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If you've ever used Costco to make photobooks, you'll already know that Costco has partnered with Shutterfly for printing. If you merge your Costco and Shutterfly accounts, you will automatically get 51% off photobooks and free shipping over $49.00.

While that seems like a great deal, when you have the Costco discounts applied, it won't let you stack other coupons, like the Free Unlimited Pages coupon which I wait for before I print my yearly books. 

In order to make other coupons work, I needed to click on "Manage Promos" to turn off the Costco discounts. With those off, I was able to stack discount codes (like normal) which took the price down substantially. I was able to add the Costco shipping discount.

My book has 59 pages, a hard, matte cover and photographic printing. The regular price without any discounts (which no one ever pays) was $221.57. With all the discounts, the book was $65.28 shipped. 

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16 minutes ago, April Showers said:

If you've ever used Costco to make photobooks, you'll already know that Costco has partnered with Shutterfly for printing. If you merge your Costco and Shutterfly accounts, you will automatically get 51% off photobooks and free shipping over $49.00.

While that seems like a great deal, when you have the Costco discounts applied, it won't let you stack other coupons, like the Free Unlimited Pages coupon which I wait for before I print my yearly books. 

In order to make other coupons work, I needed to click on "Manage Promos" to turn off the Costco discounts. With those off, I was able to stack discount codes (like normal) which took the price down substantially.

Thanks, April!  I loved Costco printing and pricing and most particularly back when you could save shipping by picking up in the warehouse.  

I have been studying the Costco discount been puzzled since it didn't seem very good deal because Shutterfly often has free shipping over certain amounts and 50% off products anyway, right?   

I remember you stacking coupons and what a great deal it could be.   I've been trying to decide if I should merge my two accounts at all since the only photos in my Costco one is for projects printed and they aren't moving projects over anyway and the pages are on my computer.  

I'll check once more but I think I'll leave it as is and not merge.  Unless you see some advantage to doing so?  I sure will miss Costco prices.  It was the only place this past Christmas that had large calendars for $9.99 each, regular price.   Any place else, including Shutterfly with 50% off was a lot more expensive. 

Thanks for this information!  😊

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On 1/19/2023 at 1:05 PM, MariJ said:

 

I'll check once more but I think I'll leave it as is and not merge.  Unless you see some advantage to doing so?  I sure will miss Costco prices.  It was the only place this past Christmas that had large calendars for $9.99 each, regular price.   Any place else, including Shutterfly with 50% off was a lot more expensive. 

 

I merged mine, but see no advantage at all from having done it, so I wouldn't recommend it. 

Actually, I was able to get the Costco free shipping over $49.00, so I suppose that is an advantage since it saved me and extra $11.99. I turned off the 51% off and left the free shipping on and it still applied the other coupons without any issues. Though with the Costco merge, it sets up that 51% coupon every time and you have to go in and turn it off to apply others.

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On 1/21/2023 at 5:30 PM, mimes1 said:

Yes, thanks for the above information. I merged my costco with shutterfly but haven't poked around much with it yet. @April Showers where do you get the coupons to stack?

I get their emails so I know when they have the Unlimited Pages. I've gotten $10 off coupons from my daughter's Carter's & Oshkosh orders before, but not lately. I got an extra 10% for using the Microsoft browser - which I only did because the site doesn't always work nicely with Chrome. I also got a Rakuten cash back on the order. It was 10% the day before I ordered, but I needed one of my kids to proofread it before I could order. It was 2% when I ordered. Rakuten or Honey can also find active coupons.

Sometimes I get coupons from Shutterfly in the mail too. They're usually a laminated plastic postcard type thing.

Also, if you get coupons for extra $ off an order and won't be using them, it is fine to share here that you have it. The person who would like the code could message you for it. The dollar off ones are one use coupons and have unique codes. 

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Well, I agree with April @April Showers about there being no advantage to merging my Costco account with Shutterfly, but it just occurred to me that if the Costco 51% and free shipping came in handy sometime, maybe I should.   I just did - would not have if I didn't see Aprils instructions on turning it off.   This way I figure I have it if needed, but otherwise I can turn it off.   It doesn't seem like such a great offer, but who knows?    Hopefully now I can take advantage of both.   😊

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3 hours ago, MariJ said:

Well, I agree with April @April Showers about there being no advantage to merging my Costco account with Shutterfly, but it just occurred to me that if the Costco 51% and free shipping came in handy sometime, maybe I should.   I just did - would not have if I didn't see Aprils instructions on turning it off.   This way I figure I have it if needed, but otherwise I can turn it off.   It doesn't seem like such a great offer, but who knows?    Hopefully now I can take advantage of both.   😊

The real advantage to merging is getting the free shipping at a lower amount. 

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@April ShowersHave been resizing old pages that are in albums, not yet printed. Question: How much space to the right or left edge do you have to leave for it not to be too close to the edge? I made a practice page using the Shutterfly template, but it only leaves 1/4 inch and when I put the LO on the album page can't get it to show any bleed area. How much is actually cut off from the LO? Costco was  a full 1/2 inch cut off.

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52 minutes ago, scrapgarden said:

@April ShowersHave been resizing old pages that are in albums, not yet printed. Question: How much space to the right or left edge do you have to leave for it not to be too close to the edge? I made a practice page using the Shutterfly template, but it only leaves 1/4 inch and when I put the LO on the album page can't get it to show any bleed area. How much is actually cut off from the LO? Costco was  a full 1/2 inch cut off.

I used a template that I downloaded from Shutterfly. I wouldn't put anything you won't be okay with being cut off within 1/4 inch from the edge. I can post a photo of more details when I'm home again. I'm driving back tomorrow.

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3 hours ago, April Showers said:

I used a template that I downloaded from Shutterfly. I wouldn't put anything you won't be okay with being cut off within 1/4 inch from the edge. I can post a photo of more details when I'm home again. I'm driving back tomorrow.

Yes please, that would be helpful. I just didn't think I could trust the 1/4 inch. Thanks. Drive careful and hope the cleanup hasn't been too terrible.

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6 hours ago, scrapgarden said:

Yes please, that would be helpful. I just didn't think I could trust the 1/4 inch. Thanks. Drive careful and hope the cleanup hasn't been too terrible.

When I made pages for Costco Books, I always left a ½" around all edges just to be sure.   I also did a few Shutterfly books that way but haven't used it as much or well as April so I'm interested in what she shares, since now there's no more Costco - still disappointed about that!

Here's what I do.   If I'm making 12x12 pages I start a new layer and paint bucket it a dark color.  I then cut a 11.5 x11.5 inch square from the middle of this and use it as a template to be sure nothing that matters goes under that frame.   I turn it off and on while working, but make sure nothing is under its boundaries or my layout square I can see.
Does that make sense?     

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I use My Memories software and when you open the program, there is an automatic half inch trim area superimposed on each page. This space is in half-tone gray so you can see through to the layout beneath. I usually "turn off" this feature when I am working, but sometimes it is very handy to turn back on when I am concerned about the trim area. Depending on the software you use, you can probably make something similar to this a preset in layouts and/or a base template.

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16 minutes ago, Celestine said:

I use My Memories software and when you open the program, there is an automatic half inch trim area superimposed on each page. This space is in half-tone gray so you can see through to the layout beneath. I usually "turn off" this feature when I am working, but sometimes it is very handy to turn back on when I am concerned about the trim area. Depending on the software you use, you can probably make something similar to this a preset in layouts and/or a base template.

That's exactly what I do and was trying to explain but you did it much better!  😊

Mine is an actual "frame" piece that I add to layouts to be printed.   I'll have to check out presets, do you mean I might be able to add something to my program?

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1 hour ago, MariJ said:

That's exactly what I do and was trying to explain but you did it much better!  😊

Mine is an actual "frame" piece that I add to layouts to be printed.   I'll have to check out presets, do you mean I might be able to add something to my program?

Back when I used Microsoft Publisher and InDesign in my work life, I could set up master pages with this type of "preset." I just used that terminology in case scrappers have something like that in their software. I haven't dug enough into Photoshop to know if this is possible. I got PSE when I got my new computer this past summer, but I needed to get those cookbooks done and now I am under a deadline to get these first year baby book pages done. And then we have a wedding in May. BUT, after that I hope I can get myself more acquainted with PSE. I couldn't upgrade before because my computer was too old, LOL. She was an oldie but a goodie. 🤣

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13 minutes ago, Celestine said:

Back when I used Microsoft Publisher and InDesign in my work life, I could set up master pages with this type of "preset." I just used that terminology in case scrappers have something like that in their software. I haven't dug enough into Photoshop to know if this is possible. I got PSE when I got my new computer this past summer, but I needed to get those cookbooks done and now I am under a deadline to get these first year baby book pages done. And then we have a wedding in May. BUT, after that I hope I can get myself more acquainted with PSE. I couldn't upgrade before because my computer was too old, LOL. She was an oldie but a goodie. 🤣

I know what you mean, my last laptop and PSE started not playing nice at one point and I had to update, but I couldn't update because the computer couldn't handle it, Catch-22!    All good now with new everything, but everything keeps getting older and "new" is already over two years old already.   😱

Ok, so I understood your gist, I'm going to look into seeing what Presets are and if they exist in PSE, it sounded familiar and that's why I asked, it sure would be nice to add something like that....  

Good luck with your scrapping, you've got some huge projects there!  😊

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After 13.3 hours of driving today, I'm home and opened my book. While the printing and binding are lovely, several pages are printed off square, I have a page with white edges and most of the vertical borders are trimmed very, very close to my 1/2 inch line. One page is trimmed past the 1/2 inch line. The margins are very inconsistent throughout the book. The customer service has always been great, so I assume they'll be sending me another book, hopefully with the issues corrected. 

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7 hours ago, April Showers said:

After 13.3 hours of driving today, I'm home and opened my book. While the printing and binding are lovely, several pages are printed off square, I have a page with white edges and most of the vertical borders are trimmed very, very close to my 1/2 inch line. One page is trimmed past the 1/2 inch line. The margins are very inconsistent throughout the book. The customer service has always been great, so I assume they'll be sending me another book, hopefully with the issues corrected. 

Glad you made it home safely April, that's about how long my sister and I travel back and forth to her house, it's a trek - and you're alone!
What you described is the experience I've had with Shutterfly - inconsistent and the edges not quite right and with white edges in places.   They tried to fix mine and wouldn't take the first book back. One was good, the other - still not so great.   Hopefully they will up their game!

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6 hours ago, MariJ said:

Glad you made it home safely April, that's about how long my sister and I travel back and forth to her house, it's a trek - and you're alone!
What you described is the experience I've had with Shutterfly - inconsistent and the edges not quite right and with white edges in places.   They tried to fix mine and wouldn't take the first book back. One was good, the other - still not so great.   Hopefully they will up their game!

My grandkids in Seattle have the last book that needed reprinting. No worries about them ruining it.

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Shutterfly is sending me a replacement book and will do a quality check before sending it. The check adds 5 or more days to the processing time, but I really just want it to look right. I put another book under the edge of the page so they could see how off the page is. There was 1/2 inch from the photo frame edge to the page edge. 

 image.jpeg

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37 minutes ago, April Showers said:

Shutterfly is sending me a replacement book and will do a quality check before sending it. The check adds 5 or more days to the processing time, but I really just want it to look right. I put another book under the edge of the page so they could see how off the page is. There was 1/2 inch from the photo frame edge to the page edge. 

 image.jpeg

That was exactly what happened to me once.   The edge wasn't even straight!

And I like your idea about reusing pages and just swapping out pics - genius!  :shappy_idea_100-100:

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8 hours ago, mimes1 said:

I'm super bummed that Costco Photo is no more - I appreciate reading through all this for tips and tricks for Shutterfly. 

Me too, Amy - their quality and products were outstanding and I loved it when you could create online and pickup in the store.   Bad enough when they took that away but not more photo center was really disappointing.   I had just made calendars for Christmas - they were beautifully printed and only $9.99 each, other places were more even with "sales".    And for all three I only paid $6.95 shipping, not $6.95 each.    Oh well, it was great when it lasted.  

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15 hours ago, mimes1 said:

I'm super bummed that Costco Photo is no more - I appreciate reading through all this for tips and tricks for Shutterfly. 

Me too. I made a guest/memory book for my dad's funeral and Shutterfly couldn't get it to me in time, but Costco photo had it delivered with time to spare. 

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On 2/2/2023 at 9:21 PM, scrapgarden said:

Yes please, that would be helpful. I just didn't think I could trust the 1/4 inch. 

I made my templates with 1/2 inch margin on each edge, so that if they were trimmed 1/4", I'd have 1/4" of paper between the edge and my photo frame. In my books prior to the 2019 ownership change, the margins were consistently 3/8" to 9/16" on all sides. My books printed after that have the top margins at 1/4" to 1/2" (though rarely equal top to bottom). The side margins vary from 1/16" to 3/8" most are about 5/16". I haven't tried their lay flat pages as they cost quite a bit more, but I think that process may be more precise. The photo in this post  compares the same page in two books, both printed after the ownership change. 

  • Since they currently trim more from the sides than they do from the top, I plan to change my templates to add about 1/8" to each side margin. 
  • I noticed that when I upload 12"x24" pages, there is 1/8" trimmed off each outer edge and none off the top edges when I double click on the image to edit it. 
  • In advanced editing, it shows the finished page Width: 23.7" Height 11.95" Aspect ratio: 1.98
  • The 12"x12" pages show and even trim on all edges and the advanced editing numbers show the finished page Width: 11.95" Height 11.95" Aspect ratio: 1 
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  • 1 month later...

I made a photo collage poster for my niece's bridal shower at Shutterfly and for now I'm still signed in as a Costco Customer.
I got 50% off the order but had to pay $6.99 shipping, I thought it was free shipping for Costco members!    I went to look and saw it's free shipping over $49 and the total Costco Membership offer actually has an expiration date - can't remember but in a few years.

My friend checked on her Shutterfly account and this point, it was cheaper to buy through the Costco offer than the Shutterfly itself since the sales I needed weren't currently running.

For now I'm going to stay on Costco and my friend will stay on Shutterfly.   Since I was able to send my project to her to view, if the offers are better there I'll use her account.   .
 

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  • 1 month later...

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