Is Online Photo Printing Really Worth it?

By Leanne Tremblay

Online photo printing, how convenient is it, really? In the past, dropping off a roll of film and picking up the prints a few weeks later at the local drugstore was just how we did things.

But, along comes digital photography and cool digital cameras at incredibly affordable prices, and the game changed.

Now, you can download your digital photos to your computer, edit and customize them, and then upload just the pictures you want to print to an online photo printing service.

Basically, you can't beat the price of ordering prints online, and level of convenience is up to you

A Look at Convenience

In most cases, you can still pick up your photos at a retail location. Big box stores like Target, Wal-Mart, and Walgreens let your order online and pickup in-store. For some people, this is convenient and works well with their schedules. If you're out and about doing errands, picking up your prints on the way is easy.

Or, you can have your prints mailed to you. Just order and then forget about them until they arrive—perhaps the most convenient of all!

What we like about this new wave of online photo printing from sites like Shutterfly and KodakGallery is that you can do all the photo selection, cropping, red-eye removal, and ordering from the comfort of your own home.

Standing at a kiosk in the mall trying to download pictures and place an order with customers waiting and watching over my shoulder is not what we call fun.

A Look at Pricing

But let's say you have a ton of digital photos from a vacation or special event. Which online photo printing service will give you the cheapest price per print?

Pricing is quite competitive among large online photo printing services. In many cases, you can get a lower price per print by purchasing a pre-paid print plan for 100, 250, or 500 prints.

For example, Snapfish sells 250 pre-paid prints for 10 cents each, normally 12 cents.

If you don't want a pre-paid prints, then 19 cents per print is common.

Pricing Comparison

Here's a quick comparison of print prices between the big three:

	No Plan	With Plan or Membership
Shutterfly	19 cents	12 cents (500 print plan)
Koday Gallery	15 cents	10 cents (Gallery Premiere Print Plan)
Snapfish	9 cents	8 cents (250 print plan)

Each of these sites offers free prints for trying out their service. Highly recommended.

Don't Forget Shipping and Handling

Here's where you pay a bit extra if you're having prints mailed to you. But still, for 50 prints, you should pay less than $4 for shipping. You can save a little by having prints delivered to a store for pickup.

Don't get too caught up in one or two cents either way. Shipping and handling is often free depending on the size of the order or current promotion.

Also, you should consider a company that gives great service, has uploading and online tools that are REALLY easy to use, and specializes in other photo services, like photo sharing, storage, gifts and photo books.

We think that once you get started ordering prints online, you'll be hooked and want to try other fun photo services in the future.