Solutions for business cards

So this is a basic question, but what do y'all do for business cards here in France? Do you get them made by pros? Do you design and print them yourself? I want to leave my cards, starting with people I know: friends, family, local business contacts (for teaching English lessons). I'm thinking that at first I'll need maybe 150-200. If I manage to hand deliver that many, I'll be in pretty good shape. I could design them myself, but printing out large numbers of them at home could be as expensive as having them done by someone else, I think--and would take me more time.


What say you?

Hi There, Vistaprint in the UK - it's worth a look at their website. You could design them yourself, have them printed and sent to a UK address ( friend or relative ) who will kindly post them out to you here...... or bring them out if you have visitors coming over in the not too distant future.

There is no doubt that printed business cards give an impression of a 'sérieux' entreprise , and while the free offerings from Vista will not be of the same quality as cards from your local printer, at least you will have something to hand to your first prospective clients, even though they may be friends and family! and at least they do not look as if they have been roughed out on the kitchen table. Perhaps later when you actually have some margin you can spend out on posh cards but until then at least you will have something to hand out.

The offerings from Moo seem quite expensive 50€ for their basic card but I suppose that if you can get your friends to sign up as well then you can defray your costs with Moola B-)

I haven't used Moo so can't comment on their quality or service. I still recommend Vista though - heaps of people comment on our cards - and I should add we decided on a thicker card and got the gloss finish - all that was half the price of a local printer and we've had the same designs reprinted a second time.

Perhaps, Trish, if you start off with a few home printed ones, so you have them to hand, and then you can think about your design and make small changes where required, then it will be easier once you go to a printer (whichever one you choose) to know exactly what you want, what finish and what paper. BTW - if you buy some nice paper you can print sheets or strips and cut them up with a paper cutter - we also did this for a while and it worked just fine.

I can highly recommend Neil Whitehead as a designer.

And agree with the previous comments about Vistaprint being naff. Their is a huge difference in terms of quality between theirs and the ones I got from Moo.

As with anything else, you get what you pay for. If you can't afford to get something designed I would recommend Moo but if it's for a business, avoid going to Vistaprint. Your card should be able to bring you customers.

Quite agree Neil. Vistaprint do not, to my mind, make a good impression - especially when you turn the person's card over to find 'Les cartes de visite sont GRATUITES sur www.vistaprint.fr!' across the back.. do you want to appear a cheapskate?!! As a basic startup to hand to your friends OK but for business purposes.......?? I use Avery gloss business cards on my own printer via photoshop(perhaps lucky for me)small runs - more expensive but you get what you want and do you really need them by the hundreds? It's cheaper for the printer that's all.

If you want to make a good impression avoid Vistaprint! They used to be very good but now are rather poor on quality of stock used and colour matching. James recommends Moo; I would use www.offsetcards.com as it is 'real' printing rather than digital. If you need a hand with the design and printing, please contact me:

neil@idea1.eu

Glen, hmm hadn't considered the weight of the paper, but that could be an issue. One local printer will let me do my own design and just pay for the printing services--so if I change things later I won't have to pay. . .also, its a very weird economy here in the 05--you can get clients by buying local goods and services, which is an advantage that can't be claimed of an online service--although it's certainly tempting to someone with limitted funds starting out!

Vistaprint here too. They ran a special offer some time ago, 500 cards for 9,99 €. With our own uploaded picture plus 120 address stickers for envelopes, the total was about 15 €. Unbeatable.

A word of caution on the 'free' business cards. Be careful to un-check the boxes that will sign you up to other services that charge.

I use Vistaprint for me and the hotel. Never had a problem. BUT -- make sure you proof-read what you have submitted carefully. A relative of mine, whose English skills are less than perfect, got 500 cards printed with some awful spelling AND the phone number was wrong! You have to tick a box to say that you have checked everything -- they assume you know what you are doing.

I use vistaprint too, but have found (when I last ordered) that ordering the same product from the UK site and shipping to France is cheaper then ordering from the French site, probably due to exchange rates, but worth checking out. Business cards, christmas cards and letterhead all good value for money, and like others have said, watchout for the free offers. ie 250 business cards, free ink stamp, etc....

Pamela, I saw the website option and it looked like a pretty good deal--particularly since you can use PayPall on it if needed. You can always do a free website/blog, but it's more time consuming and the address will say something like 'blogspot' or 'wordpress' in it.

Vistaprint does our cards (we use the Dutch site) - and we've had other things done by them too (tee-shirts, pens, etc) and they also do websites which you can make from templates to match your card colour scheme and theme. You can also choose your own design or upload your own photo etc. Having 250 cards each (=500 total) printed plus delivery, cost less than half of what the local printer would have charged for 100 cards.

Trish I had mine done by Vista print and they were free of charge . Of course after they try to sell you other things like labels, larger cards...

Marie-Antoinette

Thanks for the ideas. I must say, Vista seems very reasonable but Moo has great designs! I'm going to check out what our local printers offer too. . .

I'll have to think about it because I'm just starting out and don't yet have a website. . .so I'd want to add that later, thus changing my cards. But that's just me thinking out loud.

Perhaps English like what its spoke in Texas?

You could try Vista print for a short run............. see here:-

http://www.vistaprint.fr/vp/ns/studio3.aspx?pf_id=B70&combo_id=1200429&referer=http%3a%2f%2fwww.vistaprint.fr%2ffree-gallery.aspx%3fpf_id%3dBBR%2chttp%3a%2f%2fwww.vistaprint.fr%2fcategorie%2fcartes-de-visite.aspx%3fxnav%3dNVHP_Tier_1_Link_B71&free_studio_gallery=true&rd=1

For a short run I would have a look at Moo, they have plenty of customisable templates, you can design some fantastic cards yourself! I wrote about them last year here