are vista print really the best value?

Vistaprint are reasonable if you stick to their off the shelf designs and slowest postage.

I used them for my postcard save the dates last year and I got 100 glossy postcards with a photo uploaded for £6.99... took 3 weeks to arrive but at 7p per postcard it seemed worth it to me!

I found them cheap to begin with but the ridiculous posting charges and the VAT on top really bumped up the price so in the end we didnt get the good deal with thought we would. We are however very pleased with our invitations.

Do moo.com do what you're looking for? Used their business cards as save-the-dates and they worked really well.

I used zazzle.co.uk and was really pleased with the results. Luckily, I needed 25 of each to get the 50 discount.

I just ordered loads of free items from them. ordered on 14 feb, received 21 feb using the 21 days delivery (provided you don't need it urgently)

I saw some nice design on zazzle too. Just wondering, did you order a sample first or can you actually do that?

Do you know, Vistaprint used to charge me for uploading my own image and using the Advanced Font Editor thingy but it has stopped. I don't know whether this is 'cause I've ordered loads from them recently, but all I ever pay now is postage. Bizarre!

Sometimes it works out expensive, it definitely pays off to try your order again another day to see if it's reduced further cos I've found when doing that, you sometimes get your own uploaded designs etc free or 50% for example. If you have the time to wait, definitely do.

I have both my day and evening invitations from them, plus RSVPs.

Each invitation (One day/evening invite plus RSVP and envelopes) came out at 83p each.. Bargain!

I have to say, I'm a little perplexed why if you are designing all your own stationary would you go to a company like vistaprint?

I designed everything I myself from invites to place cards, and I just called up a couple of local print labs. I was able to go there and physically touch the papers / cards and see samples of how things will look printed.

and it worked out very reasonable. I paid £50.00 for everything, which was actually thier minimum order charge. But thats less than £1.00 an invite (3 page trillingual invite) including maps and directions. Place cards, table seating plan, even a few colouring in / quiz sheets for the children.

All for £50.00, they even threw in some scrap cardboard for nothing that I used as stiffeners inside the envelopes.

I hope you don't mind me saying, but I think that the tone of your post seems a bit rude- I don't know if it was intended to be. You seem to be implying that because I haven't thought to go through a local supplier I am a bit thick? I may have misread it though, it is hard to get across tone in text ?

For everything we are doing we have sourced local suppliers as they are cheaper.

The reason I went through vista is that I couldn't find any local print companies at first glance. There is one that I pass when I go to work, they have their own website and they were more expensive than vista print.

The reason I posted what I did was to get people's suggestions as i was unsure of what to do and to see if anyone had got cheaper (if it is worth looking around) or if vista are standard. I was worried that local printers are geared up to supply stuff for businesses in large scale, not to print 120 invites and would laugh at me for asking for such a small order.

I will have another look and see if we can find somewhere lcoal and cheap.

No offence intended KV.

Maybe the post does come across as a little rude (sorry!) but I have noticed a trend on this forum recently that seems to discuss vistaprint as the be all and end of printing.

If you are looking for local printers, and you want small scale orders, what you need is a printer who supplies digitial printing. Don't worry I had to fins this out the hard way myself, but most printers who do large runs run a a different system that works out much cheaper on large orders, but works out more expensive on smaller orders.

But digital printers are the other way around. They are cheaper on the small scale.

When you are calling, just make it your first question to ask, 'do you do digital printing?' A lot will say 'no' but when you find one you can then go through a quote with them.

Its also much, much cheaper if you supply all the text and everything complete, because if they have to touch it in anyway they will charge you.

I hope that is more helpful.

S.

Mine were a lot cheaper - but like MrsC I have used a standard design with longest shipping terms.

Thanks StbMSSmith, I will certainly ask that, thanks for the tip off.

I have already contacted a printer to see if it's do-able. We were going to supply all of the artwork- cover and inside including font.

And yes, some people do seem to think that Vista are the only print company, I think this is cos they seem to be one of the cheaper internet companies and most people shop online for things like invites.

I'll let you know if I am successful!?

Vistaprint are more than printers. They offer a design package with hundreds of different designs to choose from. So if someone doesn't have the time, knowledge or can't be bothered to design it themselves Vistaprint does offer a quick option. You obviously wanted to spend time designing your invite but a lot of people wouldn't even know where to start. You'd need the layout, sizing etc to be correct, need software on your computer etc to do it or have the hassle of trying to use word.

Anyway just trying to say that VP isn't the only company out there but it's an easy option.

I order from VP but only when editing is free so I get most things practically free exc P&P. Also it can pay off if you don't order everything at once. I got stuff from them and ordered 500 and then after paying I got a bonus offer which was amazing and saved me a fortune because I got another 500 for buttons. Obviously you don't know what bonus offers you'll get but the gamble can be worth it.

VP are very clever though because they give you free products and then you see more things you want and before you know it you have spent a fortune on things you maybe don't need ?.

I'm on a bit of a tight deadline so didn't order a sample - I didn't even look if they did samples! It was a complete leap of faith. The only thing I would say is that you can't make any changes once you complete the order as it goes straight to print ... or something like that, so make sure you get it all absolutely correct (can you tell I didn't?). Luckily it was nothing anyone will notice.

I do see a hear a lot about VistaPrint and while my work is mainly bespoke I'm always happy to print someone's own design for them at a reasonable price. I would just say that I always send a full proof printed on the card we are going to use so that the quality and weight can be felt by the customer. Several years ago I had some VP business cards that were printed on really thin card so although they only cost me the postage they didn't really give the right impression!