I have actively had an etsy shop for about 15 months. In the same amount of time, I have had about six different versions of business cards. The first ones I typed out on a typewriter. When my typewriter ran out of printer tape, I ordered a stamp (from simonstamp.com) and started stamping them. Then I bought an embosser and added a raised "joy" to each card.
Once I added letterpress to the shop and started to bring in a few more sales, I decided to order cards. I used vistaprint.com and was very happy with the results. The online printing service runs amazing sales. Their premium business cards (you pick a design, they print full color) are $19.99 for 250. But they usually have promotions that reduce the cost of the cards to free. Even when the printing is free, you still have to pay to upload your custom design ($4.99), to add a full color backside ($12.99) and upload a backside design ($4.99). But that equals out to about $23 + shipping. Not too bad for 250 cards. (ps. just want to be clear that I am not sponsored by vistaprint - just a happy customer.)
My theory on business cards is : DO NOT SPEND A LOT OF MONEY. I mean, spend a lot of money if your job is flipping houses. Or if you create expensive wedding invitation suites. If you normally ship out $5 worth of merchandise, like I often do - sending a $1 business card with the purchase is like throwing away 20% of your profit before you even consider your costs. Not genius. Your primary concern with business cards should not be, "Oh no, I am going to run out!" Instead it should be, "Oh, man, I hope I run out!"
Because ordering cards from an internet print shop is relatively inexpensive, I have no qualms about giving out cards and mailing them along with purchases because I can always get more. And the sooner I get to order more, the sooner I get to do a re-brand for myself and come up with different colors and different designs.
On my newest cards, the "enjoy" and the "elise joy blaha" are my own handwriting. (I decided I am not going to make a font because I like how I write words, not how I write individual letters.) To get them on to the card, I wrote them on white paper with black pen and then scanned them into the computer. I played around with the magic wand tool in Photoshop Elements to make them the right color/size.
I am happy with the result. It is something much different than the photo-heavy cards that I have been passing out for the last year. I am sure I will change it all over again when these start to run out - but that's my favorite part.
