Fired Up About Choosing A Print Vendor

We’ve had a ton of fun watching the PhotoShelter Print Vendor Network grow lately. Dozens of vendors have joined from around the world, and every...

We’ve had a ton of fun watching the PhotoShelter Print Vendor Network grow lately. Dozens of vendors have joined from around the world, and every month we see spikes in print sales that PhotoShelter members are sending through network participants. (See all 141 vendors.)

The Print Vendor Network is different from our four highly integrated, automated print vendor relationships. It was created as a response to photographers’ frequent requests for PhotoShelter to integrate with their favorite local and specialty printers. (A time consuming and costly endeavor individually.) The network is essentially a way to get half way there. While these vendors aren’t fully integrated, the network takes much of the headache out of self fulfilling print orders by enabling network vendors to access your print files directly inside of PhotoShelter after you assign them the job. You sell the photo via your website, then send the file and specs to your favorite vendor using PhotoShelter. Payment and shipping terms get worked out by you, on the side. There is no technical integration, so any printer can join and getting started is easy.

We caught up with two PhotoShelter photographers to learn more about how and why they’re using the Print Vendor Network.

Jody MacDonald, Adventure Sports & Documentary Photography

Jody is the resident photographer on board the Best Odyssey, a world kiteboarding, surfing, and paragliding adventure expedition.
Her images have been published in major international magazines such as Outside, Forbes, Islands, Cruising World and Kiteboarding. She’s been working with West Coast Imaging for at least four years, a print vendor who joined the network at its inception. (So all Jody had to do was look them up in the directory and send them her orders when they come in.)

“I think they do a great job. They are very professional and always contact me about details regarding the print and how I would like it to look. I really appreciate that because I know the details are very important to them..it reflects their professionalism. I feel much better knowing that my prints are done professionally…as I’m traveling overseas most of the year this is a hugh relief. Quality control isn’t an option for me. The quality of my prints reflects my work, and therefore it’s extremely important to me. If your print looks great on a wall somewhere, obviously more people are going to be interested in your work.”

Hagai Nativ, Israeli Nature & Underwater Photography

Hagai manages his stock photography and fine art print sales through PhotoShelter. The majority of his customers are in Israel, so a local printer would suit his business better than PhotoShelter’s US and UK based automated printers. So he invited two Israeli vendors to join the Print Vendor Network. (See Israeli print vendors Picpong and Bamisgeret.) Based on the paper or canvas quality, size, and price of any specific sale, he chooses among the two vendors to fulfill the job.

“I am very pleased with this feature!” Hagai tells us.

Learn more about selling prints through the PhotoShelter Print Vendor Network: