How to migrate your website to the new and improved Fotomerchant

After 10 months of blood, sweat and tears it’s our pleasure to announce the general availability of Fotomerchant 2!

There. I wanted to get that out in the open rather than build up to it with a whole bunch of fanfare. Seriously though, myself and the team here at Fotomerchant would like to thank all of our existing photographers for being so patient over the past 10 months.

If you’re an existing Fotomerchant photographer it would probably be a good idea to read this post where I go in to more detail about what’s new in Fotomerchant 2 and also explain some of the PhotoMerchant 1 functionality that is temporarily missing from Fotomerchant 2.

For this post however I am going to walk you through our plans for migrating existing photographers to Fotomerchant 2.

If you just want to jump right in, you can go and create a new account at the Fotomerchant 2 register page. Though if you’re an existing PhotoMerchant photographer and want to understand what options are available for migration I STRONGLY recommend you read on before getting start.

PhotoMerchant 1 to Fotomerchant 2 migration plan

In the interests of releasing Fotomerchant 2 as soon as we possibly could we decided against building a fully automated migration process before launching in favour of an earlier release date. What does this mean for you as an existing photographer? Well, there are a number of options as to how you can chose to proceed which I’ve listed below.

Please be aware that moving our existing photographers to the new platform is a very high priority and we’ve already begun work on the phases that are listed below so that we can get everyone across as soon as possible.

Below are the options that will become available over the coming weeks and months. Phase 1 is currently the only phase that is open and we will inform everyone when phases 2, 3 and 4 come online. Phase 4 may take a little be longer to implement due to it’s complex nature.

Phase 1 – Self migration (Available now)

A few months ago we performed a survey of our photographers and asked them a simple question. “What would it take for you to migrate to Fotomerchant 2?”. The available answers were the 3 phases outlined in this post. Almost 50% of respondents indicated that they would be happy to migrate themselves. What does this mean exactly? Let me explain:

Self migration is basically where you, as an existing PhotoMerchant 1 photographer sign up for a brand spanking new Fotomerchant 2 trial account and start from scratch. Upload your photos, configure your website, pricing, categories and whatever else. We’ve made the process as simple as we can:

Step 1: Go to http://admin.fotomerchant.com/register and create your new Fotomerchant 2 account. You’ll automatically be put on a 14 day trial.
Step 2: Once you’ve finished the 2-3 step wizard, the first thing you should do is head to the “Getting Started” section of the interface. (You can get there by clicking getting started in the left navigation).
Step 3: Once you’re on the “Getting Started” page you will see a green box in the “messages” section of the page: “Existing customer?”. Click the “Yes” button and fill in your PhotoMerchant 1 login details in the box that pops up.
Step 4: Doing this will automatically create a helpdesk ticket on your behalf and it lets us know that you’ve created a trial account. When we receive the ticket we will automatically extend your trial for another 14 days to give you more time to get your new account setup. Don’t worry, we have no intention of billing you on the two platforms at once. We’ll work with you to make sure everything has gone smoothly and when you’re ready to switch things over to the Fotomerchant 2 completely we’ll help you through it.
Step 5: If you have any questions or problems while using Fotomerchant 2 you can click the “Help & Support” main menu item at any time to be taken straight to the helpdesk. You’ll automatically be logged in to the helpdesk and ready to submit a ticket or view the help documentation.

We realise that this option is not going to suit a lot of our photographers. Each one of our photographers have different requirements which is why we are already building the tools needed for Phase 2.

START HERE

Phase 2 – Website and Photo Migration (Coming July 2013)

This phase will be the 1st phase that involves an automated process and when launched will allow you to initiate the migration of your PhotoMerchant 1 account to Fotomerchant 2. This phase is NOT mandatory and will be initiated by you (instructions will be released once this phase is available).

The items that will be migrated during Phase 2 will be as follows:

– Your account
– Galleries
– Photos (and tags)
– Gallery Categories
– Website settings
– Website pages and content
– Sliders
– Assets
– Your domain name (if purchased through us)

If you brought your own domain name a support ticket will automatically be created which will alert us to the fact that you have your own domain. We will then contact you to help you through the process of modifying the domain settings so that it points to your new Fotomerchant 2 website.

For most photographers Phase 1 or 2 will be enough to get them well on their way. However, for some of our photographers we know that they will require more items migrated. This is where Phase 3 comes in.

Phase 3 – e-Commerce Migration (TBA)

This phase will be the 2nd phase that involves an automated process. This phase is NOT mandatory and will be initiated by you (instructions will be released once this phase is available).

The items that will be migrated during this process will be as follows:

[list type=”list4″]

All items listed in Phase 2
Customers (now called Contacts)
Customer Groups (now called Contact Groups)
Self fulfilment products
Direct fulfilment products
Digital products
Feature sets and Pricing models (now called catalogs)
Discounts (Coupon & Volume)
Custom shipping methods
Your e-commerce settings (PayPal ID, etc)

[/list]

Phase 4 – Complete Migration (automatic)

This phase, unlike the first 3, will require that all remaining customers be transitioned to Fotomerchant 2. This will conclude the life of the PhotoMerchant 1 platform and it will be archived and shutdown for good.

If you have not migrated your account by now, we will perform the above migrations on your behalf. However we are not entirely sure what additional items will be included in this phase. During our survey there were not many respondents that indicated that they needed a complete order history from their PhotoMerchant 1 account. As such, we will evaluate the practicality of supporting this when the time comes around.

We would be keen to get everyone’s feedback on this so that we can understand our photographer’s needs in this area.

Help & support

At any time while using Fotomerchant 2, just click the “Help & Support” link in the main navigation to be taken straight to the helpdesk, we’ve already created a bunch of video tutorials which can be found on our Kick Start Tutorials page.

Give it a try

If you’re keen to get started straight away head on over to http://admin.fotomerchant.com/register and give it a try.

START HERE

Written by Derek Clapham

Derek is Engineering Czar and Co-founder of Fotomerchant. He once picked up a camera and started shooting but everyone screamed so he stopped.

Michael Bailey

I’m testing now, there wasn’t an option to nominate as an existing customer – shall I create a help desk ticket manually and submit?

Cheers, mtb
- derekclapham
  
  Michael,
  
  Click on “Getting Started” in the main navigation this will take you to the dashboard. In the “messages” area on the dashboard you should see the “Are you an existing customer?” panel.
  
  Derek
  - Michael Bailey
    
    Done. Thanks Derek.
nicole shannon

i’m not very technical and would rather it all be automatically transferred over for me. including the domain details etc as that confuses me even more
- hiredgoon
  
  That will all happen as part of Phase 2 or Phase 3. We’ll let you know when it’s ready for you.
Emma

So if I register as a pre existing customer, and the 28 days expires, if I’m not ready to go live with my new fotomerchant site, my trial time will be extended… is this right? I only ask because the e-commerce part of it confuses me no end. With how busy I am, it might take me even 2 months to set it up. I want to try this option so I can understand it. (Doing it myself that is) I initially had someone else set up my e-commerce section.
- derekclapham
  
  Emma,
  
  Firstly, yes. We’re more than happy to work with you on the timing of it all and we’ll never double charge you for both accounts.
  
  Secondly, pricing and product management is one of the features that we have greatly simplified in version 2 so hopefully it wont be anywhere near as confusing for you!
  
  Hope this answers your questions.
  - Emma
    
    Thank you :)
Wayne

afternoon folks… as I have my own domain name, I gather I will be required to wait until Phase 2?
regards,
sportzfotos
- derekclapham
  
  Hi Wayne,
  
  Having your own domain name doesn’t require you to wait. If you sign up for an account at http://admin.fotomerchant.com/register and then just let us know when you’re ready to move your domain over we can help you through it.
  
  Actually, there is no way for us to automatically migrate your domain name for you because you have to log in to Crazy Domains to modify the DNS entries. There’s going to be some manual work involved regardless of which phase you end up going for.
  - Wayne
    
    oops.. should have mentioned that I’m a current PhotoMerchant user, http://www.sportzfotos.com.au so does mean I can begin migration?
    - derekclapham
      
      Yes. If you’re happy with the outline of Phase 1 then feel free to go ahead and get started. Just click the Help & Support link in the main menu of Fotomerchant 2 when you’re ready to move your domain across and we’ll help you through it.
      - Wayne
        
        understood.. …actually re-read the second para of your first reply. will begin this week to move things over. cheers
Robert

Hi everyone.
As a recently signed up user I guess tranfering sooner may be a suitable move however can you explain what happens to my current website address. Will the old .photomerchant address still direct existing customers to the new site. As like others I have promoted the site address recently.
Regards

Robert
- derekclapham
  
  Robert,
  
  The best way forward for you is probably to start building your new Fotomerchant 2 account and then when you’re ready let us know via support and we’ll make sure that your .photomerchant.net domain points to your new site.
  
  By default you will get a .fotomerchant.com address.
Susanna Patras

Hello,

The new platform looks very nice is very easy to use. I’m a current user and just started to transfer my site yesterday. I have noticed though a couple of things that are not available in the new Fotomerchant 2, but were available in version 1.

In the new (optional) Contact Address Information field that can be set when you create a new web page, the HTML button does not exist anymore. Therefore, if someone wanted to add extra functionality (such as additional links or a google map) it is not possible any longer. In the old version this was possible. Also, this field is narrower and text defaults to a rather big size which cuts off any link (such as Facebook) that one might want to list. I compared it to the old version and this field was wider. Also, if one wants to add more than one line of text it defaults to double space.

Is there a way these issues could be fixed since they are very important for some photographers who want to add some links and a map on every page of their site (except for portfolio page)?

One more thing, will it be possible to have a very simple contact form built in the new Fotomerchant 2, something similar to what WordPress sites have?

Thank you very much and sorry for the long message!
- photomerchant
  
  Hi Susanna, you’ve raised a very good point and it must have slipped our radar when we split that functionality out. We’ve taken your feedback on board and we will look to flesh out the functionality in that panel area.
  
  In the meantime, some clever clogs have found a work around (though it wont work for embedding google maps) if you want to embed images or assets like buttons into the left hand area. Simply add the content into the main “body” panel and then copy and paste the object from the main panel into the “contact address information” panel.
  - Susanna Patras
    
    Hello again,
    
    Thanks for looking into HTML-CSS functionality in the Contact Information panel.
    
    I am also a little bit confused about the resolutions listed under the Digital Product downloads. They seems to be different from APS-C & full frame DSLRs, for example, a 12 megapixel file is defaulted at 3464×3464 (square format?) instead of 4256×2832 (native format) for a full frame DSLR. I own a full frame and wanted to sell my images at the maximum resolution offered by my camera, as well as smaller resolutions. Are there any plans to make more resolutions available to match full frame & APS-C cameras? Thanks.
    - photomerchant
      
      Hey Susuanna. Don’t get caught up by the approximate pixel information supplied next to the MP selections – they’re just there to indicate the amount of pixels in the image, not the final delivered file. If you upload a 12MP image and you want to sell a digital product as a 12MP image, then that’s exactly what your customer will receive.