Frequently Asked Questions
Do you offer photography service in my area?
PreviewFirst offers Real Estate Photography to all of Orange County, San Diego County, and most of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside County's. We're also willing to travel to exotic locations.
How much are your virtual tours?
Virtual Tours are included complimentary with each photography order and only $39 when you upload your own photos.
What is your copyright policy?
Client and/or any transferee agrees to include "Photography by PreviewFirst.com" alongside, on top, or underneath any photo provided by PreviewFirst.com in any advertising or publication.
Copyrights are granted with the following conditions: Any photography ordered and paid for by client, and delivered from PreviewFirst includes the right of client to print, publish or transfer images as they deem appropriate for the purpose of their own business. This does not include stock images such as community photos that may be provided as goodwill.
Should images be transferred (whether in digital or print form), PreviewFirst terms and conditions are also transferred. Abuse or misuse of this copyright grant is considered a copyright violation and considered unlawful.
Are the Terms and Conditions Important?
Terms and conditions should really be called "Understanding and Expectations."
Nothing is more important to us than happy customers. We never want to be accused of "fine printing you". To avoid problems, we do everything we can to draw attention to the terms and conditions... so we’re making another attempt here. In order for us to do a great job for you, it’s essential that we have the same understanding and know what to expect from each other. Please review our terms and conditions to determine if our policies are agreeable with you.
When will my photos and virtual tour be ready?
You can always check the status of your virtual tour by logging into your account.
Once your photos have been taken (or provided by you), the virtual tour will be ready in less than 24 hours, or the next business day. Business hours are Mon-Fri, 8am-5pm PST. PreviewFirst prides itself on a 24 hour turn around time, however, we are usually much faster than that. When photography services are included with your order, the 24 hour period begins at 8:00pm on the day the photos were taken.
When your virtual tour is completed, email notification is auto-generated and sent to the email address on file. If you don’t get the email, check your junk mail, and change your email settings to prevent that from happening again.
When PreviewFirst takes the pictures do I get the high resolution images?
Yes. When you hire us to photograph the property, we provide the most representative images in high resolution and low resolution. You can use the high res images for your magazine advertisements, postcards, and flyers. We also provide you with the low resolution images which are perfect for the MLS, Realtor.com, and other internet marketing websites. Both high and low resolution images are provided to you by the next business day.
How do you deliver the photos to me?
When the virtual tour is complete, your photos will be available for download by logging into your PreviewFirst.com account. Simply click "Manage Tours," and "Save Photos".
How long are my photos available for download?
Web photos (low res) are available for 12 months, or as long as the virtual tour exists. Print photos (high res) are available for 3 months. So, it's a good idea to save the photos you want as quickly as possible.
After the tour is completed, can I add, rearrange or delete photos from the Virtual Tour?
Yes. There are two parts to a PreviewFirst.com virtual tour – the video tour and the photo tour. You can add/rearrange or delete the photos in your photos tour, anytime. If you want edits to the photo tour to be reflected in the video, there is a $25 fee to recreate the video.
How do I upload my tour to Realtor.com?
Does realtor.com or previewfirst.com charge a fee?
If you have a "Showcase" account with Realtor.com, there is no charge to upload your virtual tour. If you do not have a "Showcase" account, Realtor.com imposes a charge of $19.95. This fee is processed by PreviewFirst.com. While other virtual tour vendors mark up the fee, PreviewFirst.com does not.
How do I get my virtual tour on the MLS?
Not all MLS systems allow for automatic uploads. The best and fastest way is to add the virtual tour via your MLS system.
When you are logged in to your PreviewFirst.com account, please click "Manage Tours". Locate the virtual tour you want, and then click "Send to MLS." Please make sure a MLS location and a MLS number are entered. At the top of the screen you will see a message in blue saying "your tour was successfully sent to the MLS".
Rest assured that your virtual tour was sent to your MLS. However, keep in mind that some MLS systems can take a matter of minutes, hours, or even days to add your virtual tour to your listing. We offer this service as a convenience, but if you need the tour on the MLS immediately, you may want to add it yourself manually by logging into your MLS account and cutting and pasting the link.
How do I edit the property description, price and sale status?
You can edit the property information anytime, by logging into your account and clicking the link "Manage Tours".
How do I edit my agent profile information?
You can edit your profile information anytime, by logging into your account and clicking the link "Edit Account". This is where you can change your user id and password, email address, company, address, etc.
Can I add a voice over to my virtual tour?
Yes. We offer voice narration options, or you can provide voiceovers to us in mp3 format, via email. When recording your voiceover, consider the order of your pictures and that each image will be displayed for 5 seconds. Additional charges apply
Can I get my virtual tour on a CD?
Yes. For $25, we will provide you with your virtual tour (video) and pictures on two CD ROMs – One for you, and one for your client. Each CD is labeled with a picture of the home and the agents contact information.
Can I get my video on a DVD?
Yes. For $25, we can provide you with a DVD version of your virtual tour. The DVD’s are great to play during an Open House, or as a gift for your client. A set of 2 can be ordered through your PreviewFirst.com account by clicking on "Manage Tours", and then, "Marketing".
Can I download the tour and burn it to a CD Rom myself?
Yes. You can make as many copies as you’d like, as long as you have the ability to burn a CD or DVD on your computer. The video is simply a Windows media player file. Just login to your account, and click on the link "Manage Tours". From there, right click on the "Save Video" link, and choose "Save Target As".
How much is it to come back out and take just a few pictures?
We call it a go back out. If the kitchen (for example) has been remodeled since the first shoot, or the weather is better for that view shot, no worries. For only $50 one of our photographers will come back out to the property for about 10-15 minutes and photograph certain key shots. Available for daytime shoots only.
What if you don't have a photographer in my area?
We are very interested in expanding our photography services around the globe. If we don't have a photographer in your area yet, an opportunity exists for enormous savings. By establishing PreviewFirst as preferred vendor in your office, we can not only bring you our photography services, but we can do so at rates up to 30% off. If this sounds like an option for you, we strongly recommend that you contact us. You can send email to service@previewfirst.com or call us at 858-451-5772.
When I register a domain name for my listing, how long does it last?
When we register a domain for your listing, it expires after one year. If you should desire to keep the domain name longer than that, it is imperative that you contact us before it expires. PreviewFirst is not a domain registrar and we only register domains for listings, with the understanding that they expire after one year. We do not encourage, promote or manage continued registration, and send no notification of expirations.
How do I transfer a virtual tour to another agent?
Upon receiving permission from you, we can add the virtual tour to another agents account. There is a $39 fee required by the receiving account.
Is there a fee to keep my virtual tours active?
Virtual tours remain active for one year and may remain active for $10/year thereafter.
I keep trying to upload my logo to the "Branded Content" but it's not taking.
Logos must be jpg images formatted as RGB. Many logos are formatted as CMYK for print purposes, and this is almost always the problem. If you need assistance, please email your logo to service@previewfist.com and ask us to convert to RGB. We'll email it back to you.
How and when do you charge for your services?
All orders are charged on your credit card, at the time the order is placed. Our system is entirely credit card oriented and does not allow for payments by check or cash.
Why do you charge my card before the appointment?
When you place an order for photography service, you are not only ordering a tangible service that you will receive, you are also placing a reservation on the photographers time - securing that photographer and making that photographer unavailable to provide service to someone else. Essentially, your payment secures a valuable time slot on the photographers schedule, so that he or she won’t be available to anyone else. Please see terms and conditions and policies regarding cancellation, reschedules and refunds.
What is your refund policy?
PreviewFirst will provide a refund for any service that has not been started. However, 7% of any refund amount is withheld to cover the cost of credit card processing fees that PreviewFirst must pay in order to place and refund an order.
What is your cancellation Policy?
We understand that appointments can’t always be kept and we we want to be as flexible as possible. Should you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, we just require at least 24 hours notice, so that we might have an opportunity to remove the reservation and fill the photographers time with another appointment.
Appointments cancelled or rescheduled inside of 24 hours will incur an automatic $50 cancellation fee or a $25 reschedule fee. Please understand that these fees are not meant to be punitive in any way. They are simply the lowest amount we are comfortable paying our photographers for agreeing to reserve their valuable time. Before requesting our services, please be sure to review the terms and conditions so you can determine if our policies are acceptable to you.
Frequently Asked Questions when providing your own photos for a virtual tour
Can we take our own pictures?
Yes. We want you to take your own photos. Any digital camera will do the job. You can even take your photos with your own film camera and have your local print lab give the images to you on a CD Rom. Once you have your images on your computer, you're ready to send them to PreviewFirst.com.
Should I take vertical or horizontal photos – does it matter?
Horizontal pictures will fill the entire screen when viewing in full screen mode, while vertical images leave wide margins on each side of the screen. We don't think it looks bad when a vertical image is used; however, horizontal images are always preferred.
How many photos do you suggest I take?
We suggest a minimum of 22-32 photos and a maximum of 40. For small homes, be sure to include as many pictures as possible, of every room, and from every angle. For smaller homes, consider adding pictures of the neighborhood and local community.
What pixel width or size dimensions do you recommend?
The minimum size should be a pixel width of 1024 and pixel height of 768. When taking the photos, make sure your digital camera on the highest quality setting. We want your large, high resolution images. Our website will resize your images to the required dimensions for you. When using Internet Explorer, the entire resize and upload process takes about two minutes.
How do I get my pictures to you?
Our website makes it very easy to upload your pictures to us. When you login to your PreviewFirst.com account and click the "Order New Tour" link, you will provide a little bit of information about the property and then you will be directed to the upload page. Simply click the "Add Photos" link, and choose all the photos you want to upload. You don't have to choose one photo at a time. You can upload all of your photos at once…. It only takes about 2 minute to upload 30-40 images. Internet Explorer Version 6+ required.
Can you enhance/touch-up my photos?
Yes. Extra fees apply. We are experts with Photoshop and can do miraculous things with photos, but with the following caution. Once the photos are uploaded to us, the quality of the image may not contain enough pixels for adequate enhancement and touch-up. So we can't guarantee the results. We recommend that you provide us with your original images.
