If you are looking for an easy to read summary of what makes the best custom awards suppliers in the USA, you came to the right place.

When we started down the journey in 2014 of finding out who was the best awards supplier, we broke it down into the following categories to access suppliers:

1. Custom Medals
2. Custom Pins
3. Custom Keychains
4. Custom Coins and Tokens
5. Creative Designs
6. Authenticity
7. Quality of Service
8. Communication
9. Speed of Delivery
10. Price
11. Other things we noticed and liked.

Now in 2021, around 7 years and a lot of research later, we are confident to speak about this topic. However, before we briefly go through these categories, please note these are subjective takes and also based on our interactions with other suppliers, their customers, and feedback we received and reviewed.

We can not speak for everyone, and you should do your own research before making a decision, which is also a disclaimer. Plus, relationships and your familiarity with a supplier will of course lead you to think they are doing enough for your needs.

All we are saying is that you should keep an open mind. If you are looking for any of these items, it might be worth your while to check with Amaze Awards.

Ok, let’s get into our finding for the best custom awards suppliers….

CUSTOM MEDALS:

Custom medals are becoming a familiar site at youth sports leagues and tournaments alike. Soccer, little league, basketball, football, softball, cheer, and many other events across the country use awards. We examined a lot of suppliers in this category through both physical and online based methods. We found a pretty wide spread in what people consider “good or great”. There is a big misconception about what a custom medal entails, what is possible, and the quality that goes into these items before, during, and post production.

This has been perpetuated by some suppliers that have been operating in the market for years. Or the opposite, and just dumping cheap products which only hurts everyone. Whatever the case, supplying the best custom awards isn’t easy, or super cheap.

The problem is often found in the details. Poor quality materials, including bad process control and proper cleaning. The result often leads to cracking, and other plating and color issues. In addition, because the designs can be quite intricate, proper handling and quality control are issues that sometimes only rear their head after the event.

But most often, we just find that the designs are plain or lazy, and about 50% of customers don’t actually know enough about what is possible, or how to get the designs they want both on the medals and ribbon.

At Amaze we provide high quality products, real design service for customers, and make sure that our products look amazing. When you give them out for sure, but they stay looking great for many years to come. Custom awards are our passion, so we want them to look amazing for as long as possible. It’s in our name…

CUSTOM PINS:

Custom pins are used for any variety of things including corporate, retail, sport, and general marketing giveaways. We visited at all the top sites on the first few pages on Google, and called a lot of them too. Unfortunately we quickly found out that this too is similar to the custom medals market. There are again some misconceptions about the quality, design, lead time, and most importantly cost.

Many of them are simply overpriced, upselling on every little thing, or competing on things that don’t really matter. Some have no experience in the actual production of metal items, and run into the same QC issues mentioned above which is a recurring theme for all metal products.

The market here is confusing and you could spend an eternity going to hundreds of sites claiming to supply “high quality”. The reality is that a lot of suppliers just supply whatever the real manufacturer supplies them. No quality control, no idea what you will actually receive before it ships.

At Amaze, because we want to make every customer a happy one, we make sure your design looks exactly like you expect it to, and the quality of the items match. We always make it right… and this boils down to the details.

CUSTOM KEYCHAINS:

Some people might not consider keychains to be a part of what goes into the best custom awards category, but they are. A much less saturated market in terms of companies claiming to make them, and an easier time navigating the websites which mostly have some designs for you to choose from. They typically allow you to do some engraving, add a picture, or other color options, but that is about it. When you want to make a truly custom keychain that is where the headache can begin.

We contacted a number of the top listed sites on the internet, both those advertising and organic. We found the experience was digitalized but slow, difficult to manage, and surprisingly expensive. This again is down to the fact most don’t really manufacture and don’t understand the product manufacturing process. Most disturbing, they don’t meet the core competencies of a capable designer, and charge a lot. There are some caveats to this, in that perhaps these items are not so popular for custom production for higher quantities. However, these are great items for a lot of things like tradeshows, customer/employee appreciation, mementos, and general advertising.

Amaze is proud to be one of the few truly custom producers, and if you have an idea we can turn it into reality. Our design team is qualified to produce 3D mock-ups, and we make things happen faster thanks to our streamlined and straight talk process.

CUSTOM COINS & TOKENS:

These items have become more prevalent lately partly due to crypto currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others, but there are tons of unique use cases for these and they aren’t really new. Challenge coins have become quite popular as well as commemorative coins, and even items for referees in sport. Tokens and other coins follow suit and can be used for any number of other things but there are definitely some creative minded people in this field.

The only problem is that most places are charging a bit too much for these items. So if you have the opportunity or need to create a custom coin, take your time with it because these items are kept for years to come and can say a lot about your organization. They are not particularly difficult to make, but your truly create some amazing and fun things with coins and tokens.

Amaze can walk you through the process and options from start to finish, and make sure that you have a truly unique and amazing custom coin or token.

CREATIVE DESIGNS:

This is the one that surprised us the most over the years. So many amazing logos out there, yet when they put it into a product so many people simply forget about the importance of making it look great. Confined to circles, simple and cheap attachments, design can really make or break your item. So if your logo hasn’t been updated in some time and it’s due for a refresh, take the time to do that before contacting most custom manufacturers. This is a service Amaze provides for free to customers, and we include the full design files for logos we create too.

AUTHENTICITY:

Ok we aren’t here to say that anyone isn’t. However, in an age and time when people want great customer service there was a lot lacking with some companies. Either they are very busy, or they never bother to send you an email or make a phone call, or they bug you daily. You never hear from them unless its for an order. Its just a bit funny to deal with that repeatedly.

There can be a lot said about this topic, but for some people its just a job on both sides of the table and awards just aren’t that important to them.

Or maybe we are old fashioned that way and we just want to treat customers like family.

QUALITY OF SERVICE:

Service is about expectations to a large degree, so one person’s expectations may be at the opposite end of the scale as another. At Amaze we pride ourselves on supplying the best custom awards, but also the best service by being thorough, easy to work with, and personable. You can call us up, ask a question, and get a real answer right away. You are dealing with the people who understand these products inside and out, and also happen to be the decision makers on every job. We will always do our best to support, and to make sure you are happy with your products and experience with us.

COMMUNICATION:

Most suppliers in our experience are not really devoted to adding value, but rather doing what companies are supposed to do. This is a result of an unvested interest because employees are typically not owners, so they only have pre-determined metrics to worry about.

The point of this is communication and clarity are often lost in the process of trying to achieve KPIS, or sales targets. At Amaze our goal isn’t to try and sell to everyone as quickly as possible, its to help you. This starts with your first conversation with us, and it carries through all the way until your event happens. This starts and ends with people, and because you are working with only invested people from Amaze, our goal is to make sure that every customer is our most important customer.

We genuinely want your award experience to be amazing, and it’s so much easier to achieve that when we communicate. We want recipients to feel it, and we want you to see it on every recipient’s face when they receive it.

It’s not for everyone, but it’s the way we handle our communication to provide you the best service we can.

SPEED OF DELIVERY:

Delivery times for custom awards can be all over the place. Medals from some suppliers take up to 2 months, and even then they charge what seems like a lot to us. Our custom awards on the other hand can be to you in as little as 2 weeks. Normally, though we estimate to allow about 4 weeks, which is respectable based on our order volume, shipping, and design approval.

PRICE:

Well the price of the best custom awards can really be all over the place to be honest. Depending on the size, thickness, detail, colors, and packaging, there are lots of options. There is quite a lot of work that goes into each product, and factories are tooled for high production runs. So there are some production costs which make it very expensive for low run requirements. However, once you go over 200 pieces, we guarantee to beat any other US supplier.

Let’s do an example: If you look at custom medals, lets say Supplier A charges $4 each for 1000 pieces of a medal. If you look at Amaze’s price, we are typically around 20-30% less.

Why? Simply put we don’t have the same overhead, and we prefer to give our customers a better price so they can do more for less. If you want to spend the same, ok no problem, we can make an even better item for you… Win/Win

OTHER THINGS:

Over the last decade the industry and overall simplicity has improved a lot. Some website focus on online and automated ordering, others on supplying to resellers, and some on partnerships. While no one way is best, there is something to be said for your business model and the state of business each company is doing.

For standard items there are really only a few companies that make up the majority of this business. Automated ordering while it sounds good and works in theory takes away the personal element of the business and brings with it a number of risks depending on how picky you are as a customer. For those that have focused on building up partnerships, it’s a good way to develop the brand name, but in our opinion the implementation of this drives up the cost for most.

At Amaze, we decided to focus on people, service, and delivering the best products possible while also offering direct source pricing. This gives our customers the best of everything, all under a well rounded roof, that benefits small and large customers alike.

CLOSING THOUGHTS:

Our goal is to treat everyone like family. While we can’t be all things to everyone, we are very good at what we do. What we can guarantee is that if you give Amaze your business, you will be getting the best custom awards for the money, and a real partner that will support you, just like family should do. We always aim to be the best custom award supplier, and we look forward to helping you make your next requirement the most amazing it can be.

For more information to frequently asked questions click here.