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General
What in the heck
is a "specialty product"?
Do you have a showroom?
Can I have a sales person visit my office?
Products
How do I
find the products I'm looking for?
So, do ya'll manufacture
all these products?
Are custom manufactured products available?
What if I'm just in the planning stage and looking for
ideas?
Samples
Are random samples available?
Are speculative (pre-production) samples available?
Ordering
What is your production time and are rush orders
available?
What about set-up and shipping charges?
What about artwork?
What is camera-ready artwork?
What payment methods are available?
How do I place an order?
How do I check the status of an
order?
Will I receive exact the exact quantity that I
order?
Can I cancel an order after it's been placed?
Miscellaneous
What is your privacy policy?
What if this page doesn't answer my question?
General
What in the
heck is a "specialty product"?
Good question. A specialty product (also referred to as a
promotional product or an advertising specialty) is
basically an item, usually custom imprinted with your logo
and/or custom message, which are given to your employees,
group, or customers as part of a promotion, program, award
etc. They can be used for special promotions, employee
incentives, safety programs, customer appreciation and
promoting corporate identity, among others. Specialties
can also be used as customer incentives (sometimes
referred to as premiums). An example would be giving a
customer a specialty for opening a new account or making a
purchase. Their use is only limited by your imagination.
We'll be happy to discuss ideas with you.
Back to Questions.
Do you have a showroom?
Not at the moment. We had a showroom for several years,
but we found that very few of our clients took advantage
of it. Over 90% of our meetings and transactions took
place by phone or at our clients offices. Our showroom
also added an additional expense, and as you know, the
lower we can keep our overhead, the better prices we can
give our customers. A showroom is a nice service, so we
may open another one in the future should enough customers
request it.
Back to Questions.
Can I have a sales person visit my office?
That depends on where your office is located. We are
located in Plano, Texas, just north of Dallas, so if
you're near us, the answer is yes. If you're located in,
for instance, Montana (we have done orders in Montana),
the answer is probably not at this time, but we still
welcome your business.
Back to Questions.
Products
How do I find the products I'm
looking for?
There are two basic ways. One way is just call or
email us with a description and we'll do the research and
get you the info. For those of you who enjoy
browsing, start with our Home Page
or Site Map, which contains links to
our Online Catalog,
Featured Suppliers,
Featured Products,
Church & School, and Wearables pages. It shouldn't take you
more than a few months to completely browse all our links.
Back to Questions.
So, do ya'll manufacture all these products?
These products are manufactured by thousands of factories
worldwide. We represent these manufacturers by offering their products direct to you. The only
production we currently perform in-house is
embroidery, monogramming, digitizing and artwork. We no longer screen print
in-house. Currently, all imprinting is being done at the
factories. We feel this allows us more time to concentrate
on other services.
Back to Questions.
Are custom manufactured products available?
Yes, we have many manufacturers that do this. Just send us
a description of your item and we'll get you a quote.
Back to Questions.
What if I'm just in the planning stage and looking for
ideas?
By all means, give us a call. This website is a
convenient service, but we still prefer personal contact
with our clients. We'll be very happy to discuss your
ideas and hopefully be able to offer some of our own. Some
of our suppliers even offer "case histories" involving
their various products.
Back to Questions.
Samples
Are random samples available?
Yes, we currently warehouse many samples or can drop ship
from one of our factories. When we say "random samples",
we are referring to a specifically requested product with
a imprinted random logo. Many random samples are available
at no charge.
Back to Questions.
Are speculative (pre-production) samples available?
Yes, on most products. A speculative sample is a sample of
the actual product with your proposed actual imprint for
your review prior to placing the regular order. Your cost
will usually be the cost of the item, plus any imprint
set-up charges. In most cases, these set-up charges will
be credited to the regular order. Additional
product specific info is available on the various supplier
websites.
Back to Questions.
Ordering
What is your production time and are rush orders
available?
Product time varies by item and supplier. Most standard
production times are published in the various supplier catalogs
and websites.
Please note that published production times are measured
from the time an order is received at the factory (and
artwork approved) until the time it is shipped.
Please allow time for shipping to and from the factory. Rush orders are available from many suppliers and
up-charges can sometimes apply. If you need to place a
rush order, we'll look at the options (sometimes another
supplier may have a shorter production time) and let you know of
additional charges, if any, up front.
Please let us know if you have a "drop-dead" due date and
we'll verify the factory can meet this date prior to
placing the order. See How
do I check the status of an order for more
information.
Back to Questions.
What about set-up and shipping charges?
Set-up charges (the cost for setting up for imprinting)
will vary by item, supplier and imprinting method.
This cost (when applicable) should be clearly marked in
the catalogs, supplier websites, quotes and acknowledgments.
Shipping charges are FOB factory based on the weight and
your location. You may specify a preferred shipping
method for all orders.
Back to Questions.
What about
artwork?
Artwork requirements varies by the product and imprinting
method. For most embroidered products, a simple
sketch will usually do.
Most imprinted items require camera ready artwork.
Most of our factory websites have artwork requirements
listed for their specific products, including acceptable
electronic formats. Please contact us with any
questions. We can usually
create most artwork for you in-house or at the
factory, sometimes at no charge. We can also provide
a proof prior to going into production. Send us your sketch
or idea description for a quote. We can also
work with your ad agency or in-house artist to insure we
have the proper artwork to insure a quality print job.
Back to Questions.
What is camera-ready
artwork?
Camera-ready artwork is artwork which requires no additional touch-up.
If more than one color, each color must be separated with
registration marks. It can be submitted
electronically or printed on an ad slick or premium paper. How sharp this artwork needs to be can vary by the method
and type of material to be imprinted. Most
imprinters prefer either exact size or 200% of size to be
printed. Please contact us for more information.
Back to Questions.
What payment methods are available?
We accept most types of payment (well, maybe not bottle
caps) such as major credit and debit cards, paypal, checks
and money orders. You
also will not offend us with cash (just don't send through
the mail). Since we can't sell your custom imprinted
items to anyone else, we request payment in advance for
all clients without an established account. To
establish an account (very simple process), please contact
us.
Back to Questions.
How do I place an order?
We take orders most anyway we can get them. We take some
over the phone, but due to the customization of most
products, we suggest either e-mail, in person or some
other written method. You may send us a purchase order or
a description of the item. See our
Order Form page for more
information. You'll always receive an
acknowledgement for your approval prior to any order
processing. We're currently revising our order
form and setting up direct online ordering and payment.
We should have this additional option up and running
shortly.
Back to Questions.
How do I check the status of an
order?
Please contact us for the status of any order. Prior
to placement of any order, we'll give you an estimated
production time and, if you have an exact due date, we'll
verify that our supplier can meet this date. We can
also get you a tracking number once your order is shipped.
Back to Questions.
Will I receive the exact quantity
that I ordered?
In most cases, you will receive the exact quantity
ordered. In some cases you may receive up to 10%
over or under your order quantity. Of course, you'll
only be charge for the quantity actually shipped. In
general, overages are usually limited to inexpensive items
and rarely exceed 5%.
Back to Questions.
Can I cancel an order after it's been
placed?
Yes, on most orders. We understand there are
sometimes circumstances in which you must cancel an order.
Should this happen, please contact us immediately.
You will only be responsible for any charges occurring up
to the point of cancellation. Please be aware
that once the imprinting process has begun, usually the
entire sales amount will be charged.
Back to Questions.
Miscellaneous
What is your privacy policy?
To sum it up, we don't share any information except any
which is absolutely essential to complete your order (such
as your address to a factory that is shipping an order
direct to you). See our privacy page for more information,
which also contains helpful hints on safeguarding and
protecting your identity when browsing other sites.
Back to Questions.
What if this page doesn't answer my question?
Obviously, we can't anticipate all questions, so just call
or email with any additional questions and we'll do our best to answer them.
Back to Questions.
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