Opening an Account
From the home page click on the 'New Accounts' button. Fill in the information requested. Make note of the user name and password that you choose; you'll need it each time you visit the site.
Corporate Accounts
Pictopia offers credit terms and special discounts to corporate accounts. To open a corporate account please download, complete and submit a Corporate Account Credit Application (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).
Corporate customers may also set up their accounts for resale status. To apply for resale status, download and complete the above Corporate Account Credit Application and the Resale Certificate (also requires Adobe Acrobat Reader). The Resale Certificate is also available as an MS Word document.
After filling out the form(s), fax them back to us at 510-658-6597. We will process your request promptly. If you have any questions, please contact us.
Uploading an Image
You may upload a digital photograph in four ways. In the first three ways, you must log in to your account and then click the 'Upload Images' button to reach the Pictopia upload screen. Here you may upload images from the web, upload photos from your computer, or choose to use an FTP client.
- Web Form Upload
To upload an image from your computer just click the 'Browse' button on the Pictopia upload screen. This will pop up a directory of your computer from which you simply select the image file to upload by either double-clicking on the file or by clicking once on the file and then clicking 'open' from the menu in the pop-up screen. You will now see the file name in the browse bar on the upload screen. To complete the upload you then click the 'Upload' button at the bottom of the page.
- FTP Upload
To upload an image via FTP, select the 'FTP uploading instructions' link on the upload screen.
The uploading will take from a few seconds to a few minutes to complete, depending on the size of the file and the speed of your Internet connection.
You will know the image has completed the upload process when your browser displays a new page with the uploaded image.
While you are uploading an image you may continue to surf the web on another window or you may work on other computer programs.
- URL Upload
To upload an image from the web you must copy the web address (URL) into the URL bar in the middle of the upload screen, and then click the 'Upload' button at the bottom of the upload screen.
- CD-ROM Upload
If you have many images or a slow connection, you can send CD-ROMs of your images to us and we will upload them into your account for you for the nominal fee of $10 per CD or per GB on other media.
Please download our Upload Order Form and mail you digital media to Pictopia.com 1300 66th Street, Emeryville, CA 94608, attn: Customer Service.
If you have any questions, contact us.
Ordering Prints
Once you have uploaded files into your account on pictopia.com, your choice of print sizes is extensive. To order prints, log in to your account and click on the 'My Images' link. From there, select a particular image collection. Then, you can select one or more images by checking off the associated checkboxes next to each image and select quantities, sizes, and materials on the form at the bottom of the image collection page. This way you can batch order similar prints for multiple images.
Alternatively, you can select the 'Order Prints' icon next to any image to go to an order form for that image allowing you to precisely specify print options for each image individually.
After ordering prints you will still have the opportunity to change your order at any time before checking out, which you must do from the 'Show Cart' page.
Print sizes can be specified and are calculated to .1". However, all prints are hand-trimmed and can vary as much as .08" of an inch in each dimension in order to fully bleed images.
Shipping Options
To select the 'Ship To' address information for a particular order click on the 'Choose Shipping Destinations' link at the bottom of the 'Show Cart' page. On the resulting 'Choose Shipping Destinations' page, you can select any number of entries from your address book to be shipped to. You may also add to or edit your address book if desired.
As you continue from this page (by selecting the 'Continue' button) you will have the opportunity to select shipping options for each destination.
Completing an Order
After you have selected your shipping options, if you have a corporate account, you will see the 'Choose Billing Options' screen on which you may choose whether to charge to your corporate account or to a credit card. If you don't have a corporate account, that screen is bypassed.
If you're paying by credit card and you haven't previously entered your credit card information, you will be presented with the edit account information screen where you will have the opportunity to do so.
Once your billing method is determined (and you've entered your credit card information, if necessary), you will be presented with the 'Order Overview' screen, where all your choices of images, sizes, quantities, destinations, shipping options, and billing option are displayed.
Nothing is committed until you confirm your order (by selecting the 'Confirm Order' button). If you wish to add more images, just select 'My Images' from the left-hand navigation bar, or to change any other aspect of the order, select 'Show Cart'.
When you're entirely satisfied, select the 'Confirm Order' button and the processing of your order will begin.
When Pictopia receives your order we immediately seek credit card authentication (if appropriate) and email you confirmation of receipt of your order.
Tracking Your Order
When you confirm an order, Pictopia processes and ships it within 2 business days. Currently we use Federal Express as our exclusive courier, due to their excellent tracking services. Federal Express provides tracking services via the Internet, email or phone.
Our Guarantee
At Pictopia, our goal is your complete satisfaction. We strive to produce the highest quality photographic prints from your digital files. If you are not completely satisfied with the quality of your prints, we will make every effort to make it right, or refund your money. Just contact our customer service department with your concerns.
Privacy
Your images are accessible only to you and those to whom you grant access.
No information about you will be shared without your permission. We do expect to aggregate information about cameras used, particular f stops and lenses, and other useful but non-intrusive information to both improve our service and potentially to sell to suppliers in the photography industry.
Be sure to read the Terms and Conditions of Use of the Pictopia Website for our complete privacy policy and full terms and conditions of use.
