Etsy, Zazzle and Print-On-Demand Services

Here is the place to discuss similar platforms.

Do you order cards on platforms like this?
Do you even design and sell your own products?
How is the quality? Can you recommend any place?
Are you okay with receiving cards like this or would you rather not?
What do you think about copyright infringement in these places? Do you trust the company to take care of the problem?

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Why would Zazzle cards not be acceptable? They are one of the most economical ways to buy postcards. If I couldnā€™t use Zazzle, Iā€™d quit Postcrossing.

Just using cards I bought in a local store is way too expensive - they cost between $2.50 & $4.50 depending on where you buy them. I can get a Zazzle card for 80 cents**- huge difference. Plus there are way more designs & I can make my own. Iā€™d have been bored beyond belief after the 1st week if I relied on what I can buy in a local store - very limited selection.

Plus itā€™s 2020 folks, the easier it is for people to get cards & make them the better! Including being affordable - that affects many, many peopleā€™s ability to participate.

P.S. ** Zazzle routinely has sales of 50%-60% off plus every time you buy even 4 or 5 cards, they send you a coupon for 50% off to be used within 60 days of the original order.

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Some people have no-Zazzle, no-Vistaprint on their profiles and donā€™t see these as equal to a store-bought card. There is a discussion on Zazzle cards on the old forum:

https://forum.postcrossing.com/viewthread.php?tid=124467

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Apparently, the quality of the prints varies, the size is weird and you can design (and sell) your own cards on Zazzle - that is enough to be a turn-off for many :woman_shrugging:

Thanks for the info.

The size is the same or a little bit smaller than any card Iā€™ve received from 25 different countries & the quality is excellent - they are a professional printing service & print millions of items.

Yes, you can design your own cards & photographers & artists can sell their designs to be used on items which is great. Thatā€™s far more accessible & equitable than having a few print companies have a monopoly on card creation, setting higher prices & having such a limited image selection.

Iā€™ve ordered from those postcard companies initially & their selection is very limited. If the point of sending a card is to get a picture of a country, there are far more amazing images available through Zazzle. All the UNESCO cards would be one example of whatā€™s available there.

Having read the previous thread in the old forum - Iā€™m not seeing any substantive argument for not using them given my experience & Iā€™ve not had any complaints from the people Iā€™ve sent them to, in fact I get lots of compliments & likes for them.

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Thanks for the link.

Thanks for the link. Not seeing any real reasons there not to use them given my excellent experience with them & the very positive reactions Iā€™ve gotten from people whoā€™ve received them.

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While I donā€™t find them stunning, I also quite like the quality of the Zazzle cards that I ordered. (I had heard so many rumours about them that I was curious and couldnā€™t resist :smiley:) And yes, there are cards for all kinds of niche interests, pretty cool. But you have to pay attention not to accidentally order a card that is a copyright infringement :wink:
Maybe we should have a discussion about Zazzle and other print-on-demand services in a different place in the new forum, tooā€¦ Wait a sec, Iā€™ll create one.

My last reply promiseā€¦

Yes, we all need to make sure that artists, designers & photographers get credit & get paid for their work & not use their images without approval. Artists are some of the worst paid workers so itā€™s very important they get paid for their work.

Zazzle actually does fairly use artists/photographers work & pays them for usage & lets them control how the image can be reproduced. They also do some screening of images you try to print & will reject a copyrighted item.

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I prefer redbubble over zazzle but both have their downsides.

For Zazzle: many great designs, but sometimes the quality is quite bad (and not too visible on the preview pictures on the website). Like pixelated front sides. And the format is weirdā€¦ sometimes I received like bright yellow backsides (which is a choice of the artist I guess, but it was not mentioned beforehandā€¦).

For redbubble: I love the quality of many artistic motifs, the cards are in standard size. Cons are: quite expensive (but there are discounts on a regular base) and the cards have a coating that looks kind of dirty when they are stored for a longer time without separation. You can make your own designs here, too.

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I have bought some Zazzle cards over the years. Their quality is going downhillā€“with some off-centered images and white on the sides.

I donā€™t mind receiving cards from these platforms as long as they have good quality. An absolut no-go for me are these kind of platforms were my address is given to them and they acutally send the postcard to me. My address is for the person who sends a card to me only for this purpose and not to be given to a third party at all.

I say on my profile, that my least favourite cards are handcrafted postcards. By that I mean to exclude if someone takes a nice picture of their city or landscapes where they live and prints his/her own card from it. As long as it has a good quality why not? I live in a town where I canā€™t buy any viewcards. I have been thinking about having pictures of the surroundings printed as postcards but so far I have not done it. Maybe I never will - Iā€™ll see.

As the originator, I have found the print quality on Zazzle good but the trimming too often absolutely awful. Also the back side of the postcard was a bit too slick for my taste. I use MOO even though they are a little more expensive because they are standard size, the quality is top, the back sides look as good as the fronts and are not slick, and the postcards look better than anything than I can buy in the store.

As the recipient, I have no problem receiving Zazzle cards. Some of the most interesting images I have received have been from Zazzle.

Edit to add: @Robinchen if you look at my sent cards, all of the Eitelborn tourist cards are self-made and printed through MOO. Like you, I live somewhere where my only choice is to print my own tourist cards.

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I have never used Zazzle since it is more expensive than store bought cards (itā€™s typically 25-50 cents per card here). I did have a couple of designs printed on Vistaprint when there was a good sale. I used a photograph on one and a map design on the other, both the photo and the map were done by acquaintances who gave me permission to use them on postcards. The quality was very good and I donā€™t think someone would be able to tell they werenā€™t ā€œstore-boughtā€ if I didnā€™t tell them. There was a printing error with some of the cards having a smudge on the image, but when I contacted Vistaprint about it they immediately sent replacements no questions asked. So I am very satisfied and would use them again. I donā€™t send those cards to people who ask for no self-printed even though I donā€™t think they would be able to tell.

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Before Covid I always bought my cards in shops. But now, like many of us here, I sometimes buy on line. I couldnā€™t find any nice ones of my home city, Birmingham. Then I discovered Zazzle! I bought some really nice ones that showed an unusual view of our canalside area at twighlight. Everyone I have sent it to has thanked me warmly, and itā€™s also been ā€˜favouritedā€™. I sent one to a friend in the UK and she loved it too.

I wouldnā€™t use Zazzle to create my own cards though, as I know my photography isnā€™t professional enough. And of course, I would never send a Zazzle to anyone who specified ā€˜No Zazzleā€™, but I think they may be missing out.

Also, I suspect that a lot of Postcrossers have never even heard of Zazzle and donā€™t notice whether a card is Zazzle or not.

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I prefer Redbubble over Zazzle. I have some of my works on Redbubble too. The print quality is great, the card is less flimsy and the size is A6. I think Zazzle is not A6 and it cannot fit my A6 album.

I use Moo for postcards of one photograph, one of my favourites of my dog that people seem to enjoy receiving and I of course enjoy sending. The quality of the cards is fantastic. This is the most recent time I sent it.

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I have done so and had them printed by dm fotoparadies. That was inexpensive, the quality was very good - some of them got a like - and I could pick them up at the next dm store without paying postage.

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Good to know. Thanks for the advice.

Zazzle has really gone down hill in quality in the last few years. I used to buy and sell through them but closed my shop last year. The only thing I still purchase sometimes is coffee mugs. For Postcrossing I mostly make my own cards either from photos Iā€™ve taken or artwork Iā€™ve made. I get these printed through moo.com.

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