Vistaprint Deals

It's probably going to become clear, but I'm a very big fan of Vistaprint. I've gotten almost everything there, from Vistaprint Free Business Cards through some of their more expensive things, like Banners and Mailing Services. As with any company, there are lots of things you need to understand about how they work, about how they operate, and most importantly, about how they make money, in order to get the most out of your experience.

In this lens, I hope to walk you through their free products, their more expensive products, and give you some tips along the way.

The way VistaPrint gets shoppers to its website is by using their FREE business card deal. Surprisingly, there is no catch, the business cards are indeed free. You do have to pay shipping, but shipping is only about $5. For full-color printing on 80 pound card stock, that's cheaper than you can do yourself. The printing itself is pretty good, the cards come on 80 pound paper, which is fairly sturdy cardstock, and the colors come out just as you see them on the screen. There is one small catch, though, the back of your card has a VistaPrint advertisement on the back. Check it out:





To take this off, they charge you $4.99. This is okay with me, I don't really mind having their logo on the back, any more than I care that Hallmark tells everyone that the card I bought them was created by Hallmark. In poking around, though, I've found an even better deal. They also have something called Premium Business Cards (Click on Business Identity on the left, then Premium Business Cards) which are a much, much better value. If you use that link you'll get the cards for $3.99, and they come without the ad on the back, for free, and they have thousands and thousands of designs.



Once you've designed your card, you should be looking around their site for other things to add to your order. For instance, they have address stamps for free, custom printed pens and t-shirts, and some other things to search around for. The link above will also give you some free samples of their lowest quantity, so 100 free post cards, 140 free return address labels, etc. Often, you can add these for free, and pay no additional shipping. Good stuff.

So, one thing that VistaPrint does that can be annoying, is to continue to try to upsell you. If you buy business cards, they'll offer you a business card holder. Then a stamp. Then a t-shirt. Then a magazine. Then a matching website. Then return address labels. Etc. Here, I'm torn. These offers from VistaPrint are often extremely good ones. Entrepeneur magazine for free, with no commitment (I checked it out.) Why not? A free t-shirt that matches? Okay. Etc. Their business card holders are actually okay (and free, if you use this link.) But enough already. They make you cancel out of about 10 different offerings, before they even show you your shipping price.



Well, I found a trick. After you create your business card, if you don't want anything else, you can skip all that. You may not want to, honestly, as the offers are good. But you may want to just place your order and go. First, after you have created your card, you MUST go through the box where you enter your initials. It seems you can enter any 2 letters here. The next thing they show you is quantity, you probably want to choose that. After that is paper stock and backside (I got glossy, they look pretty nice, too.) That's all you need to do. Everything after that is an upsell. After you select your quantity and your stock, on the top right, click "Cart." This will skip all the upsells, and take you right into purchasing. Also, check your cart here, to make sure you are buying what you want, as after this page, they make changing your selections difficult.

There is one final gotcha. After you buy, you'll be offered $10 cash back on the purchase if you fill out a survey. At the very bottom of the page, it tells you that you will get your $10 back, but you will also be enrolled in a monthly program that costs $14.95, if you don't cancel in the first month. Do NOT sign up for this. You will get your $10 (I know a few people who have) and the program is okay, but it's not worth $180/year. Make sure you read what you are agreeing to, before you submit!