

Ask YC: Who do you use to print your business cards? - dangoldin

I'm at the stage where I need to start getting business cards printed and am wondering whether it's better to go with a small online shop (which one) or a bigger company like Staples.<p>Anyone have any opinions?<p>Thanks!
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fuelfive
<http://www.overnightprints.com>

Used them for years. Fantastic quality, inexpensive.

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jmorin007
If you do a quick search, you can usually find some pretty decent coupon codes
on the net.

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boucher
This is true of a lot of sites now that offer online discount codes. A quick
google search will often save you 10-20% on purchases. I think I got 25% off
our business card purchases and free shipping at overnightprints.

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trifecta
<http://www.trifectaagencies.com>

At Trifecta Agencies we have a great product for a wonderful price. I started
the company 7 years ago and it has been running strong ever since.

Email me.

-Chris

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bigtoga
I love to help out fellow entrepreneurs but, if I can't order it on the web
w/o talking to a human, I'm just less likely to buy (especially when I can do
that at so many other places). Perhaps I can buy from you on the web but your
Products page does not seem to show me that I can
(<http://www.trifectaagencies.com/products.php>). I'm not criticizing your
site in any way; I'm just telling you why I am not buying from you. As an
entrepreneur myself, I always appreciate that sort of feedback and try to give
it in return.

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jmorin007
Great blog post on business cards:

[http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/08/business-
car...](http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/08/business-card-m.html)

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rantfoil
I highly recommend Moo cards -- they do small runs for relatively cheap, and
let you customize the backs with photos or any design you want!

<http://www.moo.com/>

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jonah
I second Moo.

However, I always have my professional designer create the cards and
<http://sbprintthis.com/> handles the printing.

Unless you're a crack graphic designer yourself, there's not substitute for
having them professionally done. Think back to cards you've received. Which
ones stand out? I'll suspect that it's either the ones with a schtick - Matt
Mullenweg's plain white "Type Matt into Google and click I'm Feeling Lucky"
cards - or the beautifully designed ones printed on heavyweight stock.

It makes a difference.

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silencio
I was going to print my own but the cost would have been the same as
Vistaprint if not more expensive (cost of perforated business card paper + ink
is not insignificant) and not as professional-looking, so I was going to go
with Vistaprint for the cheap prices. But I spent a good few hours browsing
flickr "businesscard" tag looking for card designs I liked and where the
people got them printed (if it was mentioned). I found that Print100.com was
named a few times by some of the people with really beautiful cards..not only
the design but the whole thing. I went with them...they're based in China and
the last time I used their site it was pretty awful and slow, but they throw
in free shipping.

I got <http://www.flickr.com/photos/chix0r/1409350187/> at around $30 for 300
- not the cheapest around, but I love the results (double sided 4 color plus
spot uv varnish) and it arrived via fedex in something like one week since I
ordered them. I got a bunch of the cards braille embossed by someone else (I
deal with a lot of visually disabled folks) and the paper was decently thick
for that. Maybe I'm more partial to them because I was really disappointed
with the quality of the cards I got printed the first couple of times around
(local shops in LA)...hmm, dunno.

I will note that moocards are adorable and awesome for casual uses..like my
personal email and number, as opposed to my business contact info. Got a whole
bunch for free before and the size is tiny but everyone loves them :]

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juzmcmuz
Moo minicards are a great conversation-starter, and give you the chance to
express a little individuality. But yes, the smaller size is slightly
annoying...

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dkokelley
Vistaprint.com for me. I got some free basic ones with my contact info, plus
some fancy glossy ones to hand out to potential users. Very inexpensive,
amazing quality.

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pius
We went with Dallas Cardworks and used a design similar to this:

[http://www.dallascardworks.com/assets/images/products/busine...](http://www.dallascardworks.com/assets/images/products/business%20%20cards/ultra-
trans/other/1cf_chelsea.jpg)

Another shop whose work I like is Eddens Letterpress (<http://eddens.com/>).
They do very high quality work.

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JFred
I don't live near Staples but there happened to be several printshops all near
each other in the local business district. I found one that gave me a hefty
discount if I would just email them a PDF of the card (according to their
specifications).

I made a PNG of what I wanted in Paint.NET and converted it to a PDF using
ImageMagick, both free programs, and emailed it to them.

It required two visits, one to decide on the shop and get the email address,
and the second to pick up the cards.

Color is more expensive than black and white.

There's a really cheap shop on the internet called Vistaprint that will do it,
too. If you web search for 'vistaprint fraud' you find a lot of complaints
that they charge your credit card once a month forever. I have no way of
verifying if these accusations are true or false.

So I avoided giving my credit card out over the web and trekked to the local
shop; They were very nice and friendly, much more human than a web site.

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gruseom
Am I the only person here who couldn't care less about business cards? Who
groans at the very thought of them? I didn't think I was a dirty fucking
hippie but y'all are making me wonder.

Do I still get to be startup guy?

~~~
bigtoga
Are you also happy that you're in a lower tax bracket because that means
you'll pay less taxes? lol - I actually had someone say that to me last night.
He probably doesn't like the idea of business cards either. Sorry - it's tax
time here in the US and I have taxes on the brain...

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goofygrin
I used gotprint.net. They came out really nicely and were cheaper than
overnightprints but more expensive than vistaprints (but better quality than
vistaprints).

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nilobject
I used illbuzz.com. They are great, fast, and have high quality paper. I opted
for the rounded corners, making it 1000 cards for $45. Excellent service.

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pk
I second illbuzz.com. Quality prints, and the cheapest game in town for
rounded corners. :-)

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bootload
Moo. I like them because you can still get the right information across and
make use of real images I've taken ~
<http://flickr.com/photos/bootload/tags/moo/page2/> The only comment I've had
back is the 1/2 size is non-standard and easier to loose. Then again my
competitive advantage is not in my business cards.

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dhimes
I'm still printing my own.

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lucaf
I've used iPrint several times. Once they completely screwed up the order (I
received somebody else's cards) and once the quality was so-so, but in both
cases they were very good at making it right. Overall I'd use them again.

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mattmaroon
Vistaprint is the total nuts. They used to give you some free cheapo ones too.

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simianstyle
My roommate works at VistaPrint, I wouldn't recommend them to ANYBODY. They
employ shady tactics such as trimming a few millimeters off of each side of
the card so they could fit an extra two or three in their printing presses
(this also makes your card smaller than the general business card size).

Their quality is actually really shoddy as well, and the free cards all say
"print at VistaPrint" on the back of them. Not to mention the fact that they
go to all lengths with retention emails after you place a single order
(without having the option to opt-out) to keep people ordering more. They also
charge a ton of hidden fees.

In short: If you want your business card to be a serious reflection of your
business, DON'T use VistaPrint.

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mattmaroon
I've used them 3 times in 3 different years, all business cards came out
great, especially the foil ones. Much higher quality than ones I've had done
at Kinkos and Staples. If they're not standard size, I definitely can't tell
when comparing them to others.

Free cards do say that on the back, but they're free. What would you expect?
They aren't meant for serious business use, for that you should pay like you
would anywhere else (but less).

I haven't had any trouble with spam from them ever. And even if I did, it
would be 2 clicks to just block their emails in the future.

Perhaps your roommate doesn't like his job and is not the best person to ask?

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dcurtis
48hourprint.com has some pretty great stuff, and great customer service, too.

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hendler
Using preflight, online, good customer service, and a Boston company:

<http://www.48hourprint.com/>

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marcusd
<http://www.alocalprinter.com> are great for those of you in the UK

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dangrover
If you know where to look, you can easily find some absurd discounts on
VistaPrint. I highly recommend them.

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pchristensen
Where do you look?

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dangrover
RetailMeNot.com works well, but they also send you coupons in email and
physically when you order stuff. I've gotten as much as 90% off before. It's
one of those sites, like GoDaddy, that you never want to order from without
checking for an applicable coupon somewhere.

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jamiequint
<http://4by6.com> for really quality stuff

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staunch
<http://alphagraphics.com/>

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thomasswift
I used alphagraphics too, but had to give them a quark file (eww) and they
screwed up one of my fonts the first time. It was about 4 years ago. They
turned out great, once the font was fixed. They have a nice paper selection,
which people tend to commend me on.

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mixmax
Not to ponder this particular post, but seriously: who do you use to print
business cards? This is a $50 investment and a google search will tell you who
can do it.

I think that a lot of these ask YC have gone a bit too far and don't add much
value.

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mkull
I dont think this is a bad post at all, and was glad to see it here. We have
been having this very discussion internally this week

Our last quote for a business card run was $1100. Far cry from '$50 and a
google search'.

Peoples responses here about who to with (and who NOT to go with) have been
very helpful.

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mixmax
Valid points - maybe it's just me then.

Out of curiosity, what did you get for $1100? I normally order a batch of 300
cards in full color for around $50.

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mkull
Double sided, high gloss. 500 cards x 5 people. Still that estimate is wayyyyy
to high. We are probably gonna spend half that quote, but that is why we are
shopping around.

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zemote
I print my own using Avery Micro-Perforated business cards.

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tptacek
<http://www.psprint.com>

Not thrilled, but easy enough to do. The bar for bcards is low by the way: you
want them not to look laser printed, but that's about it.

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dhimes
I think it might depend on what you are using them for and/or your business.
If you sell face-to-face, good cards might be important for your marketing
efforts. It seems it would matter less if it's contact info for people who are
trying to sell to _you_. If you are printing a few to get the attention of VC?
They will probably say, "This is how the company's going to spend my money if
I give it to them. Is it sensible?"

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tptacek
I do a lot of face to face selling, and get a lot of cards. Your card is going
to get lost in the noise; there are people out there with metal cards, die cut
cards, probably glow in the dark neon cards. I wouldn't lose a minute's sleep
over yours, as long as it's printed on heavy stock.

Here's mine; the back of the card has actually gotten us business. =)

<http://www.matasano.com/bcfront.png> <http://www.matasano.com/bcback.png>

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willphipps
moo.com! by far the coolest - everyone can be different and you can upload a
library of a hundred snaps in one zip file.

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menloparkbum
moo & 4by6.com

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logjam
You don't need "business" cards.

