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. Take a look at our comparative shots from Costco.

• Black and White: This photo developed with more yellow than we wanted. It almost looked sepia. Take a look at our comparative shots from Costco.

• 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. Take a look at our comparative shots from Costco.

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.

Service and Site Features:  

Costco offers some specialty gifts like mugs, mouse pads, T-shirts, stationary, enlargements, photo CDs and more. However, compared 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.

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.

Technical Support:  

Costco’s Photo Center is unfortunately lax in its support. While Costco offers many services, it seems that they are spread thin on their Photo support, as no email or live chat is available. A FAQs section is available, though it is unspecific to the Photo center, so you must slog through all possible support questions on their website to find answers to Photo Center questions.

Costco Photo Center has an easy to follow ordering process for a digital photo printing service. For a more complete service, see our top rated products.