Plastic Card Printing Basics - at a Glance

Information | Instant Quote | Templates | Samples | Printing | Material | Options | Size

Plastic Card Printing [top]

Plastic cards printing says a lot about your business or organization.

Fuzzy printing, white edges and options that are missing or don't work will reduce the effective use of your plastic cards. If you're serious about image and quality, choose a professional printing company to print your plastic cards. From gift cards to fundraiser cards to key cards and access control cards, we are plastic card printing specialists.

Plastic card printing can be done on colored plastic cards. This method limits your design options. Digital printing methods allow you to print in full color - using any color in the spectrum. Digital printing gives you unlimited designs for your plastic card printing. If you are in need of a colored card with simple graphics, you can choose to imprint your graphics onto colored cards for a simpler look and feel.

Get an instant plastic card printing price!

Plastic Card Printing - Sizes [top]

Plastic card printing is typically done on cards that are 3 3/8” x 2 1/8”. This size is also referred to as CR 80 or credit card size. Plastic cards can be ordered so that the card is “split” into two or three pieces, depending on your specific needs.

What’s the right size for your plastic cards?

Ask yourself how the plastic cards will be used - and think about your overall budget. The standard size, 3 3/8” x 2 1/8” will work great for most uses, it’s sized right for customer storage and use and it’s often the most economical choice. It is the size of most of the credit cards your customers carry. This size also allows the most room for design flexibility and branding elements.

If you are printing a grocery-store like key chain card, each card is typically 1 1/8" x 1 1/8". This size is becoming more popular and can be less expensive that the traditional 3 3/8" x 2 1/8" plastic cards. Keep in mind that the size of these plastic cards limits your design options significantly. Get a mini plastic cards price. This is a custom quote.

Get an instant plastic card printing price!

Plastic Card Printing - Material [top]

Material considerations for plastic card printing include the thickness of the card and the color or opacity of the card. When making your material choices for plastic cards, keep the use of your cards in mind. You can quickly and easily experiment with pricing of all of our standard materials using our instant online plastic cards quoter.

The most commonly used material for plastic card printing is our white 30 mil plastic. This is the same thickness and plastic material that most traditional credit cards are made from. Other standard thicknesses include 24 mil and 20 mil white plastic. Non standard or custom thicknesses are available, but tend to be quite expensive.

Plastic cards do come in many colors as well as clear and frosty clear. However, colored plastic cards are being replaced by the digital printing methods used to print plastic gift cards and other cards. As a result, you are no longer limited to certain colors for plastic card printing. Instead, you can choose any color you like for your plastic cards and that color will be printed on the white or clear material. This gives you a more economical way to get the exact color you want.

Get an instant plastic card printing price!

Plastic Card Printing - Options [top]

Do you need a magnetic strip, signature panel, slots or holes, barcodes, card fob combo or graphic design help? 

Magnetic Stripe

Adding a magnetic to plastic card printing enables the card to store data by modifying the magnetism of the magnetic material on the card. The magnetic stripe, or magstripe, is read by swiping past a reading head or reader. The magnetic stripe is located 0.223 inches (5.66 mm) from the edge of the card, and is 0.375 inches (9.52 mm) wide. Magstripes come in two varieties: low-coercivity and high-coercivity. Low-coercivity magstripes require a lower amount of magnetic energy to record, so the magstripe writers are much less expensive. High-coercivity magstripes are harder to erase because the card writers apply more information using a more powerful magnetic field. Low-coercivity magstripes require a lower amount of magnetic energy to record, so the card writers are much less expensive. A mag card reader (what you see ion the stores and on gas pumps) can read either type of magnetic stripe.

Encoding

The magnetic stripe (magstripe) used in Plastic card printing must be encoded with data that you provide. Encoding is done by a machine called a magstripe writer. The writer encodes data by modifying the magnetism of tiny iron-based magnetic particles on the magstripe. The magstripe writer can record information about your organization and-or about the the card holder. Encoding is done on either a low-coercivity or a high-coercivity writer. Low-coercivity writers are relatively inexpensive. They encode the mag stripe with minimal magnetic energy. Hotel key cards and retail gift cards are examples of low-coercivity magstripes.

High-coercivity writers are the more expensive of writer options. They use more magnetic energy to encode the card, making the cards more secure and capable of holding more data, including encryption. Credit cards are an example of high-coercivity magstripes.

Imaging

In plastic card printing, imaging is sometimes used to describe the printing process. Imaging is the same as printing. Imaging often refers to adding numbers or variable data such as names to the face or back of a plastic card.

Signature Panel

A signature panel is typically placed on the back of plastic cards. The signature panel is an anti-fraud device. By compare the signature on the card with the signature on a sales receipt, credit card slip or a driver's license, the card user can be correctly identified as the card holder. Signature panels are typically printed as white ink that is receptive to ball point pen signatures. For additional security, a repetitive design can be printed on the signature panel.

Scratch Off

In plastic card printing, "scratch-off" refers to the loss of ink, signature strip writing or magstripe from the card due to wear. This includes scratching, rubbing and any form of use that can cause the card to "wear". For maximum wear potential, most plastic cards are laminated with a thin durable layer of plastic film after printing.

Answering the questions below will help you determine the the right options for your plastic card printing project:

Three simple questions:

• First, how will these cards be used?
• Second, do I need to store data on the card?
• Third, do I need to verify who the card holder is?

Once you have the answers to those three questions, you're ready to
get a plastic card printing price.

How will plastic cards be used?
How frequently will the card holder use the card?
What will the card holder use the card for?

How much information needs to be on the plastic cards?

For example, if the plastic card will be used for frequent purchases - like a VIP card, consider a key FOB card with a bar code for easy ID on the back. If  the cards are used by guests or employees to access rooms or areas, you'll need a magnetic strip. Get some plastic card design help.

If you're starting a new plastic cards program, we urge you to contact us to review the options that will help your program work. Contact us!