One Mans Blog
Specialization is for Insects.
Posted on Jul 20, 2007 - 2:36am by John P. in Reviews, Work
A couple of weeks ago I decided to order some business cards that I could hand out instead of having to write down my domain name on pieces of paper for people when my blog comes up in conversation. So, I went over to VistaPrint.com and gave their process a whirl.
It took me about 45 minutes to search through all of their different designs until I had finally decided on and customized my new cards. By the time I was done I ordered two sided, full color, glossy cards on the heaviest weight paper. Yeah, I’m a sucker for upgrades.
I found the entire process to be relatively simple. You pick the design you want, fill in a form with your info, then customize things by deleting unused fields, dragging others around to where you want them, and changing fonts if necessary. All in all, if you can use MS PowerPoint, you can create your own business cards.
I was generally pleased with the order process with only one exception… the pricing “scheme”. When you are designing your products the prices are really cheap. But where they get you is at the very end when it comes time to pay for shipping.
The standard shipping is 21 days for about $7.50. You can bump that up to 7 days for $15 or 3 days for even more. Anyway, when it came right down to it even with the shipping it was cheaper than local printers as well as a couple of other online printers that I looked into.
Now, after I completed the order for 1,000 of these babies for a grand total of $47 including shipping, the system game me an offer to get an extra 500 for only $4.50 more, so I took it. This means that 1,500 full color, two sided, heavy duty, glossy cards came to a grand total of $51.46 delivered.
Over the next week I began to receive e-mails almost every day from VistaPrint.com trying to sell me more and more stuff. It was so annoying that I had to actually use their unsubscribe function in the e-mail. It seems to me that when a company is this aggressive you also have to worry about them selling your address to other companies.
About a week later the cards arrived in the mail. Generally speaking I have to say I’m a bit disappointed with them, but only for one reason. In the screen capture above - which is what I saw when I was proofing the cards - all of the black on the front of the card is clearly the same color dark black. But when I received the cards there is a distinct color differential between the photo area at the top and the rest of the black background. To me, this destroys the aesthetics of the cards, though others have not noticed or told me it looks fine.
I intend to contact the company to ask them to be reprinted as they appear on screen, then we’ll find out what kind of customer service they actually offer. But all in all I would say that so far I would not order from them again. The combination of Spamming me, extraordinarily high shipping costs, and marginal quality printing don’t leave me wanting to rush out and order more from them.
If anyone else knows of a great online printing company please share your experience down in the comments. Thanks!
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We have always ordered from http://www.affordableaddresslabels.com that all the ones listed in comments here, and espcially not vista print, they never sent us labels and never credited our card back, we always get our address labels in as little as 3 days
Hi - just a comment that I had exactly the same experience with Vistaprint (and unsubscribed myself) only my business cards NEVER SHOWED UP. I paid the extortionate shipping charges too which annoys me no end. Not only that but they have NO CUSTOMER SERVICE. When I tried their email it came back as it didn’t exist, then I tried contacting them through their webform - to which they replied that they were too busy to reply and to try again!!! If customer service is too busy to reply to your enquiry you have to wonder what problems others are experiencing…
All in all, don’t order anything from Vistaprint!
I think this falls into the “you get what you pay for” category. Printing is a craft elevated to an art form when performed by the right people. Visit your local print shop and pay what it’s really worth.
1,500 cards for 50bucks! If you can read your name and URL you’ve got nothing to complain about. You probably couldn’t buy the paper yourself for that price.
Support local business AND get a decent job produced. From what I understand VistaPrint produces your cards overseas in the Netherlands. And judging by all the shadiness they engage in to make a profit, they should just charge what the cards are worth instead of undercutting the rest of the industry and making people think that paying $50 for 1500 cards is normal.
Check out this site before you order : http://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/vistaprint.html
That seems to be the issue with a lot of these online printers. Here is a company that specializes in printing “quality” business cards and postcards. http://www.premiumcards.net
One thing though, I noticed John said and I quote, “In the screen capture above - which is what I saw when I was proofing the cards - all of the black on the front of the card is clearly the same color dark black. But when I received the cards there is a distinct color differential between the photo area at the top and the rest of the black background”. Now, that wouldn’t be a reason for a reprint. Your screen is projecting light and the cards are reflecting light off of colors printed on paper. Your screen may not be calibrated correctly or you may not have submitted a “cmyk file. Never the less, I have heard too many bad stories about vista anyway. Most were that you get suckered in to junk.
Premiumcards.net uses ULTRA THICK 16pt cardstock. The colors are brilliant and rich. The price is $49 for 1000 and shipping is about $9. Business cards and postcards are all they do. When you sign up for an account with them, they don’t send you anything via email unless you ask them to. Once you sign up, you get a welcome envelope sent out the same day with a couple of nice samples. Anyway, I got some cards with high gloss and round corners for a few bucks more and they got to me in about 8 days including the weekend. I paid $67.51 total with shipping and the price was awesome for what you get. No spam, better card stock, faster service and great customer service. It was worth every penny
I would guess the reason your blacks are not dark deep black is not the printers fault. It’s your file. If you use only 100% black you will get a flat washed out dark gray. My suggestion is that when ever you want a dark solid back you need to make what is called a “rich black” in cymk. To find out how to do this go to: http://www.colorprintingpros.com/faq.php. They have a lot of great tips and tricks the pros know about how to design for print. They also have a Free File Review to make sure your file will print as you hope they will. If they find a problem they will advise you of it and offer suggestions on how to fix it. 16pt Business Cards with free overall glossy UV or Matte/Dull aqueous coating start at $39 for 1,000 and you don’t need to register for an account. The quality of there printing is the best I’ve seen and they offer unique optional WOW FACTOR Effects you can add to your cards to make you standout and get noticed.
This company is a terrific resource for all your advertising, sales and marketing literature.
They have raised the bar for online gang run printing with more options and services other companies can’t or don’t offer. I am a graphics designer and I resell printing so I need a company that make me look good and they always do. No one can print a better job or offer better customer service than Color Printing Pros.