Has VistaPrint shot itself in the foot?

[GeorgeA]

I admire a lot of things about VistaPrint: its remarkable level of automation, its marketing, its web-site optimization. Those are the main factors that have made it the world's biggest web-to-print service. So, as I was doing research for an article on w2p, I was surprised to find that VistaPrint has created a fairly severe PR problem for itself.

It has nothing to do with printing or with VistaPrint’s own offerings on its web site. The problem is that the company teamed up with some dubious marketing partners who have enrolled VistaPrint customers in monthly services they didn’t want and didn’t realize they were signing up for, charging $14.95/month to their credit cards. This has resulted in hundreds (probably thousands) of irate posts on various web sites, many complaints to the Better Business Bureau, and a handful of class-action lawsuits.

If you want to get a sense of the problem, trying googling “vistaprint scam” and click on a few of the 60,000 hits. I have also pulled together some of the details here:
VistaPrint's public-relations quagmire

I guess if you live by the web you better watch out or the web will come back to bite you.

So far, the problems (which started more than a year ago) don’t seem to have hurt VistaPrint’s growth or profitability. But in its latest quarterly filing with the SEC, VistaPrint warns investors that its revenue from referral fees will be declining in the future. I take that as an indication that VistaPrint is moving away from these deals with third parties.

 

[[email protected]]

Vista Print

Vista Print

This entire web 2 print push is a scam. They will sell you Data Bases and charge lots of bucks for things you do not really need.

If you are sick call a local doctor
If your roof leaks call a local roofer
If you need printing down call a local printer
Who needs this entire BS that the big guys force down our throats. These sites IMHO cheapen the artistry of printing. Give me real ink any day from a local printer I can see and say thanks to.

 

[OutSourceD]

As the "small printer" is concerned, "printing" is pretty much roadkill. You can thank the internet.

 

[dynamicprinter]

I'll have to check out the VistaPrint complaints, I don't know about you but everything I see that comes from them isn't very good quality so I don't give them much thought.
Web to print? I'll wait to give an opinion on that don't know enough about it. Other than the big push towards it. The internet has changed the game but I 'm trying to use it to my advantage and expand my local market.

 

[AndrewAA]

This entire web 2 print push is a scam. They will sell you Data Bases and charge lots of bucks for things you do not really need.

If you are sick call a local doctor
If your roof leaks call a local roofer
If you need printing down call a local printer
Who needs this entire BS that the big guys force down our throats. These sites IMHO cheapen the artistry of printing. Give me real ink any day from a local printer I can see and say thanks to.

Like it or not, consumers are turning to the internet to buy everything from groceries to cars and suppliers in all industries are moving their store fronts to that arena to meet them, because if they don't someone else will.

It need not be viewed as a threat, but an opportunity. It need not detract from the quality of your finished product, a heavily marketed but poor quality product will not produce repeat custom no matter how flashy your website.

These solutions do provide everyday printers with a platform on which to build their store front to meet the changing demands of print buyers who want it all sitting at their desks or on their laptops in front of the TV at home, any time of day or night.

I hope we never loose the personal touch and ability to go to the local printers and sit with the designer in the studio making last minute tweaks, but not everyone wants that in today's world.

Times change.

 

[cymk]

Prices for your product

Prices for your product

Andrew,
I agree about the Times change. But I disagree about the cost and proprietary aspects of this W2P software being offered. It must be hosted on the provider’s server from what I can see.
Since you seem like an honest guy do us all a favor:
State the cost per month to a USA printer to use your service. Forget the demo stuff and sales pitch; I have been thru all that. I am interested in several things. How much to purchase your software to run on my server and not host on your server. I prefer my customer’s names to remain on my server and not some box that shares VDP info. Will it run on a UNIX system? Does it require a windows server?
I wish to see prices stated here for a small printer that does $500K-$1M a year. Full bore all the templates etc. I look forward to your post on the costs associated with your W2P solution.
Let us all share how much your company charges for your product and services. I am shopping also and your site has no prices for your product.
CYMK
State the price for all to see with tech support without tech support.

 

[AndrewAA]

Hi CMYK,

My comments were honestly with my "consumer" head on, as someone who finds himself moving most of his spend to the internet and intended no sales pitch, which is why I didn't mention products just my feeling for the movement of consumer spend, but you've spotted from my website that I do resell an online design and print solution here in the UK.

As a frame of reference a small UK printer with up to 250 transactions a month can be up and running with all templates no hidden extras for sub £6,000 (that's GBP in case the currency symbol doesn't display). Monthlys including support at that level are around £200.

I can understand your nervousness about your data being held elsewhere, but the contracts are clear, the customer owns everything and any access of this would be a breach and the customer have the right to take the site away. Hosting an a known server platform specifically configured for the application keeps the support and installation costs down.

There are solutions out there that aren't hosted too. Each have their pros and cons.

Hope that helps. I'm interested in the topic and have a technical back ground, I'm not a pushy sales type

Regards,
Andrew

 

[Brittany]

Wow! That is awful about Vista Print and how they charged those hidden fees. Fees should always be upfront and not hidden. It's very misleading.