ZAP! Creatives Sticker Review

ZAP! Creatives Custom Sticker Review

I offer only my opinion on my individual experience with the company, and in no way claim to offer a definitive review on what you may experience should you place an order with this company. My goal is to inform.

And we're back again with ZAP! Creatives, this time reviewing their custom die-cut stickers! This is the second review of this company that I have done, and I was eager to branch out to the other options that they had available on their website, if only to test the waters and see what the quality was like. The pictures they have on their website looked very promising however, so I couldn't help but get excited about ordering!

A little information regarding the stickers that I ordered this time around, just for clarification.
These stickers are custom designed, and custom die cut, which means that they are cut out based on the design itself, or what the person creating the stickers wants the outside edge to look like. These are heavyweight vinyl stickers, gloss coated with clear acrylic adhesive, and are claimed to be 'suitable for indoor and outdoor use with up to 4 years of outdoor durability', to quote the website.

 Pricing: 4 out of 5

Zap!'s score for their pricing I give a 4/5, simply due to the cost of the items, and the shipping fee that goes with it. As the company is located across the pond in the UK (England to be exact), the shipping cost is about ~$6.00 or so, varying on your location of course. This itself is not too terrible of a cost, and seems about average for ground shipping.
The cost of the stickers themselves totaled to about $95.00 (make sure you change the currency to your country's needed currency before checkout so you know how much it will be for you!). This cost is for 100, 10in x 10in stickers total, and 10 designs total, giving you 10 stickers per design, and includes a discount that they were offering at the time. Without the discount, this will cost about $112.00.
This cost, especially compared to other sticker companies such as Sticker Robot, or Stickeryou, is fairly decent! However, there may be other companies out there that are a better deal, as I have only just started delving in to the world of stickers, and is definitely more appealing when the discount is available.

Template Ease of Use/Website Navigation: 5 out of 5

The sticker portion for the website was quite easy to use. Keep in mind, however, that you might want to have a ruler handy for when you determine the best size for any stickers you decide to make, as there are no images to indicate about how large the area is that you'll be using for your images, and how large your final product will be when it's printed.
Another area to note, is that the original order comes with 1 design already. If you want additional designs for your order, you'll have to factor that in when you're ordering. For instance, if you want 10 designs total, you'll order 9 additional designs when making your order.
Probably one of the easiest templates that I have ever used for making an order from any company out there. It definitely is easier to use than the acrylic charm template that they have on their website! The tutorial is also really easy to understand and use, so there's little to no confusion when making your sticker designs, and if you have questions, their customer service representatives are very helpful. 

Customer Service: 5 out of 5

To reiterate on the customer service, they are very helpful. I once again got Becky as my contact for my order, and she was just as stellar this time as she was the first time that I emailed her. Needless to say, I was ecstatic about having her email me, and made sure to have my files together (unlike last time) so I didn't have to do too much in the realm of back-and-forth emails involving file errors on my part. It was simple, Becky was nice as could be, and everything was done with a single email.
[for a more in-depth review involving my previous interaction with ZAP's customer service, and how great of an interaction I had the last time, see my ZAP! acrylic charm review here]

Shipping/Arrival: 5 out of 5

Very speedy shipping / turnaround time, especially in comparison to their acrylic charms order (for obvious reasons, but I was still very impressed at the difference in shipping times). I honestly didn't even expect them to be in my mailbox when I did get them, because of customs and it being closer to the holiday season, so their timely arrival was a pleasant surprise. I placed my order on November 3rd, and it arrived on November 30th. This included the extra two weeks that are allotted for you to create and send in your files, so production didn't actually begin on my images until about the 17th of November, so it only took 13 days or so for my images to be printed, shipped, pass through customs, and arrive at my mailbox!

Product and Packaging: 5 out of 5

Like the acrylic charms that I had previously ordered from ZAP!, my stickers arrived in a bubble mailer envelope. I was slightly worried about this, as I didn't want my stickers to be warped or damaged due to the envelope, but thankfully they were all intact, and even managed to survive the rain that had started the day that they arrived.

There were two packages of stickers (5 designs each) that were within the mailer, wrapped in bubble wrap and sealed with a sticker label. Within the bubble wrap package, each design was separated, and placed within their own ziploc bag.

Overall, I was extremely pleased with the packaging of my stickers. I felt that they were very secured, and despite my initial hesitation at the bubble mailer, I was very happy with how they were taken care of. The only complaint I really have in regards to the packaging is the tendency for the plastic of the ziploc bags to stick to the front of the stickers, as can be seen to the right. This wrinkling doesn't make that much of a difference really, but does leave a faint look of wrinkling on the image. It only really is visible if you're looking for it, though, and isn't a deal breaker for me personally. In fact, it was so faint, I couldn't even get a good image showing it!

The stickers themselves were of great quality, and were very vivid in color. I loved the crispness of the line work, and how it picked up every detail I had in my original files. I was absolutely pleased with the results, and couldn't have been happier with the outcome.

As far as the water resistance that was claimed on the website, they were when I sprayed the image down with a water bottle of mine (see image to the right). Whether they are water resistant long term, or whether they will weather the weather being on, say a car? That I do not know. 


*Overall Impression: 4.8 out of 5

Seriously, look in to ZAP!'s sticker line. I absolutely love these, and everyone who has bought one from me has loved them too. I haven't had anyone who has had issues with these, and will 100% be ordering from them again. The customer service was enough to make me want another order, but seeing the product just made me all the more set on buying again. Definitely recommend these, definitely will tell my friends about them, and they definitely will have me as a repeat customer.

* This was my initial impression of ZAP! Creatives at the time of its posting in 2016. Having worked with ZAP! for years, and having seen the website, file formatting, and overall customer service change throughout the years, I no longer feel that this reflects ZAP! in it's current state. Were I to review them again, which I likely will, their overall rating would be much lower, and I no longer will be doing business with them because of the issues I have had while working with them. 

ZAP! Creatives Acrylic Charm Review

I offer only my opinion on my individual experience with the company, and in no way claim to offer a definitive review on what you may experience should you place an order with this company. My goal is to inform.
I first became interested in acrylic charms after attending a couple of different artist alleys, initially as a potential vendor, and later on again after becoming a vendor. I did some minor research in to the world of acrylic charms, and found a few reviews on different companies, both through friend references, and through my own internet delving. Eventually, I settled on ZAP! as my first acrylic charm order, as it had relatively good reviews. I did order a charm sample pack before ordering (~$9.00 total, give or take) and I recommend doing this before ordering just so you will have an idea as to the quality/what your chosen acrylic will end up looking like with your image on it.

 Pricing: 4 out of 5

I decided to order a small set of charms for my first experience with acrylics. ZAP! has an emailing list that allows prospective buyers to receive coupons for certain items periodically throughout the month/year, typically for 15% off of the total purchase, not including shipping and taxes, which definitely made me decide to purchase over other companies.
I ended up ordering about 50 charms, which, with the 15% off coupon, cost approximately $95.00 (I believe it was $95.00 and some change), which was fairly expensive, but, when compared to the amount of designs you are able to get (5 in this case), was a fairly good deal.

Template Ease of Use/Website Navigation: 3 out of 5

The website of ZAP! is very friendly and easy to use, and there is a LOT of variety available. Ordering is very straightforward, and they accept Paypal or credit cards. The hardest part is trying to decide what to get.

The templates were the only real source of error that I had in the entire process of ordering charms from ZAP!. They felt very advanced, especially for someone who had never edited templates for charms before. There was a guide available on their website, which did help somewhat, but it was still a little more difficult than I had anticipated. It probably didn't help that I was using an older version of Photoshop for this. I was pleased that I did not have to convert anything over to CMYK from RGB though, which was a huge relief.

Personally, I transferred my files over from Paint Tool SAI to Photoshop to work with, which caused resizing issues for me, as files have to align perfectly together when doing double sided charms, as well as having to erase white background from around the edges, which was tedious. So I highly recommend you use Photoshop if you can!

Customer Service: 5 out of 5

One of the best companies that I have ever worked with, by far. I was hesitant to order due to some of the reviews that I had read in the past, indicating that the customer service was less than stellar. However, this was not the case with my experience. I exchanged emails with a very sweet woman by the name of Becky who was very helpful and willing to work with me through all of my errors (believe me, I had a lot), and sealed the deal in convincing me to make a second order. It also helped that you have up to 2 weeks after placing an order to get your files in to them for production time to start.
I did get an email back from a second individual at the very end of my exchange, but this was probably either due to the amount of errors that I had made (Becky probably got tired of dealing with me!) in my files, or that I had finally submitted the final file that went with my order, and it was the production team that was emailing me back with file confirmation. Regardless of this however, I had a wonderful experience; they were the best customer service experience I have had through my Artist Alley travels up to this point.

Shipping/Arrival: 4 out of 5

This is the only aspect that I really felt had any issues, honestly, and even then, they are minor issues at best. The shipping for the order that I placed, from the time of the production team receiving my final file (after the email exchanged due to my own errors), took about 7 days to dispatch, and 3 weeks (to the day, actually) for them to arrive at my door. This was partially due to the company being located in the UK, and I'm assuming partially due to customs, as anything that is shipped from outside of the US takes a while to arrive. My one pipe dream regarding the shipping is some way of tracking a package for the regular airmail option, which I've had with other companies not related to charms. However, this is minor, and shipping can be upgraded to a faster method with tracking, for an additional cost. 

Product and Packaging: 5 out of 5

Finally getting to hold the charms that I had so painstakingly created (and that poor Becky had to deal with) was like opening a gift on Christmas. All charms were packaged in bundles according to design, and were wrapped in bubble wrap, which was then placed in more bubble wrap, and then placed in a plastic bag bubble mailer. I felt that the only possible way any of these charms could have been damaged in transit would be to actually attempt to break them.
The color quality of the charms was fairly decent. It was a little grainy compared to what I was expecting them to look like when viewed up close, but not noticeable from farther away. Smaller details that I had put on my charms tended to show a bit of white around the edges (white is placed behind the images to make sure the images aren't transparent looking and the colors appear richer). The acrylic itself however was fantastic. I ordered clear acrylic and was not disappointed (I'm sure that I wouldn't have been disappointed with other acrylics either!). The clarity was amazing. Extra charms were provided in each design as well to make up for any errors there may have been. I did have a few charms with minor imperfections, but the extra charms made up for this, so it was not a big issue. I did not see any bubbles in my acrylic, which was a relief, and there was no peeling of color around the edges of the charms where the acrylic had been cut during production.

*Overall Impression: 4.2 out of 5

I was quite happy with the experience I had with ZAP! Creatives. There were a few minor things that I may change next time, such as choosing a different shipping method that included tracking, and template use will be easier this time around, as I have familiarity with using it, and know exactly what to expect. That being said, I will definitely be ordering from ZAP! again, and plan on branching out in to other products that they offer online.
Would I recommend this product to someone else? Absolutely yes! 


* This was my initial impression of ZAP! Creatives at the time of its posting in 2016. Having worked with ZAP! for years, and having seen the website, file formatting, and overall customer service change throughout the years, I no longer feel that this reflects ZAP! in it's current state. Were I to review them again, which I likely will, their overall rating would be much lower, and I no longer will be doing business with them because of the issues I have had while working with them.