eBay farce - what a joke
Discussion
I hired a "consultant" to redesign our company logo, the guy makes up a set of business cards with a pantone on it.
My usual printer has a 2-3week backlog of work, therefore I look on eBay. I am a complete layman, I just want business cards with a matt finish, I purchase four sets off eBay and give them my artwork at a cost of £40 each
The printer says he cannot print pantones as the ebay listing is for digitally printed stuff, my graphics guy says that you should keep it in pantones.
I request the company to refund me the money and we will call it quits, company in turn says they can do it for the same price.
In the meantime I have another staff member join so want another set doing, due to the nature of the print process, the cost is extremely high to print one set (around £110)
I go ahead with the order, recieve cards and they are total s
te, I am sure I can print better myself with a set of wax crayons, the board isn't completely flat, and they have laminated on top, which causes a shimmering effect on the card.
I complain to them that it's total crap, he can redo them or I will post them back to him and he can jolly well refund me, I send some samples to him with out current card to show the different in the quality of laminate.
This douche tells me on the phone that he can redo them if I buy the other set at £100 or so, as a goodwill gesture he can discount that to £62. I don't want to pay an extra £20 to correct his mistake, I tell this to redo the original ones and forget the addition set - still not happy and my piss is boiling at this point.
He then fires off on a tangent that I am holding him at ransom (WTF???) he then went on about eBay feedback and he will take me to court if I leave him a negative feedback.
What a joke, he ended up blaming me for the stty quality saying that I specified the board to be laminated (don't people have professional judgement these days? all I asked for was a Laminated business card with 350g weight) This guy was really desperate to maintain 100% +ve feedback.
What a farce, put me in a real foul mood today.
My usual printer has a 2-3week backlog of work, therefore I look on eBay. I am a complete layman, I just want business cards with a matt finish, I purchase four sets off eBay and give them my artwork at a cost of £40 each
The printer says he cannot print pantones as the ebay listing is for digitally printed stuff, my graphics guy says that you should keep it in pantones.
I request the company to refund me the money and we will call it quits, company in turn says they can do it for the same price.
In the meantime I have another staff member join so want another set doing, due to the nature of the print process, the cost is extremely high to print one set (around £110)
I go ahead with the order, recieve cards and they are total s
te, I am sure I can print better myself with a set of wax crayons, the board isn't completely flat, and they have laminated on top, which causes a shimmering effect on the card.I complain to them that it's total crap, he can redo them or I will post them back to him and he can jolly well refund me, I send some samples to him with out current card to show the different in the quality of laminate.
This douche tells me on the phone that he can redo them if I buy the other set at £100 or so, as a goodwill gesture he can discount that to £62. I don't want to pay an extra £20 to correct his mistake, I tell this
to redo the original ones and forget the addition set - still not happy and my piss is boiling at this point.He then fires off on a tangent that I am holding him at ransom (WTF???) he then went on about eBay feedback and he will take me to court if I leave him a negative feedback.
What a joke, he ended up blaming me for the s
tty quality saying that I specified the board to be laminated (don't people have professional judgement these days? all I asked for was a Laminated business card with 350g weight) This guy was really desperate to maintain 100% +ve feedback.What a farce, put me in a real foul mood today.
Why do you need a Pantone colour specifically? It will limit you to printing on a proper press, rather than digital print. If you can get a close enough match without needing it to be a specific Pantone ref then any decent print shop should be able to run them off for you. My last set were full colour, 2-sided. 5 names, 200 cards each, about £75 IIRC.
How can he take you to court if you leave negative feedback ? I was under the impression that if you were not happy with a sellers service for some reason then you could leave them negative feedback.
If the seller can take everyone to court who leaves negative feedback then whats the point in having a feedback system ?
If the seller can take everyone to court who leaves negative feedback then whats the point in having a feedback system ?
With respect to your graphics guy (whilst I can understand his sentiment), he's wrong about "sticking to pantones" for the sort of print you're after.
Read "covering his ass".
If you're after low unit cost on small print runs, the only way to go is digital. Spot colour (pantone) can only be printed on a litho press which is why "the cost is extremely high to print one set". Basically a lot of litho printers can't be bothered to do low run spot colour work as it's a pain in the arse. Won't go into all the reasons, but that's the bottom line.
Any half decent graphics guy/in house designer should be able to get a very good CMYK approximation to spot colour and provided you use the same digital printer for output, results will always be consistent.
As regards the eBay printer, the bottom line with him is that he's not done his job very well. The reason the cards aren't flat is because they've been put through the laminater at the wrong temperature (probably too hot), although you've said also that there's a "shimmered" effect on the laminate. Do you mean a kinda "mottled milky look" . . . that's indicarive of being laminated too cold. I'd have to see one to make judgement!!!
Anyway, dollars to doughnuts, he's rushed the job out, because he's advertising very low rates to drive sales (after all ain't that the eBay way?). You shouldn't pay for that . . . that's his look out. You've paid for his professionalism and that's not been supplied.
What I'd also say is that your graphics guy should have pointed all this out before you ordered. You shouldn't be ordering/buying anything you don't at least have a good working knowledge or understanding of.
That goes for everything . . . not just print!!
Hope it works out fella!
Read "covering his ass".
If you're after low unit cost on small print runs, the only way to go is digital. Spot colour (pantone) can only be printed on a litho press which is why "the cost is extremely high to print one set". Basically a lot of litho printers can't be bothered to do low run spot colour work as it's a pain in the arse. Won't go into all the reasons, but that's the bottom line.
Any half decent graphics guy/in house designer should be able to get a very good CMYK approximation to spot colour and provided you use the same digital printer for output, results will always be consistent.
As regards the eBay printer, the bottom line with him is that he's not done his job very well. The reason the cards aren't flat is because they've been put through the laminater at the wrong temperature (probably too hot), although you've said also that there's a "shimmered" effect on the laminate. Do you mean a kinda "mottled milky look" . . . that's indicarive of being laminated too cold. I'd have to see one to make judgement!!!
Anyway, dollars to doughnuts, he's rushed the job out, because he's advertising very low rates to drive sales (after all ain't that the eBay way?). You shouldn't pay for that . . . that's his look out. You've paid for his professionalism and that's not been supplied.
What I'd also say is that your graphics guy should have pointed all this out before you ordered. You shouldn't be ordering/buying anything you don't at least have a good working knowledge or understanding of.
That goes for everything . . . not just print!!
Hope it works out fella!
dangerousB said:
With respect to your graphics guy (whilst I can understand his sentiment), he's wrong about "sticking to pantones" for the sort of print you're after.
Read "covering his ass".
If you're after low unit cost on small print runs, the only way to go is digital. Spot colour (pantone) can only be printed on a litho press which is why "the cost is extremely high to print one set". Basically a lot of litho printers can't be bothered to do low run spot colour work as it's a pain in the arse. Won't go into all the reasons, but that's the bottom line.
Any half decent graphics guy/in house designer should be able to get a very good CMYK approximation to spot colour and provided you use the same digital printer for output, results will always be consistent.
As regards the eBay printer, the bottom line with him is that he's not done his job very well. The reason the cards aren't flat is because they've been put through the laminater at the wrong temperature (probably too hot), although you've said also that there's a "shimmered" effect on the laminate. Do you mean a kinda "mottled milky look" . . . that's indicarive of being laminated too cold. I'd have to see one to make judgement!!!
Anyway, dollars to doughnuts, he's rushed the job out, because he's advertising very low rates to drive sales (after all ain't that the eBay way?). You shouldn't pay for that . . . that's his look out. You've paid for his professionalism and that's not been supplied.
What I'd also say is that your graphics guy should have pointed all this out before you ordered. You shouldn't be ordering/buying anything you don't at least have a good working knowledge or understanding of.
That goes for everything . . . not just print!!
Hope it works out fella!
It wasn't exactly a tiny run, there were 2000 cards.Read "covering his ass".
If you're after low unit cost on small print runs, the only way to go is digital. Spot colour (pantone) can only be printed on a litho press which is why "the cost is extremely high to print one set". Basically a lot of litho printers can't be bothered to do low run spot colour work as it's a pain in the arse. Won't go into all the reasons, but that's the bottom line.
Any half decent graphics guy/in house designer should be able to get a very good CMYK approximation to spot colour and provided you use the same digital printer for output, results will always be consistent.
As regards the eBay printer, the bottom line with him is that he's not done his job very well. The reason the cards aren't flat is because they've been put through the laminater at the wrong temperature (probably too hot), although you've said also that there's a "shimmered" effect on the laminate. Do you mean a kinda "mottled milky look" . . . that's indicarive of being laminated too cold. I'd have to see one to make judgement!!!
Anyway, dollars to doughnuts, he's rushed the job out, because he's advertising very low rates to drive sales (after all ain't that the eBay way?). You shouldn't pay for that . . . that's his look out. You've paid for his professionalism and that's not been supplied.
What I'd also say is that your graphics guy should have pointed all this out before you ordered. You shouldn't be ordering/buying anything you don't at least have a good working knowledge or understanding of.
That goes for everything . . . not just print!!
Hope it works out fella!
There isn't a milky look, it's glittery, there are spots of shimmer where the paper doesn't meet the laminate.
dibbers006 said:
FYI
Converting Pantones to Four Colour Process is ONE CLICK and will have little bearing on the finish of Business Cards.
Perhaps if it is Gold or Silver or some such but otherwise. Cadburys Purple for example would look 90% similar in CMYK on a Business Card.
Unless it's out of gamut. In principle you're nearly correct. In practice it's not always that simple.Converting Pantones to Four Colour Process is ONE CLICK and will have little bearing on the finish of Business Cards.
Perhaps if it is Gold or Silver or some such but otherwise. Cadburys Purple for example would look 90% similar in CMYK on a Business Card.
jamoor said:
It wasn't exactly a tiny run, there were 2000 cards.
There isn't a milky look, it's glittery, there are spots of shimmer where the paper doesn't meet the laminate.
Well within the bounds of a competitive digital run.There isn't a milky look, it's glittery, there are spots of shimmer where the paper doesn't meet the laminate.
Sounds like he may possibly have a cold laminater with some knackered rollers. Can only speculate really.
Anyway, as I've said, it's his look out, not yours.
Every job that goes out of my doors gets looked at and we ask ourselves "is this the best we could have possibly produced?". If the answers no, it goes in the bin.
In this guys case it would appear they either:-
a) don't ask that question
or
b) confused the bin with a box addressed to Mr Jamoor.
Personally, I'd request a refund, stating the reasons and highlight the fact that you were paying for their "professional expertise and judgement", neither of which you received.
He doesn't have a leg to stand on, believe me.
dangerousB said:
jamoor said:
It wasn't exactly a tiny run, there were 2000 cards.
There isn't a milky look, it's glittery, there are spots of shimmer where the paper doesn't meet the laminate.
"professional expertise and judgement"There isn't a milky look, it's glittery, there are spots of shimmer where the paper doesn't meet the laminate.
He was blaming me for choosing the wrong type of paper, if someone asked me about my product and I knew it would go hideously wrong, I would at least let them know the risk.
Could you email me your details for next time?
your design guy should deffinately have given you a CMYK & RGB split of the colour, he should have a pantone book which'll tell him the closest match to the pantone colour.
about ebay guy just tell him to redo them as you're not happy, don't pay him any money, don't listen to his threats of 'legal action' if you leave bad feedback, he wont want the expense...
about ebay guy just tell him to redo them as you're not happy, don't pay him any money, don't listen to his threats of 'legal action' if you leave bad feedback, he wont want the expense...
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