Purchase ProofBuddy

I am just getting started in this business and have good equipment but very little working capital since i quit my job to do photography full time. I signed with Pictage during their promo till the end of the month. I like online proofing but their price jacks up to 100/month for august. Is ProofBuddy 100 a month also or yearly? or onetime charge?

Thanks for your help…..

I’m also curious if it’s a $100 one time fee. Also, does this include free upgrades in the future, or would there be an additional fee for a new version? The features for the Free says it doesn’t include “digital products,” are the cupon codes part of that? Thanks as well! :)

It is a one time fee, just like if you bought software in a computer store.

If you register version 0.7, the current public release, you will receive the upgrade to 1.0 with your registration. The way ProofBuddy is setup all versions in the 1.0 series (1.0.1, 1.0.2, etc) will be treated as the same version so your registration will be valid through any minor releases. As far as upgrades in major and version upgrades (1.2, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, etc), that’s a decision I haven’t made yet. There will most likely be a cost involved, although I imagine that registered users will be able to upgrade at a lower rate.

The digital products option allows you to upload a digital file (jpg, zip, pdf, etc) as a pricing option. When a client orders that product they will be able to download the file, but only after the order is marked as paid or completed.

Coupons are separate and are available in the Lite version. Version 0.7 has credit, flat rate, and percentage coupons. Version 1.0 will add free item and free shipping coupons as well as the ability to use multiple coupons on a single order.

I am trying to register.

Jule - What you’ll need to do is to download and install the Lite version. Once you login you’ll see a register tab with a form to fill out. Submitting that form will send me a couple pieces of information I need to create your registration key and take you to the Paypal site to complete the registration.

I just downloaded ProofBuddy today and already have it up and running smoothly. The installation went along without a hitch and the admin interface is very easy to use. Why pay online proofing sites your hard earned money every month, when you can easily maintain your own site, with only the small one-time registration fee for the professional version! I will easily make back that money from all the extra ordering from out-of-state relatives of my clients, who will now have a very easy way to order photos of their loved ones.

Thanks for the compliments Marian. It’s great to hear from happy users.

I am currently upgrading my website and wanted to include client proofing :) Thanks for making such a simple program for me to do that with. I installed it, and have it running (including a test run) and it is working great.. Only took me an hour or so! Quite impressed, I will definitely be upgrading to the pro version.

Thanks for the comment Deena. Once I decided to get ProofBuddy to a point where it could be downloaded and used by more than just me, I decided that it was very important that it be easy to install and get running. I spent quite a bit of time on the install scripts to make them as easy to follow as possible. In future versions I hope to make the process even easier.

I downloaded it, but it is a compressed file (I unzipped it) and I can not figure out how to install it.

Nevermind! :)

I am so new to this and am currently working on a website. This proofing sounds right up my ally and my only question (for now, I’m sure) is how the payment works. Is it like the online proofing that cuts a check to the photographer after the photos are ordered? Sorry if the anwser is glaring at me from somewhere on this site…

You have three options for registering with us. The first is to download and install the Lite version to your server and use it, which costs you nothing aside from whatever time it takes you. You are free to use the Lite version for as long as you would like at no cost. Once you have the Lite version on your server you then have the option to upgrade the Lite version to the Pro version, which is currently $100. The Pro version adds several features, most notably the ability to sell packages. And the third option is to sign up for a hosted account which will give you the Pro version of ProofBuddy hosted on our servers instead of your servers. The advantage there is that you always have the latest version and don’t have to worry about installing it yourself.

Whichever way you go, we have no part in the payments between you and your client or the printing. By default ProofBuddy displays a PayPal link at the end of the checkout process that ties to your PayPal account. After your client orders the prints you’re sent an email with what they ordered so you can fulfill it. The orders are also visible in the admin interface.

Thank you so much for the info.

I made a download, but it didn’t say “Lite” …so I am assuming after I go through more steps I’ll run into the choice to get Lite or Pro. I’d love to do Pro, but I couldn’t do that today or maybe even for a few months. I’m looking forward to trying out the program, though. I read some great reviews on your program on Prophotogs.com forum. YOu really ought to check into being a sponsor there. You’ve already got a group of members singing your praises on the forum.

Once you install it should say “ProofBuddy Lite” in the title bar. Upgrading to the Pro version is just a matter of entering a registration code. After the code is checked, your server connects to my server and downloads a set of files to do the actual upgrade.

Ryan, my son came by and helped get ProofBuddy in the right place on my website. He is quite a computer software expert/writer himself and he was impressed with the “free” program we’re starting out with. We will, no doubt, soon upgrade to Pro. My husband has not thought we need online proofing and a shopping cart to go with it, but he will soon see the value of it and it’s place in this www shopping place we have. I was wondering about pricing on the Pro Version. On the free version, it appears all Albums have the same price. I thought I was able to have a different price list for each album. I did get an error message when I was exploring in the change price from “default.” Can you tell us more about the options in the Pro version?

Thanks for a great product. Hope to see you on Prophotogs forum soon as a sponsor. That’s where I learned of your awesome program. There a lot of photogs over there who think this is the “Bee’s Knees” of proofing programs.

Is it possbile to have local clients pay by check rather than PayPal? Other than that, it looks like this is just what we need.

Ramona - Yes, they can pay you however you’d like. The default page after checkout prompts the buyer to either mail a check to you or click the PayPal link. We have clients that have other merchant accounts and call the customer after purchase to complete payment. ProofBuddy just has a PayPal link built in, although it’s fairly simple to turn it off.

Do you require our Tax Identification or Social Security Number? for the Lite version?

Nope. Download away and use it for as long as you’d like.

Thank you, Ryan! I appreciate the quick response!

I only have a blog. Can i use this on blogspot.com?

Charmaine - No, it won’t work on blogspot. ProofBuddy needs a host that supports PHP and MySQL and that you can upload your own script to, which Blogspot does not.

What you can do is sign up for a hosted account with us.

If you upgrade and pay the one time fee of $100, you get unlimited storage and albums and free watermarking? And also do you charge a percentage of the sales of photos? Can you make a log-in and password for each album so the album is private except for the users that I give them their log-in and password to view their album. I know it probably says all this all over here, but I am just wanting to double check b/c I have tried to use other sites like this and they charge you a fee and then % of photos ordered and their account setup is difficult and customer I do no thinks exists there. So do you offer 24 hour customer service and if so or if not, what type of customer service do you have? Thanks so much for being patience with all my questions.

Crystal - The Pro version of ProofBuddy doesn’t impose any limits, but you’ll still have to stay within what your hosting account allows. Each album has a unique passcode that you can give to clients to view their images. And we don’t take a percentage because we don’t handle the printing. ProofBuddy is just the software. You’ll get an email with the order that you can then use to send images to whatever lab you’re comfortable with.

I have to tell you, I used ProofBuddy last year, but switched to another program because at the time ProofBuddy didn’t offer things that this other program said it was going to have “soon” in it’s new release. Well, that program still hasn’t released it’s new version, and I find myself coming back to ProofBuddy for an easy to use and affordable option for online proofing.

Ryan, really nice job. I’m still testing the lite version, but will be purchasing the full version in a few days. The nice thing is you have the business workflow tied into the program nicely. Paul

Glad to hear you like it Paul.