# Blank Cards for ID Printing: PVC, Composite, and Eco Options
Blank cards seem like the simplest part of the ID card equation — just a white rectangle, how complicated can it be? More complicated than you'd think, as it turns out. Card material, thickness, surface finish, and embedded features all affect print quality, durability, and compatibility with your printer.
Here's what you need to know before ordering your next box.
Standard PVC: The Default Choice
The vast majority of ID cards printed worldwide are standard PVC (polyvinyl chloride). It's the white card that comes in the sample pack with your printer, and for most organisations, it's the only type you'll ever need.
PVC cards are smooth, affordable, and print beautifully with dye-sublimation. Colours are vivid, text is sharp, and the cards feel solid in hand. They hold up well to everyday use — wallet, lanyard, tap on a reader, repeat.
Price point: Roughly €0.08–€0.15 per card when buying in bulk (500 or 1,000 packs). That's about as cheap as card printing gets.Browse our blank white cards and the full blank card range.
Where standard PVC falls short
PVC has two weaknesses worth knowing about. First, it's not the most durable material under sustained heat or heavy flexing — cards left on a car dashboard in summer can warp, and cards that get bent repeatedly will eventually crack along the stress line. Second, it doesn't play well with retransfer printers that run at higher temperatures. The card can distort slightly during the heat-bonding process, which is why retransfer printer manufacturers generally recommend composite cards instead.
Composite Cards: PVC/PET Blend
Composite cards are a blend of PVC and PET (polyethylene terephthalate). The PET adds rigidity and heat resistance without changing the card's appearance or feel.
The practical difference: composite cards handle higher temperatures during printing, which makes them the recommended choice for retransfer printers. They're also more resistant to warping and cracking over time, so they last longer in demanding environments.
Price point: Slightly more expensive than pure PVC — expect to pay €0.12–€0.20 per card. The premium is modest, and if you're running a retransfer printer, it's not really optional.If your printer manufacturer's documentation mentions "composite-compatible" or "PVC/PET recommended," that's your cue.
Eco Cards: The Sustainable Option
Environmental considerations are increasingly part of the purchasing conversation, and the card industry has responded with several alternatives to standard PVC.
Recycled PVC
Cards made from recycled PVC content. They print and feel identical to virgin PVC — you genuinely cannot tell the difference in the finished card. The environmental benefit is in the manufacturing process rather than the end product.
PLA-Based Biodegradable Cards
Made from polylactic acid, derived from plant starch (usually corn). These cards are designed to break down in industrial composting facilities. They print well with most DTC printers, though colour vibrancy can be very slightly different from PVC.
The honest caveat: "biodegradable" in this context means industrial composting, not your garden compost bin. And in practice, most cards end up in general waste regardless of material. The environmental benefit is real but modest — it's a step in the right direction rather than a solution.
When eco cards make sense
- Organisations with sustainability commitments or public-facing environmental policies
- Visitor passes and temporary IDs with short lifespans (where the composting pathway is more realistic)
- Councils, universities, and public bodies that need to demonstrate green procurement
Card Thickness: 30mil Is Standard
Card thickness is measured in mils (thousandths of an inch) or millimetres. The standard is 30mil (0.76mm) — the same thickness as a bank card. This is what your printer expects, what your card holders accommodate, and what your access control readers are calibrated for.
You'll occasionally see thinner cards (20mil) used with printers that apply a lamination overlay — the overlay adds thickness, so you start with a thinner card to end up at the standard total. Unless you're using a lamination module, stick with 30mil.
Some printers can also handle thicker cards (40mil or even 50mil for clamshell-style access control credentials), but these are niche applications. Check your printer's specifications before ordering anything non-standard.
Add-On Features
Plain white cards are the starting point. From there, you can add various embedded features depending on your application.
Magnetic Stripe Cards
A magnetic stripe encodes data that can be read by a swipe reader — hotel keys, older access control systems, library cards. Available in HiCo (high coercivity, more durable) and LoCo (low coercivity, cheaper). Your printer needs an optional magnetic encoder module to write to these.
Smart Chip Cards
Cards with a visible gold contact chip (like a bank card) or an embedded contactless chip (like a tap-to-pay card). These are pre-manufactured with the chip already in place — you print the visual design on top. Common in access control, healthcare, and transit applications.
Signature Strip Cards
A signature strip panel on the back of the card — the same concept as the back of a credit card. Useful for membership cards, loyalty programmes, or any card that benefits from a handwritten signature for verification.
Coloured Cards
Not every card needs to be white. Coloured cards — blue, green, red, yellow, black — are useful for visual coding. Different departments, access levels, or card types can be colour-coded so they're identifiable at a glance without reading the print.
CR80 vs CR79: Sizing
CR80 is the standard credit card size — 85.6mm x 53.98mm. This is what 99% of card printers use and what you should order unless you have a specific reason not to. CR79 is marginally smaller — 83.9mm x 51.0mm. It's used with adhesive-backed cards designed to be stuck onto proximity clamshell credentials (to add a photo ID to an existing chunky prox card). It's a niche requirement. If you don't know you need CR79, you don't need it.OEM vs Compatible Cards
Printer manufacturers sell their own branded blank cards. They'll tell you these are optimised for their printers and recommend using them exclusively.
Here's the reality: a CR80 PVC card is a CR80 PVC card. Compatible (unbranded) cards from reputable suppliers work perfectly well in the vast majority of printers. The PVC composition and surface finish are industry-standard, and the cards go through the same printer mechanism regardless of whose logo is on the packaging.
That said, a few caveats. Some printers — particularly those with retransfer technology — are more sensitive to card quality and surface consistency. And if your printer is under warranty, using non-OEM cards that cause a jam or printhead issue could complicate a warranty claim.
Our general advice: compatible cards are fine for most DTC printers. For retransfer printers or high-security applications, consider the manufacturer's recommended cards, at least until you've tested alternatives.
Matching Cards to Printers
A few rules of thumb to keep things simple.
- DTC printers (Evolis, Magicard, Fargo) — standard PVC works beautifully
- Retransfer printers — use composite (PVC/PET) cards for best results
- Smart card printing — buy pre-manufactured smart cards, then print your design on top. The chip is embedded during card manufacturing, not added by your printer
- Magnetic encoding — make sure the stripe is on the correct side for your printer's encoder position (most are HiCo, back of card)
The Quick Version
For most organisations: buy standard white PVC cards, CR80, 30mil in bulk. They're affordable, they print well, and they work in every DTC printer on the market. If you're running a retransfer printer, step up to composite. If sustainability matters, look at recycled PVC — it's the easiest swap with no trade-offs in quality.
Have a browse through our full blank card range and get in touch if you're not sure what suits your setup. We'll point you in the right direction.
