Client galleries for photographers with Pixieset

Sending photos by file-transfer links and chasing for print orders takes time after every shoot. If a photographer delivers 6 shoots a month at 30 minutes of delivery admin each, that's 180 minutes, 3 hours a month.

Pixieset puts a shoot's photos into a private client gallery that the client opens from a link, and the Free plan lets you sell directly from galleries with a 15% commission on store sales. Pick the storage tier for the images you keep online. The Photo Editor add-on for editing and culling is optional and costs $12 a month extra. The page is inconsistent about commission on paid plans, so check the terms before relying on it.

A portrait photographer in Bath delivers 6 shoots a month, 60 edited JPEGs each of about 10MB, and keeps galleries for a year.

About 2 hours a month saved (120 minutes), worth about £70 at £35 an hour. Storage: 6 shoots x 60 images x 10MB is about 3.6GB a month, so about 43GB over a year; that fits Plus (100GB) but fills Free (3GB) in a month. Cost: Plus is $16 (about £12) a month billed yearly, or $20 (about £15) a month on monthly billing. The $12 Photo Editor add-on is not included. Prices are shown in dollars.

1. 1List your yearly storage needs: shoots per month x images x average file size.
2. 2Try the Free plan on one shoot (3GB) to see the client side of a gallery.
3. 3Choose the plan whose storage covers the images you keep online and decide yearly or monthly billing.
4. 4Set a download and expiry policy for galleries and tell clients when they will be removed.
5. 5Check the commission and payment terms on print sales before setting prices.

• Storage runs out sooner than expected with RAW files or video. Check the tier before you upload.
• Galleries hold personal images. Use passwords or private links and check who can download.
• The page is inconsistent about commission on paid plans. Read the current terms.
• Photos of people used for your own marketing need their agreement; a gallery is not a model release.