Has anyone ordered from ArtsCow?

[labdogs42]

I found this site recently and they have some amazing deals on 8x8 photo books and other cute photo gifts. Their prices are amazing, so I was wondering what their quality is like, Has anyone tried them or do I have to be the guinea pig?

 

[PrincessNancy96]

I ordered from them.. and I LOVE THEIR photos.. VIBRANT colors..
The draw back for me..*but I'm gonna get a pre-paid visa to utilize them again for my free (pay postage) 8x8 book*..anyway, they are based in hong kong... however, some banks won't allow you to use their cards w/ them because they are overseas. I used just my regular ol' credit card w/ no issues..and had my photos in about 10 days!!! I was NOT the least bit upset about them.. they were fabulous photos..

I need to make a list of the photos I need and submit another order...

 

[Fran98765]

I have ordered a photobook from them and i would never do that again. The Shutterfly books are 100% nicer. The colors and vibrant and beautiful from Shutterfly and from Artscow they were faded and "cheap" looking. I also received a deck of cards and keychain from them and loved those.

 

[PrincessNancy96]

Fran that was in the photobucket like that??? EDIT TO CLARIFY: Was the photobook like that... faded and such??

I got their photo themselves and they were awesome..

Now, I'm really second guessing the worth of the "free" book...

 

[Fran98765]

photobucket? i will take a couple pics of comparison and post them soon.

 

[PrincessNancy96]

photobucket? i will take a couple pics of comparison and post them soon.

Sorry.. .I meant in the photo book... not photobucket!! Sorry!!!! Blonde moment!!! I thought I had those moments beat today!!!!!

 

[Fran98765]

Ok, not sure if you can really tell the differences in pics online, but here are two of my books. The Disney one is shutterfly and the 2003 one is Artscow. I was very disappointed that I couldn't find a way to upload a full cover image at artscow, but I was in a hurry so maybe I just didn't spot it. I thought their templates were on the ugly side and just chose this one, it was the lesser or a lot of evils. The Dis one was a layout originally of mine that I removed the journaling and moved things around a bit to fit.

Sorry for the glare on the cover, i had the flash off and it still happened. The 2 covers were originally the same pic, i just cropped them.

The Shutterfly book... vibrant colors.

Artscow... colors are washed out.

And the original layout, which is much more vibrant:

And this one is washy too. This one is especially noticable to me IRL, because even our picture is washed out. Another page was low quality pics too. I realize these were scanned in pics, but it was really disappointing.

And it's original.

And another shutterfly shot.

I was so excited about that book, and so disappointed in it. If I hadn't gotten the shutterfly books, I may not have been disappointed, without a comparison, but I really was. Artscow also put page numbers on each page, which was unwanted, but not worth complaining about to me, since I didn't like the whole book anyway!

On their side, the uploading process was much easier then shutterfly. it takes forever to upload a book at shutterfly.

 

[Spinning]

I am too chicken to order from them....I tried when I first heard about them and my CC wouldn't allow it.....I really just don't want to have my CC over seas and in Hong Kong....the deals are just so good it makes me wonder what will happen down the road....Yep Chicken.....

now on another note...>Fran I assume those were digital pages you made on your pc and then uploaded to shutterfly???? Very nice.....I swear I must stop looking at this digital stuff! It makes those books look so much nicer....than using their templates! So make me happy and tell me that was all done through shutterfly! LOL!

 

[nicurn]

psssst sondra, it's digital. she just made her page and dropped it into shutterfly. maggie

 

[labdogs42]

psssst sondra, it's digital. she just made her page and dropped it into shutterfly. maggie

Yep. That's how I do my books now, too. Feel free to go to Shutterfly and look for my book there!

 

[morgansmom2000]

I got my free book from Shutterfly last week. OMG, it's gorgeous! I used one of their premade layout ones, because for the life of me, I can't figure out resizing in Photoshop!