Posted by Phillip Noll on January 18, 2010 at 7:20 PM
I’m looking for information on companies to use for print fulfillment. I’m no longer interested in doing my own printing so I would like to find a company that can do my printing for me, package and ship the prints directly to my customers, and offers a wide variety of products and services. High quality prints and excellent customer service are a must. I would do my own color corrections.
I’ve been looking at Bay Photo, White House Custom Color, Nations PhotoLab, and MPix. What other companies are out there? Does anyone have experience using a ROES system for placing orders? Any companies you recommend? Any you would avoid?
We're using H & H Color Labs for our diverse printing needs in addition to art prints, and the coordinated services of LabPrints to hold our portfolios, take orders and money, and place the orders with H&H for packaging and shipping. H&H works with a number of such services in addition to LabPrints. The setup works especially well for our studio and commercial orders, greatly reducing the fuss and fluff of placing prints in client hands. We haven't migrated our art portfolios to LabPrints yet, but that's definitely on our horizon.
BTW- You need to set up an account with H&H, but that first step is priceless. They assign a single person within their walls as your principal contact, and they act as your emissary as you move into new products. More important for us, they know us and our needs, and more than once have spotted problems with some orders we have placed, interceding to save money and hassles all the way round. I can't say enough good things about that process.
Posted by James Hersey on January 18, 2010 at 9:24 PM
I have used WHCC, Millers without problems in the past. I do my own printing for my needs but I do you MPix for direct ship prints from my zenfolio site.
Posted by Toni Lankerd on January 19, 2010 at 9:11 AM
Phillip, I use West Michigan PhotoWorks in Holland, MI. They will ship directly to your customers and yes, I use their ROES system to place my orders. I've never had any problems with this lab or the ROES system.
http://www.wmphotoworks.com/
Phillip: although I've never ordered prints from them, I have found WHCC's customer service, speed, and everything else to be exceptional in every regard.
Posted by Anil Rao on January 20, 2010 at 12:24 AM
Hi Phillip,
Since I do my own printing, I don't have much to add w.r.t. potential print service providers over what others have already mentioned. However, I did find your post very interesting based on the process you have outlined. You write that you are looking for a company that can directly ship the finished print(s) to your client. Wouldn't you want to examine the print(s) before they go out to the client? I mean, no matter how capable the print service provider you eventually pick is, mistakes can (and do) happen and I'd therefore perfer a process that gives me a chance to examine the final work and ensure that it meets my own quality standards before sending it out to my client.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
Best regards.
Posted by Richard Wong on January 20, 2010 at 12:56 AM
I have used Calypso Imaging and West Coast Imaging, then have them shipped to me for inspection though there is nothing really to complain about. But if someone is paying you decent money for your prints then I think you owe it to them to verify that the prints are up to your standards.
I sell smaller / relatively low cost prints directly from my Photoshelter archive which are shipped directly though. I state that upfront though. Currently EZ-Prints fulfills those prints but I think they are adding Adorama to the choices also.
I can provide a bit of background on the question of inspection and signing.
Part of it is developing a long standing relationship with a lab such as we have. The rep within the company (or "associate" as H&H calls them) knows your quality standard and is essentially your "agent" in reviewing. Any complaints from clients to us would certainly change that relationship.
And here's a big BUT. We specify that prints above a certain size and all canvases come to us first for inspection and signing, and we ship those out to the clients. Nice thing about that, they already come to us nicely packaged, and we reuse their excellent packaging.
Our "break point" for signing is 11x14 and larger. Does anyone here sign their 8x10's, 5x7's, 4x5's and wallets? We sell a mountain of them through the studio, and prior to the arrangements with LabPrints and H&H we used our own stamping machine to "sign" the small stuff. Now we just have H&H do it on those.
Posted by Phillip Noll on January 20, 2010 at 12:31 PM
I'd therefore perfer a process that gives me a chance to examine the final work and ensure that it meets my own quality standards before sending it out to my client.
Hence the need for a high quality lab that I can trust! Many photographers use high quality labs and ship directly to clients with few problems. Having prints shipped to me so I can turn around and reship them just doubled my shipping costs. I don't think that expense is justified in most cases. YMMV
And, perhaps sign them?
I only sign limited edition prints and I rarely do limited editions. If I did a limited edition I would have the prints shipped to me for signing and then re-ship them out.
But if someone is paying you decent money for your prints then I think you owe it to them to verify that the prints are up to your standards.
All my prints are fully guaranteed. If there is a problem I am more than happy to replace the print or refund the purchase price.
If you're shopping for a lab Phillip, I'd pick a few likely prospects and have them print up your best-selling image. Keep tabs on the ordering process, how you're treated by the lab, the condition the print is in when you receive it, and the quality of shipping materials..... All in addition to the quality of the print.
That's what we did when the lab we'd been using for 10 years went under, and that's how we came to use H&H. In 5 years with them, we've found them to be sensational in dealing with problems and helping us into new product lines.
You'll almost certainly find another lab that suits you, and I'm not pimping H&H. I AM saying that there's a lot more to picking a lab than mere print quality. Lots and lots of labs produce good prints. The number thins dramatically when you also consider the quality of their logistics and customer relations.
Posted by Phillip Noll on January 20, 2010 at 2:01 PM
Excellent points, Hank! I'll certainly take them under advisement!
Here's a heads up Phillip. You're close enough to make it feasible and desirable:
Wedding and Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) is having their annual conference in Las Vegas NV March 4-11, including a big trade show March 8-10. Details are here. A large number of the national labs will be present with booths and samples, as well as tech reps. That's where we narrowed our hunt, and ultimately settled on H&H. It was the small stuff that gave them our business, but happiness is all about the small stuff.
BTW- There are lots of other great exhibitors at the show, including all the camera companies and most of the bigger companies you probably order gear and supplies from now. And lots of small companies. It's a great time to meet some of these folks face to face, even if you don't take advantage of the huge savings some offer as show specials. And be sure to be on hand the last day of the show, wallet in hand. Lots of the companies would rather sell all their gear at discount rather than pack it up and ship it back home.
Discussion
12 repliesI’ve been looking at Bay Photo, White House Custom Color, Nations PhotoLab, and MPix. What other companies are out there? Does anyone have experience using a ROES system for placing orders? Any companies you recommend? Any you would avoid?
Thanks for your input!
BTW- You need to set up an account with H&H, but that first step is priceless. They assign a single person within their walls as your principal contact, and they act as your emissary as you move into new products. More important for us, they know us and our needs, and more than once have spotted problems with some orders we have placed, interceding to save money and hassles all the way round. I can't say enough good things about that process.
http://www.wmphotoworks.com/
Since I do my own printing, I don't have much to add w.r.t. potential print service providers over what others have already mentioned. However, I did find your post very interesting based on the process you have outlined. You write that you are looking for a company that can directly ship the finished print(s) to your client. Wouldn't you want to examine the print(s) before they go out to the client? I mean, no matter how capable the print service provider you eventually pick is, mistakes can (and do) happen and I'd therefore perfer a process that gives me a chance to examine the final work and ensure that it meets my own quality standards before sending it out to my client.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
Best regards.
I sell smaller / relatively low cost prints directly from my Photoshelter archive which are shipped directly though. I state that upfront though. Currently EZ-Prints fulfills those prints but I think they are adding Adorama to the choices also.
And, perhaps sign them?
Part of it is developing a long standing relationship with a lab such as we have. The rep within the company (or "associate" as H&H calls them) knows your quality standard and is essentially your "agent" in reviewing. Any complaints from clients to us would certainly change that relationship.
And here's a big BUT. We specify that prints above a certain size and all canvases come to us first for inspection and signing, and we ship those out to the clients. Nice thing about that, they already come to us nicely packaged, and we reuse their excellent packaging.
Our "break point" for signing is 11x14 and larger. Does anyone here sign their 8x10's, 5x7's, 4x5's and wallets? We sell a mountain of them through the studio, and prior to the arrangements with LabPrints and H&H we used our own stamping machine to "sign" the small stuff. Now we just have H&H do it on those.
I only sign limited edition prints and I rarely do limited editions. If I did a limited edition I would have the prints shipped to me for signing and then re-ship them out.
All my prints are fully guaranteed. If there is a problem I am more than happy to replace the print or refund the purchase price.
That's what we did when the lab we'd been using for 10 years went under, and that's how we came to use H&H. In 5 years with them, we've found them to be sensational in dealing with problems and helping us into new product lines.
You'll almost certainly find another lab that suits you, and I'm not pimping H&H. I AM saying that there's a lot more to picking a lab than mere print quality. Lots and lots of labs produce good prints. The number thins dramatically when you also consider the quality of their logistics and customer relations.
Wedding and Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) is having their annual conference in Las Vegas NV March 4-11, including a big trade show March 8-10. Details are here. A large number of the national labs will be present with booths and samples, as well as tech reps. That's where we narrowed our hunt, and ultimately settled on H&H. It was the small stuff that gave them our business, but happiness is all about the small stuff.
BTW- There are lots of other great exhibitors at the show, including all the camera companies and most of the bigger companies you probably order gear and supplies from now. And lots of small companies. It's a great time to meet some of these folks face to face, even if you don't take advantage of the huge savings some offer as show specials. And be sure to be on hand the last day of the show, wallet in hand. Lots of the companies would rather sell all their gear at discount rather than pack it up and ship it back home.