Got Print

My last order of mini Moo cards displayed in a slinky. 

Raise you hands if you love Moo business cards, but hate the prices! I'm right there with you.

I needed more business cards before Bead Fest this year and because that, along with another show I'm doing before Christmas are both high volume shows, I needs lots of cards. I adore the Printfinity technology Moo does (printing a different photo on each business card if that's what you want) and the gorgeous matte card stock. But sometimes the pricey Moo cards are also distracting. I can't even tell you how many times people have stopped to "shop the cards" to find the perfect photo, just to clog up my booth.

Karen Totten mentioned Got Print has a similar heavy matte paper that she's been really happy with and the prices are much less for a larger number of cards. So I gave them a try, had some bumps in the road, but it all worked out perfectly in the end.

With Got Print, not only do you have lots of paper selections (including the heavy matte paper I got), but you can also order several different shapes.

I stayed with the traditional business card size because I didn't want to spend a bunch of time figuring out how to design within a different shape.

I use Photoshop Elements to do the majority of my photo editing and designs, but it will not convert RGB to CMYK color. Vistaprint and Moo are fine if you don't convert, but Got Print insists that it's converted. I found this handy dandy free RGB to CMYK converter online, and it worked perfectly.

The biggest issue was caused by my full bleed photo on the back, and their method of cutting the cards. Because they do a high volume with a quick turn around, they do not wait as long for the cards to fully dry before cutting them.

The initial set of cards printed arrived with jagged cut edges on the bottoms. After chatting with someone at GotPrint, I learned some things about printing I didn't know, and also how to get around this jagged edge issue.

#1: the matte paper is more prone to this issue. Use glossy or a protective coating (which makes it glossy). Having glossy paper wasn't an option for me.

#2: the full bleed photo needs to be uploaded as the front side design (printed first) so it has a longer drying time. The other side has white space along all the edges, so it wasn't an issue.

#3: Don't use a full bleed photo.

They reprinted my cards free, and I went with option #2. It would have been an even better result if I had selected #1 and #2,  or #3, but I really love the matte paper AND the full bleed photo.

I'm very happy with the results. The previous batch, if you touched them or looked closely at them, you could feel the jagged edges on the bottom edge. The new batch isn't completely perfect, but you would need a magnifying glass to notice, and it isn't noticeable by touch. I don't remember the exact price I paid, but it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 for 1000 cards. For the paper quality and price, I can live with the trade-off of a minor imperfection on one edge.

Will I still use Moo? Absolutely. But it will be reserved for orders or gifts. Not for shows.