5 Gloss Laminated Print Pieces That Survive Real Handling
Five products, one stock, one finish. Every piece here is 16pt sealed front and back with a clear gloss film, so a card, a tag and a bookmark from the same order feel like they belong together and hold up to the same abuse.
The gloss laminated set is five pieces built the same way: 16pt stock printed full color, then sealed on both faces with a clear gloss film. Business cards from $37.24 per 50, postcards from $74.53 per 250, hangtags from $87.15 per 100, trading cards from $94.74 per 250 and bookmarks from $200.84 per 100. The film is what makes them water resistant and scuff resistant. It is also why nothing you can write with will dry on them.
The picks
Five laminated pieces, from $37.24 cards to $200.84 bookmarks
Order them in this sequence and the set builds itself. The card comes first because it fixes the color and the shine, the mailed and hung pieces come next because they run the longest, and the two keepsake pieces close it out. Every price below is the live starting price from the configurator and drops as the quantity climbs.
- 1 Gloss Laminated Business Cards From $37.24 per 50 The anchor. Three cuts, a 4 business day standard turnaround and a Same-Day rush, so this is the piece that sets the color and the shine everything else matches.
- 2 Gloss Laminated Postcards From $74.53 per 250 22 sizes from 2 in x 3 in to 9 in x 12 in. The one piece in the set that gets handled by strangers on its way to the customer, which is exactly what the film is for.
- 3 Gloss Laminated Hangtags From $87.15 per 100 Five sizes up to 2 in x 6 in, each drilled with a 1/8 in hole. A tag gets thumbed by every shopper who walks the rack, so the film is doing work from day one.
- 4 Gloss Laminated Trading Cards From $94.74 per 250 Standard 2.5 in x 3.5 in, so every card drops into an off-the-shelf sleeve, top-loader or binder page. About 38 cents a card at 250, near 7 cents at volume.
- 5 Gloss Laminated Bookmarks From $200.84 per 100 The long game. A 2 in x 6 in or 2 in x 8 in card that lives in somebody’s book for months. Priciest per piece at 100, and the steepest drop in the set as the run climbs.
How the finish works
What the film actually does to the sheet
Lamination is a bonded plastic film, not a sprayed coating, and that single difference explains almost every strength and every limit on this page. It also explains the pale hairline you see around the edge of a dark laminated card.
Sizes, speed and price
The five pieces side by side
Same stock, same finish, different trims and two different turnaround lanes. Read the row, tap the piece to jump to its section, and note which items sit on the 7 business day standard before you promise a date to anyone.
| Piece | Stock and size | Standard turnaround | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Business cards | 16pt, 2 in x 3.5 in, 2 in x 2 in or 1.5 in x 3.5 in | 4 business days, Same-Day rush | From $37.24 per 50 |
| 2. Postcards | 16pt, 22 sizes from 2 in x 3 in to 9 in x 12 in | 7 business days, 4-day rush | From $74.53 per 250 |
| 3. Hangtags | 16pt, 5 sizes to 2 in x 6 in, 1/8 in drilled hole | 7 business days, 4-day rush | From $87.15 per 100 |
| 4. Trading cards | 16pt, one size, 2.5 in x 3.5 in | 4 business days, Same-Day rush | From $94.74 per 250 |
| 5. Bookmarks | 16pt, 2 in x 6 in or 2 in x 8 in | 4 business days, Same-Day rush | From $200.84 per 100 |
Prices are live starting points and fall with quantity on every product page. If you are weighing this finish against the alternatives before you commit, the finishing techniques guide lays out foil, spot UV, embossing and lamination next to each other, and silk lamination is the closest cousin to what is on this page.
1. Gloss laminated business cards: the piece that sets the standard
Start the set here, because the card is the piece that gets handled most and reordered soonest. Gloss laminated business cards print full color on 16pt stock and then get a clear gloss film sealed over both faces. A set of 50 starts at $37.24, and the per-card cost drops to about 16 cents at 1,000 and near 7 cents at 5,000, which is why most people order a box rather than a handful.
Three cuts are on the order form: the standard 2 in x 3.5 in, a 2 in x 2 in square, and a 1.5 in x 3.5 in slim card, with custom sizing up to 2 in x 4 in. Print 4/0 for a blank back or 4/4 for both sides. The film seals whichever you pick, so the back gets the same armor as the front.
The honest limit is that the back is now a printing surface only. No appointment times, no handwritten quote, no scribbled extension. Contractors and sales reps who write on the back should keep a plain card in the truck alongside these. If you want the mechanics of how the film goes on, our guide to how laminated business cards are made walks the process, and matte against gloss on business cards covers which one your artwork actually wants.
2. Gloss laminated postcards: the piece other people handle before your customer does
A postcard is the only piece in this set that gets sorted, stacked and pushed through a slot by people who do not care about it. That is the argument for the film. Gloss laminated postcards run the same 16pt cover under the same gloss laminate, in 22 sizes from a 2 in x 3 in pocket card to a full 9 in x 12 in, with custom sizing inside that range. A set of 250 starts at $74.53 and falls to about 5.5 cents each at 5,000.
Two things change once a card is laminated. First, addressing: the surface will not take a desktop inkjet or a pen, so an address needs a label, or the mailing house needs to know before the run that they are printing on film. Ask that question before you approve the proof, not after the skid arrives. Second, turnaround: postcards carry a 7 business day standard with a 4 business day rush, which is three days longer than the card lane.
The layout rules do not change, and they still decide whether the card gets read. Our guide on laying out a postcard for mailing covers the address panel, the safe margin and the clear zone the carrier needs. Away from the mail, the same laminated card makes a good counter menu, a loyalty card or a price card that lives near a sink.
3. Gloss laminated hangtags: the tag every shopper touches
Retail is where lamination stops being a finish and starts being maintenance. A rack tag gets flipped by twenty hands a day, rubbed against zippers and hung back crooked. Gloss laminated hangtags take that on a 16pt card sealed front and back, in five sizes up to 2 in x 6 in, each one drilled with a 1/8 in hole. A hundred tags start at $87.15, and the price lands near 8 cents a tag at 5,000.
Choose the back before you choose the size. Full color on the front with a blank or black back is the cheaper build, and 4/4 is the one to take when the back carries care instructions, a size chart or a QR code. Bear in mind the write-on limit again: if your staff pencils a price onto tags at the counter, laminate is the wrong call and a plain uncoated tag is the right one.
Tags share the 7 business day standard with postcards, so a seasonal restock is the thing to place first when you are ordering the set together. For sizing, string and the rest of the tag decisions, see our swing tag guide.
4. Gloss laminated trading cards: a sleeve-ready format that holds its corners
The collector format is fixed for a reason, and hitting it is most of the job. Gloss laminated trading cards run the standard 2.5 in x 3.5 in on 16pt stock with the film on both faces, so they drop straight into off-the-shelf sleeves, top-loaders, binder pages and card boxes without anything being trimmed or forced. A run of 250 starts at $94.74, about 38 cents a card, and lands near 7 cents at 25,000.
Gloss is the finish this format expects. Photography, foil-look artwork and heavy black backgrounds all read deeper under film than they do on an uncoated sheet, and the added stiffness is what keeps a corner from feathering after a season of shuffling. Team sets, artist series, sample packs stapled to an invoice and event giveaways all use the same build.
Where gloss loses is signing. A gloss laminated card is not the one to hand an artist or an athlete with a marker. Keep a short uncoated run for that and print the rest of the drop laminated. On turnaround, trading cards sit in the fast lane at 4 business days with a Same-Day rush available, the same lane as the business cards and bookmarks.
5. Gloss laminated bookmarks: the piece that stays in a house for months
A flyer is read once. A bookmark sits inside a novel on a nightstand and gets picked up every night for a month, which makes it the longest-lived piece in this set. Gloss laminated bookmarks come in 2 in x 6 in and 2 in x 8 in on the same 16pt gloss laminated stock, with an optional shrink-wrap bundle if you are handing out boxes at an event.
Read the price ladder before you order, because this is the piece where quantity matters most. A hundred bookmarks cost $200.84, which is $2.01 each. At 1,000 it is about 29 cents, and at 5,000 it is about 14 cents. A bookmark is taller than a business card so fewer fit on a press sheet, and that difference is what you are paying for at the low end. If bookmarks are part of the plan at all, they are worth ordering in one honest run rather than in batches of a hundred.
Lamination is what makes them worth giving away. A plain paper bookmark curls at the tip inside a week and picks up a coffee ring by the second. The film keeps the corners square and the surface wipeable. Bookmarks share the fast 4 business day lane, so they are also the piece you can add late to a launch. Compare how the same shape feels in soft touch on our velvet luxury set.
Specs and pricing
Check the anchor piece before you order the rest
The business card is the piece everything else matches, so read its full spec sheet and price ladder first. Set the size, the ink coverage and the turnaround here, then carry the same color and logo across the other four.
| Quantity | Price Per Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | 74.5¢ | $37.24 |
| 100 | 63.1¢ | $63.15 |
| 200 | 44.2¢ | $88.40 |
| 300 | 33.7¢ | $101.04 |
| 400 | 28.4¢ | $113.67 |
| 500 | 25.3¢ | $126.30 |
| 600 | 22.3¢ | $133.88 |
| 700 | 20.2¢ | $141.46 |
| Quantity | Price Per Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 250 | 37.9¢ | $94.74 |
| 500 | 22.5¢ | $112.41 |
| 1,000 | 14.5¢ | $145.26 |
| 2,500 | 11.6¢ | $289.25 |
| 5,000 | 7.05¢ | $352.41 |
| 10,000 | 7.19¢ | $718.72 |
| 15,000 | 7.07¢ | $1,059.77 |
| 20,000 | 7.13¢ | $1,426.08 |
Keeping the set consistent
Five pieces, one look
A set falls apart when each item gets designed on a different afternoon. Build them in one session and the shine does the rest. Lay all five out in the online designer, or start from a design template that already carries the right trim and bleed for each size. When a launch date moves, same-day printing covers the business cards, trading cards and bookmarks, though the postcards and hangtags still need their 4 business day rush. Two notes on artwork: gloss film deepens dark ink, so a design built for uncoated paper can come back heavier than the proof suggested, and heavy solid coverage is where the trimmed edge line is most visible. If lamination as a category is new to you, liquid laminate compared with film and laminated signage options cover the same idea at other scales.
Wally explains the film
One clear sheet, sealed over both faces
Wally puts a laminated card and a plain card under the tap. The plain one goes soft at the corner. The laminated one gets wiped dry and goes back in the stack. That is the whole argument for this set, and it is the same 16pt build on all five pieces: cards, postcards, hangtags, trading cards and bookmarks. Just remember that nothing writes on it, so keep a plain card for the notes.
Shop gloss laminated printing →See it in use
Gloss laminated cards off our press
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Where to go next
By the numbers
Sixteen point stock under every laminate here
Common Questions
Common questions about gloss lamination
Is gloss lamination the same as a gloss coating?
No, and the difference is why one costs more. A gloss coating is a liquid applied to the sheet and absorbed into it. Gloss lamination is a clear plastic film bonded over the printed face under heat and pressure, which is what gives the piece water resistance, scuff resistance and the extra stiffness you can feel when you flex it. A coated card and a laminated card can look similar in a photo and behave nothing alike in a pocket.
Can you write on gloss laminated cards?
Not reliably. The film is not porous, so a ballpoint pen skips, gel ink beads and a desktop inkjet address never sets. If part of your job is writing on the piece, appointment times on a card back or a price penciled on a tag, print that item plain and keep lamination for everything else in the set. There is no coating you can add on top that fixes it.
Can gloss laminated postcards go through the mail?
Yes, and the film is doing exactly what it is there for during the trip. The one thing to settle in advance is addressing: because the surface will not take inkjet or pen, the address either goes on as a label or the mail house prints with an ink built for film. Tell them the stock is laminated before the run rather than after the skid arrives, and read our postcard layout guide for the address panel and clear zone.
Does gloss laminate work with raised spot UV or foil?
Raised spot UV over gloss film is close to invisible, because the effect depends on gloss sitting against a flat surface and here everything is glossy. Silk and velvet lamination are the bases that make spot UV read. If a raised effect is the point of the piece, build it on one of those instead and keep the gloss set for the pieces that need durability and saturated color.
How long does the full five piece set take to print?
There are two lanes. Business cards, trading cards and bookmarks run a 4 business day standard with 2-day, Next-Day and Same-Day rush available. Postcards and hangtags run a 7 business day standard with a 4 business day rush. If the whole set has to arrive together, place the postcards and hangtags first and let the faster pieces catch up, or put the two slow pieces on their rush.
Why do the bookmarks cost so much more per piece than the cards?
Size and quantity, in that order. A 2 in x 6 in bookmark takes a lot more sheet than a 2 in x 3.5 in card, so fewer print per press sheet, and the minimum run of 100 spreads the setup across very few pieces. That is why a hundred bookmarks come to $2.01 each while a thousand come to about 29 cents and five thousand to about 14 cents. Bookmarks reward a real run more than any other piece in this set.
Will the white edge of the card show on a dark design?
Yes, a little. The film seals the two faces and the sheet is trimmed afterwards, so the cut edge exposes the 16pt core. On a solid black or deep navy design you will see a fine pale line around the perimeter. It is normal on any laminated stock and most designs read it as a frame, but if a fully dark edge matters to the piece, that is a different build and worth asking about before you order.
Does everything in the set have to be the same size or artwork?
No. What holds the set together is the stock and the finish, since all five pieces are 16pt sealed on both faces and share the same shine. Keep one logo, one type family and two or three brand colors across the pieces and they will read as one family even at five different trim sizes. Starting each item from the same design template is the quickest way to keep that line under deadline.
Get Started
Print the set on one stock
Five gloss laminated products, all on 16pt sealed front and back. Set your sizes, ink coverage and turnaround at 4OVER4.COM and watch every price update as you build the order.
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