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Ask HN: Looking for a print and delivery service with iOS SDK

5 points by f3r3nc ↗ HN
We've an iOS app that lets you create arts similar to ASCII art but with fonts and letters (http://fontify.it) and looking for a service (like zazzle or redbubble) that has an iOS library that enables that service inapp.

From a user experience perspective: It would be so much better to buy posters/mugs from the app where it was created than exporting it/putting it on some desktop then go to that website, or first search for it then register, oh no where did I put that file again, ah nevermind.

From a business perspective: Apple doesn't seem to ban apps that sell goods inapp: eBay. (Maybe both, but ) one of the sites mentioned above sells only on their website even though they let sellers create their own website. I guess this is to upsell by cross promotion ("continue shopping" message + similar products after the purchase).

Do you know any quality service that already offers this?

or, if any of you reading can do printing/delivery but needs devs we are more than happy to implement it :) (should you dislike fontify, think about printing photos =])

5 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 23.6 ms ] thread
tomgallard
Hello,

I think we're (http://www.pwinty.com) exactly what you're looking for. We're an API for printing photos and posters.

You call our API, we do the printing and shipping. All the billing, invoicing and checkout- you deal with.

Not doing mugs yet, but will do soon.

Get in touch via the website and I can send you a copy of the iOS library (its a bit rough round the edges, but should give you a good headstart).

tomgallard
PS- the app looks cool. I can really imagine some of my design type friends having fun with the concept, and producing some really cool posters!
f3r3nc
Looks promising.

- Do you also handle PDF or you prefer rasters?

- Are you considering handling payments directly from the customers?

Would be so much better w/ payment handling (one lib to integrate). We wouldn't even mind if the package is arriving with your logo.

tomgallard
At the moment we only take rasters, not PDFs.

We're not looking at handling the payments directly at the moment, as that could complicate things quite a bit (we have to store custom pricing for each merchant and each order etc).

It might be something we look at long-term, but not for now.

f3r3nc
Customer handling would be a big help for marchants wannabes like us. Currently we only have the resource to put a lib into our app. We are not sure how well printing would go

Is there a reason you only do rasters? I've believed that vector graphics is superior. The printer has problems with the rendering?