The long and short of vistaprint’s free business cards offer

Whether it was one of their nationwide television advertisements or one of the millions of banners they have posted all over the internet, you have probably heard of VistaPrint and their free business cards offer. They are the biggest player in online printing and their name is almost synonymous with free business cards. In this review we will be taking a look at VistaPrint’s free business cards offer.

To gather information for this review we placed 3 separate orders of their 250 free business cards offer. Throughout the entire process we noted and rated all parts separately for each order and then we combined the experiences together to form this review.

The free business cards review will be broken into the following sections:

1. Is it for real?
2. Who can get them?
3. Selection
4. Customization
5. Order Process
6. Delivery/Post Order Process
7. Quality and Satisfaction

1) VistaPrint Free Business Cards: A Scam?

Well, to start I think most people will agree when they hear the word “Free” it raises red flags immediately; and normally for good reason.

99% of the time a business is offering something for free there is a catch. This is partially true in the case of VistaPrint. YES the cards are free, you only pay a few bucks for shipping, BUT they have a small advertisement on the back for VistaPrint. While the cards are professional and on quality paper, they are not of the highest quality. In the end it is an amazing deal for what you pay!

2) Free business cards are not for everyone…

As mentioned above the free business cards from vistaprint are professional and are better than the print at home cards by far, but they are defiantly not the highest quality cards. They are a bit thin and flimsy compared to a heavier premium business card.

I would not recommend the free business cards if you are starting a business, in that case I would suggest premium business cards. But, if you just need some quick and free cards to promote something then these are wonderful.

I think that charities, parties, special events, gag cards, fundraisers, college groups, sports teams, and other random non-profit events would be the ideal purpose of these free business cards. These cards can be used in pretty much any situation where professionalism isn’t the first priority.

3) Holy giant selection batman…

Well for a free service VistaPrint offers a very large selection of free card designs to choose from. They have most sectors covered and have styles to fit all moods and events. They have many different layouts to choose from so that you will be covered no matter how much (or little) information you need to put on your free business cards.

4) Can you say SIMPLE?

I have seen many websites that allow you to customize objects but VistaPrint has nailed it with their customization tool. The tool is so easy to use that no instructions are needed and the way your card displays to you is how it will turn out when it’s printed. There was no variance at all in our tests.

Depending upon the card design you have selected will determine what information you can enter and where. One thing you will notice is that for the free business cards you are limited to not uploading your own images and logos and you cannot add extra text. But again, for free cards the customization they allow you is phenomenal in our opinion.

5) Where is the order button?!

This is where we get into one of the few downsides of ordering free business cards from VistaPrint: The actual order process.

They have a BUNCH of up sells and add-ons that they dangle in front of you through the entire process. It can make the ordering a bit cumbersome and at times you find yourself searching for the “Next” button.

I will say that it is by no means a deal breaker, and actually they are often offering products and services that you are interested in. One of the things you will see many times is the option to upgrade your cards to premium business cards which will remove the advertisement on the back and give you more options for customization. If this is something you are interested in I suggest upgrading to premium business cards, it is only a few bucks more.

After you actually get to the finish line its quite painless. They accept many forms of payment (for shipping) through their secure cart so you can feel warm and fuzzy about having your information kept safe.

6) No surprises, quick shipping.

Well after placing your order for free business cards you will get a confirmation email and the wait begins.

In our tests we placed 3 orders. The first two orders came in 8 days; the third came in 10 days for an average delivery time of roughly 9 days (8.6 to be exact). This is actually faster than they say it will take without purchasing upgraded shipping.

The cards come packaged professionally and wrapped to keep the elements out. When I opened them I was pleased to find all were undamaged and facing the same direction.

7) The moment of truth…

The quality of the free business cards is probably the best that I have seen for any type of free business card. It is higher quality than that of the ones you print yourself and also the ones distributed from the automated vending machines.

Of course when you compare the free business cards from VistaPrint to a premium business card you can quickly tell the difference in weight and thickness of the paper.

In general, I am very satisfied with VistaPrint’s free business cards offer. They delivered everything they promised and have a great product. In a day when nothing is free it is great to see that there are still companies that go the extra mile!