Dear All,

This is Rosalba, the sales manager of Easypano. I post the thread and wish to get your help.  We have received lots of inquires about how to upload the virtual tour from Tourweaver and Panoweaver to Realtor.com. I am studying Homestore system and wish to find a solution for our customers and better serve them. But a little bit confused.
I know many of you know well about Homestore. Could you please kindly assist me?
I know to access realtor.com, you have to be either an ASP(Authorized Service Provider) OR a Picturepath partner.
ASP have to use one of the authorized thechnology: Ipix, Iseemedia, PTViewer.
ASP can post the tour to VTDN(Virtual Tour Distribution Network).
ASP uses Homestore 360 template and Homestore hosts the tours.
Picturepath partners host the tours themselves.
Picturepath partners can only post tour to realtor.com.
Picturepath submit a link which should be comply some of Homestore rules.
1. Am I correct about all the above statement?
2. Are these points the main differences between ASP and Picturepath partner?
3. What kind of rule Picturepath partner should abide by when submitting a link? This question would answer my doubt about why a Picturepath partner can not submit a direct virtual tour link from Tourweaver to realtor.com.
4. Panoweaver can publish the panroama as PTViewer. Can this PTViewer be directly posted to Realtor.com?
5. Is there some way we can make Realtor.com accept Easypano output directly?
6. If Easypano becomes an ASP or Picturepath Partner, does it solve the problem?
Any of your feedback  is much appreciated . Thanks a lot.

Rosalba,  we at 360texas.com usually have hotel and city destination clients.  I wish we could help.

Dave

"1. Am I correct about all the above statement?"  Yes, as far as I understand that's exactly my understanding.

For questions 2 and on you might need to contact homestore directly and ask to speak to the person in charge of the p path program. Usually, the customer service won't be able to provide that info. But ask them for the contact person in charge of the p path program. I think it's a lady, she's also a sales manager like you.

You might also want to ad these questions for her:

7. how much is it to joing either of the 2 programs?

8.  what is the per listing fee?

9. the per linking fee?

"Participating customers will be billed monthly based on the number of virtual tours they submit through www.picturepath.com.  The rate card provides for a   discounted price for various levels of volume."

Does anyone know the pricing rate card?

Just read the newsletter about hometour360virtualtours.com.
What about uploading the Panoweaver files? I would like to get more info about it.

In the Realtor Upload ($29.95) page, I don't see Panoweaver listed in for "upload your pictures".

On Hometour360virtualtours.com - Try the "Tourweaver Upload" page. The cost is $24.95 per link and includes hosting a sanatized MLS tour. Just remember to place your entire tourweaver "output folder" into a zip file and then upload the zip file.

It is best to: Create a folder for each listing (i.e.:  5467_james_way) no spaces or capital letters. Then output your tour from Tourweaver to that folder. Take that folder and drop it in a zip file and then upload.

More on Tourweaver Upload Program: www.hometour360virtualtours.com/abouttw.htm

Oh, and ya the tour that you create is the one that is posted to Realtor.com. So lets get creative.

I am Real Estate agent in Anderson, SC and have just started using the PicturePath links product. In the past we used the Ipix solution from Homestore.

Rosalba, your assumptions are correct. A PicturePath agreement will allow you to post a link to your virtual tour page that you host yourself. I haven't seen any restrictions on what they can look like, but Homestore did make me sign an agreement that said they would review the tours from time to time. I also had to give them the domain and a sample URL (ie www.CallElizbeth.com/homes/100_mainstreet/tour.htm). I can only post URLs that include the preapprove domain name. The tours are only distributed to Realtor.com.

I have only posted a few tours with this new technology, but here is one. I used both Panoweaver and Tourweaver to create it. http://www.realtor.com/Prop/1043633593 Click the spinning red house.

The cost is a one time fee of $250, annual fees of $250 and a sliding scale for per tour postings. Under 100 per month is $19.95 each. I think that's still way too much, but less than the $49.95 per tour I was paying with Ipix (but they hosted it too). This way I also have complete control over the tour pages look and feel.

Hope this helps,

Tom

TCarr,

For the $19.95, can you upload still pictures as well? If so, how many stills do they permit? I see that your listing has 6 of them. Did you upload those yourself?

Also, for how long will your link be active on the listing? 365 days or indefinetly?

Hey TCarr,

You go girl, and great job! But you are 1 out of thousands that do not know how to even upload still pictures, let alone create a whole tour and host it and upload it. That is why or service does it for you, and our Tourweaver upload is only $150 to join with no annual fee and $75 of that is refundable after you get out of the VT game. As for individual realtors, we stitch the tour and truly create a custom tour that will match an agents site. Probably not for somebody as savy as yourself but none the less, great for those doing only about 30 tours a year.

Brand new feature coming to www.hometour360virtualtours.com

http://360-vre.com/client/mcdonough/4510_laurette/

And again, great job on your tour.

Richard