That's valid. There's a quality difference for sure, but I'll be keeping a close eye on pricing and as we get more efficient I anticipate prices coming down.
I'd have to agree with you. As someone who works in print, I'm usually surprised by the prices the fulfillment services are offering. I actually am preparing a beta launch of a service to offer all of these same products (kind of creepy coincidence) because I do feel the market is lacking. We already have all of the equipment in place and running, along with fantastic discounts on bulk shipping, supplies, packaging etc. Our pricing will be about 25% of what is shown (give or take a small amount). If you are interested, I'd love to chat with you and see if we can work together.
For the canvas prints, but the poster prints are a really good price. Most are less than half the price of FedEx Office and price competitive with the few poster sizes Costco does.
Appreciate all the pricing feedback, brought the prices down a bit and added a coupon for HN: use SHOWHN for an extra 20% off between now and the 15th!
The website would benefit from a gallery - the idea of printing on canvas appeals to me, but I don't understand how it distorts photos and what the final product looks like.
I agree, one of the most important factors in buying customized products is getting a feeling of what you're getting. This way the user is more likely to make the purchase and even more likely to be satisfied with the product once it's delivered.
I'm in the field myself (see profile) and although the website looks nice I don't see how it's different than any of the existing services.
Here are my $0.02:
1. PRICE - The prices are way too high. Especially given that all established print services offer huge discounts these days. Even our Printy.pics iOS app offers lower prices + 40% discount.
2. Registration - I would prefer to register when I need to (before payment) and not when I'm asked to. The common practice for most web print apps is to allow product creation and require registration (if at all) on checkout. I guess you should do some A/B testing to see which approach maximizes LTV.
3. Why .io?
On a general note, it is very hard to compare print products. There can be huge quality differences and for someone who isn't an expert in the domain it would be hard to tell if the price is worth it.
1. I'll be optimizing the fulfillment process as time progresses (thus lowering prices).
2. That's a good point. Definitely something I thought about while building it. I decided to just move forward with how it currently is and optimize/iterate after feedback/testing.
Would be great to have an API. Been passively looking for good poster printers that I could automatically send jobs to, as well as do the fulfillment. Looks slick.
Seconded. I run an online portfolio service that integrates with Fotomoto to sell prints right on the customers' site. Would be interested in adding this as an option.
> High quality PNG's are best (150dpi or more). [..]
All fonts should be converted to outlines to ensure fonts are displayed correctly.
Above is from the guidelines for posters. PNGs are bitmaps and hence there are no fonts to outline. Outlines could be part of PDFs but those don't have an associated DPI. This needs clarification.
Ah yeah, I pulled PSD and PDF support right before launch, needed a little more work for those. So, that text was with regard to those file types. Thanks for catching that!
How does this compare in quality to canvas prints from a photo lab such as Millers/MPix or WHCC? Cost looks to be about equal to a 1.5" canvas gallery wrap from either those shops.
Canvas gallery wraps are comparable to WHCC's premium gallery wraps. Though they don't have backing. PM me or email me if you're interested in ordering a test print: [email protected]!
Just a heads-up: I'm assuming you meant "uneven" in "Avoid making graphics with straight borders. Borders may come up unever after the cutting process."
AdBlock and uBlock both seem to kill this site. Seems related to the inclusion of Bugsnag, and not accounting for the possibility of that library being blocked.
[+] [-] RealCasually|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] owensbla|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rebel|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vonmoltke|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] owensbla|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] datahipster|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] philip1209|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] salberts|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] salberts|11 years ago|reply
Here are my $0.02:
1. PRICE - The prices are way too high. Especially given that all established print services offer huge discounts these days. Even our Printy.pics iOS app offers lower prices + 40% discount.
2. Registration - I would prefer to register when I need to (before payment) and not when I'm asked to. The common practice for most web print apps is to allow product creation and require registration (if at all) on checkout. I guess you should do some A/B testing to see which approach maximizes LTV.
3. Why .io?
On a general note, it is very hard to compare print products. There can be huge quality differences and for someone who isn't an expert in the domain it would be hard to tell if the price is worth it.
[+] [-] owensbla|11 years ago|reply
2. That's a good point. Definitely something I thought about while building it. I decided to just move forward with how it currently is and optimize/iterate after feedback/testing.
3. No reason in particular :)
Appreciate the thoughts!
[+] [-] networkguy|11 years ago|reply
I cant say for other people, but I have too many accounts and I hate creating accounts unless I have to.
Better to allow someone to upload a photo and make a purchase and convert them into an account later than up front.
[+] [-] ljoshua|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] salberts|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] corywatilo|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ortuna|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bdcravens|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stevekemp|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lindig|11 years ago|reply
Above is from the guidelines for posters. PNGs are bitmaps and hence there are no fonts to outline. Outlines could be part of PDFs but those don't have an associated DPI. This needs clarification.
[+] [-] owensbla|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maxmzd_|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] meichenf|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] owensbla|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidbarker|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vxNsr|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ComputerGuru|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikegreen|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alfg|11 years ago|reply
What are you using for the cropping tool?
Well done! Congrats on shipping!
[+] [-] owensbla|11 years ago|reply
And I'm using Jcrop for cropping.
http://deepliquid.com/content/Jcrop.html
[+] [-] wmeredith|11 years ago|reply
Chrome Version 39.0.2171.71 on OS X 10.10.1
EDIT: Never mind, Ad Block was what was killing it.
[+] [-] agildehaus|11 years ago|reply