6 ms·

Show HN: Our photo print & ship library for iOS

96 points by brezina 15y ago

quizbiz 15y ago
Cool concept but I just never see myself using this. As a frequent event photographer, boy would I love a similar app that lets me quickly enter in a number from a file name take down payment, and ship a print that I will upload later to the customer.
- brezina 15y ago
  cool. yeah - this is more for developers of photo apps. but there might be a market for what you want as well. thanks for the feedback
petervandijck 15y ago
Really like it, this is of the same "I should have thought of that" smartness as Slideshare was when I was first told of it. Youtube for presentations - brilliant! Photoprint api for photo apps - brilliant! And a built-in business model. Good luck guys!
adamjernst 15y ago
Isn't Apple going to shoot you down for accepting credit cards? It's in-app or bust now.
- rickharrison 15y ago
  I believe that is only for subscription services. There are still plenty of e-commerce applications on the App Store. Also, Apple unfortunately only supports in-app purchasing for digital goods (and ours is physical).
- teej 15y ago
  No. Off the top of my head, both the Square and Uber apps allow manual CC entry.
- plusbryan 15y ago
  Apple does not allow in-app payments for physical goods.
  - joeguilmette 15y ago
    they are either really bad at research or they know something that you do not.
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
teej 15y ago
I have to type in a credit card number? Talk about a deal-breaker. That's a very non-iOS interaction. I understand the constraints, but that's what startups are all about - finding clever ways around them. How soon can you put in a seamless flow?
- brezina 15y ago
  We have many many customers on postagram and popbooth that don't have a problem with entering a credit card. This is THE way that Apple wants developers to charge for physical goods - see item 11.3 on these guidelines http://appadvice.com/appnn/2010/09/apples-app-store-review-guidelines-annotated-explained http://appadvice.com/appnn/2010/09/apples-app-store-review-g... (the actual guidelines are behind a login for developers). So given these constraints, we believe this is a very seemless flow - and our customers agree.
timjahn 15y ago
Are there enough iOS apps that need this functionality to support you as a business? And will there be enough in the future? I'm worried about this being way too niche...
yarone 15y ago
Also see PostalMethods.com - a complete API for sending postal mail. You send them the data (document, street addresses, etc) and they print and mail.
- spoiledtechie 15y ago
  I use postal methods a lot for one of my websites (postsecretcollection.com <- Shameless plug). But they are a tad expensive on the postcard side if you ask me. I just want to know how they get the price down to just 99 cents.
stevenp 15y ago
SO COOL! Now I want to crowbar this into apps that don't even need it. :) "Who wants to send a postcard from their to-do list!?"
matdwyer 15y ago
Interesting. I run a web service that is looking for this type of service as an addon, but I'm confused at your pricing. You take 99¢ base plus 30% of anything over that? So if I charge $2, I get 70¢, you get $1.30, and you'll mail a post card anywhere in the world? I run out of Canada, so you're spending 59¢ for the stamp, xx¢ for the payment processing, and xx¢ for the printing. Seems like a solid deal, hope you can make some $$ too! Edit - I read your blog and see that it does seem to work that way. Interesting, if you work for web services I may be interested as well.
- spoiledtechie 15y ago
  Ditto on the Edit. Id be interested as well. Just sent a tweet to the owners...
chrisgoodrich 15y ago
Value proposition is surprisingly similar to PicPlum. Printed photos are important. PicPlum as a platform?
ahsanhilal 15y ago
I like the idea, but I do think the UI could be simplified a bit.
- psuguitarplayer 15y ago
  Some of the views can be bypassed by the developer (say a dev has no need for the cropping or messaging view), but we're always refining our flow and looking for ways to adjust our UI. If you have any suggestions, we'd love to hear from you. Just shoot an email to team@sincerely.com, SUBJECT: iOS Ship Library Feedback.

96 points by brezina 15y ago

Cool concept but I just never see myself using this. As a frequent event photographer, boy would I love a similar app that lets me quickly enter in a number from a file name take down payment, and ship a print that I will upload later to the customer.

brezina 15y ago
cool. yeah - this is more for developers of photo apps. but there might be a market for what you want as well. thanks for the feedback

petervandijck 15y ago

Really like it, this is of the same "I should have thought of that" smartness as Slideshare was when I was first told of it. Youtube for presentations - brilliant! Photoprint api for photo apps - brilliant! And a built-in business model. Good luck guys!

adamjernst 15y ago

Isn't Apple going to shoot you down for accepting credit cards? It's in-app or bust now.

rickharrison 15y ago
I believe that is only for subscription services. There are still plenty of e-commerce applications on the App Store. Also, Apple unfortunately only supports in-app purchasing for digital goods (and ours is physical).
teej 15y ago
No. Off the top of my head, both the Square and Uber apps allow manual CC entry.
plusbryan 15y ago
Apple does not allow in-app payments for physical goods.
- joeguilmette 15y ago
  they are either really bad at research or they know something that you do not.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]

teej 15y ago

I have to type in a credit card number? Talk about a deal-breaker. That's a very non-iOS interaction. I understand the constraints, but that's what startups are all about - finding clever ways around them. How soon can you put in a seamless flow?

brezina 15y ago
We have many many customers on postagram and popbooth that don't have a problem with entering a credit card. This is THE way that Apple wants developers to charge for physical goods - see item 11.3 on these guidelines http://appadvice.com/appnn/2010/09/apples-app-store-review-guidelines-annotated-explained http://appadvice.com/appnn/2010/09/apples-app-store-review-g... (the actual guidelines are behind a login for developers). So given these constraints, we believe this is a very seemless flow - and our customers agree.

timjahn 15y ago

Are there enough iOS apps that need this functionality to support you as a business? And will there be enough in the future? I'm worried about this being way too niche...

yarone 15y ago

Also see PostalMethods.com - a complete API for sending postal mail. You send them the data (document, street addresses, etc) and they print and mail.

spoiledtechie 15y ago
I use postal methods a lot for one of my websites (postsecretcollection.com <- Shameless plug). But they are a tad expensive on the postcard side if you ask me. I just want to know how they get the price down to just 99 cents.

stevenp 15y ago

SO COOL! Now I want to crowbar this into apps that don't even need it. :) "Who wants to send a postcard from their to-do list!?"

matdwyer 15y ago

Interesting. I run a web service that is looking for this type of service as an addon, but I'm confused at your pricing. You take 99¢ base plus 30% of anything over that? So if I charge $2, I get 70¢, you get $1.30, and you'll mail a post card anywhere in the world? I run out of Canada, so you're spending 59¢ for the stamp, xx¢ for the payment processing, and xx¢ for the printing. Seems like a solid deal, hope you can make some $$ too! Edit - I read your blog and see that it does seem to work that way. Interesting, if you work for web services I may be interested as well.

spoiledtechie 15y ago
Ditto on the Edit. Id be interested as well. Just sent a tweet to the owners...

chrisgoodrich 15y ago

Value proposition is surprisingly similar to PicPlum. Printed photos are important. PicPlum as a platform?

ahsanhilal 15y ago

I like the idea, but I do think the UI could be simplified a bit.

psuguitarplayer 15y ago
Some of the views can be bypassed by the developer (say a dev has no need for the cropping or messaging view), but we're always refining our flow and looking for ways to adjust our UI. If you have any suggestions, we'd love to hear from you. Just shoot an email to team@sincerely.com, SUBJECT: iOS Ship Library Feedback.