Digital Prints: At home or a print shop?

[Former_Member]

I was curious what the majority of people use here and to hopefully get some advice.
I have a print shop that I love, but they are quite the drive away from where I live and are a bit pricy. Of course, you get what you pay for and the prints always are quite vibrant. However, I feel as though my personal printer isn't the best quality and the colors tend to be off. I'm willing to purchase a new printer, but only if it will give me the results I want. Not to mention...what does the customer prefer?

I was hoping to get some opinions on the matter.

Do you print at home? If so...do you recommend a printer?
Are professional prints from print shops a better choice?
What does the customer prefer?
Any related comments are also welcome.

Thanks in advance.

[Former_Member]

I have a second shop on Etsy where I sell prints. I outsource them to a professional printer. While I don't sell enough from this shop to warrant a printer purchase, I still think outsourcing is the best idea. Just think-- a pro shop has a printer that is worth probably $1000...very good quality.... and as a small biz it's hard to make that kind of investment. Maybe if this was your full time income I would suggest purchasing a printer? If not, I suggest sticking with the pros. Hope that helps! :)

[Former_Member]

I think Epson is the brand I've seen other people who print their own use. I don't know exactly what kind, but they all seem to be happiest with that one.

[SamOsborneStore]

When I first started I printed everything myself at home on my Samsung printer but it has it's downsides: I am limited on size (it's only an A4 printer) the quality is inconsistant and no matter how much you spend on a printer it will be temperamental and decide not print for multiple unknown reasons just when you have a lot of orders to fulfil.

Although buying professional printing services seems like a big outlay in fact if you work out how much ink or toner costs it often works out to be more cost effective plus they can deal with the temperamental printers and you have someone to complain to when the print isn't to the standard you'd like.

I use several profesional printers that I've found over years working in the print design industry which means I am able to find the right printer and printing process for the job, plus I can shop around on costs. A lot of these aren't local to me so I send them the files and they post the print back to me so the distance shouldn't be an issue. Having items in stock also makes the packing and posting process much smoother and less stressful.

Plus I can spend more time designing and less time fighting with my silly printing machine (can you tell I've been scarred by this!)

I do still print some things myself, some of the custom items and those that have smaller runs as well as my hand printed items.

Hope that is helpful

S

[JoArtyJo]

I sold prints for a while and printed them at home. I found it extremely stressful to be honest. As mentioned above, things just seem to go wrong! Like running out of ink, paper, or something just not working. Then there was the cutting issue, I would print on A4 and then cut down to 8x10, 5x7 or whatever, and this was just ridiculous. The amount of times I would sit for ages trying to cut it just right and making errors and starting again, ugh it just wasn't worth it! I do not know why I didn't think of cutting the paper first and printing straight onto it.... I/m not very computer savvy I guess! Plus- I only did black and white prints as my coloured prints did not look right at all.

If I were to offer prints again (for the moment I just sell digital pdf prints- MUCH simpler!)- then I think I would outsource the printing. This would probably mean buying a few of each print ahead of time and then selling what I have in stock. I don't like the thought of having to sort out the printing after the order comes in. I have always been reluctant to do this before for fear they wouldn't sell, and have been very conscious to minimise the amount of money I invest into such things. If I were to do this it would mean properly putting in the time and effort to market my prints. For now I am concentrating on the printable side of my business as profit margins are much higher.

Hope that helps a bit and doesn't put you off for life lol!

[HandmadeMichelle]

Speaking from a customer perspective -- I recently purchased a print on Etsy and was pretty disappointed in the quality. It looked as if I could have printed it on my cheap inkjet printer. Once it was framed, I didn't think it was quite so bad, but my initial disappointment would definitely keep me from purchasing from that seller again. If you have any inkling (no pun intended!) that your home prints aren't up to standard, stick with the professional! Your customers will thank you for it and return in the future! :)

[HandmadeMichelle]

PS: Love your prints, especially "Round Robin"

[Former_Member]

For my invitation shop, I work with a local printer in my town. It works best for me because I send the files in and within a day they are printed, cut, and packaged. For the price she charges it saves me so much, especially time!

If you are looking to get a printer at home, I would HIGHLY recommend a "brother" printer. I have a black and white brother laser printer that I use for envelope printing. Brother printers are reliable and have an amazing reputation. I absolutely love my printer and am actually considering buying a second one for color.

Best of luck!!!!

[HausofAriella]

I print at home, which works well for me. I have a Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mark II. Color calibration can be tricky, but if you get that done your colors will come out much more consistently. Quality ink and paper can be rather expensive, but it's less than it would be to have everything printed at a local print shop. I agree that things can, and certainly do, go wrong, but in the end I like having the control more.