Vistaprint is one of the most successful and profitable printing companies around. They offer a variety of products, many of which are free, and even have affiliate and reseller deals for the more entrepreneur type.
However, at the same time, for anyone who knows about their business and quality, Vistaprint is really one of the worst printers around. Their products and printing are subpar, their affiliate marketing a joke, and the paper they print on is laughable. Let’s take them apart, piece by piece, so you understand exactly why I don’t like them, and why you shouldn’t either.
Free Business Cards
Everyone by now knows that Vistaprint offers free business cards. Their offer allows customers, unfamiliar with ordering business cards, a free crack at etching their into their chosen field of business. You are only allowed to pick from a small section of their premium designs, which can be understood considering these are free.
So, what’s my problem with these business cards?
Vistaprint prints their logo and website on the back of your business card. Therefore, it becomes free advertising for them. In short, what they have done is made it THEIR business card, with your information on there. This is their marketing, and you are their billboard.
What else don’t I like?
Let’s talk about paper. This doesn’t apply only to their free business cards, but their “premium” business cards as well. Vistaprint prints on 215 gsm paper. That’s a pretty high number, so it must be thick, right? 215 gsm is the equivalent of 10pt, the thinnest of all business card paper. At this point it’s slightly thick printing paper.
To get the standard 12pt paper most business cards are printed on, you have to pay extra. How fair does it sound now, having to pay extra for regular business cards?
Product Pushing
It doesn’t matter what you buy, Vistaprint wants to ask you time and time again, “Are you sure you don’t want to add this?” by pushing products throughout your ordering process. It’s needlessly aggressive, and makes me want to stop ordering anything (no, I’m not a customer, just a printing enthusiast, I would never print from here).
Affiliate
Vistaprint isn’t the first or last printer who has had allowed people to affiliate with them. For those unfamiliar with this, affiliating with a printer (or anyone) means that you market their specials and products, push customers to their site, and in return you receive a commission based on your advertising them.
Most other printers, like my favorite Overnight Prints, are very lenient when they allow you to affiliate with them. For example, if I want to write an article and state their business by name, I am allowed to.
Vistaprint makes no sense. They want to be well known, but a ghost at the same time. You are not allowed to write their business name anywhere in your articles promoting them. Makes marketing a little difficult.
“I want to tell you about this great printing company . . . but I’m not allowed to tell you who they are. Just believe me that they’re so good you should print from them.”
Reseller
Here we go again with some similar problems. Here it is a little more understood that as a reseller (someone who gets orders but uses Vistaprint as their printer) that you shouldn’t tell them who you are really printing from.
However, my problem here is that you actually have to pay to be part of their program. I haven’t seen any other printer tell me to pay to do printing through them. You fill out a form, they approve you, and you start promoting your business which uses them.
I guess they expect their resellers to fail, so they have to make a buck whether you succeed or fail.
Printing Quality
Vistaprint has terrible color consistency which almost always looks faded, has poor paper as we discussed before, and isn’t nearly as good as their reputation makes them seem.
They are an inferior printer with a good marketing team, and nothing else.
Finale
Vistaprint is an awful company with poor products, deceitful marketing, inferior printing, high prices, and overall is just a company you shouldn’t frequent. Check out their competitors, believe me most of them are better. Overnight Prints, PSPrint, Printing For Less, 123Print, and iPrint (another favorite of mine) are just a few which, in my opinion, rank higher than Vistaprint in every category.
