Ease of Use - Ordering Process:  

Costco’s upload and ordering process is easy and almost self-explanatory. It is very similar to our top three services. There is a small warning suggesting users crop their photographs to better suit the 4 x 5.3 aspect ratio.

Quality of Prints:  

To test for quality, we sent the same digital photos to all of the online photo developers we reviewed. Costco’s prints were pretty good. Not the best we’ve seen, but certainly not the worst.

• Sunset: This was probably Costco’s best print. The colors were well lit with our models highlighted just enough to stand out from the scenery. Click here to see a comparison.

• Black and White: This photo developed with more yellow than we wanted. It almost looked sepia. Click here to see a comparison.

• Aerial: This picture came out crisp and clean with only a slight amount of yellow in the buildings. However, since we didn’t specify cropping there was quite a bit cropped off the bottom of the picture. Click here to see a comparison.

Note: To check quality, we took each set of prints received from the online photo developer and laid them down side-by-side for comparison.

Pricing:  

Unlike most of the grocery store and pharmacy services we reviewed, the way you receive your prints doesn’t determine the price. The price of prints is $.17 whether you pick them up at your local store or have them delivered to your home. At $.17, Costco’s prices are more expensive than the other services we reviewed; unfortunately, since you have to have a paid membership to use their photo services, we felt the price is a little too high.

However, Costco redeems itself by keeping prices consistent across the board and charging nothing for shipping, both to your home or for in-store pickup. Additionally, the price of 5x7 and 8x10 prints is excellent.

Service and Site Features:  

Costco offers some specialty gifts like mugs, mouse pads, T-shirts, stationary, enlargements, photo CDs and more. However, compaired to our top services, Costco's selection is lacking. As is typical with the big retail store chains with photo centers, Costco's variety of prints sizes is limited, but adequate.

Shipping Costs/ Turnaround Time:  

To ship us four 4 x 6 inch prints, Costco Photo Center charged us absolutely nothing, which was the cheapest shipping we found. Currently Costco's shipping is free for all 4 x 6 inch prints delivered either to your home or the store.

Our prints came in a paper sleeve with a lightweight, cardboard insert and wrapped inside a paper envelope.

In the past, our prints were lost in the mail. Unfortunately, Costco failed where it mattered most and sadly Costco’s poor email and telephone service shined right through. Our emails were lost and we had difficulties with inexperienced phone operators.

Costco Photo Center has free shipping for 4 x 6, an easy to follow ordering process and a promising pricing model. Please see our top 3 products: Snapfish, York Photo and Clark Color.