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new functions
Some additional site functions have been programmed and tested on the developent server, and are now available for release after time is provided for photographer feedback and queries etc.

The main new customer feature is a purchase method choice between; a new quick purchase by $ value, and the existing download using mychillybin credits.

The new quick purchase by $ value involves adding images to a shopping cart, then approving licences in aggregate, and finally paying the total $ price by credit card.
Discounts for volume users will still be available when using the existing download using mychillybin credits.

Accordingly, the purchase screen and background processing have been redesigned to provide this choice, with the default being the quick purchase system. The relevant part of the new screen is shown below.

This quick purchase by $ value option has been added for the following reasons;

to provide more choice for customers, in line with other leading photo libraries.
because the ability to sell for specific $ values is needed for exclusive licences when they are released.
to limit discounts to cases where customers specifically seek this benefit.

new title field
You will likely have noticed that a restricted length field for an image title has been created and placed above the image number on the right. This is to aid customers in image selection and to facilitate more accurate image identification by external search engines.

Where existing images have a modest length first sentence in their description this sentence will be automatically added to the title field. Photographers may populate a title for other existing images, or modify the automatically populated titles, as they wish, using a new utility to show in their profile area. When no title exists for an image, the screen presentation is still tidy with this field being suppressed.

A number of other minor changes have also been applied elsewhere to this page associated with continuous improvement to the user experience, and SEO (search engine optimization).

photographer payment changes needed to implement this feature
To facilitate this new proposed $ based purchase option for customers, a change is planned to the way that photogapher payments are calculated, which will also align the returns received by photographers and by mychillybin more closely.

Instead of photographer commissions being calculated on the nominal gross value of credits, they will be calculated on the net value, after credit card fees and any applicable transaction discounts. Also, photographer % comission rates will be raised by 3%. These two steps in combination mean that photographers will receive slightly better $ payments per image on average, and that they will also benefit from any future reduction in discount frequency.

Full details of the calculations involved for both current and the proposed future payment calculations will be included in a future newsletter for those keen to check the detail through.

release schedule
Time is available now for photographers to ask any questions they wish, comment, or to raise any concerns. Once any issues raised are addressed this facility is intended to be released as the active site.

next, after this
Firstly some rapid catch up on photo competition administration, and also image processing. And in terms of further enhancements to site functionality ...

making needed changes associated with the above to the affected mychillybin Agreements
adding a customer image request facility
a screen (and incentives) for photographers to prune 'lesser' images from their portfolios,
a process through which photographers can request images be considered to be offered for exclusive use licencing by customers
then, once the stock of available exclusive use images is sufficient, the release of a system for customers to search for and licence selected images on an exclusive use basis

Look forward to your comments and questions on the forum, or direct by email if your comments are better suited to private, rather than public forum communication.

cheers for now
the mychillybin team
admin@mychillybin.co.nz
www.mychillybin.co.nz fresh NZ images. one-off low costs