SeanyG

Vervante seems like the winner but so many people here use Kunaki or Lulu. Why is that?

From what I gather, Vervante takes more of a high touch individualized approach to helping first time publishers as well as experienced publishers.

Vervante will print single or various packages of cd and dvds as well as books, binders, and combo packs all on demand and net 30.

Vervante also ships worldwide via USPS and does not add any surcharges onto the postage.

You can mail or upload your CD or DVD files.

...and as a bonus they will list you on Amazon automatically without you even having to have an amazon account.

So with all of this in mind and multiple reports of mediocore service at Kunaki, why are so many Warriors using Kunaki or Lulu over Vervante?

Is Vervante more expensive?

Looking forward to hearing some more thoughts and facts so I can make a decision which company to work with for my first product launch (DVDs & CDs only).

Thanks!

~Sean

Craig Fenton

Hi Seany:

Hope all is well tonight. Kunaki seemed to get a lot of publicity during 2008 but at that time they were very upfront that they would not offer a way to be reached through the phone and not looking for a customer that needed to ask question after question. It seemed the business model was we do this and if you don't like it leave the website.

Vervante could do better marketing themselves more as a full service company. If you ask somebody about them the fist inclination is "Don't they offer on demand publishing for books." That is true but they offer media as well.

Until the general perception is Verante is a choice for media, the average consumer doesn't think of them as quickly as they do Kunaki.

I have always wanted any company (even if it means a higher price) to offer a phone number. Doing business via email isn't always the most advantageous.

Good luck with your choice!

SeanyG

Thanks for the thoughts Craig.

It sounds like its just a perception & marketing thing.

I thought the response was going to be "Kunaki is cheaper".

Just stumbled across Kunaki's prices:

$1.75 for a full color dvd, in a full color cast, shrink wraped and ready to ship within 24 hours. Not bad! Thats way cheaper than I thought it was going to be!

Is Vervante competitive with this?

John M Kane

I suppose if I spent more time looking eventually I would find the cost to operate there.

But, it seems hidden.
Having to list on Amazon at a 55% discount doesn't seem to be a bargain.

Kunaki is inexpensive and 'Automated' and THAT is why the price is low.
To keep the costs down.
If you want more hand holding then you will pay more.

If Vervante offered more service for the same price then Yeah it would be better.
What do they charge for similar service compared to Kunaki?
I looked and couldn't find a comparison.

wbakhos

Just a quick note.. Kunaki is scary expensive if you not in US... to send anywhere else like Australia's you'll pay something like $8 + per CD.. just not feasible.

My 2 cents!

Mike Hill

There are programs you can get that automate the shipping so it gos directly to the customer. You don't have to handle it at all. So the $8 is if you are wanting to handle the CD's or DVD's and then you ship them to your customers.

I prefer to order just one or two or myself and my spy photos and then automate the process with a software program, get the money to my PayPal account immediately and just keep topping up my Kunaki account to cover production and shipping.

Mike Hill

Danny Turner

Anyone have a price comparison inc. postage?

SeanyG

I looked as well and would love to know!

A Bary

I checked Vervante and there's something I don't understand:

-They request a Credit Card authorization document to be filled and faxed, and state that all charges will be billed to my credit card!

What this means? what are the charges they mean?

Will they charge me for the customers orders??what if I got a thousand order!!!

-Is this form for U.S. residents only? I don't see a field for "Country" , just city, state, zip, is the service available only for U.S. merchants?

Ahmed

SeanyG

This solves it. I called each company and got the prices for one of these:

Full color DVD printing, DVD case, full color 1 panel insert, full cover case, celephane wrapping, upc barcode (for Amazon), 24 hour turnaround from order to manufacturing.

And the results are...

------------------------------

Vervante:

$6.56 USD not including shipping.

Lulu:

$5.50 not including shipping

Kunaki:

$1.75 USD not including shipping.

--------------------------------------

Shipping is $4 USD per DVD to anywhere in the world.
So for the same price as printing a disc @ Lulu & less than Vervante, I can print and ship my DVD.

I was leaning towards Vervante because of its great customer service, but with this large of a price gap, kunaki is the answer for me until I do enough volume to warrant going with Disk.com.

With regards to their poor customer service, Kunkaki isn't trying to hide it:

"Kunaki is not for everyone.

Kunaki operates more like a machine than a business and does not offer a personalized service. We don't engage in active marketing, sales, or public relations. We never offer discounts or special deals. We don't offer affiliate or partner programs. The Kunaki machine is operated and managed by software rather than a management team.


Our service is designed for 21st-century, intelligent, independent publishers who prefer to deal with a cold, efficient, and reliable machine that is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

Because Kunaki is highly automated and focused on quality, low price, and fast production, we offer a minimal range of options."

Even though this might cause headaches in the future I understand where they are coming from.

I'm going with Kunaki!

Mike Hill

You'll be extremely happy with Kunaki.. I had a bunch of DVD's made for me last year and they look phenomenal, very professional.

Mike Hill

SeanyG

Thanks for the feedback Mike. Thats reassuring!

Justin Mandel

Just because Kunaki is a machine does not mean that it's not a professional machine

Maria Gudelis

I'm using Kunaki right now- I know vervante has better service and Josh Anderson recommends them for that reason...

Kunaki right now integrates nicely with paypal/aweber/ebay so like that and shoot -after paying $$ for one of my webmasters to 'master' that process and integration...well - hard to 'switch' over just yet - especially when I'm not doing high volume (yet!)

I provide this as a service to my offline clients as well - great list builder for them to offer a physical cd/dvd rather than an ebook!

SeanyG

Thanks for sharing Maria!

Its great to know that Kunaki is working for other people and their different businesses!

fschauricht

Hi there, and thanks for the info as well!

I am looking for the kind of service Vervante, Lulu or kunaki, but my core market is in South America, and I could see in the kunaki web that it seems they are not delivering for every South American Conuntry.

Does anyone know if it is possible for them to ship to countries not listed in the kunakis web? (try to contact them, but as they state the customer service is nor there number one concern )

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!

federico

SeanyG

No its not possible. They are very strict. Go with Vervante. They are very flexible, ship everywhere and have way lower shipping prices than Kunaki.

roddaut

I've been having problems with Vervante's "customer service." So the fact that they offer customer service doesn't mean its good customer service. When I send them files it takes them days to get back to me and let me know they even got the files. Then when there was a small problem we discovered on Monday with the disc they duplicated I tried reaching them and have not had a response back to my inquiry and it's still Thursday. I can't tell you how many times I called. I've used Kunaki before and all I can tell you is that at least when I would upload a file, they'd get it instantly and duplicate it for me instantly unlike Vervante that makes me wait days to even hear back from them.

So thumbs way down for Vervante.

Rodney

SeanyG

Interesting.

I have had nothing but good customer service but kunaki is still less than half the price so I'm rolling with them!

OPLeads

We are using Kunaki now for a few month and have no problems at all..... Fast service and unbeatable prices ....

niffybranco

I use kunaki to shipCDs and DVDs from my ebay store, using it in conjuction with a neat software i bought my orders are shipped automatically all i have to do is log on to my paypal accont pay kunaki and keep the profit. Saves me a lot of time as opposed to burning and mailing the CDs myself.