30mil Clear Plastic Cards
Important Artwork Notice!
If ordering optional foil stamping, please follow the Prepared Instructions. Please prepare CMYK File with all design areas that do not have a metallic foil finish. You MUST include a 100% Black Foil Mask of the elements of your design to be stamped with foil. Only one foil color is available per card design, whether you print on the front, back or both sides. Furthermore, if you are ordering optional spot or raised spot UV, please follow the Prepared Instructions found on the same page in the link below under Spot UV. Once again, you must include a SEPERATE 100% Black Foil Mask of the elements of your design to be spot UV coated.
See 30mil Clear Plastic Cards in action
Credit card thick 30mil clear plastic at 2.125" x 3.375", with optional white ink under the color, foil or a magnetic stripe, from $529.26 for 500 cards.
- From $529.26 per 500 cards, about $1.06 each, dropping to roughly $0.34 as the run climbs to 10,000.
- 30mil clear plastic, the same thickness as a credit card, in one standard 2.125" x 3.375" size with rounded 1/8" corners.
- White ink prints under your color so logos and text stay solid on see-through stock, on the front or both sides.
- 8 add-ons: foil stamping, spot UV, a signature panel, a magnetic stripe, barcoding, variable data numbering, embossing, and a lanyard slot.
- 4.6 out of 5 across 5 reviews, printed in-house with a free online proof and a 15 business day standard turnaround.
Hand Someone a Card They Can See Right Through
Hold this card up to the light and the room shows through it. Your logo sits on rigid transparent plastic with nothing behind it but whatever the card rests on: a hand, a countertop, a wallet. Use it as a membership pass, a VIP gift card or an access badge, and the holder sees the clear stock before reading a word. It is printed in the same New York shop where 4OVER4.COM has run cards since 1999.
The per-card cost falls as the run grows toward 10,000, so a full membership rollout costs far less per card than a small first batch.
What Are 30mil Clear Plastic Cards
30mil clear plastic cards are transparent plastic cards printed in full color, with optional white ink behind the parts that must read solid. They fit the jobs where a paper card would feel cheap: membership and loyalty cards, VIP and gift cards, ID and access badges, event passes, and hotel key cards for guest rooms. If you want the same rigid feel without the transparency, the 30mil White Plastic Cards print on solid white stock, and the 30mil Frosted Plastic Cards sit between clear and white with a soft etched-glass look.
30mil vs 20mil vs a Real Credit Card
A mil is a thousandth of an inch, so the numbers sound closer together than they feel in the hand. Here is the comparison in one place.
| Thickness | In millimeters | Feel in the hand | Rigidity | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30mil (this card) | 0.76mm | Indistinguishable from the cards already in a wallet | Holds its shape, does not curl or crease in a back pocket | Membership and VIP cards, access passes, and business cards meant to be kept rather than filed |
| ISO credit card | 0.76mm | The reference every other thickness is judged against | Identical to 30mil | Bank and ID cards |
| 20mil | 0.51mm | Noticeably lighter, closer to a thick laminated card than to plastic | Flexes under thumb pressure | Short run promotions and giveaways where unit cost matters more than permanence |
The full range of rigid cards sits in the plastic cards collection.
How Is Your Artwork Printed on Clear Plastic
On paper, white comes from the sheet itself. Plastic is see-through, so color printed straight onto it looks faint and glassy, and the fix is a white ink layer laid down before the color. You choose 4/0 for four-color art on the front with a blank back, 5/0 to add white under the front color so it reads bold, or 5/5 for CMYK plus white on both sides. The ink setup is the first option group in the table below.
Clear Plastic Business Cards
Used as a business card, a clear card is judged on one thing: whether a stranger can read your phone number while holding it over a dark wooden table. That is a design decision more than a printing one, because you decide where the white goes.
Opacity is yours to place. One layout keeps a solid white block behind the name, the phone number and the email, and leaves the rest of the card clear so the logo appears to float. Another floods most of the card white and leaves one clear window shaped like the mark itself, which reads as a die cut without being one.
Readability on transparent stock. Fine black text with no white behind it will vanish over a dark surface and reappear over a pale one, so any information the reader needs must sit on white. Keep line weights a little heavier than you would on paper, avoid thin serif type at small sizes, and remember the reverse: type printed on the back reads through the front, which is either a feature or a mistake depending on whether you planned it.
The card is the standard business card size, so it still fits a wallet slot and a card holder. What it does not do is sit unnoticed in a stack of paper business cards, which is the reason to print one at 30mil.
What Finishing and Security Options Can You Add
The add-ons split into two for shine and six for membership, payment and badge use.
Make it shine
Add foil stamping to the front, back, or both for a metallic accent that pops against the transparent stock, or spot UV on the front, back or both to lay a flat gloss over the parts of the art you pick. Both catch the light where plain CMYK ink does not.
Make it a working credential
For membership and payment-style cards, add a signature panel and a magnetic stripe in either low-coercivity or high-coercivity. Add barcoding in Code 128, Code 39, UPC-A or EAN-13, and turn on variable data so each card carries its own sequential number. Embossed numbering raises the digits off the surface in a 14pt or 18pt font, with optional gold or silver foil tipping for the classic bank-card look. A lanyard slot on the 2.125" or 3.375" edge lets attendees wear the card as a badge.
Press-Ready Blank Templates
How Much Do 30mil Clear Plastic Cards Cost
Doubling the run from 500 to 1,000 cards adds about $100 to the total. The slider below shows the total and the per-card cost from 500 to 3,500 cards.
Wally makes your card see-through, not see-past
Why a clear 30mil card gets kept in the wallet, not the drawer.
A 30mil clear plastic card is credit-card thick and see-through, so it reads as premium the second it lands in a hand. White ink keeps your logo solid, and options like foil, a magnetic stripe, or sequential numbering turn it into a real membership or VIP card. Wally prints 500 from $529.26.
How Do They Compare to Other Plastic Cards
Clear plastic is the see-through pick among the rigid cards. The comparison below puts 30mil clear plastic cards beside three gift card styles, with price, stock, finish and turnaround side by side. For a printed plastic card used as a business card, see Plastic Business Cards.
How Fast Can You Get 30mil Clear Plastic Cards
Clear plastic cards are a specialty build, so the standard production time is 15 business days once your art is approved. That window covers the white ink layer, plus any foil, embossing, magnetic stripe, or numbering your card includes, all printed and assembled in-house. Before anything runs, you choose how to proof: Straight to Production sends your print-ready file to press right away, while a Free Online Proof puts a digital sample in front of you to approve first, the safer choice on a card with variable data or a signature panel. Files upload as PDF, JPG, or PNG.
See the Rest of Our Cards
Scan the full print product range for the cards beside this one, from plastic gift cards to gift card holders.
More From Custom Gift Cards
Print Your 30mil Clear Plastic Cards Today
At 4OVER4.COM, quality comes first, and it is backed by our satisfaction guarantees and 25 years of printing since 1999. Print your 30mil clear plastic cards today.
