Amazon Launches Photo Print Service, Sinks Shutterfly Stock

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One of the biggest companies in the world just got into the photo print business. Seattle-based ecommerce giant Amazon just launched Amazon Prints—an online service that lets users order photo prints, build photo books, and soon much more.

The news dropped earlier today with little fanfare from Amazon themselves. All you’ve got is a somewhat nascent landing page detailing prices and explaining what Amazon Prints is all about.

“Amazon Prints offers high quality, affordable prints of digital photos, delivered by Amazon,” explains the page. “Create custom photo books and online photo prints, and receive free standard shipping and free expedited shipping on orders of $15 or more.”

The key here is “affordable.” Photo prints cost just 9 cents per print for 4×6, 58 cents per print for 5×7, and $1.79 per print for 8×10—almost half the cost of Shutterfly. Photo books start at $20 and go up from there depending on size, paper, and cover options. Stationary and calendar options are coming soon.

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There is a catch to all of this affordability, of course: you have to be an Amazon Cloud Drive or Amazon Photos account holder to use the service. Amazon Prime members automatically get an Amazon Photos membership for free, but if you’re not a Prime member you’ll have to decide if the cheap prints are worth coughing up the $60 per year for a Cloud Drive membership (or $100/year for Amazon Prime).

One company certainly hoping you don’t like that catch is the aforementioned Shutterfly, peddler of prints and other customizable photo products whose stock took a nosedive as soon as Amazon Prints launched. According to Bloomberg, Shutterfly shares were “down as much as 14 percent” today.

P.S. If you are an Amazon Prime or Cloud Drive customer, for a limited time you can get your first 50 4×6 photo prints for FREE using the coupon code BABY50FREEPRINTS. Thanks Kinja!