

Show HN: Stripe for Printing - bavidar
https://www.infraprint.com/

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cperciva
I think it's truly awesome that "stripe for X" now means "X with a sane REST
API".

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jonny_eh
I like how Stripe made it cool to put example curl requests right on the front
page. I guess I'm biased in that I love marketing aimed squarely at
developers.

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josscrowcroft
It's been a while since I saw something and instantly had a dozen ideas for
things I could build with it. Nice!

Has all the makings of a great infrastructure business. Once a startup or SME
(or big enterprise) gets something like this integrated, they're often loathe
to rip it out, so the cheques keep on coming.

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gfodor
I have two apps that use the Amazingmail API to print and mail postcards on
demand. ([http://babygra.ms](http://babygra.ms)
[http://lulcards.com](http://lulcards.com)). Their prices are extremely
competitive compared to Infraprint's and their customer support is excellent.

[http://www.amazingmail.com/direct-mail-
automation](http://www.amazingmail.com/direct-mail-automation)

edit: I'm also pretty sure this is the same service that Sincerely uses for
their Ship API. If that's true they are basically a middle-man for the
excellent work Amazingmail does.

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bcks
When I looked into Amazingmail, it cost $2K for an API key. Is this still the
case?

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gfodor
Yeah, it's not really for an "API key" though, that oversimplifies things. You
are paying for support in setting up your account. For something like printing
it takes a few iterations to make sure things are set up properly and you are
producing the proper assets for them to print (colors, margins, etc.) This
isn't a turnkey thing like Stripe or other APIs, there are a number of
practical issues that you need to address when designing something for
automated printing. When I set up my account with them they caught a number of
issues with my template before I started printing, and then verified physical
prints looked acceptable before mailing me some test prints. This support is
what you are paying for.

A self-service REST interface like this, for non-trivial jobs, is going to
either require the same level of setup/support, which is a cost they are
swallowing somehow but won't be sustainable in the long run, or will require
you to do a large number of test-runs to get things right before going live,
with each test-run taking about a week before you have the physical result in
your hands. And even then, there may be issues that you are unaware of, such
as cropping, clipping, or color bleeding, that may occur only a small
percentage of the time based upon their specific process if you did not design
things properly. There's no free lunch.

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ratherbefuddled
IMO this is a little premature, I know it has an alpha label but functionally
this has catch up to do with a number of existing offerings in what is a
fairly competitive space. That said, a sane API on top of a service that works
globally would appeal.

Here are some suggestions: 1) add the ISO 216 paper sizes that most of the
world uses, 2) integrate to various contact / address book formats, 3) add a
templating/mailmerge feature, 4) figure out a capability to print and send in
more countries than just the US and 5) imagine what questions a compliance
officer will ask about security, privacy, data sharing etc and answer them.

Look forward to seeing it evolve.

Edit: formatting lists. Grr.

~~~
MetaCosm
Could you list some of the competitors? The space doesn't seem competitive, it
seems like crap.

~~~
gfodor
Amazingmail has been awesome. Their actual API isn't really the most elegant
thing in the world (XML), but on the list of things that matter when you are
dealing with printing and mailing physical products this comes in low on the
list of what's important. Their API is reliable and feature complete and my
customers have been thrilled with their prints, which is all I care about. Not
to mention, their customer support is superb.

I think it's great to see more competition here but people pointing to a REST
API and nice website and ignoring the fact that there are no actual examples
of their work or any reason to believe they can deliver on their service,
nevermind that their pricing is insane, show these people have not done their
homework or are focused on the wrong things.

~~~
MetaCosm
Thanks! I am currently shopping a low-volume on-demand print service... as
soon as I went to AmazingMails site and saw "no minimum" I became delighted,
will be testing them out this week!

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coherentpony
I don't really do postal mail any more. After you've printed it, could you
scan it in and email it to me instead? :)

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diggan
After reading the comments here, I understand that this seems to be US only
but would it really be that hard to just point it out on the website? Nowhere
I can find something about a country restriction...

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rpicard
I've got a card in my project ideas Trello board titled, "Print on demand
postcards API." It's cool to see that someone else had the same idea.

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lquist
Was on my ideas list as well! I think it's something that's just begging to be
done. Good luck!

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jussy
I'm a photographer, i want to be able to offer 150 limited prints to viewers
of my website printed onto very specific paper sizes and qualities. Is this
something infraprint can do? How does it integrate into payment systems such
as stripe? Ideally i want to offer the user 1 button to print that takes them
through the entire ordering and fulfillment process.

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bavidar
Yes we can do this. However, currently they would have to pay you and you
would have to pay us.

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jussy
Hmm ok thanks, maybe something i can customize in the checkout script to make
it seamless.

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frading
That seems a lot like Peecho
([http://www.peecho.com/](http://www.peecho.com/))

A few questions: \- Which area are you able to ship to? \- Do you or plan to
print posters (80x60cm and larger)? \- any notable difference compared to
Peecho?

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kevinr
This is something I've wanted for a long time -- Peecho with sane US pricing
and distribution would be great. The front page says "Create on demand books
and flyers," though, and I don't see any binding options listed elsewhere on
the site. Is this in the works?

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bavidar
We offer it to a few customers who use it. Still trying to figure out the best
way to offer it publicly. Happy to work with you if this is something you are
looking to do. We definitely need more feedback on this one.

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ismaelc
You can also check out Infraprint's interactive doc (Mashape) here -
[https://www.mashape.com/infraprint/infraprint#!documentation](https://www.mashape.com/infraprint/infraprint#!documentation)

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josephwegner
Any details on the stock/colors that you use? Is the stuff coming out at
commercial print quality? Digital print? Or are you just a couple guys with a
nice inkjet and some fancy API footwork?

Can I choose stock, or finishing stuff? Matte vs. Gloss?

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bavidar
These are printed on high quality printers. Yes you can choose between stock
and finishing.

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frankdenbow
Looks good. I used Sincerely's Ship API for a postcard app a while back. Would
be good to see some examples of your past print jobs for a quality comparison
(or better yet to request some samples). Will check this out.

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jahabrewer
I'm curious. At what volume of customers/work does this kind of business
change from being a guy who reads the requests, opens files, and prints them
to being a more automated solution?

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pwenzel
Where can I see examples of the resulting printed product?

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conductr
This is a great iteration after receiving plenty of useful feedback on the
last post (mine included) ... especially on the home page. Keep up the good
work

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bavidar
Thanks and good to hear. Keep the feedback coming! Its all about iterating
based on what users say.

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meomix
How do you compare to a service like trypaper.com? They seem to have been
around a little longer and have more reasonable pricing?

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rathboma
Do you guys plan to offer greeting-card printing? Realize it may be slightly
harder than postcards.

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bavidar
Would love to talk and understand how you imagine this would work. DM me.

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ragsagar
The object pricing calculator is not working for Paper Size 6" x 9"

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lyime
I'd love to use it for Picplum. Do you guys have Lustre prints?

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infinitone
Where to do you ship? Just the states? Canada?

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bavidar
Everywhere. contact me directly if you want international we are piloting this
with a few select customers right now.

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codebeaker
No clouds over Europe... shame.

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bavidar
Soon. We can work with you to get this started!

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diggan
Hey, drop me an line (victorbjelkholm@gmail.com) because I'm interested in
this in Europe as well.

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tehwebguy
This needs poster printing

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bavidar
We just started doing poster printing for some customers. Let me know what you
are looking to print and we can have it integrated into the API

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tehwebguy
Awesome! Ideally 11"x17" and 18"x24" in 20 & 100# - I'd love to see pricing
for those!

