Graphistudio

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-Rob-

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After I shot my first wedding I contacted Graphistudio to register with them with a view to having my albums printed by them. I got rejected at the time because I wasn't a full-time professional.

I have now done several weddings and am gradually building up the number of bookings I'm taking but I am still not full-time. In fact I am never going to be full-time, I have a full-time job and I do wedding photography at the weekends.

I have reapplied to Graphi and they have sent me a questionnaire to fill in which asks about my current status: Am I full-time or part-time, how many weddings I shoot, am I VAT registered etc.

I reckon if I tell the truth they may reject me again for not being full-time and not likely to put business their way on a weekly basis. On the flip side however I've spoken to a few people who aren't full-time, only shoot a few weddings but who have had no problems getting accepted by Graphi.

So should I be totally honest and hope they accept me or bend the truth and get in the back door. The truth is I shoot about a wedding a month and order an album for about half the weddings I do so at the moment I'd be ordering about 6 a year.

What are people's experiences of joining Graphistudio?
 
Honestly I'm surprised they care.

I used them ages ago when you had to FedEx disks to them (so it cost them to take on a new customer) and they never bothered about a VAT number.

They still email me every week or so with increasingly desperate offers but I haven't used them in a couple of years. I'd just be "optimistic" about the number of albums you may require ;)
 
JonathanRyan said:
Honestly I'm surprised they care.
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That's exactly what I thought. If Graphi were the absolute best of the best then I can understand them wanting to be exclusive but they are just a pretty good album supplier so you'd assume you would want all the business they could get. Does it really cost them any more to print 6 albums a year from 10 photographers or 60 albums a year from 1 photographer?
 
One refusal would be enough for me - scratch them off your list now; they don't deserve your business.
 
I am surprised they reject anyone tbh, I have seen photographers with their sample set who have yet to shoot a wedding so either they are getting stricter or some people bend the truth a little.

I seem to recall when I started using them all they were interested in was did I have a website which I did. Maybe it is down to number of weddings though, I did 20 in the first year and predicted that many when I joined them.

Sim2000 do similar albums to graphi (and some other products, I use them for thank you cards) and they also have another company that deals direct with bride and grooms so if they wont entertain you either you can use their other service http://www.thephotobookcompany.co.uk/
 
I bent the truths slightly when I applied. They sent me a questionnaire too, and I filled it in saying I was part time, but expecting to shoot a dozen or so weddings a year. They than gave me access.

I've also received their sample kit (about 6 months after applying!).

Oh and I've yet to order an album from them!
 
Which is why they ask the questions!

It costs them to send you that sample album so all they are doing is looking to get a return on that investment.

So long as you put some business their way I don't think they will complain Rob.
 
AliB said:
Which is why they ask the questions!

It costs them to send you that sample album so all they are doing is looking to get a return on that investment.

So long as you put some business their way I don't think they will complain Rob.
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I've seen no mention of receiving a sample album from them and it's certainly not the reason I'm signing up. I genuinely want to order albums from them.
 
tfboy said:
I bent the truths slightly when I applied. They sent me a questionnaire too, and I filled it in saying I was part time, but expecting to shoot a dozen or so weddings a year. They than gave me access.

I've also received their sample kit (about 6 months after applying!).

Oh and I've yet to order an album from them!
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That bit Rob :)

So long as you put business their way I'm sure they will be fine with getting you on board and might even send a sample ;)
 
AliB said:
That bit Rob
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What I meant was ive not seen Graphi mention it during the registration process. As far as I know they don't say "sign up and we'll send you a free sample pack". If I get a free one then great but I don't expect it.
 
-Rob- said:
What I meant was ive not seen Graphi mention it during the registration process. As far as I know they don't say "sign up and we'll send you a free sample pack". If I get a free one then great but I don't expect it.
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That's my point too. I didn't even know they were going to send me one. Then one day, I had a "your order has been dispatched" email. But I didn't order anything! In looking into it, I figured out it was a big album in a typical Italian leather briefcase (rather nice!) plus smaller version plus some other samples IIRC. Came in a big box!

I haven't heard anything from them. I don't mind sending it back because I can't see myself reusing it, but I'm not going to unless they ask for it and pay for the postage.
 
Daryl said:
Amazed you would want a Graphi book?????
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Why, do you not think they are any good?

Daryl said:
and why would you use their sample??? Did you shoot that wedding iatSaint Mark's Basilica in Venice? Or the other wedding in southern Italy?

Mmmmmmm
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As a sample to show what an album can look like they'd be fine until you've built up enough of a portfolio to order a sample of your own work. Obviously I'd never pass the photos off as my own.
 
A Graphi sales guy did a talk at my local BIPP last year and emphasised how Graphi only deal with established pros. Pity he didn't check first about his audience, a lot of us where new members of BIPP and reasonably new to the business.
In the interval we adjourned to the bar and stayed there. Subsequent conversations have shown that we all use Loxley albums now :)
 
Daryl said:
Amazed you would want a Graphi book?????

and why would you use their sample??? Did you shoot that wedding iatSaint Mark's Basilica in Venice? Or the other wedding in southern Italy?

Mmmmmmm
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It's what a lot of my clients still want Daryl. Simple as. I also have matted albums and Loxley albums but if they choose a Graphi then that is what they get.

As for the sample album, I find it very useful because it comes with all the paper types and the design templates in it so it's a very useful sales tool when demonstrating the different types of album a client can have. "Want metallic paper with designer template? here you go"

You can't do that with your own sample album, you only get one paper type in that and it's also difficult to set out the template designs as well as in their sample album.

I have my own samples but the Graphi one is a very good sales tool if used correctly.
 
AliB said:
It's what a lot of my clients still want Daryl. Simple as. I also have matted albums and Loxley albums but if they choose a Graphi then that is what they get.

As for the sample album, I find it very useful because it comes with all the paper types and the design templates in it so it's a very useful sales tool when demonstrating the different types of album a client can have. "Want metallic paper with designer template? here you go"

You can't do that with your own sample album, you only get one paper type in that and it's also difficult to set out the template designs as well as in their sample album.

I have my own samples but the Graphi one is a very good sales tool if used correctly.
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exactly - its hard to describe different finishes, designs and albums, without actually showing them something. It is "a tool in the box" - but it shouldn't be the only tool in the box
 
-Rob- said:
After I shot my first wedding I contacted Graphistudio to register with them with a view to having my albums printed by them. I got rejected at the time because I wasn't a full-time professional.

I have now done several weddings and am gradually building up the number of bookings I'm taking but I am still not full-time. In fact I am never going to be full-time, I have a full-time job and I do wedding photography at the weekends.

I have reapplied to Graphi and they have sent me a questionnaire to fill in which asks about my current status: Am I full-time or part-time, how many weddings I shoot, am I VAT registered etc.

I reckon if I tell the truth they may reject me again for not being full-time and not likely to put business their way on a weekly basis. On the flip side however I've spoken to a few people who aren't full-time, only shoot a few weddings but who have had no problems getting accepted by Graphi.

So should I be totally honest and hope they accept me or bend the truth and get in the back door. The truth is I shoot about a wedding a month and order an album for about half the weddings I do so at the moment I'd be ordering about 6 a year.

What are people's experiences of joining Graphistudio?
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with brides on hitched taking our disks to "bob's books" and making their own albums, You should be pleased they do care enough to protect the professionals in the market

the next thin that happens is that an album will look crap, because the editing skills of the "bride" are not up to much ... and Graphi will be dealing with the fall out form that
 
-Rob- said:
How do the prices compare between Loxley and Graphi?
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It obviously depends on the actual albums Rob but a quick look at the pricelists and a 35x25cm 30 page album and Loxley Bellissimo is twice the price of the Graphi one.

Loxley do print well, will call you if they see a problem and have a MUCH faster turn around.

The question is, can you get the extra fundinig from your clients to pay for the Loxley?
 
AliB said:
The question is, can you get the extra fundinig from your clients to pay for the Loxley?
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At the moment I am working down the lower end of the market and the albums I have provided have been from Blurb* so it'll be a massive step up for them to go for a Lowley album but now I have a bit of experience behind me I am aiming to work my way up the ladder and aim for clients who want a better end product and are prepared to pay for it.

At the end of the day I'd like to be able to offer a range of albums from the cheap ones at Blurb to mid-range at Graphi and good quality at the likes of Loxley.



* Personally I don't think Blurb ablums are suitable for wedding albums at all but the clients I've provided them to so far have been very happy with them but they have been clients with little money to spend so they are never going to expect a Loxley type album.
 
I get my matted albums from there Rob and they have just started doing the printed ones. They are printed in Liverpool so don't take ages and they do lie flat too so you can do double page spreads. I saw their demo one recently and for the price it's more than acceptable :)
 
paul_g said:
A Graphi sales guy did a talk at my local BIPP last year and emphasised how Graphi only deal with established pros. Pity he didn't check first about his audience, a lot of us where new members of BIPP and reasonably new to the business.
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One of the many rows I had with Graphi when I cared was their boast that they only dealt with professionals. This from a company that took out a h-u-g-e stand at Focus (hardly a pro only event) shouting about "dirt cheap albums" or something.

I was also somewhat miffed at being charged for my sample albums then watching them give free ones to my competitors. Many of whom really did lead people to believe that they had been shooting over Yervant's shoulder in Venice.

Amazingly I stayed with them until their binding became a joke.

But in answer to the original question - just lie to them. They will lie to you ;)
 
I've now to an issue with Graphistudio, I've gone past the first hurdle and they've sent me a questionnaire to complete.

my own grip is that with the VAT registered. I will get my VAT number but that can take a month or so. I would really like to try out or look into more on Graphistudio wedding albums.

Will they reject me if i dont provide a VAT registered number?
 
JonathanRyan said:
One of the many rows I had with Graphi when I cared was their boast that they only dealt with professionals. This from a company that took out a h-u-g-e stand at Focus (hardly a pro only event) shouting about "dirt cheap albums" or something.

I was also somewhat miffed at being charged for my sample albums then watching them give free ones to my competitors. Many of whom really did lead people to believe that they had been shooting over Yervant's shoulder in Venice.

Amazingly I stayed with them until their binding became a joke.

But in answer to the original question - just lie to them. They will lie to you ;)
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I don't think you can really take issue with them being so big at Focus (although their stand does seem to grow each year), whilst the event is not limited just to pro's its definitely an event that many pro's attend, I don't know of another event in the UK where they would have attendance from as many pro's as they get at Focus, many other "pro only" photography companies attend it also for those reasons..

I ended up going into focus on 3 separate days this year and spent some time on the Graphi stand and definitely saw them vetting people before dishing out info. and on the Sunday I know they had to send a few bride and grooms away who had crossed over from the wedding show that was also on that day.

Not sure why this thread was moved, surely the best place for a company that only deals with businesses is the business forum ?
 
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