| ALL ABOUT MONTHLY PLANS |
| Last month we introduced a new set of monthly subscription plans and promised additional details to come. Those additional details can be found here! |
| RECAP |
On February 1st we announced and launched a set of monthly subscription offerings to all new Instaproofs users. The new monthly subscriptions include everything previously offered through our high-res subscriptions, PLUS a couple of significant added benefits:
- No commissions (0%) on sales
- Bank deposits as often as every business day
Along with the initial announcement, we also promised that the subscription-based plans would soon be available to our existing users. We are happy to let you know, that time is now! |
| QUESTIONS & ANSWERS |
| So many great questions have come through since the launch! Here's some of the most common questions we've received: |
| Q: How can I switch to one of the new plans? |
A: Getting switched over to the new plans is as easy as 1, 2... and that's it!
- Go into the Company Info page within your account and click the "Switch to a Monthly Plan" button. From the resulting pop-up, select your preferred subscription plan.
- Once you've signed up for a monthly plan, a new button will be displayed on your Company Info page labeled "Connect with Stripe." Click the button to create and/or link your Stripe account.
An illustrated guide through this short process can be found here: Ready, Set, Switch! |
| Q: Will I be required to use Stripe as my credit card processor? Is it easy to setup? How much does it cost? |
| A: Yes, yes, and read on:
All accounts will be required to use Stripe as their credit card processor. Setting up an account with Stripe is quick and easy, and can be done in as little as 60 seconds. There are no setup, monthly, or recurring fees with Stripe and all transactions are charged a processing fee of just 2.9% + $0.30.
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| Q: Are annual plans available as well? |
| A: Yes. Annual plans are available and are discounted to provide you with two months free each year.
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| Q: Will anything be different in my account after I switch to a monthly plan? |
A: Yes. There are a couple of differences to be aware of:
- For all those using one of our older storefront designs, your storefront will automatically be bumped up to the current design instead. The current design is significantly more mobile-friendly than the older designs and your clients will thank you for the update!
- If you haven't had a high-res subscription in the past, all of those benefits will immediately become available to you. Some of those benefits include unlimited time on your events, the ability to sell and give away digital downloads and the option to use our integrated fulfillment services (U.S. photographers only).
- PayPal will no longer be a payment option through your storefront.
- All photographers will be responsible for setting up, reporting, and remitting their own sales tax. Sales tax rates can be setup through the Taxes page within the Setup tab.
- A new "Billing" tab will be displayed on your account. Within the new tab you will be able to view your payment history and make changes to your subscription.
Your clients will continue to place their orders as they normally would, and you will continue to receive detailed reports of their orders like you have in the past. |
| Q: I am based outside of the USA, are these options available to me as well? |
| A: Yes!
We currently have subscriptions available for accounts in the following currencies: AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, USD, CHF, DKK, HKD, NOK, SGD, and SEK.
Our storefronts are also setup to automatically display in the following languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Hungarian, and Russian.
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| Q: I am an existing Instaproofs user. Will I need to switch to one of the new plans? |
| A: Yes. All of our existing users will eventually need to move to one of the new plans. |
| Q: How long do I have before I need to make the switch? |
| A: The deadline to make the switch is June 30. |
| Q: If I already have a high-resolution subscription, what will happen to that? |
| A: Existing high-resolution subscription accounts get a little bit of an exception to the deadline mentioned above.
As an existing high-resolution subscription holder you have two choices: (1) Continue using your existing subscription until it expires and then switch to one of the new plans, or (2) Make the switch early and receive an account credit for your remaining subscription balance.
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| Q: How much do the new subscription plans cost? |
| A: There are several plan options available, and each is primarily based on your image storage requirements.
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| Q: How can I know how much space I am currently using? |
| A: For existing high-resolution subscription holders it's easy. You can view your existing storage usage at the top of your Company Info page.
For those without a high-resolution subscription it's a little trickier, but here's how you can do it:
Click into the Event List page, place a checkmark in the checkbox to include all of your expired events, and then scroll to the bottom of your event list to see how many images we are currently storing for you. Each low-res image is approximately 1MB and every 1,000 images is approximately 1GB. |
| Q: Is this a good deal for my business? |
| A: Absolutely. No questions asked.
For less than a dollar per day (in many cases, significantly less) you can have the entire online portion of your business running, actively maintained, and generating you income.
Whether you're to looking to display your images, sell your images, provide downloads to clients, or even to simply send out and managing your invoices and marketing materials, you won't find these services for less.
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| Q: I don't have very many sales and these plans are more expensive than the option I am currently using. Do I really need to switch to one of the new plans? |
A: The short answer is yes. The unlimited free option has been a part of Instaproofs since 2005 and our high-resolution subscription option has been with us since 2013; we're just as sad to see them go as you are!
Due to a number of significant changes in the photography industry over the past 12 years, these older options are no longer sustainable. Some of the changes that have most heavily affected us include:
- An increased number of photographs being taken at each event. For example, a "large" wedding in 2005 used to have between 500 and 800 images, while the same type of wedding today routinely has between 1200 and 2500.
- A large number of photographers now include digital images as a part of their original session package. Since our previous fees were based solely on online sales, this trend has had a dramatically negative impact on our revenue stream while the services we provide have continued to grow.
- The devices being used to view online images have become significantly higher definition than those that were used in the past. The "large" images we displayed in years gone by are now barely larger than our thumbnail images of today. This seemingly small change has resulted in a significant increase in storage, bandwidth, and overall server costs and requirements.
- Many photographers are using our service solely for displaying and delivering their images, with no intention of making any sales at all. As one of the very last holdouts of the "order percentage" fee structure, we have become a go-to location for photographers looking for free image galleries. While we love being a part of each business, this type of relationship is unsustainable.
All that being said, we want to be very clear: we see none of the changes mentioned above as negative in any sense of the word! Change is good. Change can even be great! And now our business is adapting with the rest of the industry. |
