricing options and now have to move because I cannot afford them now.
 

ReeRay

Member
Unfortunately it's not as it was before. Unless you subscribe to the inflated Pro/business account you no longer have the facility to accept an email (read enquiry).

Previously I avoided pricing my images and negotiated prices upon contact. This was more business like IMHO and gave me contact with my potential buyers which seemed to be beneficial to both parties. That facility has now been removed as clearly Smugmug want their cut.

One may argue that this is fair play but why should I pay an ADDITIONAL amount (read a doubling of cost) to enable Smugmug to benefit! This was never the case before. Pricing or otherwise was at your discretion within a single annual fee.

I pay $150 per annum to host my images and have never considered it as being merely a showcase which it will degrade to.

Like Carlos I will be seeking alternative outlets.
 
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