The blog’s been quiet, but things have been non-stop action over at PhotoMerchant since I last posted! So, time for an update…

Thanks to all the readers who agreed to be Alpha testers for PhotoMerchant. Over the last few weeks, our testing team has been working their way through PhotoMerchant’s features and giving us feedback. We’ve been responding quickly, and we’ve released 2 ‘alpha test’ upgrades, each with new and extended features.

Some of the exciting features we’re looking forward to releasing:

• Templates that give you display options for your photo-selling website;
• An ‘at-a-glance’ dashboard that lets you see what action’s been happening on your site;
• Integration with PayPal and print houses - your customers order prints, and that order is sent directly to the printers.

As well as Alpha-testing, we’ve been working with some of Australia’s top photographers, ensuring that PhotoMerchant will meet the needs of high-end photographers and those starting up their business. So far, we’re delighted with the feedback we’ve had from both ends of the market - overwhelmingly, we’re being told we’re on the right track.

We’re into final stages of development now, so we’ll be keeping up the pace over the next few weeks. We’re on track for release very soon, so we’ll attempt to keep you posted more frequently and whet your appetite for some of the neat features you can look forward to when we release.

We’d welcome your comments - especially our Alpha-testers - and feel free to ask questions about PhotoMerchant’s features!

 Share

For the last few weeks, I’ve been giving you some tips on how to get your photography business running in the online world. We’ve covered things like workflow, sales and online websites. But now I want to go one step further than just tips, and give you a sneak peek at the application we’ve been working on. PhotoMerchant is not just a blog - we’ve also been working on developing an application that will enable photographers to upload their photographs to the web, show them to customers, and sell online - all in one application. We think our product will revolutionize the way photographers do business online.

I am pleased to announce that in a few days, PhotoMerchant will be entering the alpha 1 phase of its development. This is a very exciting time for us as we have been working on PhotoMerchant for quite some time now and the alpha stage is where we will put its functionality, stability and usability to the test.

PhotoMerchant is primarily aimed at photographers who want to sell their photos online. It allows photographers to upload and manage their photos with the end goal of selling them online to either their existing customers, new customers or the world at large.

If you’re interested in using the “pre release” version of PhotoMerchant and helping us to put it through it’s paces… email us at alpha@photomerchant.net. If you help us test out our new web application you’ll get a PhotoMerchant subscription of your choice at HALF PRICE.  That’s right, when PhotoMerchant goes live, you can choose the subscription level you want and get it for 50% the marked price! Interested yet? Email us at alpha@photomerchant.net.

Want more detail? Read on…

What is PhotoMerchant?

PhotoMerchant is an online sales, workflow and presentation tool that allows photographers to sell their photos online. Imagine being able to setup all your print sizes, paper types, options and products you wish to offer, as well as various discounts like volume, earlybird and coupon discounts. Then, adding shopping cart functionality along with credit card processing facilities to your own website, or if you don’t have a website, using the one that PhotoMerchant automatically creates for you. This is what PhotoMerchant does. It actually does more, and you can read below for more detail.

PhotoMerchant can integrate with your own website to turn it into a fully fledged e-commerce photography site where you can sell your photos and manage customers as well as handle orders, payments, printing and shipping. In the not too distant future PhotoMerchant will also be integrating with a number of Professional Printing Houses around the globe as well as providing post processing services and a host of other value-add features.

If you are interested in having a “first look” at PhotoMerchant and also helping us test the alpha version, leave a comment on this post or send us an email at alpha@photomerchant.net.

Alpha 1 Testing Phase

The alpha 1 testing phase will commence on 2 April 2008 and we are now looking for a cross section of photographers from the following genres: portrait, wedding, event, sports, landscape, school, seniors, animal, divorce, glamor, product, real estate, corporate, baby, travel and food photographers. If you fit any of these categories and you take photos with the objective of selling them then we want to hear from you.

Okay, so what can you expect?

The application will contain almost all of the functionality we will go to market with, however, it will neither have the final interface nor will it be bug free. What we need you to do is to put the application through its paces and record any bugs, suggestions for new features and usability issues in the process.

So you think you’ve got what it takes to become a PhotoMerchant test pilot? Then read on.

If you are interested in participating in the alpha testing phase please send an email to alpha@photomerchant.net or just leave a comment on this post with your email address and we’ll contact you!

Continue reading “PhotoMerchant - Calling All Alpha Testers”

 Share