Signs 365 my new go to for banners

[Depotdes]

Was ordering some banners a customer needed in a rush. We have always used 4over for our banners. This time we went to group ship them and the option was gone. 12.05 to ship each banner? No thanks. I've already found it hard enough to keep a decent profit margin on banners and customers happy. (Thanks vistsprint for your cheap garbage).

Went to signs365. Placed my order Tuesday night and they were shipped Wednesday and in my hands Thursday. The price was cheaper than 4over. Shipping was MUCH cheaper. I was able to increase my profit margin and keep a customer very happy. If I used 4over - I would have been lucky to have them by Monday. The quality is much better than 4over as well!

 

[visual800]

signs to trade banners are cheaper not quite as quick though

 

[DerekHealy]

My Roland XC-540 only prints 54' rolls, have been looking for a more professional source to get larger banners printed as I have been using banner tape to seam banners together. Just made my first order with Signs365, arrived in a one day ship as I am in Northern Wisconsin. I went with their cheapest banner option as I need something to only last two weeks outside for an event.
I've attached photos of the options I chose on the website and my shipping choice and price. Also, attached pictures of the banner to give an idea of print quality and hem/grommet quality. I will be using Signs365 again!

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I hear a lot of people talking about signs2trade and I gave them a shot but their prices are higher then signs365...at least for me they are.

 

[VTSigns]

I hear a lot of people talking about signs2trade and I gave them a shot but their prices are higher then signs365...at least for me they are.

It might depend on what you are ordering maybe but for Signs2Trade, standard matte banner is is $0.89 per square foot versus Signs365 is $1.00 per square foot. I think Signs2Trade is far superior and turnaround is guaranteed next day so no worries on timeframe.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

It might depend on what you are ordering maybe but for Signs2Trade, standard matte banner is is $0.89 per square foot versus Signs365 is $1.00 per square foot. I think Signs2Trade is far superior and turnaround is guaranteed next day so no worries on timeframe.

Mainly I get printed vinyl...signs2traade is like a $1 more a sq. ft. with no lamination. Asked if they would price match and it was a no-go. 365 is next day too, sometimes same day if you order early enough.

 

[LarryB]

I’ve used both and can tell you the quality from signs2trade is much better as well as quality control. I just received a 8’ x 40’ banner from Signs2trade and it was perfect.

I have had quality issues with signs365

 

[brentjosker]

I personally use georgia print co for all my banner printing needs. They are cheaper then everyone hands down...

 

[Mark H]

Was ordering some banners a customer needed in a rush. We have always used 4over for our banners. This time we went to group ship them and the option was gone. 12.05 to ship each banner? No thanks. I've already found it hard enough to keep a decent profit margin on banners and customers happy. (Thanks vistsprint for your cheap garbage).

Went to signs365. Placed my order Tuesday night and they were shipped Wednesday and in my hands Thursday. The price was cheaper than 4over. Shipping was MUCH cheaper. I was able to increase my profit margin and keep a customer very happy. If I used 4over - I would have been lucky to have them by Monday. The quality is much better than 4over as well!

Do you see any advantages to Signs365 heat set hems vs. the stitched hems of B2signs (not sure what 4over does) Sometimes I do want stitching going through my graphics so I can't use B2sign. But, stitching seems to be a more durable option

 

[kalcopy]

We just did our first order from Sign365 for some 4ft x 16ft banners. Customer wanted them in a hurry and on 18oz material. We were swamped in store and only had 13oz material on had.

Quality is pretty decent IMO. Printing wasn't quite as crisp as if we ran them in house, but these banners are going 20ft up in the air so no one will notice.

They did miss a 3'x3' we ordered with this project, but got it to us ASAP when we called.

Overall I'm pretty happy with Sign365.

 

[bannertime]

Signs365 does decent work. Just do your self a favor and don't rely on their fast turn around/shipping. It'll put you in a bind real fast. We currently have placed 137 orders through them and 7-8 of them had issues. So 95% reliability isn't bad but, the times they were bad, boy were we hurting. Issues typically were quality control issues with the occasional shipping error(sent an order to another state), and on a major job they shipped freight and missed the deadline (was the first time we had an order ship freight and was unaware that they didn't notify on the switch)

We loved their older HIT service before it went to 100% markup. The shipping is still crazy fast and cheap. Just don't get in the habit of relying on that fast turn around. CYA and pad your delivery time.

 

[morty87]

I can't believe how cheap shipping is! In Canada that would be 50-60 bucks for 2-3 day shipping..at least!

 

[visual800]

i order all banners from signs2trade...HUGE BANNERS! I do not do RUSH anything anymore. I dont care who it is for. If you need rush you need to call someone else and place that burden on them, Im too old to play that game again. If you call me on wednesday and absolutely need a banner by friday I cannot help you BUT I can "possibly" have you one by the following tuesday or wednesday. I have learned that by dropping these RUSH orders in life it really brings your stress level down lol.

If a customer needs a banner and wants to know when they will get it I will always go to signs2trade and place in cart and see when it ships and then add 1 day to it for possible issues, if that timeframe does not suit the client they can go elsewhere and get one made local that is not hemmed and sewn.

 

[BALLPARK]

We order from Signs2Trade and B2sign. Both do good work... But knowing that Signs2Trade uses Vutek printers gives us a better understanding of what the colors will look like when finished. We placed about 3k to 4k worth of banners from them in the last 60 days. All looked great and on time! We even had some that had to have some extra support and that was not a problem for them. Some we only needed heat weld hems and some we needed to be sewn...not a problem.

I would say we have the most faith in Signs2Trade for our banners. Their equipment is second to none between pairing Zund's with multiple Vutek printers.

If you have questions about Signs2Trade and your order just contact them. They will also provide quotes for larger amounts and adjust as needed with higher quantities.

We have found that banners slow us down to much so we order in all banners, when possible. I believe everyone can profit more by ordering in banners and focusing on other projects within their business. I could be wrong... but it works great for us!

We have a Vutek QS printer and a Miller Weldmaster for heat hems. There is just not enough profit in our area on banners to warrant our time to be spent on making them.

If you have not used them in the past... I would try them for sure!!! I prefer Signs2Trade and B2Sign over Signs365.

 

[ams]

Still cheaper to print your own. I pay about 52 cents a sq ft doing it myself.

 

[BALLPARK]

Still cheaper to print your own. I pay about 52 cents a sq ft doing it myself.

I agree the square foot price is a bit cheaper to print it in-house. But the labor time and finishing eats it up quickly. I just think there are more profitable and important aspects to spend our time on. We don't have a bunch of employees to do it. If I'm working on a banner that is a huge failure of time management for us.

We view it as opportunity lost when we work on banners. That time could have been spent working on higher profit projects or working on expanding our business with new clients.

 

[TimToad]

My Roland XC-540 only prints 54' rolls, have been looking for a more professional source to get larger banners printed as I have been using banner tape to seam banners together. Just made my first order with Signs365, arrived in a one day ship as I am in Northern Wisconsin. I went with their cheapest banner option as I need something to only last two weeks outside for an event.
I've attached photos of the options I chose on the website and my shipping choice and price. Also, attached pictures of the banner to give an idea of print quality and hem/grommet quality. I will be using Signs365 again!
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When we order banners from a wholesaler we never ask for grommets. We prefer to place our grommets fully over the double thickness of the hem, not halfway on, halfway off. For oversize banners, we've been impressed with the overall quality and speed of signs365.

 

[unclebun]

If you can't make enough money making banners yourself, that is a clear indication that you are not charging enough for them. Here's a hint: The absurdly low wholesale prices charged by the internet suppliers are not even close to an indication of what you should be charging for a banner.

 

[ams]

I agree the square foot price is a bit cheaper to print it in-house. But the labor time and finishing eats it up quickly. I just think there are more profitable and important aspects to spend our time on. We don't have a bunch of employees to do it. If I'm working on a banner that is a huge failure of time management for us.

We view it as opportunity lost when we work on banners. That time could have been spent working on higher profit projects or working on expanding our business with new clients.

If your doing one or two a month then yes. But if you are doing at least a half dozen a month it's worth it. I am the lowest on banners at $5.75 / sq. ft. in town, next closest is $7. A roll of 54" X 120' of banner material is $92.99, I just printed two banners that are 50" X 12' 6" and charged $300 each for them. So that is $600 when ink was $8.24 and it took less than 1/7 of the roll.

 

[BALLPARK]

We could be doing it wrong... I'm just offering up suggestions to those that may like what I have to say about focusing on higher profit projects or spending that time working on ways to increase your sales.

Again... opportunity cost is something that we value over making banners. We sell a lot of banners over the course of a year... easily several hundred.

We make more money by subbing out and spending our time reeling in the bigger projects. But we are a small shop... We don't have a bunch of employees looking for something to do. When we put our time into something it has to be worth it and banners are low profit margins. They could be sold for $7 per square foot and I could easily find a better way to spend my time. They are low profit margins and our industry has much better projects to offer for money that can change the course of your company.

My suggestion to those reading this thread... sub out your banners, when possible. Spend that time on securing the larger projects as that is what will fill in the bigger picture for you in the end. I'm not saying sub out every single banner like it's the law. Just be smart about your time. Our largest client came from sending out a massive amount of emails with a professional style brochure. Some view that as a waste of time. Spend your time on making sure your business has the marketing tools, website, and social media presence that will help you land the bigger projects. Don't spend a couple hours a day making banners unless you have plenty of employees that need something to do.