Wow that last post was a while ago
Was my last update really 7 weeks ago? It has been a bit of a whirlwind. In my head, that last post was 2 weeks ago.
So what have I been up to?
I have a business. It is in my state, and all of the proper paperwork has been submitted, as far as I’m aware.
In this last week, my business bank account was opened and business credit card is in process. I’m also evaluating my options for a handheld credit card reader. This is where the confusion and complication begins.
I will take a moment to just mention that (at least from the website) Stripe really does all of this for you, and that might have made my life simple for now, but I have heard that the simplicity also ties everything to the Stripe ecosystem. You open your company with Stripe, you make that your e-commerce and in-person payment processer, etc. But if you want to leave or start to leave, it is difficult. Of course this is all something I just discovered this week, which may have saved time before but what is done is done.
What has been decided?
Due to a lot of previous relationships, I’m actually going with Bank of America. The is probably a surprise, but I also have a very close relationship with them in my personal life and they have made it worth my while. Should things change, a bank account is probably one of the easier things to move, but right now, I’m kind of in the ‘make it simple get it done’ kind of mentality.
But they also have something interesting – BoA has their own hand-held credit card reader and e-commerce platform. This really intrigues me, as my CC and this card reader can get tied to the same account. The big thing, at least for me, is that if I buy the equipment, I own it and there is no ongoing monthly fees. I actually didn’t know you could still own your CC reader, and I like this idea, especially since I hope this business will last for a long time. But the reader will cost over $500, with a $20/month if you need cellular data access.
Let’s Get into the Troubles
Ah yes, this would come up sooner or later.
My goal was, and still is, to be able to sell prints in person, but also allow someone to go to my website store and buy the same item handled by the same lab. For simplicity sake, I want 1 CC/e-commerce system, 1 store, and the same lab.
This 1-1-1 system is causing trouble. I’ve been testing with a free Pixie Set account, and I like the system. But I cannot use BoA e-commerce and must use Stripe, Paypal, or an offline system. But, Pixie Set will let me choose WHCC, ProDPI, Miller’s, or MPix as the delivery lab. All 4 are very good choices.
A different option is WooCommerce. Woo is one of the few that has the BoA payment system built in. But with Woo it feels like I’m building half of this from scratch. And while I can take payment, I have not had success figuring out how to tie it in to a major photo lab (the above list + Bay Photo are my preferred choices for most items). The biggest advantage to Woo is that I can host the site as a part of this WordPress install and it doesn’t seem to have much of an ongoing cost.
Then there is a relative newcomer, (at least to me) Ecwid. This is also a WordPress plugin (which is nice) and my webhost provides a basic account. This will integrate with some of the above mentioned photo labs, but will not integrate with BoA e-commerce. I could develop the code myself but I do not trust myself that much. It will take Stripe payment.
I have also spent some time looking into Zenfolio. It looks like Zenfolio handles their own billing and then pays out to you, but I’ve only hit this on the surface. I’m not the biggest fan of giving up this control, but I may also be at a point where it is the faster option and I can ‘relaunch’ the store in a year or two if things go well. Zenfolio had a recent fall from grace and is trying to rebuild their reputation. But it looks like I wouldn’t have to worry about setting up multiple payment processors, which is something I do like.
Why not just use Stripe?
It feels very turnkey where you can pay for just what you need. I understand the desires on that one.
But I also discovered some of what it offered later in the process. And they only offer incorporation in Delaware, which I expressed a desire to avoid.
I’m also not thrilled about the closed ecosystem. But I can understand the comfort in everything in one place while not wanting the effort to break free if the need or desire arose.
I may still need to use Stripe on my web sales for now. Talking to some friends who own a food truck, they implied that they did not own their CC reader equipment and liked the idea of not having ongoing payments.
Updates between when I wrote part of this and now
I started writing this post about a week ago and hadn’t finished. So here’s more updates without changing too much of the rest of the post.
I gave in and went the realist route. I chose Zenfolio for my gallery and have integrated my Stripe account. Sometimes perfect is the enemy of done, but this was not too bad and a new blog post will end up out of it, so win/win. If you click on the ‘store’ link at the top of the site it will go to the new Zenfolio website. I do still have more work to do to get it to the final product, but it is functional and you can order prints today.
Ok So Tell Me the Costs
Yikes, everyone gets here. Right now the costs are very low. Creating the LLC online was $125 and requesting the EIN with the Social Security Agency has no cost.
This website is part of a hosting account that has a cost which I have personally paid since 2007. There is more than just this website and I want to say it costs around $150 per year, most of which is paid in advance every 2 years. My wife is also launching her own art-based business and will use the resources of this hosting account. This is something I do because I’m a tech person, and this account has hosted everything from a former startup concept to a MMO guild’s website to playgrounds for friends, and also currently hosts many personal sites, a lot of email accounts, and a personal url shortener. So changes will happen sometime.
Zenfolio has a sale on for 50% off. I paid about $150 for a year and that seems fair.
The bank account and credit card have no monthly fees for the first year and then are $16/month. Manageable.
The device to read a CC from my bank has options that range from about $100 – $530 (these are all prices listed on the website as of a few hours ago) and they have no fees after purchase. There is a per transaction fee.
Stripe does not seem to have any up-front costs but they to have a per-transaction fee. Around 3% + 30cents. This is a little high, BoA charges around 2.6% + 26cents. I think I know how stripe functions as a business.
For a decent pop-up tent I spent around $200 + tax. I assume several foldable tables and other display things will also be required, and I’d estimate that’s another $250.
The first show I plan on doing has a cost for 3-days of $150. There is cost of driving there with tolls and the gas usage is probably 3.5-4 tanks that is probably $250, but let’s not count that for now.
Total get-there costs are going to be around — $600-$700 + CC reader + product to sell. Let’s call this $1100-1600 to start. Honestly, I was expecting to get there for $800-1100, but that CC reader threw a wrench in the works when I found the option was $500 and until just now never factored in travel costs nor display needs beyond the tent.
OK So Tell Me The Sales Potential
Historically I tended to sell my prints for cheap, even giving many of them away to friends who liked them. As in the local camera store charged $18.50 + tax for an 11×17 and I would charge $20 because I didn’t like to handle coins. When I become super famous with prints in the Louvre, they will have gotten themselves a deal.
For the first sales round, I’m going to target a smaller size, roughly 8×12. I feel like other sellers charge about $35-40 for this size. Cost to print is around $5-6 + shipping. I’ve seen estimated that you will probably sell 20-30 prints per day at a show like this. If we go low, a 3-day event is 30x20x3 = $1800. If we go high it is 30x30x3 = $2700.
That almost seems too easy…
This Seems Too Easy
I’m sure it isn’t this simple. And once things start to happen I’ll give more real numbers. I’ll also need to write up a post about Zenfolio because the process was complex and I have better ideas now.
From talking to older contacts, I once knew of someone who paid off a canvas printer and canvas stretcher in an art season (Seattle, so about 3-4 months) of shows. This equipment would have been around $10,000 at the time (approx. 2015) over about 4-5 shows.
I do feel like this feels too easy. I really would like to be able to talk to someone, but I legitimately have no one else to talk to about this. And so I throw it into the ether to help me understand. I’m sure listing prices and names will get some attention, should be fun :).
The truth is – there is no central site for information about photography nor is there a good forum anymore. Most of the major sites have become unhelpful and focusing on outside events. Maybe if this photo thing goes really well I can launch a great new photography news site.
-Brad