Online hosting and printing service, preferably UK-based?

Question

My wife is running a charity event in the summer and a photographer has kindly said they will photograph the event and provide us with the original images to sell.

Is there an online service (Ideally someone that will do it for free as its for a charity) that will host the photos and allow people to buy buy prints that are delivered? Ideally UK based so that shipping is cheap.

I found one called smugmug, which looks really good, but the shipping was very expensive if I didn't want to wait three weeks for it to arrive from the US.

Any help would be very much appreciated

Answer 1

Snapfish sounds like it would serve all your needs:

http://www.snapfish.co.uk/

They allow you to share an album with people, and then the people you've shared the album with can order prints and enlargements from that album:

http://support.snapfish.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/546/~/common-questions-about-sharing

Relevant FAQ entries:

What does it mean to share a photo or album with a link?

With the address (URL) link you can choose when and where you would like to share your photo or album. It's a direct link to a web page with your photo or album. Copy and paste the URL into an email from your own email provider, in an instant messenger chat, on a blog or social network, or wherever you choose.

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Once I've shared a photo or album(s), what can my friends do with it?

By signing in to Snapfish using an email address and a password, your friends can see the album anytime, plus order reprints and enlargements of any pictures they choose.

Can people I share with order reprints? Who pays for them?

Yes, anyone you share a photo or album(s) with can order reprints on their own, at no cost to you! When they order reprints, they will submit their own billing information. You will never be charged for an order that someone else places.

I've ordered prints and photo books from Snapfish before (but in Australia) and I've been satisfied with the quality of their individual prints. They should be good enough for your guests. Shipping was also extremely fast - as I said, I'm Australian, but they also operations located within the UK so you can get local shipping.

Answer 2

I do some events photography and to make prints available to clients I use the PhotoBox ProGalleries service. It's free to upload and there's no storage limit, they do take a (sizeable) cut but you can set your prices to allow for that and it's fairly convenient and prints can be with clients next day as it's a UK service.

http://www.photoboxgallery.com/

The watermarking on screen is a bit... basic (to be polite) if you use that feature, but they do a good range of products and I've always been happy with the quality and consistency of their output.