Luminous Landscape Forum

Equipment & Techniques => Pro Business Discussion => Topic started by: jimh on March 12, 2017, 02:24:15 pm

Title: greeting card printing source
Post by: jimh on March 12, 2017, 02:24:15 pm
I sell some greeting cards, mostly at craft shows around Christmas, and while I don't make much money, they might bring people to my web site.  I've been getting them printed at RedBubble, which is ok except I can't put custom text on the back of the card, so the URL takes people to my Redbubble page, which I don't want.

There are lots of other custom card suppliers, but they don't do one-offs, i.e. one card per image.   I don't want to buy 25 of each image, just a couple.

Does anyone know a supplier that does quantity 1 printing, and allows custom text on the back?  I can't find one. 

Title: Re: greeting card printing source
Post by: dgberg on March 12, 2017, 04:38:45 pm
Doubt you will find anyone that does that and the reason being they cannot make any money printing one offs.
Probably 2 options. Invest in a 100 cards. Pick 4 images and print 25 of each.
The other option is to setup and print your own.
Keep all that money in house and control all your image layout and text yourself.
Title: Re: greeting card printing source
Post by: garyhill on March 12, 2017, 06:33:59 pm
As already commented I think you will struggle to find a printer who will do such low volumes for you. I use the Museo Artist Cards and print on an Epson 3880 at home. The quality is excellent and you have the freedom to print only the cards you want. On the Museo website there are templates as well as printer profiles. Link below.

http://www.museofineart.com/index.php/products/

Cheers,

Gary
Title: Re: greeting card printing source
Post by: jimh on March 12, 2017, 09:22:22 pm
Years ago I bought an Epson printer, a pretty good one at the time.  Every time I tried to do a big print, it would get 90% of the way through, then spit a couple drops of red, or start banding, or something like that.   Or not print at all until I swabbed the print head with Windex and wasted a couple pages.  I sold it and swore I'd never buy another inkjet :-(




Title: Re: greeting card printing source
Post by: Joe Towner on March 13, 2017, 04:44:35 pm
It may be going against your better judgement, but there are articles specific to greeting cards.

http://www.redrivercatalog.com/infocenter/tips/best-inkjet-printers-for-greeting-card-printing.html

With the current 'sharing economy' I'm debating if there's a market for renting a printer in the local market.  Get in, print and get out.
Title: Re: greeting card printing source
Post by: Ken Bennett on March 16, 2017, 08:50:32 am
I'd agree with the option of printing your own. I use the Red River cards and print personal cards, holiday cards, etc., though I don't sell them anywhere. Given the prices of the cards, envelopes, plastic bags or boxes, ink, etc., there's not ever going to be any money in it (you can do the spreadsheet yourself, but when I looked at it I'd have to sell a thousand cards to make any decent money from all the printing. That gets expensive.) But if you are selling them merely as a way to keep your name out there and drive traffic to your website, then profit isn't really the point.

I had terrible luck with inkjet printers, too, until I got an Epson 3800. That one lasted nine years, and I replaced it last fall with a P800. Yes, I have the occasional frustration, but 99% of the time they print clean, beautiful images even though I only print a couple of times a month. There is a smaller P600 that costs less up front, though if you print often the lower ink costs of the P800 might win in the end.
Title: Re: greeting card printing source
Post by: Ken Doo on March 17, 2017, 09:04:55 am
Printing greeting cards for clients is a "loss leader" for me, for regular clientele, and not something I'd want to do on its own
Title: Re: greeting card printing source
Post by: Deardorff on March 25, 2017, 12:04:17 pm
Red River or other makers pre-scored cards. Good quality envelopes to go with the cards.

Then, the printer.
Look at the inexpensive 5 ink models from Canon. I and friends have used these for cards for a number of years. They work well and the cards look good. You can get one for under $70 and if you check sales often less than $50. Made for 8 1/2 inch wide paper.

Just replaced one that was in use for four years and had printed at least 3,000 5x7 cards as well as a number of prints to 8x10 size for give away stuff. The inks are not very expensive, the printers work well and seem to last a long time.