If you’re looking for cheap USB flash drives with your logo printed or engraved on then its first worth understanding some basics so that you end up with a great price for your flash drives rather than “cheap and nasty” flash drives that do nothing but harm to your brand and companies reputation.

There are some golden rules when looking for the cheap price for your branded USB flash drives are they are:

1. Allow enough time for your supplier to produce them at the factories in China. It sound impossible but nearly all USB flash drives are manufactured to order in China and then flown via TNT, UPS or DHL to the UK for onward shipment to our customers. The lead time for this is usually as little as 10-days and this includes getting you a proof to sign off, mixing the plastic/ink to create a body shell that matches your pantone, printing your logo on the drive case, assembling the drive and passing the drives through a rigorous QA process.If you go looking for printed USB drives and you’re working to a very tight deadline then don’t expect the prices to be cheap and be prepared to compromise on the model, style, colour and memory size. The reason for this is that very few companies hold blank stock in the UK and when they do it tends to be limited to one or two models in the most popular memory size. Additionally, any printing incurs UK labour and print charges and this pushes up the price.
2. Simplify your logo. If your logo has lots of colours in it or has graduated tints then expect to pay a premium to get it reproduced on a USB stick. This is particularly true if you have to get the sticks produced and printed in the UK because the UK printers will charge a set-up and print fee for each colour. If you can accept a single colour print then this will reduce prices for you without any compromise on memory size or quality.
3. Choose a popular model. If you can work with the Twister or Chic models then you’ll get the best price
   

   Twister USB Drive

   because these are the most commonly produced versions of flash drive and as such the factories often have “offers” and “promotions” on them. Expect to pay a premium for anything new, anything leather, metal or a little different like USB credit cards and USB wristbands.

4. Don’t go overboard on the memory. The most popular versions of USB flash drive in the promotional sector are 1GB. You can get smaller memory sizes but the price differential is relatively small and if you give away flash drives with too little memory they’re unlikely to get used which negates the value of giving them away in the first place.
5. Abandon boxes and tins – Most USB flash drives come individually wrapped in thin polythene bags or in a plain white or silver gift box for no extra cost. You can buy fancy tins, plastic boxes with magnetic clasps, or branded cardboard boxes but if you’re over-riding requirement is “cheap” then just go with what’s on offer for free.
6. Get several quotes. As a rule of thumb get at least three quotes from different suppliers making sure when you
   

   Chic USB Drive

   do that they have a good reputation and have been around in the industry for some time. A quick check of their web site, their testimonials and companies house or even Google Earth is normally enough. When the quotes come back make sure the prices are for Grade A, New (not recycled), flash chips and all print set-up and origination charges are included. Also make sure you know what the final price is going to be including any delivery costs and when comparing check to make sure whether they all include or exclude VAT!

7. Question any really cheap prices. If you get a price from one supplier that looks great but is at odds with other prices you’ve been given be careful before you proceed. Incidents of suppliers “masking” drives so you think you are getting 1GM when in fact it’s a 128MB drive made to appear as 1GB are growing. It’s also increasingly common for some unscrupulous manufactures to supply USB memory sticks with re-cycled or Grade B flash chips inside them. Whilst these might work they will have a very high failure rate when in use and their data transfer speed will be slow.

At USB2U we’ve been supplying printed and fully customised USB flash drives since 2002 and we list hundreds of household names amongst our customers. We like to think our customers choose us not just because we offer flash drives at a great price but also because we’re passionate about producing really stunning flash drives for our customers. We never have and never will compromise on the quality of components used in the flash drives we supply. We also carry a significant amount of blank stock in the UK to help our customers out if they need flash drives in a hurry. Of course we’ll always recommend you allow us 10 days to get you a better price from our factory in China but we’ve been around long enough to know this is not always possible.