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My friend and colleague Jennifer Koon wrote a terrific post on her blog last week about the minefield of inexpensive, small-run printers. Click through here to read what she has to say.

Unfortunately, small businesses printing in small quantities have very few affordable options and are forced to make a trade-off somewhere… Either giving up control, paper selection and personal service with a bulk/online printer or sacrificing some print quality and the ability to print on thicker cardstocks by going digital.

I’ve been through this a few times and so I’ve got some tips to help you mitigate your risk if you’re considering going with an online printer.

1. Order their sample pack. It should be free.
2. Read their reprint/return/refund policy. Even under the best circumstances, you’ll need to go through this process at one time or another if you’re using a printer consistently.
3. Contact their customer service department as if you were a real customer. Do it via phone and email and check out their response/hold time. If you wait on the phone for half an hour before you’re a customer, you’re likely to have the same problem when you are a customer.
4. Get references. Find out who you know has been using these resources and what they think. The last time I was looking for an online resource, I narrowed the field to my two favorites and then asked my entire LinkedIn network if they had any experiences. The feedback was valuable and helped me make my decision.
5. These printers are usually cheap and allow you to order a box of business cards for only a few dollars. Doing a trial run is low-risk and will give you a real look at what it’s like to be a customer.

For anyone out there interested in running the online printer gauntlet, I wish you luck. Prepare to be frustrated and prepare to be disappointed, but I promise, there are some decent options out there.

You’ll get a better overall experience with a local digital printer… Personal attention, an eye for detail and a company that is likely very interested in preserving their business with you. The drawbacks? Digital machines just aren’t able to achieve the kind of quality that you get on a real printing press and while you get a better variety of papers to choose from, you’re not going to be able to get a really thick cardstock for business cards.

If you want to get EXACTLY what you want, unfortunately the only way is to spend a lot more money and have it printed at a local offset printer. They will meet your expectations in print/paper/service quality and give you the ability to customize your job however you like, but you will pay for it. The cost won’t be so bad at very high quantities (say in the 10’s of thousands) but will be cost-prohibitive for short runs of a few hundred to a few thousand.

Posted by E. Wolf