Tuesday, September 10, 2019






Vistaprint’s minimum order of 100 cards is one of the lowest we found, something that people who don’t give out cards very often will appreciate. The site’s interface and ordering process have changed since the time of writing; we ordered the minimum of 100 cards with 16 pt stock and a matte finish (the closest equivalent is Matte Premium cards), and used standard shipping.Vistaprint’s design tool is basic, and you can upload photos from Facebook or Instagram, a convenient feature.Vistaprint offers 8,830 premade templates (at the time of our testing, at least) categorized by industry, the most of any service besides FedEx (which has 9,146). Designs range from sparkly and geometric to understated. Although the pool is overwhelming, the site gives you many different ways to find something you like: Templates are divided by industry, style, or theme, or by available additional features. You can choose a template already designed for add-ons like spot gloss or metallic finishes, and you can upload photos from Facebook or Instagram to your card design.Our challenging print test included a rainbow border to test for trimming consistency and alignment. Ryan said that Vistaprint did an acceptable trimming job, and that most people printing basic cards won’t run into border trimming issues like ours anyway.    Photo: Michael HessionVistaprint provides the best visual tools to review your design. After creating your cards, the website shows you your proof by rendering your cards in someone’s hand, as shown in the photo below. I appreciated this image because imagining how the bleed and trim lines affect your design can be difficult for people without design experience. Only one other service I tested, FedEx, has this tool, and I think it is the best way to view a proof. If you select a template with an add-on like spot gloss or metallic finishes, Vistaprint lets you preview these effects with a video.Vistaprint metallic preview full screenVistaprint will also show a video preview for metallic finishes.Vistaprint proofVistaprint’s proof lets you see cards in someone’s hand, a helpful visualizer.Vistaprint Spot Gloss ExampleVistaprint shows a video to preview what adding spot gloss to cards will look like.Vistaprint metallic preview full screenVistaprint will also show a video preview for metallic finishes.Vistaprint proofVistaprint’s proof lets you see cards in someone’s hand, a helpful visualizer.Vistaprint’s customer service was also among the best; representatives were responsive, helpful, and friendly. My original order was delivered but stolen from my porch over the winter holidays. When I called Vistaprint in a panic, the company quickly reprinted and shipped my order for free, and the new batch of cards arrived four days later. Should you find printing errors with your cards, Vistaprint claims a “100 percent customer satisfaction guarantee.” The company will evaluate how to handle each situation “on a case by case basis,” but will reprint cards for free if errors are the company’s fault, a customer service representative told me.Vistaprint provides a better overall experience in creating a business card than any other service we tested.Vistaprints cards cost $32, or 32¢ per card at the time of writing (not including shipping, but including an $8 charge for printing color on both sides). A Vistaprint representative confirmed that the site often has significant discounts that include cards and shipping costs, so we recommend checking for promo codes before ordering. Prices are consistently lower if you order more cards: When I priced an order of 500 cards (Jukebox’s minimum order) at Vistaprint, the cost per card went down to 10¢, slightly more than Jukebox and roughly the average cost of the other services we tested.A screenshot showing the pricing interface on Vistaprint's websiteVistaprint shows you comparative costs when you start ordering. It often runs significant discounts on cards and shipping; we recommend checking the site for promo codes before ordering.
Vistaprint’s standard shipping is among the least expensive of any service we tested, and I received my initial batch of cards on time, eight days after ordering. For even faster service, Vistaprint offers three-day Express shipping; the cost varies based on the order, but my estimated Express costs were around $20. If you truly need cards immediately, we recommend going with a service that offers same-day in-store pickup.Flaws but not dealbreakersDuring our testing, Vistaprint charged us $6 to print colors on the back of our cards, an extra cost that didn’t present itself until I was already designing (this surcharge may vary based on card quantity, and with the site’s standard pricing rises to $8). The cost isn’t unreasonable, but it would be nice if it were obvious up front.Like many services we tested, Vistaprint prints products beyond business cards. After designing your card, you can proceed directly to checkout by clicking a checkout button, but if you click a “next” button instead, you will be prompted with several pages of additional products, including caps, pens, car magnets, and lawn signs. If you are starting a business and want coordinated swag, that might be convenient, but if you aren’t, it’s annoying to wade through.Upgrade pick: Jukebox PrintPhoto: Michael HessionUpgrade pickJukebox PrintFor complex designsFewer premade templates, slower turnaround, and a more difficult design process, but Jukebox’s print quality is excellent and the company offers more options for customization.Buy from Jukebox PrintIf you’re printing intricate custom designs, we recommend Jukebox Print. Jukebox aced our print test with vibrant colors, sharp fine lines, readable small typeface, and precise trimming. The company also has the most options for paper stock and extra features to customize cards. But Jukebox’s design process can be confusing, and we recommend leaving yourself ample time to account for designing cards and shipping from this Canada-based service. Jukebox also has one of the highest shipping costs of any service we tested, likely due in part to international shipping.I ordered Jukebox’s Wait and Save standard cards, with 16 pt stock and a matte finish, using our custom design. Ryan quickly identified Jukebox’s cards as the best from our test pool. He speculated that Jukebox used the finest screen, so photos and color swatches didn’t appear coarse or patterned with dots like they did on some of the other cards we received. The Jukebox cards’ fine lines were crisp and flowed continuously, and these were the only cards we ordered whose 2 pt typeface was legible as both white text on a black background and black text on a white background.Pull QuoteJukebox aced our print test with vibrant colors, sharp fine lines, readable small typeface, and precise trimming, but the design process can be confusing.The Jukebox cards were also cut consistently (along the same lines) and cleanly (without jagged edges). Jukebox did end up scaling our design to fit into the card, thereby altering it slightly, but when we compared them side by side with other cards to look for uneven edges, look for white spaces above our colorful border, and see if the fronts and backs of cards matched up, it was clear that Jukebox did the overall best trimming job.Jukebox offers the most custom options of any service we tested. You can choose from standard cards made from regular paper, recycled paper, or specialty material (including wooden, sparkle, cork, 3D embossed, and more). And Jukebox’s Same Day cards have a few different paper stock options. For more complex features like foiling, however, Jukebox recommends using one of the company’s own designers. At the time of publication, Jukebox had a starting quote of about $37 (USD) to help add spot UV and about $207 for a complete design.Parts of the design process are frustrating, however, especially compared with Vistaprint’s. Jukebox’s process has more steps, and they don’t flow as intuitively from step to step as they do for our main pick. Jukebox provides templates and guidelines for uploading your own artwork, but these confused me as a non-designer because they don’t clearly state design measurements. For example, I thought I followed the instructions to add .125 inch to each edge of the card,
but Jukebox really means to each of the four sides—so my design didn’t cover enough of the “bleed space” to ensure my card would be printed and cut accurately. (Jukebox caught this after I placed my order, and resized the design for me.)You also have to pay for your cards before uploading your design and viewing a proof with Jukebox. This was confusing to me, and I had to ask about it via live chat—it felt odd to add the cards to my online cart and check out when I hadn’t actually made or seen the card. However, Jukebox emails you a proof before your order goes to production, and you have three chances to tweak your design; after that the company charges about $10 for each extra proof. To make sure you get your design right, I recommend using Jukebox’s customer support representatives via phone, live chat, or email.Jukebox’s instructions can be confusing to navigate if you aren’t a designer; in a rookie mistake, I thought I followed these instructions but didn’t add the required .125 inch to each side of the card.I spoke with Jukebox support over live chat, email, and phone. As with Vistaprint, the representatives were consistently helpful and responded quickly via live chat and email. Jukebox has a handy FAQ section, which the company strongly recommends using to help prevent errors. Customer support representatives also said that in the event of a misprinted order, Jukebox would reprint and send cards as quickly as possible.Jukebox offers a relatively low number of templates (122) with themes ranging from woodworking to wildlife photography. This smaller pool is easier to search through than Vistaprint’s nearly 9,000 templates, or even Moo’s 332 designs, but it’s more limiting. (Jukebox’s basic editor tool lets you customize the background colors and fonts on templates, and add images, shapes, stripes, Clipart, or a QR code.) That said, we wouldn’t choose Jukebox to use the service’s templates—we recommend it as the best option for printing your own more-detailed designs.If you use one of Jukebox’s templates, you will need to download the file after you’ve added your own information and save it as a PDF, and re-upload the PDF after ordering; if you’re using your own design or artwork, you’ll be able to upload those files using the same email link. You’ll get a confirmation email with a link and instructions on how to upload.Jukebox’s card creator tool offers basic customization options.Jukebox’s cards cost 7¢ per card for the required minimum order of 500 cards, which is about average compared with prices for an order of that size from other services. Jukebox provides estimated shipping costs; at the time of publication, the standard shipping cost for our order was about $10 USD, twice as much as shipping for our top pick. (Both card and shipping costs are based on CAD, and the exchange rate can fluctuate.) The company estimates the turnaround time as nine to 11 days, but our cards actually arrived about three weeks after we ordered, though this was during holiday season.Jukebox does have a same-day printing option, which requires your proof to be approved by 9:30 a.m. PST, and shipping still takes one to three days. Same-day printing has fewer paper stock and finish options, but you can get a batch as small as 100 cards because the cards are printed digitally. (Although digital printing quality is similar to offset printing, offset printing costs decrease with volume if you need more cards.) My estimated shipping cost for the cheapest Same Day option of 100 16 pt semigloss cards—shipping costs vary depending on quantity and paper weight—was about $30 at the time of publication. You can also pick up cards for free at one of Jukebox’s offices in Toronto, Vancouver, or New York City.When you need cards printed ASAP: StaplesPhoto: Michael HessionAlso greatStaples Business CardsIf you need something todayIf you have to have cards right away, Staples makes above-average cards for same-day pickup at a reasonable price. The company has over 1,300 locations and offers the most consistent ordering process from store to store.

Buy from StaplesFor last-minute business card printing, we found Staples provided the fastest turnaround, lowest prices, and best and most consistent customer service. The print quality and cutting consistency on Staples’s cards were adequate, but not great compared with our top pick’s, but Staples’s same-day service is truly same-day: An easy-to-use tool lets you design your cards online and pick them up later that day at one of the chain’s more than 1,300 copy and print locations throughout the United States.If you place your order before 2 p.m., you can pick up cards by  at your local Staples retail store. FedEx, in contrast, requires you to order next-day cards in person at a FedEx store. The information I received from Staples, from calling several local stores and the number on the company’s site, was also consistent, whereas I was told wildly different things about my printing options with FedEx over the phone and in one of the company’s Portland, Oregon, stores.Pull QuoteThe print quality and cutting consistency on Staples’s cards were adequate, but Staples’s same-day service is truly same day.Staples’s shorter turnaround time costs less than FedEx’s, too. Staples charges $30 for 250 same-day cards (11¢ per card), while FedEx has a 24-hour turnaround time and charges $55 for a pack of 100 cards. (I also researched UPS’s same-day printing, but was told that capabilities vary by store.) Staples also impressed when, oddly, all of the cutting machines at local Staples stores were out of commission for a week: A local Staples store managed to do a good job hand-cutting the cards, and provided a free machine reprint later.As you might expect, there are limits to what you can get at the last minute. Staples offers 12 pt and 13 pt card stock for same-day printing, which is pretty flimsy and not what we would recommend if you have more time to spare. The print quality of the cards we received also wasn’t anywhere near as good as cards from Jukebox and Vistaprint, but for a rush job, the colors looked fine, and photo clarity was comparable to Vistaprint’s.What about Moo?Moo’s services have solid reviews online, and our experts and peer-review panel were all familiar with the company. It has some of the best customer service I’ve ever experienced, the overall best Web interface and design tool, and features that other services lack, such as the option to upload photos straight from Instagram or Etsy. But the resulting printed cards were disappointing relative to their high cost.Moo’s cards (top) showed color swatches and gradients with a dotted pattern, and small typeface is difficult to read against a black background. Jukebox’s cards (bottom) have legible small type, and less grainy color swatches.    Photo: Michael Hession
Specifically, the printing quality of Moo’s cards was the worst of all the services we tested. We ordered the minimum of 50 cards, choosing 16 pt standard


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apply for visa credit card instant approval Vistaprint’s minimum order of 100 cards is one of the lowest we found, something ...