Greeting Card Quality? - DPChallenge Forums

11/11/2007 08:33:06 PM · #1

Hello,
I want to have some 5x7 folded greeting cards printed (print press, not inkjet at home). The cost is somewhat prohibitive to order a batch from various places for comparison (which is what I would like to do, though).

I was wondering if any of you have ordered greeting cards and was really happy with the quality. Mine are going to be sold in a retail environment, and a few for clients on occasion.

I've looked at pricing from Mpix and PSprints, but I am more concerned about quality than I am individual card price.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
JD

ButterflySis

Canon EOS-50D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

11/11/2007 08:58:20 PM · #2

I buy the recycled 7x10 greeting card stock from Red River and print my own. They say it works out to $1.00 per card (including envelope) and I sell them for $3.50.

edit: Just saw you don't want to print your own...so much for skimming. :)

Message edited by author 2007-11-11 20:58:49.

littlegett

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

11/11/2007 09:23:02 PM · #3

Ok, I will post my secret little place to do printing...

Hotcards

The quality is fantastic, and I have been extremely happy with all of my purchases from there.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

11/11/2007 09:53:32 PM · #4

For short-run offset printing you might try VistaPrint -- I haven't done any greeting cards with them, but I've done a couple of batches of color business cards and the customers were pleased with the results. The shop I work for could print them, but you'd need to be doing about 1000 at a time to get the price anywhere close to "reasonable" -- though I think the quality would be excellent.

littlegett

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

11/11/2007 10:10:14 PM · #5

I dislike vistaprint with a passion, advice against using them for anything other then throw away material.

salmiakki

Apple iPhone 16 Pro

Sony Sonnar T* 35mm F2.8 ZA

11/12/2007 12:06:17 AM · #6

I used MPIX last year for some greeting cards. I thought the quality was really good. Add to that the service from Mpix is incredible.

I just wish I could use them now I do not live in the US...

ETA. Mpix does short runs which is why they are so appealing. I had 20-24 (can't remember exactly) cards printed of 6 different images. Plus 100 of 1 other image.

Message edited by author 2007-11-12 00:08:46.

11/12/2007 12:12:48 AM · #7

Originally posted by salmiakki:

I used MPIX last year for some greeting cards. I thought the quality was really good. Add to that the service from Mpix is incredible.

I just wish I could use them now I do not live in the US...

I, too, have been very happy with all of the products I've ordered from Mpix. We recently had a death in the family and I spent until 2:00am scanning photos, fixing them in Photoshop, and putting together a book. I ordered 5 copies of their 10x10 hardcover books at 2:30am. I immediately sent them an email explaining the reason for building the book, and asked if there was anyway for them to get them printed and shipped overnight all on the same day. I did not expect a timely response, but I received an email at 4:30am, saying they would do thier best. They got the books printed and shipped on the same day, I received them via FedEx on Friday, in time for the Memorial Service on Saturday. Mpix really came through for me, even when I gave them what I considered to be an impossible task!

Thanks for your feedback, though, as I have never ordered cards from them.

JD

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

11/12/2007 12:14:47 AM · #8

Originally posted by littlegett:

Ok, I will post my secret little place to do printing...

Hotcards

The quality is fantastic, and I have been extremely happy with all of my purchases from there.

Wow, I have never seen Hotcards.com before...
A thousand cards is significantly more than I wanted, but at 20 cents each, I'm sure I could move them eventually (we own a coffee shop and will be selling cards retail). At that cost, I could offer them for a low price and still do OK on profit margins...

Thanks for the info, I'll be checking them out!
JD

dwterry

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

11/12/2007 06:58:33 AM · #9

Check out White House Custom Colour (WHCC) they are a professional shop.

One note: before you can ever order anything at all from them, you must sign up to be their customer. And the process of doing so, requires that you send them 5 8x10" images to be printed. They will print and overnight them back to you FREE of charge. The point is to make sure that your color profiling is matching theirs before they ever do a real run for you.

So the 5 free 8x10s and the guaranteed color match are really nice. I've not ordered any cards from them (yet), so I can't directly speak from experience on that front. But the quality I've seen for printed images from them has been top notch.