I hope this is okay to post, but I know that I am always trying to save a few bucks on the business side of things.

I have no financial connection to OfficeDepot, I just wanted to pass this along to all the frugal business people like me out there.

Here is the info regarding the cards...don't know if you need them for anything you are doing, but they are a great deal!

OfficeDepot.com has this 250-Pack Standard White Vellum Business Card, Value, Black Only for $13 - $12 code 29540100 [Exp 1/29] = $1 with free shipping. Yes, you get to customize the text on them to your specifications.

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=337-776-662

Cheer, Jon

PS: This is for United States users.

Thanks for the information, but I don't like black only business cards. I want full color. This is how I do it on what I think is very cost effective.

First, I do my own design in photo shop for the images. If I remember to set the resolution high enough (around 350dpi) I'll do the text in Photoshop as well. If I didn't remember that resolution detail, I resize the finished image down to 72dpi. If I am satisfied with the look, I will open my trusty old Appleworks drawing application and import the image. Then I apply text. This allows everything to be vectored. Once happy with one image I copy and paste it until I have a full page of business cards. Then I print that onto glossy photo paper.

Now it is time to go to a printing outlet (Ofc. Depot, Kinkos, or a local printing firm) and have them run 24 copies on a color photocopier. My final cost is somewhere around $20 - $25 for what will turn out to be a little less than 250 cards. The cost for four color printing of the same image would be several hundred dollars.

The down side is that I must individually cut each card with a paper cutter because no color photo copier I know of will feed paper with the prcise accuracy professional printing machines have. There is always a bit of slippage of the paper. A bit time consuming, but a small price to pay.

I print my own cards out as well with photopaper. If you go to have that sheet copied at OfficeMax, can they use the same thick paper? or will the photocopies be on thinner paper?

Have you looked at VistaPrint? (search google)

I got 250 cards for $30, full color, custom design, shipped

The problem with .99 cent business cards is that they look like you paid .99 cents for them.

Look at www.48hourprint.com. You can order free samples. The quality is very good for the price.

I've been getting mine from www.overnightprints.com

A rather old thread but still useful.

I decided to try out overnightprints.com that Chris mentioned. I ordered them Monday morning. By that night, the status showed them already printed and awaiting shipping via UPS Ground. They arrived today (Friday).

The quality is very good IMO. And they are thick, sturdy cards. I got the free UV coating which makes the card face super glossy.

My new biz card is pretty un-flashy with only the biz name, web address, and phone number.

I thought the price was good for 500. It was definitely cheaper than what local printers were going to charge. So I'd recommend overnightprints.com now as well.

Jeff

Get mine from Sky's The Limit Printing and Graphics locally. 5000 full color double sided UV coated cards for 89.95 plus tax.

Beautiful!

M

I decided to try out overnightprints.com that Chris mentioned. Glad that worked out for you, Jeff -- those guys get all my business these days. They are a class act all the way around with a diversified product line and their online ordering process is terrific. I'm always happy to recommend them.

4over is the only printer that offers inexpensive spot UV, which is a nice way to make your logo stand out. They also have 16pt (1pt thicker than overnightprints' stock.) UV and Matte at just $24 for 1000 with free shipping.

i like http://gotprint.net/g/welcome.do

I would never hand a client a cheap .99 cent business card. It just shows how much you DON'T care.

I would never hand a client a cheap .99 cent business card. It just shows how much you DON'T care.

And in this business, it's a sure bet that your client will translate that .99 card into the work that you do.


Get mine from Sky's The Limit Printing and Graphics locally. 5000 full color double sided UV coated cards for 89.95 plus tax.

Beautiful!

M


Hey Mike, wanna mail me a card? I'd like to see what $90 will get you...

I saw what appeared to be their website.... looks a bit cheesey, but if they do quality work....

And in this business, it's a sure bet that your client will translate that .99 card into the work that you do.





Hey Mike, wanna mail me a card? I'd like to see what $90 will get you...

I saw what appeared to be their website.... looks a bit cheesey, but if they do quality work....

Kit,

I'm out and getting new ones made now, as soon as I finish the design. If you want to PM your address to me I'll send you one. They are 12 point I believe, standard thickness, and the ones we got for our up-coming movie production were 16 point. The 16 point are very thick and really stand out, plus we did not need 5000 cards. The 16 point are 79.00 for 1000. I can send you one of those right now. In fact, I may get 16 point this time.

Basically, just look around for a real printing shop and don't go to Staples, or Office Depot or somewhere like that. Almost every printing shop sends the order to a specialty shop for the actual printing. Even the one I mentioned does that.

When I go back to the shop I'll get you a price list too! They have some great packages with business cards and post cards too. My memory says 345.00 for 1000 business cards and 1000 3 x 5 postcards. That's what I'm thinking of doing right now. I'm working on the postcard design, that's whats been holding me up.

Too long here. :)

Mike

I would never hand a client a cheap .99 cent business card. It just shows how much you DON'T care.

Since 5000 cards at .99 per card would cost you $4,950.00, I would never do it either! :) :)

M

Since 5000 cards at .99 per card would cost you $4,950.00, I would never do it either! :) :)

M

That's funny....


Basically, just look around for a real printing shop and don't go to Staples, or Office Depot or somewhere like that. Almost every printing shop sends the order to a specialty shop for the actual printing. Even the one I mentioned does that.

When I go back to the shop I'll get you a price list too! They have some great packages with business cards and post cards too. My memory says 345.00 for 1000 business cards and 1000 3 x 5 postcards. That's what I'm thinking of doing right now. I'm working on the postcard design, that's whats been holding me up.

Too long here. :)

Mike

Yeah, would never go to a "copy center" for business card needs. If you go there to get cards made, you really have not done your homework. Totally different process. I do the full color card thing all the time (I have 7 different cards, all full color) but I am always looking for a deal. I'm actually waiting here as we speak for 40,000 new cards, hopefully they'll arrive via air cargo today. My brother contracts full color printing as a business, so he gives me his cost on stuff, which is nice, but I was used to paying in the neighborhood of $150-$175 for 5000 cards prior to him doing this.

The thing I wonder about is the quality of the paper. There's a pretty big difference in quality when it comes to 12pt vs 16pt, so I was trying to see what you were getting for that $90. It's a good deal, no doubt, one of the cheaper deals I've seen available to the public.

I would love to keep a running tab of what everyone is doing for business cards here at DVinfo. I'm going to start a collection of business cards from the users of this forum (starting with my own of course!) and what method they used to create/print them so other people can reference them. I'll post this in another post, but I think I will have people start sending their cards my way as well as a scanned digital of them and I will post them up for all the forum members to see.

Would you guys be interested in something like that?