Moo Yay!

[digiology]

The exclusives at IS are excited about their new business cards and they should be because they sound cool!

Well I don't plan on becoming exclusive any time soon so I decided to go and order some for myself.
www.moo.com

100 minicards with up to 100 different images. I can't wait to see how they turn out (and they take Paypal).

Anyone here have any moo experience?

[Pixart]

They ship from England though but I previously played with their site for quite a while and liked what I saw.   For those in North America, Zazzle just added several sizes of cards for a very fair price.

[yingyang0]

I don't think the ones that we're getting from IS are the minicards, they're going to be regular size business cards that appear to be a special order from Moo. I like that they're switching suppliers because the old ones were on horrible card stock so I couldn't even think of using them.

I'll tell you what I think when I get them.

[Tazzy]

My daughter has ordered the mini cards twice from them and was very pleased with them and they look really nice and are very sturdy, not like the usual business card.  Not sure either whether you will get the mini cards or regular business cards, but what ever you get, you should be very pleased with them.

[digiology]

Yeah... IS will get standard size business cards (a special order) not minis.

My only choice was the minicard. I should have them in about 10 days. I'll let you know what I think.

Pixart - I went to zazzle but its seems a bit more $$$. I may use them for an upcoming annual calendar project though.

[Lee Torrens]

I've got moo mini cards.  They're excellent, though don't believe their delivery time-table. I ordered mine with two days to spare prior to going to an overseas exhibition, but they arrived the day after I left.

That said, I expect to be buying from them again.  I'm happy with the product itself and the price.

[Pixart]

Pixart - I went to zazzle but its seems a bit more $$$. I may use them for an upcoming annual calendar project though.

Nope, 19.99 for 100 minis at Moo and 18.99 for 100 minis at Zazzle.
But I hate to promote either when I haven't tried.... It's a new product for them - I think I got it on a newsletter last month - so I haven't heard how the quality is, but I think I'll be ordering a set of "chubbies"  - I have two big jobs coming up and I'll slip a two sided chubby (the size of a wallet photo) into my my packages to promote my other products.   I usually stick in a bus card, but this size would be sorta business card/sorta advertisement.

One thing about the Moo cards I liked was that you could split up the photos on the cards.  I THINK - but look this up - that Zazzle bulk discounts any combination of cards.   

[digiology]

Oh I see the price now in the smaller text. Too bad you can't choose mulitple images. I do like the chubby size though. How sturdy are they and are they laminated?

[helix7]

I like em. Cool format and style.

I mentioned at the istock forum that non-exclusives could just order their own, and someone mentioned that istock wouldn't allow the use of their logo. I didn't want to say it there, but I'll say this here: Why would istock need to know?

Or any site for that matter. Is there some legal restriction preventing someone from getting their own cards made up with a microstock company logo on them? Vector versions of the logos can be found or easily reproduced, and promo codes are easy to get. Just design your own.

[yingyang0]

Or any site for that matter. Is there some legal restriction preventing someone from getting their own cards made up with a microstock company logo on them? Vector versions of the logos can be found or easily reproduced, and promo codes are easy to get. Just design your own.

Yes it's called copyright and trademark infringement. Moo would be crazy to produce unauthorized cards and risk losing such a profitable contract, nor are you likely to have another legitimate printer willing to reproduce a corporate logo without authorization from that corporation.

[helix7]

Or any site for that matter. Is there some legal restriction preventing someone from getting their own cards made up with a microstock company logo on them? Vector versions of the logos can be found or easily reproduced, and promo codes are easy to get. Just design your own.

Yes it's called copyright and trademark infringement. Moo would be crazy to produce unauthorized cards and risk losing such a profitable contract, nor are you likely to have another legitimate printer willing to reproduce a corporate logo without authorization from that corporation.

But we're contributors also. I'm no less affiliated with istock than an exclusive. My non-exclusive contract just means that I don't get these freebies. In terms of copyright and trademark, I wouldn't be infringing on istock's protected logo any more than an exclusive would be. I'm still an employee of sorts, still using the istock logo in the same way, just that instead of istock footing the printing bill, I'd do it myself.

I'm not even contemplating doing this myself, and if I order cards from Moo they will have my website and logo on them, not istock's. Just saying that I think it's possible, and maybe even legal. I could be wrong, but I just don't see how being non-exclusive diminishes my rights as a contributor to use the istock logo to promote istock. 

[digiology]

Ah Yingyang0... the voice of reason! I have to admit I thought it would be cool to add a row of icons like the ones we have here in our forum posts.

It appears to be a highly automated process and I have my doubts that they are able to check/verify content on each print order (but I could be wrong). Also you have to check mark a legal disclaimer that you own all copyrights when placing your order. Moo wouldn't be responsible then. Right?

I also agree somewhat with Helix. These agencies are representing us. If we can use the logos on our websites why not on our business cards?

[helix7]

...These agencies are representing us. If we can use the logos on our websites why not on our business cards?

Exactly. These companies don't seem too protective of logo usage when it comes to getting some free publicity for themselves. They have no problem with us posting logos on websites, they sell branded promos (t-shirts, mousepads, etc), and obviously don't have a problem with branded business cards in general since they offer them through the exclusive program. I can understand a company wanting to protect how a logo is used, making sure that it is a current logo, properly marked (trademark, registration), properly displayed and all that. I just don't buy copyright infringement as a reason they could possibly oppose this. 

And this is all assuming that they'd oppose it at all. I haven't contacted istock to find out, so who knows for sure.