Cheap printing with Vista Print at the moment...

nemo183

VistaPrint recently sent me an email with a page of "free" offers. Whilst I accept they are very cunning in turning "free" into "paid for", some of the offers are amazing value. In particular post cards, gift cards and business card magnets. But you need to keep ordering small amounts from the "free offer" page, rather than accepting their "time limited" deals which are more expensive.

A link to the postcard offer is;
http://www.vistaprint.co.uk/vp/ns/splash/splash_postcards.aspx?pfid=126&GP=5%2F17%2F2007+7%3A18%3A20+PM

And to the magnet business cards:

http://www.vistaprint.co.uk/vp/ns/splash/splash_magnets.aspx?GP=5%2F17%2F2007+7%3A19%3A44+PM

It's worth noting that there is a one-off charge for uploading graphics, but this is half price at the moment. Each item - postcard, business card, magnet, etc tends to have it's own size - measured in pixels.

Anyone looking for an easy way to re-size an image to the exact pixel dimensions should look at:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm

- a great site for freeware. No. 21 will do the job, but it's well worth subscribing for access to the extra 60 or so utilities - no charge.

madelaine

My husband ordered some free business cards, in October 06, when i say free you do have to pay postage and packing this was £6.32 if i remember correctly.

After placing the order, we where charged £9.95 a month by vista print,for 5 months, which we have now managed to claim back, by informing the Credit Card Company about this, there are lots of Forums about this scam, just google Vista Print. I wouldn't touch Vista Print with a barge pole.

siaoeh

no offends to anyone but the reason most people got charged the monthly 'membership fee' thingy is probably because you clicked on the 'free £10' or something like that after you placed the order. That was the (very wrongly discreet) agreement to take up the membership :mad: . I noticed it pops up everytime after I placed an order. But being the paranoid cautious small prints reader I am , I never click on it even though it screamed 'free', and that was before ever reading about others' experience screaming 'scam'.

I do agree its not very ethical of vista print to scream 'free £10' in our faces when we place an order but then again, so many other companies do. Their freebies almost always comes with a small print and strings attached if we are not careful. They are afterall trying to run a profit making business, just as we freebie/bargain seekers are looking for freebies and bargains.

we fall for some scams when we are not careful. and when we do, its usually partly our own fault for various reasons (too excited at seeing the word 'FREE' or not reading small prints). too many times I have done that myself

I am in no way related or work for vista print, just a relatively satisfied customer I regularly order their postcards, magents and other 'free-but-pay-for-postage' items and have never really found much fault with them. I am just trying to paint a slightly different angle of the picture in response to so many others painting the 'vista print is a scam' image.

just my 2 pennies worth, hope no one takes offense.

pdel61

Like Madelaine my wife got stung for a £9.95 monthly membership after ordering some "free" business card, cancelled it after only one month, but neither of us can recall where we signed up for it when ordering the free cards. We are very careful to opt out of everthing when making on-line order so I can only assume this was very well hidden.

I too would suggest avoiding them.

PoochyChoo

sorry but i love them, get all my invites printed up by them, business cards etc, yes i once signed up to the 9.99, its membership of vistaprint rewards which gives you vouchers for 90% of the value or something, b&q etc etc, pay £90 get £100 or similar.

i cancelled it as i thought i would use it to buy some and sell on ebay, but changed mind, so just cancelled it.

still use them for everything else, they are REALLY good

nemo183

madelaine wrote: »

My husband ordered some free business cards, in October 06, when i say free you do have to pay postage and packing this was £6.32 if i remember correctly.

After placing the order, we where charged £9.95 a month by vista print,for 5 months, which we have now managed to claim back, by informing the Credit Card Company about this, there are lots of Forums about this scam, just google Vista Print. I wouldn't touch Vista Print with a barge pole.

To be fair, this £9.95 charge isn't exactly a scam - the small print on the offer does explain it. However, if you accept the offer, the discount site you are refered to makes it hard to cancel. It's only later that you are given a different web address for the referal site that is easier to cancel.

The "£10 off" is still a c**p offer. Firstly, in order to claim, you have to apply by post. Secondly, the offer is "£10 of your next order". This again is c**p. Because you have to wait 3-4 weeks for your £10 to be credited, if your next order is made before this, you won't get the discount. I agree that this whole process is shabby, and really lets VistaPrint down.

HOWEVER, warned with the knowledge that VistaPrint are sharp operators, if you play them at their own game you can still get great value for money.

From a technical point of view, their site works very well, and is easy to use. Although your "free" business cards cost you £6.32, just compare that to a commercial printer.

Playing them at their own game, you can currently order 100 oversized postcards for around £9.00, and 200 magnetic business cards for around £29.00 - both prices fully inclusive of uploading charges and delivery.

Just as an aside, I've also found that https://www.dlab7.com - part of https://www.7dayshop.com - is almost unbeatable for small or large runs of copies of photos, and has good prices for enlargements, as well as using proper archive photo paper and inks.