Business card magnets: how to make or order them

A business card magnet is a fridge magnet the size of a business card: 85 × 55 mm in the UK and Europe, or 3.5 × 2” (89 × 51 mm) in the US. You can print them at home on printable magnet sheets, 10 to a sheet, or order them from a printer.

How do you make them at home?

1. Buy printable magnet sheets made for your type of printer, inkjet or laser, in A4 or US Letter.
2. Lay out 10 cards on a sheet, two across and five down, edge to edge with no gaps. A business card template does this for you.
3. Print one sheet at a time at 100% scale, with borderless printing off.
4. Let the ink dry, then seal it with clear laminate or a spray sealer if the magnets will be handled a lot.
5. Cut them with a paper trimmer. Because the cards sit edge to edge, each cut separates a whole row or column.

Printing magnet sheets covers which printers take magnet sheets, and the settings to use.

Which thickness should you choose?

Thicker magnets hold better on a fridge, especially on textured or slightly curved doors, and feel sturdier. Thinner ones are cheaper and easier to post.

• Printable magnet sheets for home printers are usually about 0.3–0.5mm thick. That’s fine for a card-sized magnet on a flat fridge door.
• For a thicker magnet, print your cards on sticker paper and stick the sheet onto a self-adhesive magnet sheet, then cut. This works with any printer, and you can choose a thicker magnet.
• Printers usually offer a few thicknesses, often up to about 0.8mm. Ask which they recommend for fridge magnets.

Which finish should you choose?

• Matte has no glare, so your details are easy to read under kitchen lights.
• Gloss makes colours brighter and wipes clean easily, but reflects light.

At home, the finish comes from the magnet sheet you buy (matte or glossy) and from any laminate you add. Printers usually offer a matte or gloss laminate or coating.

Should you make them or order them?

Make them at home when you want small batches, different designs or photos on each one, or magnets the same day. You only pay for the sheets and ink.

Order them from a printer when you want hundreds of the same design. Printers charge less per magnet as the quantity goes up, but many have a minimum order.

What artwork does a printer need?

• Size: the finished size, such as 85 × 55 mm, plus 3mm of bleed on every side, so trimming doesn’t leave a white edge.
• Safe area: keep text and logos at least 3mm inside the trim line.
• Colour: CMYK, as screen (RGB) colours can shift when printed, especially bright blues and greens.
• File: a print-ready PDF with fonts embedded, and images at 300 pixels per inch at the printed size.

Ask for a printed sample or proof before a large order, and check the colour, the edges and how well it holds on a fridge.

How do you fill a sheet with your cards?

The free business card magnet template is the US size, 2 × 3.5” (51 × 89 mm), with 10 cards per A4 or US Letter sheet, edge to edge. MagLab fills the sheet in one click: add your designs or photos, say how many of each, and it crops each one to fit the card and adds a line along each shared edge for the trimmer. For the UK size, 85 × 55 mm, set the card size in MagLab’s template designer. Ten fit on A4.