10 Worthy Options for Online Business Card Printing

Written by Nathan Carnes on December 31, 2007 – 1:24 pm 5 Comments

There are a staggering number of options for printing business cards online. Unless you’re lucky enough to have quality, affordable options locally, you’re likely to end up patronizing these companies heavily for both your business needs and for client’s print jobs. Which ones are worth your time and money?

Base price is the price for 500 cards with 4 color front and blank back and all other default options, or as close to that configuration is possible with that printing. All prices are in USD, and current as of December 2007.

Moo

Base Price: $99.95
Minimum Order: 100
Why you should have them in your Rolodex (and by Rolodex, I mean your bookmarks, obviously): You,ve probably heard of Moo before, but the point bears repeating. Moo makes quirky little cards printed with as many different images as you’d like from your Flickr account or via upload. Full color front with up to 6 lines of customized text on the back. A must-have for photographers and illustrators.

Plasma Design

Base Price: $1199.00
Minimum Order: 100
Why you should have them in your Rolodex: Okay, I know: they’re expensive. Really expensive. But custom-cut, etched, brushed stainless steel business cards would definitely make an impression at your next meeting.

PlasticPrinters.com

Base Price: $460.00
Minimum Order: 50
Why you should have them in your Rolodex: Plastic cards in a variety of thicknesses with all the bells and whistles you could ever want; including raised credit card type. Oh, the possibilities.

ShineBox Print

Base Price: $242.00
Minimum Order: 200
Why you should have them in your Rolodex: ShineBox has a unique concept: mini booklets of tear out business cards. Pulling out your custom, full-color booklet and tearing out a card is bound to make an impression. For a few extra bucks you can have multiple designs in each booklet, allowing you to do a coordinated series of cards. The possibilities, as they say, are endless.

Greener Printer

Base Price: $59.00
Minimum Order: 500
Why you should have them in your Rolodex: Greener Printer is a fully environmentally-friendly service, from papers (three great recycled options) to inks (soy), to shipping. The printing is beautiful, and I’ve had good luck with their customer service.

EnMasse Media

Base Price: $67.50
Minimum Order: 1000
Why you should have them in your Rolodex: 100% post-consumer recycled business cards and top print quality at a great price. And they’re Canadian, if you’re into that sort of thing.

PS Print

Base Price: $44.98
Minimum Order: 250
Why you should have them in your Rolodex: The only really exciting option here is die-cut cards. There are a number of pre-defined shapes you can use, or for a bit extra you can have a custom die made.

OvernightPrints.com

Base Price: $35.95
Minimum Order: 100
Why you should have them in your Rolodex: Fast and cheap are the best things you can say about OvernightPrints.com. They offer a few nice options like partial UV coating and rounded corners, and they use a nice, heavy stock, but let’s face it: if you were mostly interested in quality, you’d take your business elsewhere. Print quality is hit and miss (even for reprints), and customer service is an adventure, but the prices and delivery times will keep you coming back for more.

PrintPlace

Base Price: $25.50
Minimum Order: 250
Why you should have them in your Rolodex: Another budget option, but with a few more options than OvernightPrints.com, including custom trims, three coating options, and four paper options.

Aladdin Business Cards

Base Price: $36.00
Minimum Order: 250
Why you should have them in your Rolodex: While most big online printers offer somewhere between one and three paper stock options, Aladdin has about 20, including linen paper, a variety of iridescent stocks, plastics, and Yupo. They also offer foiling, scoring, and perforating. If you need creative results on a tight budget, this might be a good option.

Conclusion

What’s missing? Letterpress printers, of course. I’m not aware of any letterpress providers that provide the kind of streamlined ordering process as the printers abov; it’s just not suited to it. If you’re looking for letterpress and can’t find a local printer to build a relationship, two starting points for online letterpress are A. Maciel Printing and Dependable Letterpress.

As ever-improving digital presses and fierce competition among printers drive prices down, we as designers and business owners reap the benefits. There are great options at any price point for your next batch of business cards, from stainless steel to 100% recycled papers. Never again will we as designers have to rely on Kinko’s or your local copy shop to print business cards.