Paper for business cards

Hi,

I decided to print some business cards for myself and planned to use the Avery business card paper. However, after I bought it today I was quickly disappointed by the paper quality. It's way to floppy for my tastes... Total waste of $18.

So, the question is if there is another provider of paper sheets prepared for printing of business cards? My preferences are significant thickness/stiffness, white, matte coating, print-to-the-edge and no perforation marks.

Thanks in advance. Best, Joerg

You know I used to do my own biz cards but Vistaprint.com makes it so easy and cheaper than you could do yourself. $10 gets you 200 really nice ones. You just upload your card graphics to them and a few days later they show up in your mail for $10.

I also used to print my own, but discovered it was actually cheaper to get them printed after you take into consideration the cost of the paper and archival ink. Check with your local printers and many have coupons. I got 2000 cards for less than $100 on sale and they look GREAT thanks to the extra work put into it by the printer (for no extra charge).

If you do the math you get better paper decent printing at about half the price with Vistaprint rather than do-it-yourself. This is why we always recommended that our customers who we did logos and graphics for go to Vistaprint rather than getting it from a local printer.

Unlike the others who have responded, I prefer to make my own business cards. The reason being that I can customize them easily and make changes to the font or image or multiple images anytime. You can also do many different images within each sheet. I get tired of the same old look all the time. I do different ones for wildlife, wild horses, kinetic art, fractal art and whatever other enterprises I may be involved in. I feel like Jim Rockford on the Rockford Files!!! I usually use a gloss photo paper with no markings on the backside and I prefer the thinner papers like Ilfords' Galerie because they take up less room in my wallet or cardholder. For your preferences (heavier weight and matte finish), I would try Staples Photo Supreme Matte double-sided  photo paper in 8 1/2'x11". or a heavy card stock. I buy cardstock at Sam's Club. The heavier papers such as these work well for business cards. Since you don't want perforations, I won't mention the available business card papers that I have tried, but the perforations are now "micro" and aren't too bad. If you use card stock or the Staples Paper you will have to cut them out of the sheet. I create a border around each card when printing on a full sheet to give me a guideline, but it is tricky because the borders between two adjacent cards must be double width. Business card layouts are readily available. Cost doesn't matter to me time-wise or material-wise because it is insignificant. If you like a particular cardstock, you might ask a local printer if they will sell you some. I have purchased cardstock this way before.

http://www.staples.com/Staples+photo+supreme+matte+double+sided+paper/directory_Staples+photo+supreme+matte+double-sided+paper?

Joe

Thank you all for the feedback. And yes, I realize that printing them yourself isn't cheaper. But like Joe I'd prefer the option to be able to make changes to the design. Partially, because this would be the first time I am doing it myself and I suspect that I might want to modify the cards a bit after living with them for awhile.

I am really surprised that there are not more offerings for business card papers like Avery's. Using "regular" photo paper is of course a possibility but then I'd have to cut them all.

Anyway, I've ordered now sample packs from Moo.com and Vistaprint.com. Maybe, I play around with the Avery stock for awhile and then when I believe I've converged on a design I have it made by an online printer.

Best, Joerg

NCR also makes a 65# 99+ brightness business card stock. Item # is 982403. It is a matte finish micro perforated stock. It is inkjet and laser compatible. It is the same size as Avery 8371/5371. I don't know if it is still available, since I can't find it online. If you send me your address in a PM I will send you a couple of sheets to try out. If you only need to try out your layout and image, plain cardstock is the way to go. No need to cut them out if you are only testing for design and you can then submit your layout to a printer to make the actual cards when you are satisfied with your design and layout.

Joe

SantaFeJoe wrote:NCR also makes a 65# 99+ brightness business card stock. Item # is 982403. It is a matte finish micro perforated stock. It is inkjet and laser compatible. It is the same size as Avery 8371/5371. I don't know if it is still available, since I can't find it online. If you send me your address in a PM I will send you a couple of sheets to try out. If you only need to try out your layout and image, plain cardstock is the way to go. No need to cut them out if you are only testing for design and you can then submit your layout to a printer to make the actual cards when you are satisfied with your design and layout.

Joe

Thank you Joe for the generous offer. But it seems like this product is no longer available. At least I can't find it.

Joerg

These guys http://www.clubflyers.com/ do a great job. They're paper is pretty stiff and the prices are great. Make sure you download their photoshop template first so you know where the text cutoffs are and whatnot.