Online Photo Printing Services ($50 Giveaway)

February 20th, 2012

The popularity of digital cameras gives everyone the ability to easily capture special moments in their lives and share them with others. They’re great tools that allow us to store those images on our computers indefinitely and select the pictures we may want to print at a later time. But there will always be some images that you want to print and preserve forever in albums and frames. That’s when we look for the best pricing for photo printing services.

The competition between pharmacy photo centers and online print services has driven the prices down to the point that it’s cheaper than doing your own photo printing. Sending your photos to a digital printing service can save you time and money, while also producing high quality prints that will last. And many sites offer extras like advanced tools to edit or enhance the images, free storage and album sharing.

We reviewed 17 different services, comparing prices for 4×6 photos ranging from 8¢ to 29¢ per print to come up with our top picks. All of them produced either matte or glossy finish, and offered bonus free prints when you sign up, as well as the option to pick up your order locally to save on shipping costs. Usually you had to opt for shipping the photos to get matte finish, though that was not obvious on the sites. Most of our choices offered additional upload options from social media or photo storage sites.

Online Services

	Snapfish is our top pick for printing photos with local pickup available nationwide from over 10,000 Walgreens, Walmart, Meijer and Duanereade locations. They offer 20 free prints when you sign up, and frequent coupon code promotions for additional free prints or free shipping. Free print offers must be mailed, which means you’ll have a $3.99 shipping charge; their regular price is 9¢ per print. Snapfish provides good quality prints, good customer service, and the ability to upload images from your computer, Facebook and Flickr.
	Shutterfly is a close second with easy-to-use site features and 50 bonus prints at signup. The regular price for 4×6 prints is 15¢, and getting a prepaid print plan can reduce that price to 10¢ to 12¢ each. They also run frequent promotions for discounts or free prints. You can upload images from your hard drive, iPhone, or Picasa and Facebook accounts. Shipping starts at $1.99, or you can pick up your order from Target, Walgreens, or CVS.
	Kodak Gallery gives new members 50 free prints and offers frequent discount promotions. Pricing is 15¢ per print when they are shipped to you; volume pricing can reduce it to 12¢ each. The cost may vary with local pickup at CVS or Target, where you can get same day pickup for 20¢ each. Even though they used good Kodak paper, the print quality reviews were mixed, so we would have to say it’s average.

Local Store Services

You have the option to pick up prints from your local store in an hour, have them mailed to you, or send them to another store location for someone else to pick up.

	Walgreens produces good quality prints and runs photo coupon promotions almost weekly, so you can usually save something off their regular price of 19¢ per 4×6 print and get them for 10¢ each or even free. They have good phone, email, and live chat support, but their process is so easy that I’ve never needed any help. You can even email your photos for processing, and get same day pickup at 7500 locations.
	CVS gives 25 free prints to new members and also runs frequent promotions for 10¢ prints. The regular cost for their 4×6 prints is 15¢ each, with shipping for only $1.99 or free store pickup for any order, even free prints. Reviews of their quality were average, although my results were always good. Same-day express pickup is available for orders placed before 2 pm.
	Walmart also offers 25 free 1-hour prints at signup, free ship-to-store, and same-day pickup at more than 3700 locations. Their regular price is 9¢ per 4×6 print or 13¢ for 1-hour service, and there is a good Photo Center help section and live chat.

Shopping Clubs

If you’re already a member of Sam’s Club or Costco, you can take advantage of their typically generic photo printing, and conveniently pick up your prints when you shop there. Otherwise, there is a required membership fee, so these would be poor choices for you.

	Sam’s Club has the cheapest regular price for good quality prints at 8¢ each shipped to your home or 13¢ when you pick them up in the club. New members get 25 free prints at signup. They offer several upload options and editing tools, but the site has poor customer support.
	Costco charges 13¢ each for 4×6 prints. Their no-frills service has more in-depth editing tools than the other services, offering options to adjust brightness, contrast, red eye and tint. But you should specify your cropped areas or you may be unhappy with their excessive cropping.

Of course, in addition to all the tips we mentioned here, it is always a good idea to keep an eye on all the latest photo printing promotions our members share on Buxr. Have you tried any online photo printing lately? How was your experience? Please take our poll and share your photo printing preferences in the comments to this thread for a chance to win a $50 cash prize!

Entry Filed under: Shopping