Send Out Cards established by Kody Bateman in 2004 in Salt Lake City Utah has grown from a $800,000/year business to one turning over $70 million in 2009.
While this growth is staggering, we need to ask Is Send Out Cards a scam? or are customers and distributors getting involved in a real deal?
In this Send Out Cards review we are going to look at what the company does, what support and training are given to distributors, the quality of their products, costs to get involved and what flaws are evident in the business. At the end you ll be able to make up your mind if you want to get involved either as a customer or a distributor.
Kody Bateman started the business after the passing of his brother when he realised that acting on a prompting by sending a card is difficult for most people. When a prompting enters their head it often passes just as quick because usually a person doesn t have a card handy at home or they get put off the fact of having to go to a shop, park their car, find a card, write their message , then go to the post office, wait in a que to buy a stamp and finally post their card. Most people say I ll do that tomorrow but unfortunately that day never comes and their heartfelt thought is not expressed to their potential recipient.
Send Out Cards offers customers or distributors a virtual store service which can be operated from anywhere in the world whereby they can choose a card from over 10,000 selections, create a personal message in their own hand writing, upload a photograph, select a recipient and click send on their computer.
The Send Out Cards team then prints their card, puts a stamp on it and posts it for them. Printing occurs in Utah and Australia. Distributors and customers can take advantage of the company s campaign manager feature which allows people to create cards, select recipients and have those cards sent at a future date.
Such a service sounds appealing but is the final product quality? The gsm card quality is the same used by all the major card manufacturers but as opposed to the off the shelf cards offered by Hallmark cards and American Greeting cards, Send Out Cards products can be personalised with you own message. You can even add photographs to give your card a more personal touch. By uploading your own hand writing you can save time when writing cards in mass.
With over 8 billion cards being sent annually in the USA alone, there is a lot of competition. Hallmark cards and American Greeting cards dominate the market with physical greeting cards. Blue Mountain cards and 123 Greeting cards offer an ecard service that is also popular. Send Out Cards takes the pluses of these companies by providing an online service that produces a physical, quality card just by clicking send on your computer.
Card costs vary but generally range from $3 to $6 for a quality card. As a distributor or wholesale customer of Send out Cards, your cards cost just 62 cents. The company also includes your first 100 cards with these packages when you start.
Getting started with Send Out Cards can be as little as $49 for a SOC Box. This will allow you to put your toe in the water and trial the company. You don t get all the features with this product and your cards will cost you $2 each. the SOC Box does give you 10 cards included in the package.
Retail customers can acquire a retail pack for $99 which includes the Picture Plus feature (you can upload your own photographs). Card costs are now reduced to 98 cents each.
But if you are in small business such as real estate, financial services, mortgage lending, medical, health or beauty, then a wholesale package at $298 is your best deal. Cost per card is now 62 cents and includes all the features plus 100 cards. For those wanting to start a Send Out Cards business then you need to acquire the Entreprenuer package at $398. this pack includes all the same benefits of the wholesale package but includes a distributor kit allowing you to conduct a business.
Now up to this point you maybe thinking that Send Out Cards looks like a great service or business. But what flaws are there.
Well you need to be organised to some extent with this service. Send Out Cards still relies on the postal services of a country. There in lies some issues. Postal services are notorius for being late and are often subject to having strikes. The message here is send your cards early. You should budget for approx 5 days including printing time and postal time.
Humans are also involved in the process which can ultimately lead to problems. Mistakes can be made but with Send out Cards they are compensated by the company if they are at fault.
Computers at times also have glitches and with an increasing print run, sometimes these glitches occur more frequently. However based on the larger broader picture such glitches are very minor.
So is Send Out Cards the real deal? Well you be the judge. Before you get involved in any service as a customer or distributor make sure you do your own due diligence.
With businesses trying to figure out how to stay in contact with their customers in an economical manner or people just wanting to send a heartfelt message quickly, the 8 billion card market is certainly growing.
Author Resource:
Greg Reed is the owner of the virtual store The Card Emporium where you can discover how you can select a greeting card, personalise the message in your own handwriting, add photos and click send on your computer. Grab a free sample at http://www.thecardsuperstore.com
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