Industry Trends

GotPrint FAQ: What a Real Office Manager Wants You to Know About Pricing, Legitimacy & Finding the Right Print Shop

GotPrint FAQ: Straight Answers from an Office Manager

I manage all the print ordering for our 150-person company—business cards, event posters, promotional tote bags, you name it. Over the years, I've probably placed a few hundred orders across a dozen different vendors. I get asked a lot of questions by colleagues about where to get things printed. So, I'm putting down the answers to the stuff people actually ask me, and a couple of things I wish someone had told me when I started.

1. Is GotPrint legit, or is it one of those sketchy online shops?

Totally legit. Seriously. I've used them for about three years now. The thing that convinced me wasn't just the website—anyone can make a slick site—but the consistency. Paper weights are what they say they are, colors match the proofs pretty closely, and everything shows up in a standard, professional-looking box. No handwritten labels or weird shipping manifests.

Here's my litmus test: invoicing. A legit business vendor can provide a proper, itemized invoice that your finance department won't reject. GotPrint's system generates clean PDF invoices with all the details (PO numbers, tax breakdowns, shipping costs). That's a huge deal. I learned that the hard way back in 2021 with a different vendor. Found a "great price" on some letterhead, saved about $80. They sent a handwritten receipt in the box. Finance kicked back my expense report, and I had to cover it from our department's petty cash. Never again. Now, invoicing capability is my first check.

2. GotPrint vs. Vistaprint: which one is actually better?

Okay, I get why people ask this—it's the classic matchup. But after managing roughly $15k in print spend annually, I've come to believe this is the wrong question. The better question is: better for what?

Let me rephrase that. For standard, gotta-have-it-tomorrow business cards where the design is already perfect in their template? Vistaprint is fine—maybe even faster. But when I need something a bit more custom, or I'm ordering a larger batch of mixed items (like envelopes and posters for a trade show), GotPrint's pricing structure often works out better. Their base prices tend to be lower, but you have to watch for the shipping costs, which can add up.

To be fair, Vistaprint runs more frequent "free shipping" promotions, which can be a game-changer for a single, small order. But if you're ordering in volume across multiple products, GotPrint's per-item savings usually win out, even with paid shipping. Your mileage may vary if you're just doing one-off tiny orders.

3. What's the deal with GotPrint promo codes? Are they worth hunting for?

They're worth a 30-second Google search, but don't build your budget around them. I probably use a code on about half my orders. You can typically find one for 10-20% off, or sometimes free shipping over a certain amount.

My strategy? I build my cart first to see the full price with shipping. Then I search "gotprint promo [current month]" to see if there's a code. If it knocks off another 15%, great. If not, I usually just place the order anyway if the timeline is tight. The discount is nice, but reliability is way more important than squeezing out an extra 5%.

One red flag I've learned to avoid: any site claiming to have a "guaranteed 50% off everything" code. Those are almost always expired or fake. Stick to the reputable coupon sites or, sometimes, GotPrint will have a banner right on their own homepage.

4. I need transparent gift wrapping paper for a corporate event. Can I get that from a print shop?

You can, but should you? This is a perfect example of a "can vs. should" situation. GotPrint and similar shops print on vinyl, which you could use as wrapping. But it's not designed for that—it's meant for banners or decals. It wouldn't tear like paper; you'd need scissors. It's also way more expensive per square foot than just buying actual transparent gift wrap from a party supply store.

I had a marketing intern ask me this once for a donor gala. We priced it out: custom-printed transparent vinyl sheets were about $3 per square foot. We found perfectly nice, pre-printed transparent cellophane wrap at a wholesale party store for about $0.30 per square foot. The savings were a no-brainer. Use print shops for what they're good at: branded materials. Use other suppliers for generic event supplies.

5. How do I find things like "a Marc Jacobs tote bag near me" for a quick promo item?

If you need the actual brand name bag, you're in retail territory, not printing. You'd need an authorized retailer or a licensed promotional products distributor (like 4imprint or Custom Ink). They have relationships to stock those branded blanks.

But if what you really want is a high-quality tote bag that feels like a designer bag with your logo on it, then a print shop like GotPrint is a great option. Look for their "premium" or "heavyweight" tote bag options. The key specs are fabric weight (like 12 oz or higher) and whether it has reinforced stitching and bottom gussets. A well-made, plain cotton tote with a clean print can feel super upscale. I ordered some for a board meeting last year, and people complimented them way more than the cheaper, flimsier ones we'd used before.

6. What's something you learned about printing that most people don't think about?

How much physical space the paper takes up. Seriously. This sounds silly, but it's a real logistics issue.

Early on, I ordered 5,000 high-quality, thick (100# cover) postcards. The price was great. Then they arrived on a pallet with four massive boxes. Each box was about the size of a mini-fridge. We had to store them in a conference room for two months until the event. I had no plan for that.

Now, I always consider: Where will this live until we use it? For big orders of dense items like ceramic mugs or thick manuals, the shipping cost and storage hassle are part of the total cost. Sometimes, paying a bit more per item for a slower, staggered shipment schedule is worth it to avoid a warehouse problem.

7. Final question: What's your bottom-line advice for someone choosing a print vendor?

Clarity beats clever pricing every time. I'm somewhat skeptical of any deal that seems too good to be true. The vendors I stick with—GotPrint included—are the ones where I can easily see the base price, the shipping options and costs, and the production time before I finalize the order.

Per FTC guidelines (ftc.gov), advertising needs to be truthful and not misleading. A transparent checkout process is a good sign of a legitimate operation. So, my advice is to run a test. Put a small, simple item in your cart on a couple of different sites and go all the way to the final checkout screen (without paying). Compare the all-in price and the estimated delivery date. That final number, with no surprises, is the only one that matters.

For us, GotPrint has earned a spot as one of our three go-to vendors because their process is predictable. But I still run that test every 12-18 months—because things change, and my job is to make sure we're always getting the right balance of cost, quality, and reliability.