Frequently Asked Questions

General Info

• What is Pictage?

  Pictage is a software and services company that serves professional photographers. Our solutions increase photographers’ sales and save time, allowing greater focus on shooting and growing the business of photography. We do the things you don’t want to do and free you to do the things you love!

• What type of photographers are Pictage Members?

  Pictage only serves professional photographers. If you are a pro-sumer or a hobbyist, we’re sorry, but we’re not a great solution for you. We understand though that the professional photography market has undergone enormous change and that now it is fairly normal for a photography business to be a part-time venture. Whether you’re just starting out, or you’ve been in business for 20 years (as many of our members have), Pictage has solutions priced to meet your needs.

• How do I become a Pictage Member?

  The quickest way to get started is to sign up for a free 60-day trial. This gives you a Starter level account and access to all training and on-boarding programs. You can also compare all plans and sign up for a higher level. You will need a credit card and active email address to sign up.

• What if I had an account in the past? Can I re-open my original account?

  Absolutely! Call us at (877) 742-1960 and we will help you get reactivated. Most photographers who rejoin are surprised to find that their images are still on our network. That’s because we’re used to having people come back. They may not be “online” but they’re probably still here. We’d love to have you back and any promotion applying to a new customer will also apply to you.

• Is there a set-up fee to join and is there an annual commitment?

  No. We don’t believe in set-up fees or annual commitments or anything like that. Our philosophy is that you’re the best person to decide whether the service works for you. That’s why we have the free trial period and that’s why any of our plans only obligate you to a month at a time at whatever subscription level makes sense to you. While we may want our solutions to work for everyone we know, they can’t, and we want you to know you always have the freedom to leave. No harm, no foul. Pretty cool huh?

• How do I cancel my Membership if I need to?

  Your Pictage membership can be cancelled at any time. Simply contact the customer service department at 877-PICTAGE. There is no fee to cancel.

• What Pictage Membership plan is best for me?

  Here is an overview of our plans to help you decide:
  Starter—everything you need when your photography business is just starting out. Just $29 per month!
  
  Includes:

  • Pictage Event Marketing Services
  • Pictage product suite with recommended retail pricing
  • Access for your customers to Pictage’s world class order and commerce support center
  • Pictage Payment Processing (P3) credit card processing at very competitive rates without the credit checks, set-up periods, and waiting times
  • Access to the most supportive and vibrant community of professional photographers anywhere in the universe! (OK—maybe we’re biased, but we love our photographers!)

  Premium—Perfect for a full-time photographer with a growing business. Just $49 per month!

  Includes everything in Starter, plus these Premium features:

  • Pictage Event Marketing Services
  • Pictage product suite with recommended retail pricing
  • Access for your customers to Pictage’s world class order and commerce support center
  • Pictage Payment Processing (P3) credit card processing at very competitive rates without the credit checks, set-up periods, and waiting times
  • Access to the most supportive and vibrant community of professional photographers anywhere in the universe! (OK—maybe we’re biased, but we love our photographers!)
  • FREE Album & Book Design Service: Our designers build your books for you so you can sell them more easily. Just create a favorites folder, click “design it,” and we’ll do the rest!
  • Deep discounts on studio samples and other fees.
  • Access to premium album and product vendors

  Pro—Designed for high-volume studios and photographers who require more services and products, as well as the hands-on support of a dedicated professional service rep.

  Includes everything in Starter and Premium, plus:

  • Pictage event marketing services
  • Pictage product suite with recommended retail pricing
  • Access for your customers to Pictage’s world class order and commerce support center
  • Pictage Payment Processing (P3). Credit card processing at very competitive rates without the credit checks, set-up periods, and waiting times
  • Access to the most supportive and vibrant community of professional photographers anywhere in the universe! (OK—maybe we’re biased, but we love our photographers!)
  • FREE Album & Book Design Service: Our designers build your books for you so you can sell them more easily. Just create a favorites folder, click “design it,” and we’ll do the rest!
  • Deep discounts on studio samples and other fees.
  • Access to premium album and product vendors
  • Lower commission rates
  • Lower fees on P3
  • Priority customer service
  • And more!

  Need help choosing a plan? Call (877) 742-1960 (8 am-5 pm PST M-F).

• Why does Pictage charge a monthly fee to use the service?

  Pictage monthly membership fees support many of the services we provide, including:

  • High-resolution image storage: We store the high and low-res images uploaded to Pictage for as long as you’re a customer (and a long time after that).
  • World class phone support for both you and your clients
  • Priority and discounted access to Pictage Community events such as PartnerCon and Pictage U, as well as access to the Pictage Forums, Pugs, PhotoLife, and other inspirational and educational activities.
  • And a host of other valuable services

• What makes Pictage different than some of the “low-cost” online proofing solutions that I’ve seen out there?

  This is sort of a hard question for us to answer because, frankly, we haven’t used the other service. From experience and from listening to what our customers have to say, the biggest difference is Pictage’s commitment to the success of the customers we serve. We aren’t just here to provide an online proofing site or a marketing tool. We really see ourselves as our client’s partner. If you are successful, we are successful. We take that very seriously and the many raves you see and hear about the company’s customer service, community, product offerings, and the all-important sales we drive on behalf of our customers are the testament to that success.

• Ok, Pictage sounds great, but why pay for Pictage when I can do it all myself for free?

  It’s pretty simple really. If you’re in small business, you ARE your business. There simply isn’t time in the day to get everything that needs to get done… done! When you’re just starting out, you have to focus on growing your business and when you’re an established studio, just keeping up with customer demands is taxing. Pictage strives to build service offerings that make it easy for you to do the things you love (or the things that make you different), while we do the rest at a price that’s fair, with service that will always give you confidence.

  For just a few dollars a day, you can free yourself to accomplish your dreams. And that’s what we’re here for!

File Submission

• Why do I need to send in high-resolution files to Pictage instead of low-resolution files?

  Having the high-res files on the network greatly simplifies and shortens the process of fulfilling your customer orders. Many photographers are surprised at the images their clients order—especially once Pictage marketing takes over—and more people than just the direct clients are ordering images. Having the high-res files here means we can print and fulfill these orders quickly and easily, saving you the time of having to find them and upload them.

• What happens to my high-resolution files once I submit them to Pictage?

  Pictage will archive your high-resolution files for the life of your membership. It’s like having off-site storage on steroids! All of your files, folders, album designs, order history, and everything that takes place within your events are stored on our servers and in our archive. They’re all easily accessible to you anywhere and anytime. And just in case something bad happens to your original files, you can download your high-resolutions images from Pictage for free.

Marketing

• Will Pictage increase my sales?

  Pictage has a full-time marketing team dedicated to increasing photographer sales. Every nuance of a marketing campaign is tracked and every interaction drives future change and improvement. Increasing sales is often just the tip of the iceberg. Through Pictage training and community efforts, you will learn how to price and package more products, how to set up your pricing lists to sell more, how to promote in person, and how to let Pictage take over from there.

  While results may vary, one rejoining photographer commented that the year they weren’t with Pictage cost them more than $25,000 in lost sales, increased staffing, and that wasn’t even counting their own time. That’s obviously not going to be typical, but you can bet he was glad to be back!

• How does it work?

  Pictage’s online proofing increases your print sales by providing your customers the place, products, pricing, and promotions that sell your work (the 4 P’s of marketing!). Pictage’s automated email reminders sent to event guests have a proven success in increasing product sales for every event you upload. The biggest component is the knowledgeable team that runs these promotions. Every word and every design is placed to help your clients find the images they seek and then configure the products they wish to purpose with ease. Limited time promotions increase the urgency to buy. It isn’t really right to say there is magic to it, but it is absolutely right to understand that there is a team of people working on it all the time. Even while you’re sleeping!

  Here is how it works:

  • Your clients share the event images with friends, family, and event guests.
  • Your clients use Pictage’s embedded social media tools to tag their friends, who will then find their images in favorites folders named for them.
  • Event guests visit the site and join the online guest book, either opting in to receive email promotions, or opting out and just viewing the images.
  • Pictage sends professionally targeted reminder emails to event guests promoting applicable products and services.
  • Events guests return to your event and purchase prints and products before the event expires.
  • You receive a check for your sales!

• Does Pictage send “spam” email to my clients?

  This is a popular myth and to be certain, there was a time when the company probably did engage in marketing tactics that were close to spam. However, today our marketing and promotional activities set a standard for internet marketing practices. When a guest signs up to view an event, they are asked if they would like to opt-in to our email marketing programs. About 48% opt-in. The others will only receive system-generated status emails with regard to the event, e.g. “the event is online.” Then we go another step: Those who opt-in receive an email asking if they want to receive all of the promotions or just the big ones. About 88% elect to receive all. Finally, every email Pictage sends carries a conspicuous opt-out message giving the recipient ultimate control over whether they feel they are spammed or not. Since we instituted this program, less than 5% of the email recipients choose to opt-out over time.

  And it goes further than that! Pictage targets promotions based on the recipient’s relationship to the event or shoot. Simply stated, the further removed they are, the less likely they’ll be interested in purchasing products, so they don’t receive the promotions that are only effective for those directly involved (e.g. album promotions for wedding events).

  Lastly, Pictage marketing tracks performance variables such as open rate, click-through rate, revenue per email, average page depth, and a number of other variables to make sure that the emails are not only working to drive interest, but that they’re also driving sales. Underperformers are discontinued and new emails are tried for effectiveness. In this way, the marketing programs are always evolving.

  More often than not, your clients and their friends and family highly appreciate the reminder emails. The statistics prove that Pictage’s strategic email marketing drives your product and print sales!

• How does Pictage keep track of all the emails?

  We use a secure database and delivery system to store, track, and deliver emails. Additionally, our email marketing experts are constantly checking the results of our campaigns to ensure the best results and the highest customer satisfaction. Our goal is to make your clients happy. Their privacy is as important to us as it is to you. We never share email addresses with anyone and we never “SPAM.”

• Does Pictage charge a commission on my web sales?

  Yes, Pictage charges a success commission on the web sales we produce for you. The commission rate varies depending on your membership plan:

  • 12% for Pro accounts
  • 15% for Premium accounts
  • 20% for Starter accounts

  This fee covers various Pictage services: marketing and sales of your images, order fulfillment, professional packaging, and customer service for your clients who need assistance with their orders.

• How do I know when Pictage has made a sale for me?

  Once an order has been placed on the website, you will receive an email notifying you that an order has been received. A complete breakdown of the order information can be found in our Online Account Management System (OLAM), which tracks all of your account activity.

• When do I get paid for my web sales made on Pictage?

  Pictage automatically transfers funds directly into your bank account at the beginning of your monthly billing cycle when your account reaches a $50 positive balance. If your balance is lower than $50, it will roll over to the next billing period. However, you may request a check be sent to you if you prefer. After all, it’s your money!

Community

• I’ve heard a lot about the “Pictage Community.” What is that?

  The Pictage Community is all about you—the pro photographer. Pictage facilitates open and honest communication between its Professional Members. Every month, thousands of Pictage Members meet at local Pictage User Groups (PUGs), Forums, BLOGs, Seminars, and events. The Pictage community extends to the internet and includes a high-traffic online forum, which acts as a virtual meeting place for photographers to share information, gather useful marketing tips, and product information. The Pictage community is a vibrant group of photographers from all levels of experience. Join us and be a part of the Community!

• What is a PUG?

  A PUG (Pictage User Group) is a local networking group for Pictage photographers to share ideas, marketing tips, find second shooters, and network. PUGs meet monthly at a studio or home near you. PUGs bring together the most successful and seasoned to the newest growing photographers in an area, creating a close sense of community in a traditionally independent profession.

Products & Services

• How good are Pictage Prints?

  Pictage prints set the industry standard in quality. Images are professionally color-corrected by a trained technician and undergo a stringent quality assurance process to guarantee that the final product is remarkable. Our lab uses Kodak Professional Endura™ paper, which provides excellent color saturation for rich colors and exceptional tone reproduction. Endura offers state-of-the-art image stability (100 years in home display; 200 years in dark storage; 1 to 5 years for commercial display). Pictage uses top-of-the-line digital printers and image software to ensure the finest quality product.

• Does Pictage do all of its own printing, or do you outsource?

  Pictage does all its own final, proof printing, and album printing in-house. Our lab uses Kodak Professional Endura™ paper, which provides excellent color gamut for rich colors and exceptional tone reproduction. Endura offers state-of-the-art image stability (100 years in home display; 200 years in dark storage; 1 to 5 years for commercial display).

• How are my print orders shipped?

  Your print orders are placed in an archival sleeve, wrapped in high quality black tissue paper, and placed in a sleek black presentation box. Your invoice with your studio information is included as well. This is then packaged and either sent directly to your client or to you, depending on your preference. Learn more.

• Can I select the print sizes and products I want and set my own prices?

  Yes! Pictage will provide suggested retail pricing for all Pictage products, but you have complete control over the final retail product pricing. You select the prints sizes and products to include in your online shopping cart. You can also create unlimited catalog versions to use in different types of events, as well as change any catalog as needed.

• Do my clients pay sales tax?

  Yes, if it’s required by the state in which they live. Pictage collects the sales tax from your clients and pays the state and local taxes for you. Because Pictage is considered the selling entity, you are not obligated to collect or report any sales tax from your online sales.

• What is Pictage Payment Processing (P3)?

  P3 is a powerful tool that can help you increase your photography package sales and help your clients pay for your services. P3′s unique payment processing system allows you to schedule your clients’ booking payments in up to four credit card installments. With P3 you can offer flexible installment plans to fit your clients needs for as low as 1.5% fee per transaction. (Typical credit card merchant accounts are 4-5% of the payment amount, plus fees. P3 saves you both time and money.)

• Is the FREE Album Design Service really FREE? How does it work?

  Pictage’s Album Design Service is designed to help you sell more books with less work. Most clients won’t order an album they haven’t seen. They want to see it and get a sense for what it’s going to look like before they order it. The irritating thing is that even when they see it and like it, only about 50% of the folks you do a design for will actually purchase a book. Pictage’s Album Design Service means that you don’t pay for the design until the book is purchased, so there is never a charge for clients who don’t order. Even when they choose to order, the service charge is lower than any other third-party design service.

  When you first get started, Pictage’s Album Design Team will work with you to build a profile, helping them to understand your preferences. Once they do a design, you will decide if it is released to you first or directly to your clients. Either way, there is an easy-to-use interface to call out the changes you wish to make to the design (and there is no charge for the changes). When you think it’s perfect, one click and it’s on its way to print, bind, cure, and ship. Can you say easy?

• How does the Pictage Album Design Tool work?

  Designing albums has never been easier! The Pictage Album Design Tool is a web-based album design solution (works on PC and Mac). The tool automatically pulls images from the corresponding event and provides hundreds of pre-designed and custom templates. There is a color picker for background colors, text tool, borders, image opacity, transparency tools, and more! You name it and it’s there—all included in one easy-to-use system.

• What is an Online Account Statement (OLAM)?

  The Online Account Statement (OLAM) is a sophisticated online accounting system that is part of your Pictage membership. It allows you to track orders, purchases, revenue, fees, and taxes to name a few. If it has anything to do with your money, you’ll find it there! Pending orders will appear on your OLAM statement at the time of the order, but actual charges are not applied to your account until items ship, and charges to your credit card are not processed until your monthly invoice date.

• How often does Pictage launch new products and services?

  Pictage is the leader in innovation. We are consistently launching new products and services, as well as enhancements to the consumer and photographer websites. Our goal is to always be ahead of the curve and keep you in touch with the latest trends, products, and services that your clients want.

Support

• Do you have phone support?

  Pictage has full phone support for photographers and their clients. The customer service & training departments are available for phone support Monday-Friday from 8 am to 5 pm PST. There is also online support available during off hours and on weekends. Only photographers with Premium and Pro accounts can receive phone support.

• What if my clients don’t like the prints they receive from Pictage—what do I do then?

  All Pictage prints and products have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If for any reason a client is unsatisfied with a product they received from Pictage, we will reprint the photograph at no charge to you or your client.

• Can I access Pictage on my iPhone or other handheld device?

  Yes! With an internet connection, Pictage can be accessed from anywhere at any time from your iPhone or any other internet enabled handheld device