Best place for printing?

hijk

Hi could anyone suggest somewhere around Dublin, which would print flyers and possibly posters cheaply? any suggestions v welcome.thanks

dah

Reads http://www.reads.ie/special-offer.html, €250 for 5000 A5 flyers sounds good. Looking around myself at mo, if anyone has any other sources thats cheap let us know.

superbad50

i have a printer friend knocks 5000 off at 230 , 2 colour , a5 . cheapest by far i have come across

faigs

Would also like to find a good deal on business card printing at good quality! Preferable Dublin City Centre/South City.

Thanks.

unklerosco

superbad50 wrote: »

i have a printer friend knocks 5000 off at 230 , 2 colour , a5 . cheapest by far i have come across

The reads deal is far better... Full colour n 2 sided for €250. I've used reads a good bit and they are great, the staff are great. U can do everything by email n just turn up n collect ur flyers etc etc...

waraf

The girls in GP digital just off Camden Street are great to deal with. I've used them a few times and they'll always negotiate a good price with you. http://www.gpdigital.ie/

MrsC

hiya, i am looking for a printer, in Cork preferably, or on the net. I am starting a business and will need a good, but reasonable printer of greetings cards, i need to print on all sides & dont want any logos on them. I have used optimalprint.com for cards for myself, but they dont have a big choice in sizes and no choice at all with finishes, plus i would like to deal with someone local if i can!

Alternatively I would be willing to print them myself if i could find a printer that would print on 300gm paper & print right out to edges, but this option may be way too expensive, just not sure!

Any help or advise would be appreciated!

jkl

try: www.outburstdesign.ie

padocon

Why limit it to Ireland?

MrsC

would like to keep it local if i can, especially with the recession, but if it proves too expensive then of course i will have to look abroad! as i mentioned i have used a company in sweden, but if i could find a company here with more choices and still good value then that would be my preference!

padocon

MrsC wrote: »

would like to keep it local if i can, especially with the recession, but if it proves too expensive then of course i will have to look abroad! as i mentioned i have used a company in sweden, but if i could find a company here with more choices and still good value then that would be my preference!

Ya I agree at shopping Irish but like when you are paying 3 times the cost.

Pixelcraft

The price difference shouldn't be 3 times the cost keeping it in Ireland. By all means shop around, just remember to specify EVERYTHING the same. Paper, colours etc. otherwise someone will just quote on the lowest spec everything. I'd also worry about any printer that quotes way below the average cost, last thing you want is them to wind up while in the middle of printing your job! I know for a fact there are some out there printing at a loss, and it's just not sustainable.

Dublin_Gunner

Excellent Digital printer - The Type Bureau on Merrion Square. 01-6760022

Good prices and quality. I use them for commercial & personal print work (low run digital stuff).

padocon

Pixelcraft wrote: »

The price difference shouldn't be 3 times the cost keeping it in Ireland. By all means shop around, just remember to specify EVERYTHING the same. Paper, colours etc. otherwise someone will just quote on the lowest spec everything. I'd also worry about any printer that quotes way below the average cost, last thing you want is them to wind up while in the middle of printing your job! I know for a fact there are some out there printing at a loss, and it's just not sustainable.

Ok Are we aloud to compare the prices of 2 companies? Is it against the rules on boards?

Pixelcraft

no idea, I wouldn't imagine so?

padocon

Pixelcraft wrote: »

no idea, I wouldn't imagine so?

Ok, I'm not going to name the companies.
Business Cards same spec
Company A (Irish) QTY 500 =82euro exc vat
Company B (Non-Irish) QTY 2,500 = 86euro inc vat

I'm not including shipping as I am just proving print prices are more expensive in Ireland

Pixelcraft

but this is EXACTLY my point. It's not the same spec. You were quoted for 500, and 2500 respectively. Printing is an economy of scale, it's always cheaper to run more, 500 is a very short run.

padocon

Pixelcraft wrote: »

but this is EXACTLY my point. It's not the same spec. You were quoted for 500, and 2500 respectively. Printing is an economy of scale, it's always cheaper to run more, 500 is a very short run.

99.21euro is Irish inc vat
86 is Other country

Its over 14 euro cheaper abroad for 5 times the amount!

Dublin_Gunner

Pixelcraft wrote: »

but this is EXACTLY my point. It's not the same spec. You were quoted for 500, and 2500 respectively. Printing is an economy of scale, it's always cheaper to run more, 500 is a very short run.

Eh, cheaper per document - its never gonna be cheaper to print 2500 than 500.......

padocon

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

its never gonna be cheaper to print 2500 than 500.......

It is.

Columba Rad

Vistaprint.co.uk are very good, I've used them for the last 4/5 years. I got 1500 business cards done earlier this year. I done the design myself, it was a 4 colour job and I got a foil effect on the card with a matt laminate.

In total they cost me less than €70 inc post. On the Vistaprint.ie site I was only getting 500 cards for €70 with the same details as above, I did try bigger quantities, but the prices were crazy.

www.vistaprint.co.uk

Last year I got 10,000 A5 leaflets printed, single colour (reflex blue) on 80gram paper by http://www.tallaght.net/griffinprint. They cost €210 in total, I done the design myself.

Looking at the previous posts Reads seems to be the best value.

Someone mentioned outburstdesign.ie, their office is next door to mine. Although I've never had the opportunity to use their services, they're a very friendly group to chat to

Dublin_Gunner

padocon wrote: »

It is.

Right, you get me 2 quotes, from the same printer, one for 500 and one for 2500, and tell me which is cheaper.

For one - a run of 500 would usually be done digitally, and 2500 on litho, so that way, it may work out similar or cheaper (depending on the document size) - but its apples and oranges.

Mosey101

I work for a marketing agency and use a lot of different printers all the times so the list of printers that i can personally say are fantastic:

Digital Printers:

McGowans - Great place for nearly everything. I use them for my short to medium run stuff, and weird stuff.

Type Bureau - Gerry is the guy who owns it and is probably one of the nicest guys in the industry and very helpful. I would use this place for everything if i could but they're only short run small to medium format stuff

Total Graphics - Good for short run posters is normally what i get done there

Large Run
Inkzone - Very helpful (though can be very slow in getting back to you). I found their prices to be the most competitive (sometimes a whole lot more). I use these mostly for all large run standard stuff (leaflets, dye cuts etc)

Brunswick Press - Never used them personally but very competitive on quotes and i've herad they've got great quality

Colourworld - Same as Brunswick Press

Alternatively, a great place to check out is print24.ie. They CAN be cheaper but i'd always run their prices with a comparrisson. (They've been slipping a bit lately i've found).

Going abroad ISN'T cheaper. Certainly not in the UK anyway. you've got to shop around cause there are a lot of printers out there with horrible prices.

Dublin_Gunner

Mosey101 wrote: »

I work for a marketing agency and use a lot of different printers all the times so the list of printers that i can personally say are fantastic:

Digital Printers:

McGowans - Great place for nearly everything. I use them for my short to medium run stuff, and weird stuff.

Type Bureau - Gerry is the guy who owns it and is probably one of the nicest guys in the industry and very helpful. I would use this place for everything if i could but they're only short run small to medium format stuff

Total Graphics - Good for short run posters is normally what i get done there

Large Run
Inkzone - Very helpful (though can be very slow in getting back to you). I found their prices to be the most competitive (sometimes a whole lot more). I use these mostly for all large run standard stuff (leaflets, dye cuts etc)

Brunswick Press - Never used them personally but very competitive on quotes and i've herad they've got great quality

Colourworld - Same as Brunswick Press

Alternatively, a great place to check out is print24.ie. They CAN be cheaper but i'd always run their prices with a comparrisson. (They've been slipping a bit lately i've found).

Going abroad ISN'T cheaper. Certainly not in the UK anyway. you've got to shop around cause there are a lot of printers out there with horrible prices.

I'm with you on the Type Bureau - I've stated my case for them above also!! Great to work with.

Another for larger run to large run litho are:
Grafton Litho - great to work with, really good pre-press guys, fast turn around times (typically 3 days), and consistently the cheapest out of the panel I use. Would recommend them highly. I use them for brochures, leaflets, and even trade stand type stuff - extremely competitive.

padocon

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Right, you get me 2 quotes, from the same printer, one for 500 and one for 2500, and tell me which is cheaper.

For one - a run of 500 would usually be done digitally, and 2500 on litho, so that way, it may work out similar or cheaper (depending on the document size) - but its apples and oranges.

Per document the 2,500 one but total price the 500 one is cheaper

padocon

Dublin_Gunner Your right, sorry I was a bit sleepy and confused about the prices.:P

squishey

...I work for Vuepoint. We would hope to be competitive for most of our products, especially the short run digital print, short run wide format printing and exhibition/display equipment. All our prices are online.

Agree with above about McGowans, would send anything larger then we can handle over to them.

Quality product and excellent service is the name of the game.

JEST

Has anyone used www.pluspoint.ie? You can get prices for virtually anything, but you do have to be a business. Get a spread of prices from around the country. Brilliant.

johnlawlor

Just go to wilsons auction and pick up a color office printer for around 100 euros and buy some cheap toner on ebay... you can then print 100,000 flyers ! I did it and it saved me alot of cash

Dublin_Gunner

johnlawlor wrote: »

Just go to wilsons auction and pick up a color office printer for around 100 euros and buy some cheap toner on ebay... you can then print 100,000 flyers ! I did it and it saved me alot of cash

Possibly the most unhelpful thread I've read all day.

Do your design in Word eh?

unklerosco

johnlawlor wrote: »

Just go to wilsons auction and pick up a color office printer for around 100 euros and buy some cheap toner on ebay... you can then print 100,000 flyers ! I did it and it saved me alot of cash

Tis one way of doing it, although I've yet to find a cheaper way of doing my own flyers than getting them done at a printers. I find the expensive part is getting good quality paper cheap. If you want anything done on a 300gsm semi gloss paper u really need to use a printers...

Unless someone knows where u can get cheap, high quality paper

unklerosco

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Possibly the most unhelpful thread I've read all day.

Do your design in Word eh?

Its not that unhelpful, u can pick up some decent DTP software n do ur own designing...

I use http://www.serif.com/pageplus/ for doing up all my flyers etc etc.. Its sinch to use n u can get it on ebay fairly cheap.

Dublin_Gunner

unklerosco wrote: »

Its not that unhelpful, u can pick up some decent DTP software n do ur own designing...

I use http://www.serif.com/pageplus/ for doing up all my flyers etc etc.. Its sinch to use n u can get it on ebay fairly cheap.

I've used pageplus, and yes, its ok for flyers and stuff.

But as per the above poster states - where are you going to get decent paper? Unless you have a cutter, most commercial grade papers come in large sizes.


Seriously, the easiest, and cheapest way is to get a printer to do it for you. Most people don't try it, and spend ages trying to do it themselves because they think the cost is going to be prohibitive.

A printer will then box & deliver the job for you, saving you the hassle of that also - particularly for larger runs.

johnlawlor

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Possibly the most unhelpful thread I've read all day.

Do your design in Word eh?

If you want to survive in business today I would suggest you try to do everything inhouse and as cheap as possible , that was the point I was making........remember most flyers ect end up in the bin !

Dublin_Gunner

johnlawlor wrote: »

If you want to survive in business today I would suggest you try to do everything inhouse and as cheap as possible , that was the point I was making........remember most flyers ect end up in the bin !

Especially if printed on colour A4 laser paper....

Plus - it would most likely work out MORE expensive to print large amounts of flyers on an office colour printer. Think of the paper costs, ink costs, electrical costs, labour costs & time involved.

unklerosco

The labour and time would be your own so no cost there... U can get cheap toner if u look for it.. The paper is the problem tho, getting decent quality paper cheap is fairly hard. Even for short runs... I occasionally do 1000 fliers.. Usually use my local printer, I'd do it myself but they papers to expensive

johnlawlor

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Especially if printed on colour A4 laser paper....

Plus - it would most likely work out MORE expensive to print large amounts of flyers on an office colour printer. Think of the paper costs, ink costs, electrical costs, labour costs & time involved.

ok so i want 40,000 flyers
A4 paper in easons will do 1000 A5 flyers @ 2.99 euros : 40 x 3 =120 euros
average ebay toner will do for 40,000 flyers @ 35 euros
1hour to design flyer
electricity lets say =5 euros
color laser printer=100 euro

40,000 flyers for = 260 euros

obviously this would suit the struggling startup who wants to advertise his services door to door.....

Remember It all ends in the bin !

Dublin_Gunner

unklerosco wrote: »

The labour and time would be your own so no cost there... U can get cheap toner if u look for it.. The paper is the problem tho, getting decent quality paper cheap is fairly hard. Even for short runs... I occasionally do 1000 fliers.. Usually use my local printer, I'd do it myself but they papers to expensive

But for full colour, for a colour laserjet printer, you'd be talking around 50 quid at least, and it would be long gone by 1000 full colour docs...

http://www.myofficeportal.org/best-cost-per-page-hp-color-laser-printers.htm
HP Colour Laserjet 3600

...what makes these color laser printers stand out is in their cost per page...the cpp is around 9 cents.

So for 1000 flyers, thats around €90 (as the average cost is around 9c p/p for arguments sake I equated 1c US = 1c Euro).

And thats the cheaper end of the scale.

Each colour cartridge for that printer would be around €90, yielding around 4000 prints (roughly).

So lets say, full colour, with black prints, you're talking €360 for 3000~ (I've yet to see a cartridge yield what it states), 1 sided, flyers. Thats not including the cost of the paper either.

I had letterheads printed (4/4 on 100gsm laser) recently enough, and it cost €300 for 2,500 delivered - and that was sort of expensive tbh.

Its a lot easier just to get it printed by a professional printer - and the quality will be better too.

Dublin_Gunner

johnlawlor wrote: »

ok so i want 40,000 flyers
A4 paper in easons will do 1000 A5 flyers @ 2.99 euros : 40 x 3 =120 euros
average ebay toner will do for 40,000 flyers @ 35 euros
1hour to design flyer
electricity lets say =5 euros
color laser printer=100 euro

40,000 flyers for = 260 euros

obviously this would suit the struggling startup who wants to advertise his services door to door.....

Remember It all ends in the bin !

lol colour laser toner (C.M.Y.K cartridges) will not do 40,000 prints. Thats hilarious!!

A black toner for a mono laser printer will do roughly 6,000-10,000 prints, mono, depending on colour coverage, and they're gonna set you back €100 a piece or so.

So you plan on cutting 20,000 sheets of A4 in half yourself?

For a startup - you can afford the few hundred quid to have 1 col flyers printed professionally, and will save you all the hassle.

And you seem to think that if you do it yourself / in house it doesn't cost you anything. It does. Wages. Time is money. If you either do it yourself, or have a staff member do it, thats the wage for the time spent doing it you haven't equated either.

johnlawlor

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

lol colour laser toner (C.M.Y.K cartridges) will not do 40,000 prints. Thats hilarious!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10-Bottles-of-Universal-Toner-Refill-Powder-10-x_W0QQitemZ120451904645QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_Printing_PrinterInkCatridges_JN?hash=item1c0b7e3485&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

10 bottles of toner ! for 39 quid...... and there is cheaper out there !

I also bought a guillotine in aldi for 29.99 and it does a great job cutting ! For me, I prefer to DIY it although it might not suit everyone.....

Dublin_Gunner

johnlawlor wrote: »

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10-Bottles-of-Universal-Toner-Refill-Powder-10-x_W0QQitemZ120451904645QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CamerasPhoto_Printing_PrinterInkCatridges_JN?hash=item1c0b7e3485&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

10 bottles of toner ! for 39 quid...... and there is cheaper out there !

I also bought a guillotine in aldi for 29.99 and it does a great job cutting ! For me, I prefer to DIY it although it might not suit everyone.....

Your toner will not work in your colour laser printer though...

johnlawlor

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Your toner will not work in your colour laser printer though...

Its a price example....... not " my toner " anyway I picked up about 60 assorted toners, color and b/w at an auction for 80 euros, I have about 5 sackfull of inkdrop inkjet cartriges for 20 euros should do me for a while ! also a hp 4345mfp for 75 euros and a xerox 7335 for 800 euros. what a deal!

Maybe Im just lucky with toners and printers !

johnlawlor

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Your toner will not work in your colour laser printer though...

Its a price example....... not " my toner " anyway I picked up about 60 assorted toners, color and b/w at an auction for 80 euros, I have about 5 sackfull of inkdrop inkjet cartriges for 20 euros should do me for a while ! also a hp 4345mfp for 75 euros and a xerox 7335 for 800 euros. what a deal!

Maybe Im just lucky with toners and printers !

johnlawlor

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Your toner will not work in your colour laser printer though...

Its a price example....... not " my toner " anyway I picked up about 60 assorted toners, color and b/w at an auction for 80 euros, I have about 5 sackfull of inkdrop inkjet cartriges for 20 euros should do me for a while ! also a hp 4345mfp for 75 euros and a xerox 7335 for 800 euros. what a deal!

Maybe Im just lucky with toners and printers !

padocon

Double vision or duplicate post?

padocon

johnlawlor wrote: »

ok so i want 40,000 flyers
A4 paper in easons will do 1000 A5 flyers @ 2.99 euros : 40 x 3 =120 euros
average ebay toner will do for 40,000 flyers @ 35 euros
1hour to design flyer
electricity lets say =5 euros
color laser printer=100 euro

40,000 flyers for = 260 euros

obviously this would suit the struggling startup who wants to advertise his services door to door.....

Remember It all ends in the bin !

How do you cut the A4 paper?
Does it take all day?

Columba Rad

padocon wrote: »

How do you cut the A4 paper?
Does it take all day?

All day?, that would take days...

-Patrick

unklerosco

U guys must be afraid of doing a bit of hard work... Its easily doable.. Myself n the GF run our own business n we've been doing that sort of thing for years..

Columba Rad

unklerosco wrote: »

U guys must be afraid of doing a bit of hard work... Its easily doable.. Myself n the GF run our own business n we've been doing that sort of thing for years..

I'm not afraid of any type of work. I'm just saying it would take literally days to print 40,000 leaflets on a color laser printer, wouldn't it?

I wouldn't have the time to print them myself, I'm a busy man

-Patrick

unklerosco

Depending on the printer u could do it in a day... Mind u, you wouldn't get a printer thats fast enough for €100...

Anyways... 40,000 is a bit of an exageration... But it is doable

Culchie

unklerosco wrote: »

U guys must be afraid of doing a bit of hard work... Its easily doable.. Myself n the GF run our own business n we've been doing that sort of thing for years..

If you can get 40000 leaflets done for €260, I would suggest yourself and GF's time would be far more productive working on other things.

It's a classic situation that most small businesses fall into at some time or other (myself included). The owner/manager falls into the trap of doing the paperwork, the printing, the invoicing.
This work can be outsourced, or hire a bookeeper in at an hourly rate, while you get on with doing some value added stuff and opening up new markets/customers.

Businesses expand by owners/manager working on the business, not working in the business.