I came across this website a while back, and was really interested in the free 20 prints it offered. Having just been on holiday to France, my photos were just waiting to be printed into hard copies rather than in digital form only, so I decided to sign up and take the offer last Thursday (21st July 2005). Sure enough, the free 20 prints offer is still going, so I uploaded my 20 favourites onto the website, and followed the procedure. Here's what I found out...
REGISTRATION
Go to www.snapfish.co.uk, click on the 'new to Snapfish?' link on the right-hand side of the page, and enter the details. All you need to enter to register is title and names, e-mail address and a password (verified). You must also agree to the Snapfish Terms and Conditions, which you can open via a link on the page.
That's it! You're registered and
ready to use the service. Of course, if you wish to order prints/products, you will need to enter credit/
debit card and address details; but you needn't do this now - only when ordering is this required.
I must stress now that, while I found an offer that could get me 20 prints, I had to pay for Postage and Packing, at 99p. If you look around the net at reward websites such as Rpoints (where I went), you may find better offers. I know that some people managed to get both the prints and P and P free, by typing in an extra code. By just visiting the website, you will be given 10 free prints though, which is nonetheless extremely reasonable.
UPLOADING PHOTOGRAPHS
When you click on the 'Upload photos' button, you will need to type a new name for an album in which you will store these photographs. You can create multiple albums to store various photographs, which is obviously a convenient feature, as you know instantly which photos are where. Once you've renamed your album, click to upload photos.
You then click on 'Select Photos'. Now, I think when I tried the service a few months back, it installed some sort of software to make it easier to upload the photos from my
hard disk. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe, and it makes uploading photos much easier and thus quicker in the long run. Once the software is installed, you can select the photos you wish to upload by clicking on the 'Select Photos' button. Browse around to find the photos you want, and use the handy tick boxes to select desired photos.
Once you have found and selected all the photos you wish to upload to the selected album, quickly check what standard you wish to upload the photos at. Standard Upload is quicker, and I found my prints to be of a very good quality at this speed. If, however, you are willing to wait longer, or you have a connection fast enough to handle larger file uploads in a relatively stress-free timescale, select the Full Resolution Upload. Take note though, this upload is only really necessary for poster-sized prints. Now click 'upload selected photos'.
Yellow bars with a percentage will indicate the process of uploading the selected photo(s). Once complete, click the 'view entire album' button to view your snaps.
From here you have many options. You can:
- Play a slideshow
- Share the photos with friends/relatives
- Order prints (at a cost - more in a while)
- Upload more photos
- Create gifts/cards/novelties with the photos
- Edit/organise the photos
SLIDESHOW
This is a good way to scan through your images at a larger size. Thus, you can appreciate the finer details in your photos, and so pick images you believe deserve to be printed out or made into a card etc. It's a nice touch, but nothing much special than Windows' own slideshow.
SHARING
You can choose to share individual photos or whole albums with your contacts too. Click on share, and select the photos you wish to hand over for your relatives and friends to see. You can then enter the e-mail addresses of those you wish to send to, and Snapfish will automatically save these contacts in your address book if you wish to repeat such an action in the future. Snapfish promises not to spam/sell contacts' addresses, and I've never had any trouble with them. You can enter a subject, message and choose to give contacts gift prints, which you will sort out later on in the process (i.e. how many, what type etc.).
ORDERING PRINTS
- SELECTING PHOTOS/SERVICES
This is where the website makes its money, and also where you can find a bargain or two. Just click on the 'order prints' button, select the photos (I'd advise selecting the maximum you can have for free i.e. 10 or 20, plus any more extra you want in ONE GO - that way you pay 99p for as many prints as you order) and continue with the wizard. Here you can select different sizes, multiple prints of more favoured photos etc.
If you plan on printing in bulk with this service, there are savings to be made! 4 x 6 inch prints normally cost 10p each, quite
cheap no? Well, you can save more by pre-ordering prints, which never go out of date - so you're investing in future prints! Here's what you can save:
SIZE QUANTITY PRICE (EACH)
4"x6" prints (not pre-ordered) 10p
4"x6" prints 500 9p
4"x6" prints 1000 8p
5"x7" prints (not pre-ordered) 20p
5"x7" prints 150 19p
5"x7" prints 300 18p
Of course, buying more will save you money, but it's also much dearer and not exactly worth doing if you're not going to use all the prints until year 4502!
- PAYMENT PROCESS
Here's where more details have to be entered. You can save more money by getting another set of prints with a discount of 20%, but again this is entirely up to you - do you really need them, or is it just another way to get rid of more money?
Take note, the website address should begin with 'https://' (without quotes), and a padlock should be seen near the bottom right of the screen. This means the page is secure, so your details are safe.
So then, you should feel at ease entering the following: cardholder's name, card no., exp. date etc. and the billing/shipping address(es). Here's where you can also enter a coupon code to save yet more money, if you have such a thing. P + P for prints is always 99p, unless you have a code that says otherwise.
OTHER PRODUCTS TO CHOOSE
Snapfish, like many photo-printing sites, also have a wide range of other products onto which you can place your photos and cause a bit of humour/admiration. I once used a different photo website,
Bonusprint, to get a mug for my dad for £6.99. I think Snapfish's prices are a little dearer though, and so haven't yet ordered from this section of the website. Nevertheless, keep your eye out for some offers, as these sites are competing against each other, so are always looking to make the extra sale...
Products include things like cards (variable), mugs (£7.99), t-shirts (£11.99 - 25% off duplicate gifts), youth t-shirts (£7.99 - 25% offer) as well as sweatshirts, mouse mats, coasters and placemats.
P and P for these products is always £1.50.
EDITING PHOTOS
To give photos a better appeal or a more personal touch, you can edit photos using Snapfish's own
online editor. You can add personal designs to the look of your online albums too. Photos can be edited in the following ways: adding borders, rotating, adding captions, fixing (including red eye removal and auto contrast - the results make it far more realistic and life-like) and rearranging photos.
NOW THAT THE ORDER IS PLACED...
Snapfish send a confirmation e-mail, which you should keep as a record of purchase. A day later, they told me payment had been successfully made, and that the photos had been dispatched. A day later, this morning, the photos arrived! I managed to get 20 prints for 99p (for free + 99p P and P), which is
fantastic. I found this offer on Rpoints, which means I should also get £1.75 commission from them simply for using their link to sign-up!!!
OVERALL
I would definitely recommend Snapfish. They have many great offers for you to look into, the service speed is excellent and the facilities online are really helpful. I still can't believe the deal I've just got, and the prints look great - just what I wanted. In the future, the same order would cost me £2.99 including P and P, which is still very reasonable. I would definitely be happy to use the service again, and hope that you now feel the same way. Thanks very much for reading :)
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Benjamin Riches (wbafcben) 2005
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Snap happy! 
