I want to go on record as saying that I have been a loyal Shutterfly customer for years and years. They’re nice quality at a reasonable price and their customer service is excellent.
But—being me—I can be lured by a deal. And I have to tell you, I’ve been very pleasantly surprised, here.
This year we did our Christmas cards through VistaPrint, where cards are currently half off with free shipping. They’re printed on cardstock (rather than photo paper) but they came out great. And they cost so much less than what I normally do, I have one of those smack-myself-on-the-forehead moments (“I coulda had a V8!”) wondering why I hadn’t made the switch earlier.
But now the deals over there are just getting silly, because you can get free photo calendars (just pay shipping), too. Dude. That’s, like, my very favorite price!
Check ’em out if you’re doing the holiday photo cards/calendar things.
Word of warning, I almost ordered from Vista Print, but didn’t based on the number of online complaints regarding their services. This is just one of the sites I saw…
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/vistaprint.html
Buyer beware!
Yikes!! Thanks for the pointer, Liz. I’ve ordered from VistaPrint several times and never had a problem, but this is good information to have.
I do ok ordering my business cards from Vistaprint, but ran into a world of trouble and poor quality when I tried their calendars. I immediately switched back to Shutterfly and lost out on the money I spent on the calendars. The quality was so embarrasing that I just chunked them into the recycling bin.
We’ve used vista print for 3 years and love it! I even like the pictures cards they have on cardstock better than the photo paper ones from other vendors. This year we even did magnets for our ministry partners and they look great! They have such reasonable prices and the customer service has always been great when I call to order. I can’t speak for the calendars, but I may check them out despite the complaints mentioned here. That’s how pleased I have been with everything else.
We’ll see.
I order business cards and checks from Vista Print… I’ve never tried the photo calendar
I did my cards at VistaPrint this year, too, and at the same time I went a little crazy with the FREE address labels, FREE stamper, FREE notecards (personalized for stocking stuffers for my kids) and FREE magnets. And did I mention they were delivered to my door about 36 hours after I ordered them? I’ve used them in the past for printing projects and business cards. Never a problem.
Fascinating, because at this this moment (in one of my many open windows-heh) I am WORKING on my Shutterfly calendar! I will definitely check it out, possibly do some comparison purchasing, hey, one is free and one is buy 1 get 1 free…
Thank you!
Looks like a fun deal for me! I’ve been racking my brain for one more thing for my hubby! This works perfect and for a total of $8.44 if I’m out the money oh well it will be funny anyways…thanks Mir
I’ve done 3 years of Christmas cards, birthday invitations and baby announcements. I love that they can be printed on BOTH sides. Never had a problem.
I have gotten loads of stuff from Vistaprint with no problems
I’ve used Vista Print for birthday invitations, note cards and their many free with shipping offers. Over all, I’ve had a good experience with all products, except for the stick-on address labels (my labels were always off center and unusable).
However, you must keep an eye on your bank/credit card statement. Like many of those who have complained in the link provided by Liz, I too was charged $14.95 per month for a membership I didn’t realize I purchased. I didn’t notice the charge until 3 months into being charged! I quickly called Customer Service and was told that I would receive a full refund (which I did). It was annoying at the time, but I have continued to take advantage of their offers while keeping tabs on what I’m being charged for.
How do I get the free shipping? It looks like I am going to pay for it at this point. I’ll see what happens at checkout…
Hmm, charded a fee for uploading photos for the calander. Oh well, $8 for a Christmas gift. Not too shabby.
Yea I was kinda like “Seriously? an upload fee?” But it’s $8.44 (for the slow shipping) a friend said even with slow they always come within a week or so. My estimated date of delivery is 26th. So hopefully it will get there before x-mas if not…oh well…I’ll throw it on the wall and see when he notices 🙂
I just ordered photo cards from them -couldn’t beat the price and I love the fact that they can print on the backside (we always put the kids ages on there). I’ve never ordered from VistaPrint so hopefully they’ll turn out ok.
Had to call their customer service since I wanted an odd number of cards -130, but she was really nice. The one annoying thing is all the “other” offers they try and sell you before you finally get checked out.
I LOVE Vistaprint. Have used them the last three years and I have to say, we always get compliments on them — the photo printing on the back is nice(last year’s was done in a sheer sepia kind of color, very cool)and frankly, the card stock rather than photo paper was never something I looked at as a tradeoff — to me, photos should be on photo paper, but as soon as it’s a card, bring out the cardstock. We used them for invites for my daughter’s first bday party as well.
And best of all, they take uPromise, so you can get 6% back on your order.
The only trouble I’ve had is sometimes when you have a special code, I’ve noticed that the “original” price may change when you put in the code — tricky.
Althought that can be annoying, I’ve found the balance of paper and photo quality in their cards and the awesome deals they have — outweighs me having to watch the checkout totals carefully.
Just placed my card order. Crossing my fingers for no problems. I was careful to avoid all the “bonus” stuff. I did see the get $10 off your next order offer signs you up for a rewards program that charges the $14.95/month. Read all that fine print folks.
I cannot believe it! I received my photo cards today – I ordered them Wednesday night at midnight!! Love the cards!!! The only thing I would change is that I did a collage photo card and one of the little pics w/ all 5 girls is a little small – should have done a closer shot on that one. But LOVE them!!!
I didn’t do standard shipping but one up from there – next time I think I’ll do standard shipping.