OK, I assumed way too much. I AM the manager of BB Color, Inc. This part Donovan knows from previous discussion. We ARE a Labtricity partner lab. I don’t know if Donovan knew that or not. I am not the owner, an owner or anything more than just an employee of the company. I certainly have more of an interest in this lab than Mike has in the Yahoo group, but I get my check on Friday regardless of what happens.
I have gotten a couple of emails from whom I can only assume are ExpMan users. Mike has asked that the discussion end in the group so I will answer the percentages question here instead. How is 18% better than 10%. Well, if you are going to look at just that percentage it isn’t. How many of you print through ExpMan/EZ Prints? For those with their hands up here is how 18% isn’t such a bad deal as straight numbers make it seem.
Let’s just say that you get in an order for 2 8×10’s that you charged $20 each for with $2.50 for shipping.
Exposure Manager
Total Order -$40.00
2-8×10’s -$4.90 <–From ExpMan.com
10% Fee -$4.00
Shipping -$2.50
Total to you $28.60 <–Assumes .50 transaction fee paid by customer.
Photoreflect
Total Order -$40.00
2-8×10’s -$3.00 <–BB Color, Inc. pricing.
18% Fee -$7.20
Shipping -$2.50
Total to you $27.30
Not quite as far apart as 8% makes it seem. $1.30 is real money. But it isn’t 8% different. All that glitters is not gold. None of the people all of the time. That kind of thing.
Of course I used pricing from the lab where I work. That is for an 8×10 printed as is on Supra Endura paper. If ExpMan is selling you a print on consumer paper for $2.45 each then my cost for the two prints drops to $2.50 on Royal Matte or Glossy. You could find similar pricing at a number of labs on the Labtricity network. We aren’t the most expensive, but we are far from being the cheapest.
Given that the ExpressDigital software manages every single aspect of my orders, even the ones that I generate locally, I am more than willing to give up that $1.30 in additional revenue for the time savings that I get from working within the software. Even users of the free Web Edition see significant time savings if they use the software to manage their work. That software is a significant benefit if you do more than strictly sell online.
Is it more expensive? YES! Is it fully 8% more? Depends on how you do things, but my guess is that in an awful lot of cases that number is 3%.
WAIT A MINUTE! Forgot all about the monthly or annual fee. $9 a month or $79 a year. I would go for the $79 so I will assume that most others would as well. Here you will have to do the math for yourself, but if you do $1,000 in sales each year then there goes nearly another percentage point off of the difference. Again, not much in the way of actual dollars, but cost wise the two services are a lot closer than 10% vs.18% makes it seem.
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