Here’s Why Zazzle Bests Vistaprint

About two months ago I wanted to print some very simple round stickers for CloudContacts. In the past I’ve used Sticker Robot which produced some absolutely awesome vinyl stickers for CN. This time I just wanted something basic – the CN logo and it didn’t need to be die-cut or on vinyl.

I decided to place orders from both Zazzle and VistaPrint for the stickers. I would have ordered all of the stickers from Zazzle but I had a Living Social voucher for VistaPrint and so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to compare the stickers and the experience from both companies. Zazzle was sending a ton of coupons to their newsletter subscribers although that well has seemed to dry up since the holidays are over.

Since VistaPrint offers a lot of “free” products, it’s important to understand that I paid full price for the stickers. Based on the overall experience, I won’t Vistaprint again and am completely disappointed that they continue to send me printed matter in the mail including an offer for Google advertising today. I never asked to be contacted post-purchase or to be added to their mailing lists. While I could understand that with their free products you are opening yourself up to be spammed with their co-branded marketing offers, I paid for the stickers.

Summary: In every aspect from design tools to after-purchase contact, Zazzle kicks the ass of VistaPrint.

Basic Company Overview

VistaPrint is a public company with a $1.14B market cap and notes, “over 25 localized websites that serve various markets around the world, over 3,100 employees, three state of art manufacturing facilities and 13 offices, including its corporate headquarters in Venlo, the Netherlands.” Zazzle has raised just about $50 million and has been in business since 2000.

Pricing

Many of you might know this already but VistaPrint charges different prices based on your entry point. Because I was coming from Living Social, the prices are higher than if you enter the website directly. This is the same with Groupon deals as I have a Groupon voucher for VP now (I asked Groupon for a refund earlier today).

For example, when I visit VP directly, I am offered 250 premium business cards for $10. When I visit the special Living Social/Groupon link, I am offered the same 250 premium business cards for $13.99.

Design Tools

The design tools on both services are very basic but Zazzle made me feel more confident that the design I uploaded would actually be what was printed.

Checkout Process

I was speaking with a friend about the stickers and when I mentioned the checkout process, I realized that using VistaPrint is a lot like using GoDaddy. There are about 800 pages of offers that you need to go through before getting to the final confirmation.

Quality of Stickers

I ordered “glossy” from both vendors – only the Zazzle stickers actually look glossy. In case location of printing matters to you, VistaPrint had a note that the stickers were printed in Canada. I guess that’s why they took so long to arrive versus Zazzle which I believe are printed in the USA. VistaPrint printed more stickers on a longer-sized page. Outside of the glossy issue, the quality of the stickers is very similar but the glossy ones sure do look a LOT nicer.

Post-purchase Contact

Shortly after I received the stickers from VistaPrint, I received a printed brochure in the mail. I never asked to receive any mail or any offers using any form of communication. As I noted above, if you use free services from VistaPrint, you should expect to be added to lots of lists because some way they need to generate revenue from the free item. But I PAID for the stickers.

Today I received a letter in the mail from Vista Print offering a deal on Google ads. This was the point at which I made the decision that Vista Print will never see another dime from me. I called their customer service in Jamaica today and requested that my account be completely deleted. On the positive side, Vista Print answered the phone quickly and told me the account would be removed within 72 hours.

Wrapping Up

If you made it this far and would like a CN sticker or a CC sticker, email me your address and I will send one out to you. And don’t worry, I won’t add your address to any mailing lists.