What print company should I use to make editions of my work to sell?
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I've used El-co color labs in the past, they have a poster special on larger sizes and a quantity discount that would make 8x10's $1 a piece. All archival, really good quality photo prints.
Taylor Woolley
(Formerly Taylor Ackerman / StudioLooong)
Website: www.woolleystories.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/woolleystories/ -
@StudioLooong Thank you I will check it out
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@NessIllustration Thank you. Yeah I am hoping to print editions of 50 or 100 and mail them myself. I have looked into a few of the on-demand companies. I have also looked at local printers but being in the Bay Area drives up the price. So, I was hoping to find some other options. I normally print from psprint for postcards but they cannot gauruntee that their work is archival and the inks won't fade. I did a short run through them and sprayed each piece with archival spray but I am trying to take that step out of the process.
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Hi @David-starfas. I use two online companies for my prints (I sell in brick-and-mortar and on Etsy).
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Giclee Today. These guys are top quality. I use them to print my really nice stuff that I want to sell at a higher price. The Giclee ink is beautiful and is archival, as well as high quality paper. They are a little higher priced than others but the print is worth it. You can also order as many or as few as you want, and they will give you a quantity break even if you order different prints. For example, they have a price break from 1-9, 10-25, etc. I've ordered 12 prints, all different designs, and I got the 10-25 price break.
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For the cheaper prints (though, still amazing quality), I use CatPrint. Their customer service is amazing and I consistently get 5 stars on Etsy for the quality of my prints. People love them. They have price breaks for bulk too, but you have to do it per design. They also do postcards, calendars, and more.
I've tried a few others, but these two are my favorites. They will both drop ship too, but I do what you do and order in bulk and ship myself.
Hope this helps!
Josh -
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@JoshuaDages and @NessIllustration , I have a question of drop shipping. How do you sign your prints using a third party print and drop service? When I was selling prints(with my own printer), there was one time I forgot to sign , and the customer literally contacted me and complaint about it ...
Thank you!
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@idid It really depends what kind of business you have. If you market them as reproductions of the artist's work, in your name, then people might expect signed prints. I sold nursery art designs under a cutesy company name, and no one ever expected me to sign those. But you do not have to sign prints either way, if you don't want to or can't. As long as you don't market them as "signed prints" and indicate somewhere in your product description that they're not signed, you're good. But yes if you do want to sign your prints, you can't do drop shipping. In drop shipping the whole point is that you never actually touch the prints
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@idid Yes, that is an issue. Like @NessIllustration said, signing prints would require you to handle them (and then ship them yourself). However, Giclee Today will hand number prints for you if you'd like. I haven't used this service yet, but if you wanted to cut your time in half for "numbered and signed" they can at least do that!
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@NessIllustration and @JoshuaDages Thanks for your insights!
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@JoshuaDages Very helpful. Thank you. What price range do you sell the Giclee and cat prints for? If you do not mind me asking.
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@David-starfas No problem! My giclee prints are 12"x16" and I sell them for $30 online and $35 in-store (stores are in Manhattan, so that affects the price a little).
As for the CatPrints, depending on the size, I sell 8"x10" for $12 and my semi-gloss poster 11"x17" for $24. I've got a few other things in the works, but they'll probably stay in that range.
Here's my storefront if you want to look at details, styles, etc: https://www.etsy.com/shop/JoshuaDagesArt
