WTB: E Commerce Website

[kiwifruit]

Educated estimates invited (PM or email if you don't want to reply in here) for the creation of a website for my photography business.

At the moment I'm uploading samples to a photo hosting site, folks are emailing with file details, I email back with acc details and either host or email their full res images. As things get busier this process becomes a bit of pain in the arse.

I'd like to be able to:
Have the full res files stored on my own machine in folders that somehow sync and create watermarked samples online. Customers would then be able add to cart, pay online and download full res.

Can this be done? How much shall I pay you?

[mashman]

Yes it can be done. Depends on what you want.

Do you want design services? i.e. I want it to look like this and work like this. This will cost a small fortune for seemingly nothing, but the pain is worth it imho.
Do you want analysis services? i.e. someone to help you convert your business processes into online process flow.

My advice. Know what you want. Put some basic drawings together, or iffen yer good with a PC build some screenshots of what you expect to happen when you click on a given icon and what information should be displayed where.
Make sure you take into account mandatory data to be captured i.e. definitely save these details as they will be used at a later date, be it for invoicing/comms etc...
This will firm up exactly what you're expecting to have happen on your site as the gulf between "I expected" and what"you get" can be somewhat wide. I did similar for a friend a few years ago and they started getting bogged down in details because they didn't really know what they wanted in the first place.
Try to document what the clicks should do i.e. click this, go to that page, show data for the given criteria. Click this, slide that panel up, display this panel. Send/Save/Store the information from request forms.

The above will keep the costs down and will make estimating the job easier too.

Have fun

[jim.cox]

There are a number of products designed to help build e-commerce websites.

Take a look at wordpress, concrete or joomla

They enable a basic website very quickly which can then be customised.

This means you can much of the work yourself - which I think is a good idea.

But I expect you might need a small amount of customisation for your watermark process

If you are not careful you can end up paying heaps and heaps for "professionally" built websites - and end up being held to ransom for updates and changes

[imdying]

Yup, have another similar one for a guy that flys around the world taking stock photos. Something like that, around the $30k mark, add another $20 if you want them to be able to order/purchase online as well.

[kiwifruit]

Thanks guys

[Gremlin]

One thought is that with a lot of high res photos, hosting and bandwidth are going to be quite costly.

Other option is looking at what other photographers are doing. I know some use flickr, but how they handle purchasing and payment etc, not sure. Alternative is to see if someone has made a solution that you simply purchase and tailor to your needs. Custom will get you exactly what you want, but more expensive.

[The Lone Rider]

Do some research. There already are sites that let you sell digital content, with watermarked previews.

High res would not be stored on your computer though, but they would be encrypted so only someone through a completed checkout process could download it.

[Big Dave]

hosting and bandwidth are going to be quite costly.
.

200gb disk space and unlimited bandwidth is under $100 at a number of providers.

Lone Rider is correct - there are a number of turn-key solutions out there too.

Even smug-mug lets you sell content.


I wouldn't book the resort holidays yet though. Tough game.