RedCart is a host-it-yourself online proofing and shopping cart system for professional photographers. The system gets installed on your own web site (or we host it) and you maintain complete control over the print fulfillment process to maximize profits! Stop paying third-party companies commissions on your sales and control the entire process using the lab of your choice.

No, we would never do that. You set your own pricing and make every penny. There is a one time license fee for the RedCart application and all generated photo sales are your's to keep.

We offer various license plans, both host-it-yourself and hosted by RedCart, to fit your business needs. To compare all license plans, please visit our Product Comparison page. We do not overload our servers with more accounts than they can handle so you can bet that your cart will operate fast if you go with a RedCart hosted plan!

Absolutely yes! In RedCart version 3, you can allow your customers to crop their own images! If you allow your customers to crop their own images then you must use the RC Order Fulfillment Photoshop script to process the order and crop the images. The script will crop the images EXACTLY how the customer cropped them when ordering and will resize and save to folders ready to be sent to your lab of choice :)

RedCart was designed to be downloaded and installed by the photographer. It's fast, easy, and you don't have to wait in line. You can download the application and install it in minutes through a web based install wizard. However, if you don't feel comfortable changing the settings in your web site's control panel then we can perform the server installation for you. We perform free installations for all license plans except for the Student Edition. If you are installing the Student Edition and need help with the installation then you may use the RedCart Forums and seek help from other RedCart users. RedCart support is not included with the Student version.

You need the following:

• A web site that meets the RedCart web hosting requirements
• RedCart Desktop (free download from our support center for both Mac & PC)
• The Order Fulfillment Photoshop Script (optional)

The RedCart Order Fulfillment Script

RedCart comes bundled with a Photoshop script that you can use to quickly and easily fulfill orders after you receive them. The script will find the images on your hard drive, resize and crop the images to your customer's order specifications, auto-convert to sepia or black and white using your own Photoshop actions, and will also call any other actions that you wish to call (ex. for sharpening purposes).

The Order Fulfillment script is completely optional to use; however, to use it you must have Photoshop CS3 or later.

At a minimum, your web host needs to support:

• Linux, Unix or Windows Server operating systems
• PHP v5.2 or later with the GD library extensions.
• PHP ZIP module must be enabled.
• LibCurl v7.9.8 or later must be installed and enabled
• mCrypt v2.4.x or later must be installed and enabled
• MHASH php extension must be installed and enabled (only if PHP version is older than 5.1.2)
• MySQL v5.0.3 or later
• ionCube must be supported or installed. If ionCube is not installed then we will need access to your php.ini file.
• Some kind of suExec such as suPHP needs to be installed

Please contact your hosting provider and ask them if they meet these requirements. If your web host doesn't meet the minimum requirements then we suggest opening an account with one of our recommended hosting providers listed below.

When deciding on a home for your new cart it is very important to choose quality hosting. RedCart is a technically complex application and many requirements need to be met from a hosting perspective in order for all of the features of your cart to function properly. Many web hosting packages might look outstanding on paper, but in real practice many fall short when it comes to delivering on features, control, performance, speed, knowledgeable support, and network uptime.

RedCart is not compatible with the following web hosting:

• aplus.com
• Enom
• Godaddy's Grid Hosting Beta (works on some standard Godaddy accounts, but with limitations)
• Godaddy's Windows Hosting (Ioncube is not installed or allowed on their Windows servers)
• IX Web Hosting
• Liquid Web shared hosting accounts (works with their VPS or dedicated servers)
• Media Temple (works with their grid service, must use PHP5.3. Does not work with PHP5.2)
• MYOB Business Web Hosting (http://ctk.ilisys.com.au)
• Netfirms
• Pronicsolutions.com
• Yahoo Hosting

If your web hosting provider is not compatible then we recommend picking up a new domain name (ie. http://www.yourphotographyclients.com) and hosting account from one of our recommended hosting providers below. There are advantages to having a separate hosting account just for your cart (ie. Not having to move your cart if you ever decide to move your web site to a different company).

Recommended Hosting Companies: (in order of our personal preference)

RedCart Hosting! - www.redcart.com
RedCart hosting is simply the best option to host your cart.  This option is only available with license plans that are hosted by RedCart. With RedCart hosting, your cart will be running on our blazing fast servers which are tuned specifically for RedCart.  Performance aside, your cart will be monitored and supported directly by the RedCart team to ensure the absolute best support available.  RedCart hosted plans include ALL MAJOR RELEASE UPGRADES!

Wired Tree - www.wiredtree.com
If you're looking for hot rod hosting with OUTSTANDING performance and speed, world renowned support, and just darn good quality hosting with complete control, then look no further and pick up a Managed VPS account from Wired Tree. They are more expensive but worth every single penny.

Site 5 - www.site5.com
Site 5 is an excellent option for budget level hosting. In our experience, their servers tend to perform a bit faster than other hosting companies in the same class. They provide excellent live chat, email, ticket, and phone based support. Other Important Notes: The total number of inodes in an account may not exceed 75,000. Every file (a webpage, image, email, php file, directory, etc.) on your hosting account uses up one (1) inode. This is not something Site 5 actively enforces and it will only become an issue if a client is causing problems for other people on the server. Site 5 will of course notify you if this is the case with a full explanation.

Blue Host - www.bluehost.com
Blue Host is also fully compatible and an good option to run RedCart. However, we have been informed that Blue Host is suspending accounts that are exceeding their inode usage policy. Every file (a webpage, image, email, php file, directory, etc.) on your hosting account uses up one (1) inode. The maximum number of inodes that you can have on a Blue Host account is 50,000. Since each image in a RedCart gallery has a thumbnail file and a larger image file, this might become an issue for those photography businesses that generate many galleries.

Yes! Sub-domains are fully supported.

You will need to know how to FTP files to your web site, how to create a mysql database, and how to update database user permissions. We perform free installations for all license plans except for the Student Edition. If you are installing the Student Edition and need help with the installation then you may use the RedCart Forums and seek help from other RedCart users. RedCart support is not included with the Student version.

Once you have RedCart installed, you can customize the look and feel through the Admin screens. In the Admin section, you can update your logo, upload custom background graphics, and change the colors to seamlessly blend with your current web site. You can also change the text and notes that are displayed throughout the galleries and shopping cart.

Generating galleries in RedCart is a BREEZE with RedCart Desktop! RedCart Desktop is our new gallery and image management application that runs from your desktop and allows you to drag and drop images into place. It runs on both Mac and PC and is super easy to use.

RedCart galleries can also be generated using any program that can batch resize images into larger images and thumbnails, however, most people use RedCart Desktop because it's so much quicker and easier to use. When resizing images on your own, there are specific image height and width restrictions as well as folder structure restrictions that you need to adhere to when batch resizing your main images and thumbnails. Specific image resizing details can be found in the User Guide.

Yes! RedCart will run on both Mac and PC platforms.

Yes! Demos of both the front-end and back-end of the application are available. All available demos are located in the Demos section at the top of this page.

RedCart is available for the following countries:

• Australia
• Bermuda
• Canada
• Dominican Republic
• Greece
• Hong Kong
• New Zealand
• Spain
• Turks & Caicos Islands
• United Arab Emirates
• United Kingdom
• United States

If your country is not listed then please contact us at info@redcart.com to get your country on the RedCart map! RedCart is currently available in English only, however, most labels in the system can be customized and translated by the photographer to other languages.

No! You can capture credit card payments on your web site using any of the following payment gateways:

• Authorize.net
• Beanstream
• eProcessing Network
• First Data Global
• Sage Pay
• Paypal (standard)
• Plug'n Pay
• MIGS (Mastercard Internet Gateway Service)

Or take orders without charging directly online (Pay in Studio, Mail a Check, Bank Transfer) You can also present multiple payment options while checking out! The system can be configured to use one or any combination of the options above.

SSL Certificates are no longer required with RedCart in version 3.3.0 and newer. If you choose to use a payment gateway and accept credit cards, all credit card information will be handled by a 100% PCI-DSS compliant processor. PCI compliance is a non-issue with the RedCart system.

There are many companies out there where you can obtain a merchant account or Authorize.net account. However, we prefer to work with two specific companies, Midwest Transaction Group and Photography Merchant Systems, as they tend to know this business better than the rest, they have awesome rates, and quite simply, they take care of our customers. Contact either of the two listed below and let them know that RedCart sent you to get the preferred rate.

Beanstream (for Canada)
If you are in Canada then take a look at Beanstream - www.beanstream.com. RedCart is fully integrated with Beanstream and you can pick up a merchant account directly through them if you don't have one.

Sage Pay (for the United Kingdom)
If you are in the UK then take a look at Sage Pay - www.sagepay.com. RedCart is fully integrated with Sage Pay and you can pick up a merchant account directly through them if you don't have one.

Yes! You may create as many price groups as you like. A price group defines the print sizes and finishing options that are available within a gallery / shopping cart. You can use price groups when you want to offer specific pricing and selections in a gallery based on portraits, weddings, corporate...etc.

To our knowledge, RedCart offers the most robust and flexible pricing engine when compared to other online proofing solutions for photographers. It operates on a concept that we like to call LabCentric. What this means is that when configuring RedCart, you define a pool of products that your finishing lab sells (i.e. print sizes & finishing services). The actual lab "cost" is recorded into the system for each item. After the "product pool" from your lab is configured, you tell RedCart how you would like the retail values calculated. One of the benefits here is that this allows you to raise or lower your pricing across the board at the click of a button. It also opens up more possibilities for tracking and reporting profits. It allows you to offer a virtually unlimited combination of print sizes and finishing options to your clients without cluttering the screen.

After the "product pool" is configured and the retail calculation options are set, you can build subsets of products from your product pool called Print Price Groups. Print Price Groups are convenient for those of you that want to setup different pricing for portraits, weddings, corporate...etc.

Note: RedCart comes pre-configured with a generic product pool to help you get things configured and setup much faster.

Yes! RedCart was designed for the photographer who wants to have more control over the order fulfillment process. When an order is processed through the RedCart system, all order details are emailed to both the client and the photographer. You can also access the order details through the RedCart admin screens. After an order is placed, you can choose to manually fulfill the order or automate the process by using the RC Order Fulfillment Photoshop script. The RC Order Fulfillment Photoshop script will automatically process, crop to the customer's specified crop, and resize the ordered images for you at the click of a button, and save the processed images to folders all ready to be uploaded to your lab of choice.

Yes! You can allow your clients to track their order as it progresses through the fulfillment process. Now your clients can always be informed without having to pickup the phone!

Yes! RedCart allows you to create the following discount types:

• Percentage off retail
• Dollar amount off retail
• Percentage markup from cost

RedCart also allows you to set minimum order amounts required to use the discounts listed above and also specify the maximum number of times that a discount can be used.

Yes! You can create gift certificates and assign them a dollar amount in the RedCart admin screens. These gift certificates work like a store gift card or mini bank account where the client can use the code over and over again in the shopping cart until the funds in the account are used up completely. You can also set expiration dates on gift certificates so that they are invalid after a specified date.

Yes! You can sell just about anything that you can think of through "The Store."

Yes! RedCart's Image List feature is a communication tool that your customers can use to create image lists for various products. You might want them to choose images for a collage, album, story board or anything else that you like. You can turn on the "Image List" functionality on a gallery when activating the gallery in the Admin screens. When the image list functionality is turned on, the client will have the option of adding an image to "My Image List." After the client clicks or drags to "My Image List", they can view images and descriptions of different image list types, select an image list type, and drag the images in a specific sequence order.

RedCart's image list feature is simply just a communication tool that allows your clients to send you lists of images for whatever you need image lists for.

Yes! RedCart is currently setup so that you may define one sales tax rule per state (RedCart has custom tax modules for operating outside the US). So if you have a studio in multiple states then it can handle multiple tax rules.

Yes! As long as all of the photographers are using the same web site then each photographer can use RedCart to generate galleries and track orders. Each photographer can also have their own pricing. Currently, RedCart does not handle financial reporting on a photographer level, it reports all financials as a whole. However, it is in the development plan to have a feature added where gallery searches, print orders, album orders, financial reporting...etc. is viewable by the photographer, and only the photographer, that generated it.

Yes! You can create "Assistant" users in RedCart that have limited access to the system. "Photographers" have full access to all RedCart administration functionality. They can create discounts, create new users, purge orders, configure the system, see financial reports...etc.

"Assistants" can not see your financials, create discounts, or have access to configuration information. Assistants can activate and edit galleries, change order statuses...etc.

Yes! If you take advantage of the "Retail Override" feature then you have opted to "override" the system calculated retail pricing. You can specify retail overrides for individual items in the product pool, as well as specify new overrides if you create product groups. This allows you to create as many retail overrides as you wish for different pricing structures.

Each RedCart host-it-yourself Professional license includes all minor release upgrades and bug fixes free of charge. A significant discount will be available for major release upgrades. All license plans hosted by RedCart include all major and minor upgrades for free.

Yes! 30 Day Money Back Guarantee - We are confident that you will find value in our product. With our 30 day money back guarantee, you can be certain that your RedCart purchase will be a wise one. However, we strongly suggest accessing our demo environments at www.redcart.com to make sure that the software meets your business needs before you purchase. The following conditions apply to our money back guarantee:

• Applies to New customers only
• Does not apply to costs incurred for hosting RedCart
• Does not apply to setup fees
• Valid for 30 days beginning with the day your order was placed
• Initial setup and installation of RedCart on your server must have been performed and tested by RedCart Solutions, LLC
• RedCart Solutions, LLC must be allowed to remove all RedCart code, files, and MySQL database from your server

Yes! Subscribe to our newsletter HERE.