SmugMug will email you every time you make a sale. You can check your sales report in real-time and see every detail of every pro sale you've made.

Just choose View Pro Sales from the tools menu you see at the top of your SmugMug pages when you're logged in.

Alternatively, you can find the Pros tab of your Control Panel to see a summary, and click view pro sales to see each order.

How much do I keep?

Your profit is calculated as 85% of the difference between the price you set and SmugMug's default print prices. The 15% SmugMug retains includes credit card payment fees, customer service, and the costs of administering the program.

Example: You sell a 5x7 for $10.79 and the SmugMug default price for it is $0.79. The markup is $10.00. You keep $8.50 as profit (85% of $10).

Show me the money, baby!

New to SmugMug? You can start pricing and selling your prints immediately. However, before we can pay out accumulated profits, we will need the appropriate paperwork.

The good news: SmugMug is moving towards direct deposit for U.S. - based photographers. Starting a few months from now, all selling photographers will be able to enter the appropriate forms online. If you won't require a profit payment for a few months, you can save yourself some hassle and postpone sending in the paperwork. When the time comes, you'll be able to enter it online much faster.

1. Show us the paperwork.

   Details for U.S. photographers.

   U.S. - based photographers:

   We need this tax form from you: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf

   It can be filled out online and printed. Sign it and send it our way using one of the methods below. We'll email you when we receive it!

   Special instructions:

   Please read the instructions carefully on the W-9 form. We have tried to summarize them here, but those instructions are more complete.

   1. First, you'll need to know your tax status. Are you an individual, sole-proprietor, LLC, Corporation, Partnership, or Non-profit?
   2. Fill in the form according to your tax status:

      • Individual: Put your name on the first line, check the "Individual/Sole proprietor" box, and use your Social Security Number in the "TIN" section of the form.
      • Sole Proprietor or LLC-Disregarded Entity: Put your name on the first line. You may put your business name on line 2. Check either the "Limited liability company" or "Individual/Sole proprietor" box and write in a "D" for disregarded entity, where appropriate. You may use your federal EIN in the TIN section, if it's linked to your own name, but we recommend using your Social Security Number instead.
      • Corporation or LLC- Corporation: Put your corporation's name on the first line, check the "Corporation" or "Limited liability company" box and write in a "C", if needed. Use your federal EIN in the TIN section.
      • Partnership or LLC- Partnership: Put your partnership's name on the first line, exactly how it appears when you file your taxes. Check the "Partnership" or "Limited liability company" box and write in a "P", if needed. Use your federal EIN.
      • Non-profit: Put the name of the non-profit on the first line, check the "Other" box and write in: "Non-profit". Use the federal tax identification number assigned to the non-profit.
   3. In the box titled List Account numbers here, please note who you'd like your checks made out to and the email address you use at SmugMug.
   4. Gotcha: If you change your address or SmugMug nickname, you must submit a new W9 form. We are only authorized to send payments to the address on your W9 form.

   A note about taxes
   

   We are required by the government to report the amount we've paid a pro photographer for tax purposes if that amount exceeds $600 in the calendar year. If you've made at least $600 in the previous calendar year, we will send out a 1099 tax form to the address we have on file for you in January of the following year. We do NOT send 1099 forms to corporations or non-profit organizations.

   Getting it to us

   Make sure your form is signed, then use one of the following methods:

   • Fax just the signature page to 650-618-1622. Skip the other pages, and don't worry about a fax cover page.
   • Snail mail it to us:
     
     SmugMug
     3347 Shady Spring Lane
     Mountain View, CA 94040
     
   • Scan it in and attach it to an email as a jpg or pdf file.

   
   Details for International photographers.

   International photographers:

   If you can email us with the information that you meet these three criteria, we won't need a USA tax form from you:

   1. You are not a citizen of the USA.
   2. You do not live in the USA.
   3. You do not have a business presence in the USA.

   Notifying us of those circumstances clears us to mail your checks. Checks are payable in US dollars.

2. Qualify for automatic payment, or request a check.

   Currently, payment is made by check according to the following schedule:

   The first week of every month, pros with at least $500 in unpaid profit will be automatically issued a check. The first week of January, April, July, and October, every pro with at least $200 in unpaid profit will be also automatically issued a check. Checks are mailed on or before the 8th of the month.

   If you've submitted the proper paperwork but don't have enough unpaid profit to qualify automatically, you may email showmethemoney@smugmug.com and ask to be included in the check printing for the following month. Please help us stay efficient by waiting, if possible, until you have at least $100 in profits due to you before requesting a check.

   Example: You decide on September 1st that you'd like to get paid. You've already submitted your paperwork, and you check your Control Panel and see that you have $242 in unpaid profit. September's check printing has already started, and the minimum for automatic inclusion was $500 so your best bet is to get into October's printing. $242 is enough to qualify for automatic payment so there's no need to request a check . (October is a quarterly printing and the minimum for automatic inclusion is $200). Your check will be sent by October 8th and will include all profit you've earned up until we issue the check. (By then it could be more than $242.) On October 8th, you visit your Control Panel and see $0 of unpaid profit. Ahh yeah, money is on its way!

Note: For accounting purposes, we cannot apply pro profits towards renewal costs or our Give the Gift of SmugMug feature.

Reporting FAQ

Q: Why are some orders not displayed on my report?
A: SmugMug only reports orders when a price was set for the prints that is higher than SmugMug default prices. If you order prints yourself, you'll pay SmugMug's default prices and your order will not show up in your pro sales.

Q: What does "NotPaid" mean?
A: It means we haven't yet issued you a check. The customer has paid us by credit card.

Q: I haven't paid for my account yet, but I do see sales in my report. Can I get a profit check?
A: Sorry, you must pay for a SmugMug Professional account before we can issue a profit check.

Q: What information about my customer do you report?
A: You'll see your customer's email address as well as the name, phone number, and address (both billing and shipping.) You won't see any credit card information.

Ask a real person about this topic.