APUG Portfolios - Sales Functionality Up and Running

[Sean]

Hi All,

To those with APUG Portfolios, you now have sales functionality built in. I think for the first release it's fairly decent. Here is a quick rundown of what you'll see:

From the admin side.. You will still use the same admin page located in your "My APUG" area "Edit your Portfolio".

New fields:

Currently paypal is offered for the automated sales, you enter your paypal address. This means all sales go through you and you alone, there is no middle man or commission scheme. Additional payment methods will be available in future releases. If you do not use paypal you can still sell prints (more details on that further down).

Enter your Country name so that buyers can determine if the print cost is national or international

And, enter any all encompassing sales details.

-screenshot-


New options on the print properties in your admin panel:

Number of prints for sale: if sold via paypal this number will decrease and the print will delist on zero qty.
Hide price: select this option to request buyer contact rather than listing a price
National price: print price + shipping for national sales (keeping this simple for now)
International price: print price + shipping for international sales (keeping this simple for now)
Currency: select your preferred currency (contact me if it is not listed and I can add it), this should also be what your paypal currency is set to
Additional details: specific details per print if needed, for example print size, etc.
-screenshot-



If you decide to list prints for sale, your portfolio will then show the Buy option near the bottom
[img]


If someone clicks to view your prints for sale the sales page lists your available prints -screenshot-


One neat feature is that the main Portfolios page now has a link that shows a unified view of all prints for sale -screenshot-


If you have a print with multiple sizes or configurations it would be best to hide the price and request the buyer contact you. In the "Additional details" box for that print you can explain this.

Any sales generated or buyer questions will result in you getting a forum PM, so you may want to set APUG preferences to email you when a new PM arrives.

I have left a demo print up so you can see the system in action. As far as I can tell there are no bugs but I am sure a few will turn up so just let me know. I hope the community finds this useful.

Thanks!
Sean

[eddym]

Originally Posted by Sean

National price: print price + shipping for national sales (keeping this simple for now)
International price: print price + shipping for international sales (keeping this simple for now)

OK, maybe I'm dense, but...
does this mean the price INCLUDES shipping, or that shipping is IN ADDITION to this price?
If the former, this might be tricky, as I don't think one price for shipping will apply to every destination, especially for international sales.

[Sean]

Shipping is always a problem area for such things. At this stage it's not coded and I'm looking for ways to do it. There are so many variables I'm not sure how to integrate it so open to suggestions. The current options are to eat the costs on variation, or not list a price requesting the buyer contact you. Once the buyer contacts you then invoice him via paypal or add your agreed price to the portfolio print at which point he could then click 'buy now'. Not the best options but I'll be working to improve it..

[MurrayMinchin]

Stefano has four up for sale already and for something fresh out of the gate it looks really slick!

Murray

[photo8x10]

Hi Sean,
I've just put four prints to sell, and I like the sistem. Shipping is a problem, I did for an international shipping an average cost, and after I chose the less expensive.

A Well Done work Sean

Stefano

[Ian Leake]

Originally Posted by MurrayMinchin

Stefano has four up for sale already and for something fresh out of the gate it looks really slick!

Murray

I agree. It looks really good and the shipping options are fit for purpose. Undoubtedly over time it good be further developed, but right now it looks great. Thanks Sean.

And veering a bit OT, having got some of Stefano's prints I'd like to add that his graffiti series is very, very good!

Ian.

[nze]

Bravissimo ; It just look easy and great

[eddym]

Originally Posted by Sean

Shipping is always a problem area for such things. At this stage it's not coded and I'm looking for ways to do it. There are so many variables I'm not sure how to integrate it so open to suggestions. The current options are to eat the costs on variation, or not list a price requesting the buyer contact you. Once the buyer contacts you then invoice him via paypal or add your agreed price to the portfolio print at which point he could then click 'buy now'. Not the best options but I'll be working to improve it..

I read this to mean that the price includes shipping.
Wouldn't it be better for it to mean the reverse, and the buyer could contact the seller about the shipping price?

[Sean]

Well, at this stage with configuration options you can have it one way of another. For example Stefano has chosen to have a total price including shipping:

http://www.apug.org/forums/portfolio...at=showforsale

And if you have a look at Gavin's, he is requesting buyer contact for pricing and they can work out the total:

http://www.apug.org/forums/portfolio...at=showforsale

I have seen shipping controls built into paypal so it a future release of the system it should be possible to have a link that totals the shipping costs on the spot..

[Tony Egan]

Thanks Sean. I just had a go at this and added a couple of prints for sale. Quick and easy. I wonder if it would be possible to have an 'NA' or 'Unlimited' option for number of prints for sale? I realise limiting number of prints for sale and pricing higher as you go is a common marketing approach for photography but I have given away as gifts or traded many of my prints over the years and I'm not inclined to keep a strict register of which edition I'm up to and how many might be out there.