Black Star Rising - DigMyPics.com Goes Medieval on ScanCafe in Battle of Photo Scanning Services

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DigMyPics.com Goes Medieval on ScanCafe in Battle of Photo Scanning Services

Written by Scott Baradell

Friday, 03 August 2007

Last month, startup ScanCafe officially introduced its photo scanning and restoration service to the world, followed this week by ProZone, its higher-end service aimed at professional photographers.

Search for ScanCafe on Google, however, and one of the first things you'll come across is a vicious flame war between ScanCafe and a competitor, DigMyPics.com. It's as juicy as any exchange between Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck on The View.

Tags: ScanCafe, DigMyPics.com, photo scanning

Some of the charges leveled against ScanCafe, with excerpts from DigMyPics.com's "Get the Real Truth" attack site:

1. It doesn't want customers to know that their photos are sent to India for scanning.

"Would you trust a tiny, unknown company to manage the transport and processing of your one-of-a-kind photos to India?"

2. It spun a Wall Street Journal story to make it sound like an endorsement of ScanCafe, when it wasn't.

"You probably thought they got an endorsement from an editor at the Wall Street Journal and that's exactly what ScanCafe wants you to believe ... In fact, the article dedicated exactly 8 letters to ScanCafe."

3. It fudges numbers to mislead customers about its pricing.

"The pricing they list for us is outright false just like much of what else they say. There is no doubt that ScanCafe's pricing is low. We can't match their prices and continue to do the work in the USA."

According to DigMyPics.com, ScanCafe has responded with legal threats. The letters are published here.

ScanCafe does have a price comparison chart featuring DigMyPics.com on its Web site, but so far there's been no response on the company's CEO blog. To ScanCafe's credit, it does reference its offices in Bangalore, India, in its press releases.

We don't know if DigMyPics.com's charges are accurate, or if it's just running scared and desperate to bring down a new competitor.

We do know it's compelling to watch.

Comments (7) >>

dan said:

Interesting post.
It seems competitors are always battling each other in this as well as many other digital industries.

April 03, 2008 | url

annonymus said:

Yes, competitors are always in a never ending battle is seems, but I will never support outsourcing. Is cause us to loose jobs. Why should we be concerned about financing India when we can barely finance ourselves?

May 09, 2008 | url

Damon Mercadante said:

For some reason, ScanCafe's initial response to this article has been removed.

ScanCafe has always tried to remain professional and this story and headline are way off the mark.

Since this article was originally posted, ScanCafe.com has has been ranked #1 by CNN/Money Magazine and has received other great reviews from Popular Photography Magazine, CNET, and others. You can view these independent reviews and press coverage at www.scancafe.com/pressroom.php

Damon Mercadante
VP, Marketing
ScanCafe

June 06, 2008 | url

Lars said:

Things continue to change in the world of scan services. So I put together this side by side comparison with updated information

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=phRG-JoD0f6N8DrY8b8ZGLw

June 18, 2008

Evelyn said:

I think this battle is over, due to the fire at DigMyPics. (See the letter from the owner on their website.)

(Even if they rebuild, who would send their negatives there again? Sounds like the fire destroyed numerous orders.)

July 02, 2008

catherine said:

what has happened to digmypics.com? They are disappeared. All my [photos were on their website ... they were saved and on the server at the time of the fire! My photos are now gone. Why didn't they say they were going out of business. Their phones just ring..take no message. WIERD!??

July 22, 2008

Grace said:

Digmypics.com burned to the ground in Arizona. Glad to hear no one was hurt, but DigMyPics should think about Karma.

They should have focused on their own business and not try to bully others. DigMyPics CEO Scott Crossen sounded like sour grapes and low class on all of his posts.

Congratulations to ScanCafe for being professional and letting their quality speak for itself, rather than sink to DigMyPics lows.

August 01, 2008

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