free business cards

[Rickthepick]

vistaprint are now doing 500 free cards.

costs £5ish to post, thats less than 1p each posted...

unbelievable

[akmw44]

Hi Rick,
Cheers for the "up",just orderd mine.

[Evan]

Hey guys:

Nothing in life is "free"...

Just what mailing and marketing lists you just signed yourself up for by taking advantage of the "free" business card opportunity will have to wait to be determined...

~~ Evan

[Squelchtone]

Hey guys:

Nothing in life is "free"...

Just what mailing and marketing lists you just signed yourself up for by taking advantage of the "free" business card opportunity will have to wait to be determined...

~~ Evan

man.. is your glass always this half empty? of course its a hook to get offers to you for more cards, shinier cards, double sided cards, and flyers, magnetic signs and such, but so what, sometimes people dont know about products they actually could use until someone tries to sell them a product by giving them a promotional price on something. Cards have come down in price too.. I just got 1000 embossed 3 color 100 pound paper cards for $132.00 US This included artwork, layout, and the extra thick paper stock.

I like the idea of on demand on line print shops and promotional gift places like zazzle.com who will print your organizations, clubs, whatevers, logo on a mug, tshirt, decal, etc. Might not be top notch quality but I'm sure its not that terrible either.

Have a nice long weekend everyone!
Squelchtone

[Rickthepick]

yeah i had a website off them too, cant have too many webpages
You dont have to buy the other stuff its just shown to you (many times) before you checkout

[Schuyler]

Evan - you've seriously never heard of vistaprint? They use the free cards as their main word-of-mouth promotion. They definitely aren't high-end but they are legit and used by everyone and their grandmother.

[taylorgdl]

I have nothing against vista print, but what does it say about your company when you hand out the cheapest business cards you can find (with their logo along the bottom).?????

Everyone knows they are cheap cards, so are you saying you cutting costs/corners but giving these out? or is it just to get the volume out to the masses?

Just a thought.

[Evan]

I have heard of the low cost printers, including Vistaprint...

Why do you think that they are able to sell you a product like 500 business cards for $10 ?

They are selling your information to many cold calling sales lists and business to business marketing lists... They make more of their money on selling your information and badgering you with sales calls for other products than they do with the business cards...

Also, if you are only ordering 500 business cards at a time what does that say about your business volume ? Shouldn't you be giving a business card to every customer you do a service call for ? Business cards stick around a lot longer than your invoice or bill... I used to give out 500 cards a month just to tenants when I was doing facilities management...

~~ Evan

[Schuyler]

Evan - in this of all matters, please defer to my experience. I deferred to yours in a matter where your experience outweighed my own. Vistaprint, specifically, are not selling your information. Scoff at whatever else you dislike about the situation, but please take my word for that.

[datagram]

The low cost VistaPrint deal is obviously not for a serious business that needs thousands of cards. It is great for small businesses and other small-time needs because it is so cheap. I'm sure their normal services are also very good, and the 5$ cards thing is obviously just a hook to get you to try their service and tell your friends. On top of that, this isn't some one time thing; they've been doing this for YEARS. About getting added to marketing lists...who cares? You're on the internet, you're being analysed and marketted to as we speak. Just look to the left of this post for some ads. On top of that, there's no indication that they sell your information unless you agree to it. I'm with Schuyler on this one.

dg

[unlisted]

Vistaprint is overall darn good. More so if you pay the "small fee" to upgrade to heavier stock paper, or glossy, "their business name delete option" etc.. And after all those additional fees, its still darn cheaper than all the other places I have found both online and offline. (and Toronto is a big place)

Now, about them selling your info- they don't- or I have never gotten any third party spam from anything that could be closely related.. actually I just really don't get spam at all TBH.

I do however, get about 3 emails a week from vistaprint offering me better deals, etc..


I recommend them. Been using them for about 6 years now..

[DJJim]

I tried them after a friend of mine told me about them. He orders cards and fliers from them about 12 times a year. Hasn't had a problem yet. I received my cards in three days. Good quailty also. Don't buy the cheep ones. Pay a little more for the glossy finish.

[criminalhate]

A warning about Vista print they had me signed up for a $15 a month "plan" to save money on their business cards. I never signed up for that plan, never wanted that plan, never clicked anything about a monthly fee. I just wanted the free business cards for the cost of shipping.

When I called and complain they refunded the money for the plan. But keep an eye on the account you use to pay the shipping with.

Also this happened about 4 years ago so all may be fine with them but I can't bring myself to trust them after that.

[Schuyler]

A warning about Vista print they had me signed up for a $15 a month "plan" to save money on their business cards. I never signed up for that plan, never wanted that plan, never clicked anything about a monthly fee. I just wanted the free business cards for the cost of shipping.

When I called and complain they refunded the money for the plan. But keep an eye on the account you use to pay the shipping with.

Also this happened about 4 years ago so all may be fine with them but I can't bring myself to trust them after that.

Wow - thanks for the heads up. I'm hoping it's an isolated incident. While I no longer use their services (I'm a graphic designer by trade, so I rely on higher-end print shops now), I hadn't heard of anything like that before. Can't blame you one bit for not trusting them. Once bitten, twice shy.

[Engineer]

If you are in the UK, I can recommend the company I've used for over 30 years now:

http://www.able-labels.co.uk/

They do a mind-numbing range of things now, not just address lables anymore.

Their clear "address" lables are very useful for putting on equiment as "reminders" who fitted them for example. There should be one on the front of EVERY burglar alarm you fit for example.

They have also proved quick and reliable, even re-printing stuff if it did not look impressive enough. They were even very tolerant of my specifying particular fonts, or were willing to do a lot of the work picking the fonts and layout for a very specific job where it needed to look like something that already existed. They did all this for no extra money and without fuss, that is why I've consistantly gone back to them over the years.