As cheap as chips - but cheap chips aren't always tasty. (vistaprint.co.uk)

Member Name: JJJJ

Product:	vistaprint.co.uk
Date:	30/09/09 (302 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap

Disadvantages: Generally Poor Print Quality

As my job as a graphic designer involves delivering finished and printed artwork to the client, I have used many of the online printers over the years. One such business is 'Vistaprint', which is basically the EasyJet or Ryan Air of the printing world - a low cost and easy to use service - but is it any good?

Found at www.vistaprint.co.uk, the website has a bright clean appearance, and the pages are quick to load. The products are grouped under the general headings of "Business Identity", "Marketing & Signage", "Promotion & Events", "Marketing Services", "Accessories", and "Free products". Amongst these categories, you can find a wide range of printing services - from Posters, Flyers, and Business Cards to Mugs, Calenders and Mouse Mats. However, many people head straight to the 'Free Products' section - but in this case Free doesn't necessarily mean Free...

Say, for example, you want a 'free' pen with your logo on it - firstly, there is the delivery charge to negotiate, which, if you choose the fastest delivery option, comes to a whopping £15. Cheaper is the seven day 'Priority' postal option which costs £7, and the 'standard' two week option ends up at £3.50. In fairness, there is a final 'slow' delivery service which costs £2.50 and takes twenty-one days to arrive.

If you want to upload your own logo to said pen, then you have pay for 'advanced editing' which comes to a further £2.99 - so basically, if you design the writing implement to your liking, you'll end up paying a minimum of £5.50 for a cheap biro.

With the free business cards, its more of the same, with hidden upload charges, and worst of all, a "this card was printed free at Vistaprint" message on them - not very professional, and probably not a good first impression for a potential client.

Vistaprint's 'Premium Business Cards' are fairly cheap, and there are frequently offers which allow you to get up to '80% off' the price, and '500 for the price of 250' - but you generally get what you pay for in terms of the quality. I've used Vistaprint's business card service a few times over the years, and the quality is generally poor. Text has a broken, and honeycomb-like appearance when viewed close-up, and colours appear to be non-solid and significantly darker than they should be. I'm not saying it's awful, as the quality is passable - yet it is nothing like as good as the other printers I have used.

A word of warning, once you make an order with Vistaprint, you will be subject a a torrent of spam mail from them, and whilst most of this comes in the form of 'offers' and 'discounts' - it gets a bit annoying when you start receiving two or three messages per day.

All in all, Vistaprint represents a handy and cheap printing outlet, which is good for last minute jobs, and print runs where the final quality isn't that important - however, if you're looking for a decent finish, then you should look elsewhere and be prepared to pay a little more.

Summary: Online Printer