Producing and selling gift cards

[Jill H]

hmm - i am thinking of going to a local printer and getting the greeting cards professionally printed - i might choose say 6 different designs - and get them printed in bulk, and then put them into packs. I haven't got around to doing it yet, or getting a price... so I should probably do that first! The problem that is stopping me is the huge outlay and then perhaps being stuck with a whole stack of stock you can't sell. The price you can sell them at, and make a profit, will be very dependant on what it costs to have them printed in the first place. You would probably have to promote yourself and try and establish a market or outlets will to take your cards before you go ahead with printing.

I know people sell stuff at local craft markets and things, so have considered giving this a try. Has anyone had gift cards professionally printed, and been able to successfully market and sell them?

Thanks everyone for your thoughts so far. Keep them coming. cheers.

[Jill H]

Hi everyone, I am revisiting this post, as this idea is still floating around in my mind, and I hope that a couple of months down the track there might be some people out there that have had greeting cards printed, and who are selling them, and making a profit? I guess you would have to print a huge amount of cards, and have them at a great number of different outlets over a big area to actually make any money?

Is there anyone out there who has done this successfully, I would love to hear from you!

[jbr13]

Jill, I have been looking at doing the same thing. I found a place to get Frame Cards that you can slide a 4X6 photo into and use as a greeting card. Go to Frame Cards and Envelopes - Stationery

You can get 50 cards and envelopes for about $15.

This site also sells clear bags you can put the the cards and envelopes into.

Good Luck,
Jason

[karwash]

Hi Jill,

Haven't had cards printed yet for profit. I did get a bunch printed last year for an exhibition as free cards that people could just take home with them, like an oversized business card. Those I got from VistaPrint. Their quality is OK for give-aways. Their price range is also good for give-aways if you buy them in the "free" batches of 100 prints (when you only pay shipping and handling costs).
Currently I'm looking into prints from Moo. They seem to get good reviews, also on this website. What I like is that they do batch printing with various pictures in one batch. Not sure if they ship to Australia too. I thought I only saw USA and Europe on their website, but I could be wrong.

Hope this helps. Good luck!