I have used Vista Print on two occasions last year – first for my (casual) wedding invitations and then for my thank you cards. On both occasions I was happy with both the products I received and the level of service. I have never had any of the problems other people complain about with bad charges to my credit card.

Who is Vista Print

Vista Print is an online print shop that is best known for offering free personalized business cards. In addition to their business card business they are a full service printer offering products to businesses such as signs, note cards, letterhead, keychains, calendars, mugs and much more. They also offer business services like website design and logo creation. For home use they offer cards, invitations, stationary, mouse pads and more. They offer their products much cheaper than most of the competition.

Website Navigation/Ease of Use

I found Vista Prints website easy to navigate and intuitive. They break their products up into two sections, business or home. Each of the sections has further category breakouts for the type of products available. Once you select your product you are taken through a wizard to customize the product. There are two options, you can upload your own design or use one of their pre-made designs. The selection of pre-made templates is quite large and their are choices for all sorts of occasions. For both my invitations and thank you cards I used pre-made designs. When customizing the pre-made designs you can simply enter the text you want in the default fields or you can use their editor (which resembles a microsoft toolbar) to move text boxes around, change the fonts and size, and adjust colors. The wizard is very simple to use and someone with minimal computer savvy could create their own custom products.

During the checkout process Vista Print offers you a large number of other items you might want to buy. Constant up-selling seems to be a staple in their business model. If you purchased invitations in one design perhaps you would also like matching note cards, magnets and mugs? They also try and up-sell you on products and services from their affiliates. I think this is often where people get themselves in trouble when they complain about Vista Print. You have to watch what you are saying ‘yes’ to during the checkout process, if you rush and just click boxes you may end up purchasing something you did not want.

Product Quality

At this price point I found the quality to be outstanding. I spent just under $60 for 200 one-sided invitations and the envelopes. Now the invitations I ordered are pretty basic, just a piece of white cardboard with a full color design and text printed on one side. The print quality was very professional – the lines were sharp and the colors very crisp with no run-off. Certainly much better than what you would see from a home printer.

Shipping and Service

The print time for my products was very quick. For my first order I paid $16.75 for the “priority” shipping and the invitations were printed within 24 hours and in the mail. My second order was less of a rush and I chose the standard service. The standard service had my thank you cards printed and in the mail in just four days. I never had a need to contact their customer service so I can not comment on that aspect of the business.

Conclusion

I would definitely use Vista Print for my future printing needs. Their products are a great professional quality and cost a fraction of what other printers charge.

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