Format Reviews

Format.com offers three main pricing plans:

• Basic Plan: This plan is priced at $8/month when billed annually or $12/month when billed monthly. It includes 10 website pages, 70 high-resolution images, and 24/7 customer support among other features.

• Pro Plan: This plan costs $11/month when billed annually or $24/month when billed monthly. It offers unlimited website pages, 1500 high-resolution images, 100GB of image storage, and 15 minutes of hosted video minutes. It also includes a free custom domain, 15 products for the online store, and a custom code editor.

• Pro Plus Plan: This plan is available for $13/month when billed annually or $36/month when billed monthly. It provides unlimited website pages and high-resolution images, 1TB of image storage, and 120 minutes of hosted video minutes. It also includes a free custom domain, 1000 products for the online store, and a 5% commission on the Format Marketplace.

Please note that all prices are subject to change and it's recommended to check the official website for the most accurate and up-to-date information.

Yes, it is possible to use a custom domain name with Format.com. To do this, three steps need to be completed:

1. Add your domain to your Settings > Domain > Format Address field.
2. From your Domain Registrar's control panel, forward your domain (e.g., yourdomain.com) to www.yourdomain.com.
3. Also from your Domain Registrar's control panel, make a CNAME record pointing www.yourdomain.com to your-domain.format.com.

Please note that you need to be using your Domain Registrar's default Nameservers for the connection to work. If you have previously used the same domain name with another Format website, it will not be possible to use this without it being disconnected from the other website. If you encounter any issues, it is recommended to contact the support team of Format.com.

In addition, Basic and Monthly Plan subscribers can buy (register) and connect a custom domain name directly with Format. Renewing the domain name for subsequent years is $20 USD per year. A custom email address via Google Workspace can also be added for US$72 per year.

Format.com offers three main plans:

• Basic Plan: This plan costs $12 monthly or $8 per month if billed annually. It includes 10 website pages, 70 high-resolution images, and 24/7 customer support. However, it does not include hosted video minutes, custom fonts, a free custom domain, an online store, or the Format Marketplace Commission.

• Pro Plan: This plan is priced at $24 monthly or $11 per month if billed annually. It offers unlimited website pages, 1500 high-resolution images, 100GB of image storage, 15 minutes of hosted video, custom fonts, a free custom domain, and an online store for 15 products. The Format Marketplace Commission for this plan is 15%.

• Pro Plus Plan: This plan costs $36 monthly or $13 per month if billed annually. It provides unlimited website pages and high-resolution images, 1TB of image storage, 120 minutes of hosted video, custom fonts, a free custom domain, and an online store for 1000 products. The Format Marketplace Commission for this plan is 5%.

All plans come with a free mobile app, Lightroom integration, copyright protection, SSL security, powerful SEO tools, social integration, award-winning templates, and an email subscriber form. The Pro and Pro Plus plans also include a custom code editor. A professional branded email can be secured for an additional $72 per year.

Please note that prices may vary, and it's always best to check the official website for the most accurate and up-to-date information.

The Format Prints Marketplace Commission is a percentage of the final price of a product sold on the marketplace. This commission varies depending on the Format Portfolio plan a seller is on. For instance, a seller on the Format Pro plan is charged a 15% commission, while a seller on the Pro Plus plan is charged a 5% commission. The commission is used to cover costs such as advertising the marketplace, attracting buyers for the seller's work, payment processing, and marketplace hosting fees. The profit a seller makes from each sale is calculated as follows: [Subtotal] - [Product Cost] - [Marketplace Commission] = Your Payout. The subtotal is the total price a buyer pays for the product minus shipping. The product cost is the production cost of a product, which does not include tax, delivery, commission, or discount. It is important to note that shipping costs do not impact the seller's markup or profits. They are added to the final price during checkout and vary depending on the shipping address.

"Format.com" is a website builder aimed at professional photographers. It offers tools to help build a professional photography website, solutions for running an online photography business, and cloud storage to protect work. The primary target of Format.com is photographers who want to showcase their work online without worrying much about the process of building a site.

The Portfolio product is available at four price points: Basic ($7 a month), Pro ($15 a month), Pro Plus ($25 a month), and Premium ($40 a month). The packages differ in the number of images you can host, number of themes, premium design elements, and business tools. For example, Premium allows 1,000 products in an online store, versus just three in Pro.

Format.com also offers business tools like its Workflow solution. The Workflow business tools (shareable client gallery, contract builder, file transfer tools, and other useful solutions) range from free to $40 a month. They are included in the Pro Plus and Premium Portfolio packages.

However, if you're looking to build a business website, have custom features you want to embed, or want to focus on blogging, this website builder might not be a great fit. Instead, WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace might be better options.

In summary, Format.com is a modern website builder created for photographers and artists. It's easy to use, and you can share a custom portfolio online within a day. But that's basically all that it offers. Although the platform does offer blogging and eCommerce features, those are extremely basic and will only be good for smaller projects. For anyone who's trying to build a different kind of online business, blog, or a more serious eCommerce store, Format is not suitable.

Here are some alternatives to Format.com: Squarespace, Wix, PhotoShelter for Brands, Behance, Fabrik, Creary, Galllery, The Hub, bestfolios.com, Pixpa, Picflow, and Pixieset. These platforms offer similar services and might be worth exploring. Remember to consider the specific needs and goals before choosing an alternative.

Yes, it is possible to use a custom domain name with Format.com. To do this, three steps need to be completed:

1. Add your domain to your Settings > Domain > Format Address field.
2. From your Domain Registrar's control panel, forward yourdomain.com to www.yourdomain.com.
3. Also from your Domain Registrar's control panel, make a CNAME record pointing www.yourdomain.com to your-domain.format.com.

Please note that you need to be using your Domain Registrar's default Nameservers for the connection to work. If you encounter any issues, Format.com has a support team that can assist you.

"Format.com" uses Stripe to send payouts to sellers. Sales profit is automatically transferred to a connected Stripe account. After connecting a Format account with Stripe, automated payouts are ready to be received. When a sale is made, the sales profit is automatically transferred into the Stripe account. Stripe then deposits the money directly into the bank account according to the official payout schedule. All payouts will reflect on the Stripe account after the payment verification period. It will reflect on the account 30 days after the end of the month in which the sale occurred. For example, if a sale occurred on May 20, the sales profit would be sent via Stripe on or before July 1. Payment verification period is required to protect the sellers, the print vendors, and from the refund or cancellation of the buyers.

To connect a Format account with Stripe, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Connect settings page in Stripe to customize the visual appearance of the Connect form. Provide the name, color, and icon of your brand.
2. Create a new account using the /v1/accounts API and get the account ID, or use an existing account ID and skip this step. When creating an account, pass standard for the type parameter.
3. Call the Account Links API with the following parameters: account=acct_XXXXXXXXX, failure_url="http://example.com/failure", success_url="http://example.com/success", type=account_onboarding.
4. In the onboarding flow for your own platform, redirect your user to the url returned by the Account Links call from the previous step.
5. Handle additional account states, redirecting your user back into the Connect Onboarding flow if necessary.

Remember, this is a general guide and the exact steps may vary depending on the specific requirements of your Format account and Stripe setup. If the information is not sufficient, please refer to the official Stripe documentation or contact Stripe support for more detailed instructions.

Format.com has a specific Refund Policy. When a new account is created, it starts with a free trial and no charges occur until the trial is over. An account can be cancelled at any time. Once cancelled, there won't be any further charges, but charges already incurred for the current billing period are still applicable. For instance, if an account is signed up on the 20th of the month, the billing cycle is on the 20th of every month. If the account is cancelled on the 24th, payment for the current month is still required, but no further charges will be made. Refunds are not offered on monthly subscriptions. However, if on an annual plan, a refund can be received within 30 days of subscribing to that plan or renewing the subscription.

In terms of Shipping Policy, different shipping rates can be set for every product in the Store. The transit time for each order depends on the product selected and client destination. Shipping takes 5-12 business days (typically around 7 business days) for US orders. Please note that the production time is not included in the shipping time estimate. It can take up to four business days to produce orders before they are shipped. The first day of production is the first business day after the order was placed. Once an order has been fulfilled, a notification with shipping information and a link to track the order is received. Please allow up to 72 hours to receive a tracking link after the order is shipped. A tracking link is not received while the order is in pre-production or production. If an order is lost in transit and the shipping address entered is correct, a new order will be reprinted and reshipped at no charge. If there is a manufacturing mistake during printing or an item is damaged during shipping, a photo of the damaged product in question, a description of the issue, and the order number are required.