When I went looking for some kind of option that would get me a reasonable price for one name at a time biz cards last year, what I found was that the tradeoff for cheap was no choices in stock. In some cases you had to sacrifice color choices too, but several places appear to just run everything as process so you can get any color. I did a test run, and they came out good. Our card is white background anyway, so that wasn't a problem. (Cream would be difficult, I agree. Much nicer to start with a colored stock.) We did change types of paper; our previous cards were on a linen card stock. But it turned out we liked the glossy coated end product just as well.

The good thing is that if you really want specifics in paper stock and such, you can still get a reasonable price per name if you have several names. I used to lay out the file in such a way that the cards would print 10 up on an 8.5x11 sheet. This saved a bit over having the printer do the name changes, I'm sure. I do miss giving business to the local printer we used, but this is way more convenient. Before I had to weigh price vs. getting new cards to a new hire in a reasonable time frame. Now I can just get them.

(Why I'm still the person stuck ordering cards is a whole other story. )