Business Cards?

[#1]

Maybe this is a silly thing to ask a group of people that are from all over the country.. or rather world... but.. I'm trying to figure out where the best place is to get business cards made?

Im in Washington state, so any locals who know of anywhere is hugely helpful, otherwise if you know of any online resources, I'd LOVE to hear of them!!

Thanks!!

[craftyearth]

I have ordered business cards from vistaprint, moo, and uprinting.com(these should arrive tomorrow) Moo is by far the highest quality, but they are a bit more expensive. Vistaprint was what I went with when I was just starting out and had a tight budget. uprinting is a bit cheaper than moo, and I could only choose one photo for the backs, but I am hoping they are a nice quality card as well.

[Former_Member]

I get mine through vista print. www.vistaprint.com They often have 250 business cards for free and just pay shipping!!

[OldLadyWhite]

My experience with vistaprint was not a good thing. Their home site showed offers of free items if you signed up with them. When I went into the vistaprint site there was nothing free and I ended up in a big mess with E-mails back and forth before I got them to admit and make up for the hidden costs that were supposed to be free. Good Luck!

[Former_Member]

Vistaprint is not the best option for business cards since they are off on color matching. I've had great experience with moo in the past.

If you ever need business cards designed please convo me. I've worked as a Graphic Designer for 15 years and can design a customized card for your business plus I have local connections with printers and can ship to you!

[Former_Member]

You can make your own. You don't have to use someone else. Especially handy if you want that "made it my own way" look :)

I tried VistaPrint late last year to make 2 things:

Business Cards
Car Magnets for advertising

The business cards look fine. I was cheap so I didn't pay to have zero advertising printing on the back of the cards. In fact I used their free design(s) just to see what I would get. So when I hand out my cards you can see who I am and that VistaPrint is where I got them (their web address is printed on the back). The cards are nicely done and arrived in a small package.

Their magnetic signs look quite nice. However once you read the full instructions for their care and use you realize these are junk. I place them on my car with the expectation that I may lose one or both of them due to normal driving conditions (wind catching the magnet, rain and other weather conditions). So, I will never buy car magnets from them again!

Now back to the idea of making your cards yourself. Obviously you will save money if you have a color laser printer, especially one that can print to both sides of the paper. With an inkjet printer you are likely to suffer from some banding or streak marks. Here is what I do when I make my own cards:

This applies to inkjets, lasers, and other types of printers:

Buy yourself a ream of 100 pound smooth white card stock. Not specialty paper with micro-perforations or scoring. You can save quite a bit of money avoiding specialty papers. Especially if you are willing to do those things yourself.

Does you printer allow you to print on both sides with tight registration? Registration is how closely each printed color aligns with the others. If you've got a great printer you won't see ghosting of colors unless you chose to use low quality print settings (draft mode, ink saver mode, or plain paper mode when using card stock). If you printer can line up both side of a print accurately then go ahead and print to the back.

Set your printer to at least 600x600 dpi. I would go a step higher to 1200x1200 or higher but you will really tear through your inks when you do that. It really depend on how many cards you are making and if you have the money to replace a full set of inks when you are done.

I use Avery templates for my cards. So many choices. It doesn't matter if you use their templates with any brand of paper so don't fuss with that. I choose 10 cards per page with zero border between cards. This way I reduce the number of cuts that I need per page. And when you are faced with cutting out 500 or more cards on your own this makes a BIG difference. I also opt for just cut marks on the corners of the cards. This gives me leeway in case I make a crooked cut. I won't have to spend time trimming or shaving off a black cut line if I make a goof.

Once I have my cards printed and I let them dry (inkjet only) I can run them through my Xyron page-sized laminator. This adds a nice touch. Though not mandatory of course. One note: Lamination will make your cards thicker and SLICK. They will also make them more durable.

One double sided lamination cartridge from Xyron will make 50 letter-sized laminations. When you use a Xyron try to limit the amount of material you use as it is easy to be wasteful and not get as much from each cartridge. After everything if laminated take a break. Make sure you are ready to use your trimmer to cut out 500 cards!

If you don't want to use a manual trimmer (one like Fiskars self-sharpening, bi-directional 12 inch cutter/trimmer) there are machines called business card slicers that will make 10 cards per sheet of paper. There are human and electrically powered versions of this type of die cutter. One thing to remember is your lamination will gunk up your blade with glue. Not a big deal at first but after 500 cards that blade gets a bit sticky itself. I still use the original blade that came with my Fiskars cutter/trimmer whenever I use it to make my business cards.

So there you have it. There are other steps that I take too. My former printers were Alps MD 1000 (wax or resin based ribbons for $7.00 per color with 320 cards per set of inks at 300x300 dpi), Epson C80 and C86 with 500 cards per set of pigmented inks, lasting up 50 to 75 years before fading was visible to the naked eye), and now my color laser printer which only prints one side and curls the page which is why I bought my cards for the first time in about a decade.

[Former_Member]

I love vistaprint.com, I just ordered 500 cards, their premium ones, not the free ones. I ordered them in glossy (they also did my business logo and color scheme) I just got them yesterday and they are amazing! I spent about $20 and they were the perfect color, centered, very professional. I also just got a coupon for 500 more cards the same type I just ordered for $10 with free shipping. I'm really happy with them. I've ordered return address labels, a self inking stamp, and business notepads from them, and they've all come out amazing. I'm also getting a banner made from them.

[extradigital]

vistaprint.com is hit or miss. I've ordered loads from them, and sometimes it comes back wonderfully, and sometimes it comes back awful. I do suggest if you decide to go with vistaprint to upgrade to all the premium options, because it seems as though they consistently come back better looking if you do.

Also, I highly suggest designing your own business card and uploading it, because I can't tell you how many "vistaprint" generic cards I've seen, and how unprofessional they actually look :\ Not that the quality is bad, but when everyone is using the same design, it's slightly cheesy.

Anyway! All the other recommendations for printing services are great. I'd pay the little extra just for assurance that you'll get a quality piece.

[Former_Member]

James R Moe from grumpyoldgoat says
This is a little different twist for the post. I've been wondering what would be the best thing to put on a business card so that somebody not familiar with etsy would be able to quickly find my shop?
-----------------------------------------
If you don't have your own website, just put the address for this site. When they type it in, it will go directly to your shop. For example, I have:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/CUTEureCreations on my cards. When you type that in, it doesn't bring you to the etsy front page. It brings you to MY front page and all of my listings.

[CarolaBartz]

I love Moo.com.

[Former_Member]

I have used vistaprint.com in the past and I was very disappointed with the quality. Sometimes you get what you pay for. My business cards are full color, double-sided with a glossy UV coating on both sides. I offer graphic design services and business cards at my other shop, www.adgraphics.etsy.com. Take a peak and let me know if I can help you.

[SarahDrawsThings]

I use www.clubflyers.com. I am very pleased with them. I got 500 free glossy business cards. They're free because they have the clubflyers logo on the back, but the cards are REALLY high quality. You do have to pay shipping.

I'm a control freak, so I designed them myself. You can see them (and other packaging stuff here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.304755262891319.78732.297070116993167&type=3#!/photo.php?f...

[TheRogueBaby]

Vistaprint runs a lot of specials, so I got my 500 business cards for free and just paid shipping. I think it was about $7???

[grumpyoldgoat]

Angie from CUTEureCreations thanks for the tip.

[EitherOrFinds]

I used Vistaprint.com and was very happy with what I got, but I didn't use their designs--I paid a bit more (I forget what exactly) and uploaded my logo (seen here to the left) on a good white stock with my contact info and Discount code (15% off on next purchase) to send with all the items I sell.

[sherischart]

Katie, I sent you some information directly to your shop. I enjoyed your art gallery/shop. Best to you.

artfully,
sheri

[Former_Member]

My oldest works at Office Depot. Vistaprint will do the first set very cheaply but after that they are comparable to Office Depot and OD ships free.

[Former_Member]

I used FedEx Office to create mine. I use a photo for the background on my cards and they came out looking great. Their shipping was fast too!

[Former_Member]

I can help with that I use only professional trade printers. I am in CA so it wont take that long for me to get them to you



http://www.etsy.com/shop/pixelbar?section_id=11004588

[Former_Member]

I don't recommend VistaPrint. I ordered some with my own design (my banner, reformated for a card) and it came out all jacked up. A friend of mine (a graphic designer) said their website has weird parameters for uploading graphics. If you are going to upload your own design, make sure you know what you are doing.

I've known people who went with the "free" cards from them, and they have VistaPrint advertising on the back. Looks pretty cheesy to me.

I love the looks of Moo, but it is too expensive for me. I'm going to try a few card makers on Etsy next. Good luck!

[Former_Member]

I use moo.com and vistaprint.com. Both typically have sales all the time. Vistaprint is constantly giving away free cards. I have business cards for in person meetings and for my packages when I sell an item.

My free cards from vistaprint did not have advertising on the front, or back. But, if you do a custom design it is rather difficult.

I think Etsy and Moo may have a partnership where you can get free cards, but they have advertising on the front.

[BeadsALaCarte]

free cards on vistaprint.com

[creationsbylr]

I make my own on the computer.

[Former_Member]

are business cards still as purposeful as they used to be? or does it lean more toward authenticity and decoration?

[Former_Member]

I print my own but have heard great things about moo.com - I'm thinking of ordering some with them soon, they have some nice options.

[Former_Member]

Had to give an update!!! I ordered and just received my business cards from moo.com (thanks to the many many suggestions to use them!)! I shelled out the "big bucks" for their new "Luxe Cards" ... really really pretty!! There's something about having a little bit of weight to a business card that makes it serious... and honestly I think my cards are so pretty they are like little mini mini pieces of art!

Thank you ALL for the wonderful advice, and if I can turn around and give advice back- moo is definitely my top pick! :)