Xmas card printing service?

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PRR

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 30, 2010
Messages
11,143
Location
Maine USA
Anybody have a Xmas card printing service they like?

Since we got a dog and a camera, we've been printing custom holiday cards, such as the one attached.

I'm always running out of cardstock, or ink/toner, or jamming the printer, or printing a run of rough-draft, or getting the inside oriented wrong, or....

I looked for an online service to take image and words and return a stack of cards. There's way too many places. Most offer way too many hardly-different options. The websites are s-l-o-w. Prices of $0.80/card in lots of 70 are not unreasonable, but I suspect that's not the final price.

So, any suggestions or recommendations?
 

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Have you looked at vistaprint?  I know they're not really a "custom photo on card" vendor but they have some pretty good pricing on flyer/one-card printings. Also, if you google for vistaprint coupons you can usually find 20% off deals and such.
 
Nobody here orders custom-print holiday cards? Everybody DIYs? Or sends emails? (FaceBook?)

> Have you looked at vistaprint?

Yes; an obvious (and widely-touted) source.

Have you looked?

The Holiday Card choice brings up "3,718 designs"! Who would ever browse that many? Where is some place to click "I got my own pix and words!" and weed-out all the clip-art concoctions?

I actually did pick a card and started uploading a picture.

First try: "Unsupported format!" (They won't take GIF??)

Next try was "Too large!" (Where is this documented?)

Next try: "Image is low resolution. We strongly suggest a better image."

Ah, fah, go on. "Great News! This order qualifies you to receive our exclusive email offers and discounts." Hmmmm. I HATE bumph like this. Obviously ANY order (or no order) would "qualify" me for their spam. NO.

The interface is SLOW and messy.

Quantity defaulted to 10. Later I found where to change this. I want 67. I can only order 50 or 100.

I've worked in printshops. I know the real cost is $20 for the first one and $0.50 each after that. I don't want to skip 17 friends. I do not want 32 extras hanging around the rest of my life, or recycled un-used. Why can't I order 67 cards at the 50-99 price?

As expected, envelopes are extra-cost. (or are they? Diff pages say diff things.) The price is OK. I could get them $3 cheaper but I'd pay $4 for gas to find them.

THEN you get 24 pages of add-ons. Pens, mugs, mouse-pads with your holiday design on them. I suppose this is an artifact of their business-campaign printing service. They really should put holiday-like upsells at the top of this many-page clot. Santa-hat with my holiday-dog image.

Near the end, I am assured "You saved $68.00!" (see below) Since the come-on price for 10 was $7.99, and my final price was $70/100 (plus cards), and I only wanted 67, I figure I'm over-paying $16.46.

Also "Hurry! These offers won't last forever." Isn't such a great deal IMHO (would be OK without the constant boasting). Price is unlikely to rise.

Website annoyances aside..... has anybody used VistaPrint for any printing? Is print quality good? Is turn-around reasonable? Are there unending email "offers"?
 

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I've used Vistaprint for a few things in the past, and my experience was as frustrating as you described. Some things seem OK, some are junk. You get what you pay for. But yes, the email bombardments are constant and, seemingly, never-ending.
 
My wife uses Shutterfly often for this sort of thing, I can't tell you much about it other than she says it's reasonably priced. Might be worth checking out.
 
I used vistaprint a long time ago and don't remember having as much trouble.
More recently I've used greatfxbusinesscards.com, and mmg.interfirm.com

I believe both companies are actually resellers for the same print company, but I've never been disappointed in the handful of times I've used them (their prices vary between each other so it's good to check both). If you don't need templates the upload interface is pretty straightforward.

I've only ever used them for biz cards but I would imagine a print job is a print job...
 
GreatFX Business Cards

If you change the paper-type, it forgets your color and _Quantity_ options.

Seems reasonable to me to know my quantity, and wish to compare costs of papers.

$125 for 100 4x5.5 cards is steep.

> greatfxbusinesscards.com, and mmg.interfirm.com ...resellers for the same print company

Yes, GreatFX Business Cards arrives at greatfx.interfirm.com and the SAME stupid order page but with MMG branding I get a quote of $92.

> wife uses Shutterfly often

Vista and Shutter seem to be the two BIG players that pop to the top of Google's ads.

ShutterFly has "only" 294 choices on the first page of "Greeting cards". Most are templates with jolly holly joy christmas snowflakes on red ink. Don't yet see 4x5.5" tent. 5x7 is $1.29 come-on, $1.99 list discounted to $1.59 +S&H... stiff. EDIT-- they have 3x5, $1.09 come-on, $1.29. 3x5 is really 3.5x4.875. Dumb interface. Can't get an actual quote without a Membership (again with "offers and info on new...").

Staples has a print store; sure appears to be VistaPrint's site with Staples' branding.  (And there's no Staples near me, so I don't save shipping...) 80 cards w/envelopes $70, actually higher than Vista.

www.uprinting.com/folded-greeting-cards.html *does* sell in quantity 75, appears to be $65 shipped for 75 cards with envelopes. Online layout tool is not bad. (I learned layout in lead and photo-offset; I'm not going to re-learn digital pre-press production.) EXcept: the 3-D Preview isn't working....

www.psprint.com also sells quantity 75 for some products, 100 for my card, w/envelopes $91 shipped. ($117 for 1-day rush!) Again, changing Quantity loses all your other choices :(  They claim this includes a 50% discount through 14 December. If they really get list price the rest of the year, that's high. FWIW, they are a branch of Deluxe, the check-printers.

> I would imagine a print job is a print job...

These days, it is also a Sales Job. (Hence multiple portals to the same printer.)

 
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