Photo Sales has been a popular option for TownNews customers for some time, and has generated thousands of dollars of revenue for participants during that time.
We currently offer integration with Fotomoto, a print-on-demand vendor which offers an embedded photo purchase overly. Fotomoto is owned by Bay Photo, which is a major supplier of prints for most print-on-demand services (including the previous other vendors used by TownNews).
How much does photo sales cost?
Note that TownNews does not receive a revenue share percentage, so these prices represent the actual revenue split with the vendor. TownNews may receive a small affiliate percentage which is taken completely out of the vendor percentages and does not impact customers.
How do I get started?
If you would like to proceed, simply fill out this form to create an account.
Once you fill out the form, you will be presented with your Fotomoto site ID. You can save this for now, or you can access it within your Fotomoto admin later.
Follow our onboarding guide for a step-by-step instructions on how to set up your account in Fotomoto and go live!
Increase the value of your photo archive by selling the images directly to consumers as high-quality photographs and photo gifts.
What are the advantages of photo sales with Fotomoto?
The program is integrated closely to the BLOX CMS via a shopping cart overlay and does not require consumers to go off to another site for browsing and purchasing.
The photo sales set up can be managed within the BLOX interface with the “photo sales” trigger on individual photo assets.
Our program does not require photos to be uploaded into a separate interface in order to be available for photo sales. Instead, when enabled, all photos that are available for photo purchasing - even archived photos from many years ago - will automatically be monetized and available for printing (as long as they are marked for sale).
How does it work?
When installed on a website, a "BUY NOW" button will begin to appear next to local images that have qualified to be "sellable."
End users click on the "BUY NOW" button and a sales overlay highlighting various product offerings is displayed. The end user will navigate through these product formats, pick an option, crop and customize their product, and then go through a credit card process.
The credit card process is maintained by our on-demand printing partner, who immediately gets information on the purchase and in 2 hours will begin the creation of the product. The product is then sent directly from the manufacturer to the end user in a "grey labeled" package. This means that, while it won't list the website or publisher brand, it will not say TownNews.com or our printing vendor either. It will say some generic information such as "Customer Service" or "Production Facility.”
You can set your own pricing in the Fotomoto store, and funds are delivered into your account immediately when an order comes in.
How soon do consumers get their products?
Once an order is processed, the prints are created and shipped in 7 business days or less; Premium prints generally ship in 2-3 business days, canvas, MetalPrints, Framed and Fine Art prints generally ship in 3-4 business days. After that, delivery to the customer depends on which method of shipping they selected. Note that we may be shipping from multiple print labs, so customers may receive their orders in separate deliveries.
Can we sell to other countries?
Yes. Fotomoto accepts credit card payments via PayPal and Stripe. Fotomoto-fulfilled orders are produced in California and shipped via USPS to anywhere those services deliver, and we do offer discounted shipping to Europe. Please note that any international shipping rates will apply.
Can I create a coupon code?
You can create several types of coupons on the Coupons page of the Fotomoto Dashboard.
Can I use Fotomoto on more than one site?
Yes. You can sell images on an unlimited number of websites using a single Fotomoto account with our Pro Plus subscription plan. Otherwise you can create multiple separate Fotomoto accounts on the Free subscription plan, but it's not as convenient.
Who handles customer support?
How do you handle refunds or "make goods"?
Fotomoto coordinates the sales and order fulfillment processes between buyers, sellers, printers and shippers.
If there is a problem during the ordering process or with the printing of an order, Fotomoto Support will investigate the issue, contacting the parties involved as necessary on the customer's behalf. If there is an issue with shipping or delivery of a physical product, Fotomoto Support will verify that the products were shipped but it may be the customer's responsibility to contact the shipper to make any delivery arrangements or file claims necessary for damaged or incorrectly-delivered shipments.
Fotomoto itself is not responsible for restitution of products ordered whether misprinted, lost, damaged or otherwise.
If you have specific questions about an order, please contact Fotomoto Support.
How are taxes collected?
Fotomoto has an option (which is enabled by default) which allows taxes to be collected from the customer during the photo sale process. All state laws are different, and they do change from time to time, so we recommend checking with a tax professional in your state.
What is the "buy now" logic?
In order to get the "BUY NOW" button on a photo, it has to have a high res version (for now - this is changing in the near future), and cannot be disqualified based on the following:
- Must be High Res [Note: It must have a high res version that is greater than 1000px width and height uploaded to the image asset.]
- Must be created in Editorial application
- Excludes Keywords #nosale
- Excludes Keywords #tncen
- Excludes Keywords #ap
- Excludes Flag "contributed"
- Excludes Flag "ap"
- Excludes Caption that contains "contributed photo"
- Excludes Caption that contains "contributed by"
- Excludes Caption that contains "via ap"
- Excludes Byline that contains "contributed by"
- Excludes Byline that contains "associated press"
- Excludes Byline that contains "provided photo"
- Excludes Byline that contains "via ap"
- Excludes Byline that contains "ap photo"
- Excludes Byline that contains "(courtesy" [Note: This includes a parenthesis in order to make the search more specific and reduce the bad "hit" rate.]
- Excludes AP photos
- Excludes Property Source equal to "TownNews.com Content Exchange"
- Excludes presentation mode of "mugshot"
In addition, there is a "photo sales" button on individual photo assets, where the automatic logic can be overridden and turned on or off. This setting can be applied in the "batch edit" mode as well.
How are product listings determined?
Each individual store can set its own pricing and product line based on the items that are available from Fotomoto.
Are these high quality photo products?
Fotomoto is owned by Bay Photo, which is a major supplier of prints for most print-on-demand services (including the previous other vendors used by TownNews). So, the prints will be of the same high quality as other vendors in this space.
How does the revenue split work?
TownNews no longer takes a revenue split as part of this process. The transaction happens directly between Fotomoto and the publisher, who receives payment immediately after an order and it is sent directly to the payment option that has been set up in the Fotomoto admin.
What photos can I sell?
Local media organizations can sell photos for which they have the copyrights. This means that photos that come from syndicated content, such as Associated Press or other news services, can not be sold by the media website. In addition, local media sites should ensure that they have a contract with the photographer which includes permission to sell the photo. Sometimes contracts with contractors, freelancers or interns do not include such language. In these cases, the website staff should ensure that the photos do not receive the "BUY NOW" button by turning off "photo sales" on each of those photos.
In addition, end users will be informed that copyright of the photograph is not conferred to the end user as part of the sale. They are purchasing the product only, not rights to the photograph.
