Photoworks Review  

Photoworks Review- Facts, Company Profile, Service Description, Benefits, Drawbacks, Customer Comments and Personal Review  

Facts & Company Profile

Photoworks ® is one of the top online photo printing service companies.  It began in 1978 under the company name, Seattle FilmWorks ® and through the years has shifted to an online photo sharing company.  In 2008, the company was recently purchased by AG Interactive which is a subsidiary of the American Greetings Corporation.  The company is based out of Cleveland, Ohio and promotes its services through the website, photoworks.com.  The CEO of the parent company is Zev Weiss. 

The company has been discussed in a number of popular magazines including Parents®, PC Magazine®, In Style®, Redbook®, and Cookie®.   

***For more information about Photoworks ® or to purchase its services, click on the following link: Photoworks®.*** 

Service Description

Photoworks ® provides its customers with free online storage and sharing.  Its main products for sale are through prints and personalized gifts.  Its prints pricing varies based on size.  In addition, they offer volume discounts for 3.5x5 and 4x6 sizes.  These sizes will vary in cost ranging from 9 cents a print up to 15 cents a print.  All larger sizes have scaled up pricing ranging from 99 cents for 5x7 up to $34.95 for 24x36.  However, they also allow you to buy prepaid print credits which are available for up to 2 years from purchase.  This allows you the ability to lock in these low prices for future orders, but percentage off promotions do not apply to these credits.   

Beyond print purchases, you can buy a number of customized photo products. These include custom Photo Books, photo Cards, photo calendars, photo mugs and photo gifts. In addition, you can have photos added to mousepads, keepsake boxes, jewelry boxes, coasters, throws, blankets, plates, pillowcases, tile, notepads, clipboards, magnets, bookmarks, planners, stickers, address labels, puzzles, playing cards, charm bracelets, key chains, luggage tags, tote bags, messenger bags, aprons, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and Christmas ornaments.  Here, is an example of two of these items below:    

Benefits 

• Offer prepaid print credits to obtain cheaper priced prints on future orders.  This is great considering the rising photo costs of all companies in the industry. 
• Free unlimited photo storage at Photo works ®. 
• You control who views the photos in your account and also can determine what photos they can look at. 
• Easy to share pictures with others by providing them the photo url. 

Drawbacks 

• It only allows jpg format pictures. 
• The maximum individual file size is 10MB although you do have unlimited photo storage on the site. 
• Must be at least 13 years of age to use their service. 
• The company no longer processes rolls of film.  However, if these are loaded onto a cd, they can be uploaded to their site. 

Customer Comments 

Here, are some snippets of comments made by Photoworks’ ® customers: 

“…the quality of the prints to be great. The resolution is crisp and clear…After spending years trying to find a good quality film developer, I finally have my source at Photoworks…”  Actual User Epinions 

“…easy to navigate, easy photo upload in a variety of ways…The photo quality itself is great…I would recommend PhotoWorks for photobooks. They are easy to create and personalize and the quality is excellent.”  Actual User Epinions 

“…The price is great…I did have one photo that was messed up…The greens are way too saturated…”  Actual User Epinions 

Personal Review

It is very easy to upload your pictures to Photo works® .  Pictures get uploaded almost immediately and the edit tools are easy to use and very straight forward.  In addition, it is easy to share pictures with others because once you setup your profile, you can send them the url address and they can view the pictures from their computer.  Another nice feature is the My Products section allows you to build your own customized gifts.  They essentially let you choose among the different gift options and combine it with your customized photo.  All you have to do is drag and drop the photo you want, make any editing adjustments, and add the item to your shopping cart.  This means ordering very easy and effective.   

The knocks on this company’s services are pretty much uniform throughout the industry.  The limitation of only allowing jpg format pictures will irk some customers, but jpg has become the standard picture format.  One aggravating shortcoming though is that they no longer directly process rolls of film.  Depending on your needs, this may be a disadvantage as you would have to go to Walgreens® or some other photo shop development center to get your film developed and added to a cd.  However, beyond this, I am impressed with the ease of their online sharing format and speed with which you can create print orders and photo products.  I also like the fact that you can buy prepaid print credits which will be ideal for small business owners or people who know they will need a lot of photo printing over the next couple of years. 

***For more information about Photoworks ® or to purchase its services, click on the following link: Photoworks®.***