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TERMS & CONDITIONS OF SALE/ ORDER INFORMATION

(Revised on January 10, 2018)

When placing your order, you may do so by phone, email, fax, or mail.

Mailing Address:

Advantage Marketing Solutions
9280 N Lilley Rd,
Plymouth, MI 48170

Phone: 248-912-1285
Fax: 248-912-1288
Email: admin@marketingmich.com

Methods of Payment

Credit Card
We accept all major credit cards for online and phone orders. All information is kept in strict confidence. We guarantee the safety of your personal information with all credit card orders.

Business Account – Net 15
Business accounts are subject to credit approval, and invoiced within three days of shipment. Terms are Net 15 days from invoice date for open account customers. If you have not established credit with Advantage Marketing Solutions, we ask that you provide two trade references and the name and address of your bank with your initial order.

Net 15 Terms
If you are granted payment terms, you agree to pay within 15 days of invoice. Payments not received within 15 days of due date are subject to a monthly interest rate of 2% or a flat fee of $25/month, whichever is greater. Client is also responsible for any additional cost related to collections, such as but not limited to legal and filing fees.

If client is incorporated, the person who originated the order agrees that they have the purchasing authority and will personally guarantee payment, collection, or any fees related to not authorize to approve purchase. A personal guarantee applies to all business owners on record if collection process needs to be implemented.

Check Returns
We accept business checks. In all cases where we have a check returned for Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) we will assess a $50.00 fee.

Privacy
All information is kept in strict confidence. We do not share or sell any information pertaining to our customers. Your contact information is used to process your order, and occasionally to communicate with you about special opportunities we may offer.

Sales Tax
Advantage Marketing Solutions is required by law to collect all applicable state and local taxes for services and goods shipped to Michigan. Customers in other states may be required to remit use taxes. Please consult your tax advisor. Companies, individuals and organizations who are exempt from sales tax should provide us with a copy of their resale certificate before your order is placed.

Sales Tax Exemption
A sales tax exemption certificate must be provided in order to make tax-free purchases of items and services that are taxable. This includes most tangible personal property and some services. The purchaser must give Advantage Marketing Solutions a properly completed certificate at the time of the sale. Purchaser will be charged taxes without the proper documents. Purchaser may request a tax refund if they provide the proper documents within 90 days from the time of purchase.

You may use an exemption certificate if, as a purchaser:

  • you intend to resell the property or service.
  • you intend to use the property or service for a purpose that is exempt from sales tax.
  • you make purchases as an agent or employee of tax-exempt nonprofit organizations or government entities.

Shipping Charges
We make every effort to accurately estimate shipping charges. From time to time, we may underestimate the shipping charges on your order. In such event we may make reasonable adjustments to your shipping charges.

Additional delivery charges reflect costs for over-sized or customized items, some of which are shipped directly from the manufacturer. Charges vary according to weight, bulk and distance. Advantage Marketing Solutions will ship the most economical way. All shipping charges are prepaid and will be included on your invoice.

Shipping Delays & Delivery Dates
Customer agrees that it will not hold Advantage Marketing Solutions accountable for delays in delivery occasioned by acts of God or other circumstances over which we have no direct control. Factory shipment or delivery dates are the best estimates of our suppliers, and in no case shall Advantage Marketing Solutions be liable for any consequential or special damages. Advantage Marketing Solutions will not accept responsibility for any delays caused by the shipping company or consignee. Advantage Marketing Solutions will not be held responsible either in the event the customer is not available for delivery or the customer refuses delivery.

In cases of a must in-hand delivery date, Advantage Marketing Solutions does not guarantee the products to arrive on time with a confirmed date of shipment.

The following requirements must be met to qualify for a delivery guarantee:

  • Order is shipping to eligible address.
  • If you have a specific “in-hands” date, please ensure that there is enough time to produce without incurring rush production fees and/or quicker delivery method.

The guarantee does not apply if we miss our promised delivery date because of an unforeseen circumstance outside of our control, such as a strike, natural disaster, or severe weather delay. Also, note that delivery scans might be inaccurate.

An attempted delivery on or before the guaranteed delivery date meets our delivery guarantee.

An offer by the carrier of a delivery appointment on or before the guaranteed delivery date meets our delivery guarantee.

Product Warranties
Advantage Marketing Solutions warrants that all goods sold are free of any security interest and will make available to you all transferable warranties made to Advantage Marketing Solutions by the manufacturer of the goods. Advantage Marketing Solutions makes no other express or implied warranties, and specifically makes no implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for purpose.

We warrant our products to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 30 days from date of invoice. This warranty is invalid if the customer alters the product in any way or uses same on any equipment for which the product was not manufactured. Our liability is expressly limited to replacement of the defective product only and does not extend to loss or damage resulting from the use of any such defective product or for any loss whether directly or indirectly suffered by reason of the customer’s inability to use the product during the time for replacement. We expressly disclaim any liability for negligence or misuse on the part of the customer or ultimate user of the product.

Merchandise Consistency
Please note that we encourage you to take the opportunity to review a sample of the actual product before you order in bulk quantity. It is important that you understand that these samples are representative in nature. While we are very careful about the suppliers and manufacturers we use, manufacturing variations are unavoidable and a natural result of the manufacturing process.

By choosing to place and order with Advantage Marketing Solutions, you are agreeing to accept merchandise with reasonable manufacturing variances in product material, color and packaging. The most common example of this is apparel dye-lots.

Colors– Effort is made to match the printed colors as close as possible to actual fabric colors. However, Advantage Marketing Solutions makes no guarantee of color accuracy either in print or on the website.
Washed & Garment Dye Products– Shade and pattern variations are inherent in washed products like denim shirts and garment dyed products. This is normal and should be expected. We recommend washing any garment dyed products before wearing. Do not dry clean.
Heathers– Heather Grey and colors with a heathered look will have 1-11% of fibers other than cotton to achieve the heather appearance even when the style is listed as 100% cotton

Transfer of Ownership of Merchandise
All goods become your property at the time they are accepted by the carrier.

Acceptance
Your submittal of an online order and/or your signature on our Order Acknowledgment is a conditional acceptance by Advantage Marketing Solutions of your offer to purchase our goods and your acceptance of our terms and conditions. It may contain terms that differ from or add to those contained in your purchase order, should you have one, and to the extent that this is the case, Advantage Marketing Solutions hereby expressly conditions its acceptance of your offer on Advantage Marketing Solutions ’ assent to the additional or different terms. Your receipt and retention of the goods covered by this invoice shall constitute acceptance of any such additional or different terms. You and Advantage Marketing Solutions agree that any contract hereby entered into has been made and is to be construed to Michigan State Law.
Cancellations and Alterations to Existing Orders
Once an Order Acknowledgment is approved, we cannot guarantee our ability to make changes or cancellations to an order. Advantage Marketing Solutions will make every effort to comply with your cancellation request. If we have already processed your order and are still able to cancel your order with our supplier, there will be a minimum charge of $50.00 to cover order entry and preparation expenses. In addition, you are liable to pay the agreed upon price for any work that may have been completed up to the time that we are able to cancel your order. These charges may include but are not limited to setup charges, artwork preparation charges, shipping charges and restocking fees. All completed work and costs incurred will be the responsibility of the customer.

Site Pricing
While we make best efforts to keep our site up to date, from time to time actual market conditions may change the price of a product. We reserve the right to change published prices of product offered on our site at any time. If a published site price is incorrect on an item you have quoted or ordered, we will contact you immediately with the most updated price or help you choose a different item that is within your budget.

Site Images
We make best efforts to provide clear and color-correct product images on our site that best reflect the true nature of the products. However, web site images are inherently limited in their ability to communicate color, scale, and detail. We want to remind customers to be careful about making assumptions about products from the site image alone. We strongly urge our customers to order actual samples. If you choose not to evaluate a physical sample, we cannot be held responsible for the difference between the image as it appears on your monitor and the final product.

Changes
From time to time, Advantage Marketing Solutions may update and revise this Terms and Conditions and Order Information to reflect changes in our policies, services and/or in response to our customers’ feedback. When we do make changes to this document, we will revise the “last updated” date at the top of this Statement. Because we reserve the right to modify this Terms and Conditions and Order Information at any time, please make sure that you review it frequently.

REFUND, RETURN & CLAIMS POLICY

(Revised as of January 10, 2018)

 

Use of this website agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following return and refund policy.

  • Refund Consideration:Only merchandise received within fifteen (15) days will be given return consideration. Requests to return goods will be reviewed by the Customer Service Department. Approval must be obtained PRIOR to any return of merchandise. A Return Authorization Number will be assigned upon approval. Shipments not having this authorization will not be accepted. Details must be provided as to the reason for the return, quantity involved, and Advantage Marketing Solutions Order number. Once return has been authorized and merchandise received by Advantage Marketing Solutions, credit or refund will be issued. Returns incur a 20% inspection and restocking charge. Only full cartons will be accepted and any non-saleable merchandise will be deducted from exchange, credit or refund amounts.

 

  • WE DO NOT ACCEPT UNAUTHORIZED RETURNS.
  • CUSTOM PRODUCTS CANNOT BE RETURNED FOR CREDIT

 

  • Non-Returnable Items:Except in the case of manufacturing defects, we are unable to accept returns on personalized/custom promotional items. No returns on printed, washed, or decorated merchandise. All sales on closeout items/styles are final.

 

  • Receiving Your Refund:Method of refund depends primarily on the method of initial payment. Credit card orders will be refunded to the same credit card of purchase. If after reading these guidelines, you have a specific question regarding any issue; please contact our customer service department for explanation or assistance.

 

  • Pre-Production Cancellation:In the event you change your mind about your order during pre-production, please contact our customer service department for a full refund. However, once your order has been completed with your custom request, we are unable to refund your purchase price.

 

  • Disclosure of Fees:Some blank items are subject to a restocking fee. Returns on undamaged blank items may require an average of 10% to 20% restocking fee. This fee is based solely on the fee requirements of our suppliers.

 

  • Restocking Fee:All returns due to customer ordering error are subject to a 20% restocking fee.

 

  • Claims:Title to merchandise passes to purchaser when delivered to carrier. Carrier acknowledges receipt of merchandise properly packaged and in good condition. It is the purchaser’s responsibility to note any visible or concealed damages, shortages, or overages on the delivery receipt IMMEDIATELY UPON DELIVERY and to initiate the claims process with the delivering carrier.

 

  • Visible Damage:Instruct delivering carrier to note nature and extent of damages on freight bill. Notify carrier’s office of damages and request inspection of merchandise. FILE CLAIM FOR DAMAGES AT ONCE! Filing a claim with the delivering carrier will allow you to make an adjustment for full value or replacement of merchandise.

 

  • Concealed Damage:If damage is noticed when merchandise is unpacked, notify carrier’s office immediately and request inspection of merchandise. Do not destroy packing materials until delivering carrier has inspected merchandise and the claim filed.

 

  • Overages and Shortages:All shortages must be reported within ten (10) days! If overages occur, please notify Advantage Marketing Solutions. We try to produce your order in the exact quantity ordered, but this is not always possible due to quality control efforts and fast running machines. We reserve the right to ship and subsequently bill or credit, your charge card or account, for up to 10% over or under the desired quantity.

 

  • Return Expiration Date:Please check your order for defects immediately upon arrival, as there are no returns after 15 days from receipt of order.

 

  • Securing an RMA/Return Authorization:In the event that you receive misprinted or incorrect merchandise, please contact our customer service department for assistance.

 

  • Required Condition of Returned Items:Returned items must be in new, saleable condition.

 

  • Product Warranty:We warrant our products to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 30 days from date of invoice. This warranty is invalid if the customer alters the product in any way or uses same on any equipment for which the product was not manufactured. Our liability is expressly limited to replacement of the defective product only and does not extend to loss or damage resulting from the use of any such defective product or for any loss whether directly or indirectly suffered by reason of the customer’s inability to use the product during the time for replacement. We expressly disclaim any liability for negligence or misuse on the part of the customer or ultimate user of the product.

 

  • Changes:From time to time, Advantage Marketing Solutions may update and revise this Refund, Return & Claims Policy to reflect changes in our policies, services and/or in response to our customers’ feedback. When we do make changes to this Refund, Return & Claims Policy, we will revise the “last updated” date at the top of this Statement. Because we reserve the right to modify this Refund, Return & Claims Policy at any time, please make sure that you review it frequently.

 

PRIVACY POLICY

(Revised as of January 10, 2018)

By use of this website you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following privacy policy. This is required by law to inform users about our privacy practices.

Advantage Marketing Solutions respects your right for privacy and all information gathered through your order is handled with care. We know that when you place your order with Advantage Marketing Solutions you are placing your trust in us and we want you to do so free of concern or risk. The personal data that we collect is used to process your order accurately and effectively. Periodically you may receive mail, e-mail or telephone calls from Advantage Marketing Solutions in order to update your account.

We’ve established procedures to protect your personal & credit card information provided online via our secured checkout page. However, this policy does not apply to information we are required to disclose by law, or in cooperation with law enforcement agencies. Our site is secured through SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). Every time you enter a secure site the URL will change from http to https. Your browser may also display a special symbol such as a lock or a key to designate the site as a secure site.

All order processing is done separate from the Internet. We will keep your credit card information on file for your future ordering convenience. We would like to remind you that all your credit card purchases are insured by your credit card company based on your rights under the Fair Credit Billing Act.

In case you do not feel comfortable leaving your credit card information online, please contact our customer care department at 248-565-3568 to place your order over the phone. We can take an e-mail communication however, it is not recommended because it is not encrypted and therefore not a secure method of transmitting your credit card information.

E-Mail List Information
For each visitor that signs up for our e-mail updates, we collect only the information that is requested on the list sign up form. Advantage Marketing Solutions never sells our e-mail subscriber list. If you are subscribed to our e-mail updates, but do not wish to receive them in the future, please follow the “unsubscribe” instructions contained in each e-mail.

Information Collection, Use, and Sharing
We are the sole owners of the information collected on this site. We only have access to/collect information that you voluntarily give us via email or other direct contact from you.

Children’s Privacy
Advantage Marketing Solutions websites are primarily for business-to-business purposes and transactions and we do not intend to or knowingly collect information on, or target our services or websites to children under the age of 13. We encourage parents and guardians to be active in monitoring their children’s online activities.

Registration
In order to use this website, a user must first complete the registration form. During registration a user is required to give certain information (such as name and email address). This information is used to contact you about the products/services on our site in which you have expressed interest.

Orders
We request information from you on our order form. To buy from us, you must provide contact information (like name and shipping address) and financial information (like credit card number, expiration date). This information is used for billing purposes and to fill your orders. If we have trouble processing an order, we’ll use this information to contact you.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy is effective as the revision date at the top of this page and will remain in effect except with respect to any changes in its provisions in the future, which will be in effect immediately after being posted on this page. We reserve the right to update or change our Privacy Policy at any time and you should check this Privacy Policy periodically. Your continued use of our service after we post any modifications to the Privacy Policy on this page will constitute your acknowledgment of the modifications and your consent to abide and be bound by the modified Privacy Policy.

Security Policy
Advantage Marketing Solutions takes precautions to protect your information. When you submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and offline. While we use encryption to protect sensitive information transmitted online, we also protect your information offline. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, billing or customer service) are granted access to personally identifiable information. The computers/servers in which we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment

Print Glossery

4-color-process or printing: The process of combining four basic colors to create a printed color picture or colors composed from the basic four colors. This is what we print with – also known as CMYK (see CMYK below).

Accordion fold: Bindery term, two or more parallel folds which open like an accordion.

Alteration: Change in copy of specifications after production has begun.

Aqueous coating: A water based coating that can be used to create the shiny side of postcards or other printed materials. We can do this but only when the customer purchases a whole run of cards because it’s done as part of the printing process rather than a separate step like the UV lamination.

Back up: Printing the second side of a sheet already printed on one side.

Banding: Method of packaging printed pieces of paper using rubber or paper bands.

Basis weight: Weight in pounds of a ream of paper cut to the basic size for its grade.

Bind: To fasten sheets or signatures with wire, thread, glue or by other means.

Bindery: The finishing department of a print shop or firm specializing in finishing printed products.

Bleed: Printing that goes to the edge of the sheet after trimming. The bleed is the art that gets printed over the trim line which gets cut off during trimming. We add an extra 1/8th inch to art on each edge that bleeds. This 1/8th inch gets trimmed off by the cutter.

Blind embossing: An image pressed into a sheet without ink or foil.

Bond paper: Strong durable paper grade used for letterheads and business forms.

Break for color: Also known as a color break. To separate, mechanically or by software, the parts to be printed in different colors. Also the percentages of each color (CMYK) that make up the final color.

Bulk pack: Boxing printed product without wrapping or banding.

Butt: Joining images without overlapping.

Caliper: A device to measure paper thickness in thousandths of an inch.

Case bind: A type of binding used in making hard cover books using glue.

Cast coated: Coated paper with a high gloss reflective finish.

CMYK: Colors used in the 4 color printing process – cyan (c – blue), magenta (m – red), yellow (y) and black (k).

Coated paper: A clay coated printing paper with a smooth finish.

Collate: A finishing term for gathering paper in a precise order.

Color bar: A quality control term regarding the spots of ink color on the tail of a sheet.

Color correction: Methods of improving color separations. Fixing the color on a picture to make it look better.

Color matching system: A system of formulated ink colors used for communicating color. Pantone Matching System (PMS color) is one such system.

Color separations: The process of preparing artwork, photographs, transparencies, or computer generated art for printing by separating into the four primary printing colors.

Contrast:The tonal change in color from light to dark.

Copy: All furnished material or disc used in the production of a printed product. Also the words used in the piece.

Crop marks: Printed lines showing where to trim a printed sheet.

Crop: To cut off parts of a picture or image.

Cyan: One of four standard process colors. The blue color.

Density: The degree of color or darkness of an image or photograph.

Die cutting: Curing images in or out of paper, by use of a die.

Die: Metal rule or imaged block used to cut or place an image on the printed piece in the finishing process.

Dot: An element of halftones. Using a loupe you will see that printed pictures are made many dots.

DPI: Dots per inch. We need a digital file that is at least 300 dots per inch (DPI) in order to produce a good print quality.

Drop-out: Portions of artwork that do not print. Also called “knock out”.

Dummy: A rough layout of a printed piece showing position and finished size.

Duotone: A halftone picture made up of two printed colors. Usually a spot color and black.

Emboss: Pressing an image into paper so that it will create a raised relief.

Emulsion: Light sensitive coating found on printing plates and film.

Flood: To cover a printed page with ink, varnish, or plastic coating.

Flop: The reverse side of an image. Also as a verb – to flip an image the reverse way.

Foil emboss: Foil stamping and embossing a image on paper with a die.

Foil stamping: Using a die to place a metallic or pigmented image on paper.

Foil: A metallic or pigmented coating on plastic sheets or rolls used in foil stamping and foil embossing.

Format: The type of computer file. You can usually tell what the format is by the 3 letters after the dot after the file name; examples. Filename.doc. This is a Microsoft Word format. There are universal formats that we can go to print with; eg. Tif, eps, indd (Indesign), qxd (QuarkXpress). There are others that we can read but need to convert to a printable format, eg. jpg, pdf. Others we can’t read at all. That’s why our website has very specific instructions on which formats we take.

French fold: Two folds at right angles to each other.

Gang: Getting the most out of a printing press by using the maximum sheet size to print multiple images or jobs on the same sheet. A way to save money on our 6 x 4 1/4 postcards, we print 18 to a sheet.

Ghosting: A faint printed image that appears on a printed sheet where it was not intended.

Gloss: A shiny look reflecting light.

Grain: The direction in which the paper fiber lie.

Grippers: The metal fingers on a printing press that hold the paper as it passes through the press.

Hairline: A very thin line or gap about the width of a hair or 1/100 inch.

Halftone: Converting a photo to dots for printing.

Hard copy: The output of a computer printer, or typed text sent for typesetting. This is a way to see the font used, and how the paragraphing/text lies on the piece.

Hickey: Reoccurring unplanned spots that appear in the printed image from dust, lint, dried ink.

Highlight: The lightest areas in a picture or halftone.

Image area: Portion of paper on which ink can appear.

Impression: Putting an image on paper.

Imprint: Adding copy to a previously printed page. We also call it a “Quick Print”.

Indicia: Postal information placed on a printed product.

Justified: List of type or copy are of even lengths on one (right or left) or both sides.

Knock out: To mask out an image. Knocked out type would have no color behind the letters.

Laminate: To cover with film, to bond or glue one surface to another. To cover with glossy coating.

Line copy: High contrast copy not requiring a halftone. Also called “line art” when it is an illustration.

Lines per inch: The number of rows of dots per inch in a halftone.

Loupe: A magnifying glass used to review a printed image, plate and position film.

Magenta: Process red, one of the basic colors in process color for CMYK printing.

Make-ready: All the activities required to prepare a press for printing.

Mask: To prevent light from reaching part of an image, therefore isolating the remaining part. Also called knock out.

Matte finish: Dull paper or ink finish.

Mechanical art: Camera-ready assembly of type, graphic and other copy complete with instructions to the printer. A hard mechanical consists of paper and/or acetate, is made using paste-up techniques, and may also be called an artboard, board or paste-up. A soft mechanical, also called an electronic mechanical, exists as a file of type and other images assembled using a computer.

Micrometer: Instrument used to measure the thickness of different papers.

Middle tones: The tones in a photograph that are approximately half as dark as the shadow area.

Moire: Occurs when screen angles are wrong causing odd patterns in photographs.

Offset paper: Term for uncoated book paper.

Offsetting: Using an intermediate surface used to transfer ink. Also, an unpleasant happening when the images of freshly printed sheets transfer images to each other.

Ok to Print: Final approved sign off sheet from customer before we print their art.

Opacity: The amount of show-through on a printed sheet. The more opacity or the thicker the paper the less show-through. (The thicker/heavier the paper the higher the cost.)

Outline halftone: Removing the background of a picture or silhouetting an image in a picture.

Overrun or overs: Copies printed in excess of the specified quantity. (Printing trade terms allow for + – 10 % to represent a completed order.)

Page count: Total number of pages in a book including blanks.

Perfect bind: A type of binding that glues the edge of sheets to a cover like a telephone book, Microsoft software manual, or Country Living Magazine.

Perfecting press: A sheet fed printing press that prints both sides of a sheet in one pass (full color front and one color back).

Perforation: The process of making a line of holes in to facilitate separation. Often this is used to create a Business Reply Card where one half of the card will be torn off and mailed back to the mailer.

Pica: Unit of measure in typesetting. One pica = 1/6 inch.

PMS: The abbreviated name of the Pantone Color Matching System. A system of naming colors or ink. PMS colors are not used in the 4-color process that we use. However, we can print with PMS colors for an extra charge.

Point: For paper, a unit of thickness equaling 1/1000 inch. for typesetting, a unit of measurement equaling 1/72 inch. There are 12 points in one Pica (see Pica).

PostScript: The computer language most recognized by printing devices.

Pressure-sensitive paper: Paper material with self sticking adhesive covered by a backing sheet.

Print run: A set of printed materials (postcards, brochures, business cards) that are all printed at one time.

Process blue: The blue or cyan color in process printing.

Process colors: Another name for CMYK which is the 4-color process we use. Cyan (blue), magenta (process red), yellow (process yellow), black (process black).

Quick Print: Adding copy to the previously printed piece. This printing is a different process that uses only one or two colors and we sub this out to another printer.

Ragged left: Type that is justified to the right margin and the line lengths vary on the left.

Ragged right: Type that is justified to the left margin and the line lengths vary on the right.

Ream:Five hundred sheets of paper.

Register marks: Cross-hair lines or marks on art, plates, and paper that help position the art.

Register: To position print in the proper position in relation to the edge of the sheet and to other printing on the same sheet.

Resolution: The quality of the digital image measured by pixels per inch or dots per inch (same thing). The fewer dots in the inch the less the quality. We need at least 300 dots/pixels per inch when the image is at approximately the finished size.

Reverse: The opposite of what you see. Printing the background of an image. For example; type your name on a piece of paper. The reverse of this would be a black piece of paper with a white name.

RGB: Red, green, blue – additive primary colors. This is the color used in computer monitors and some inkjet printers.

Rip plate: A method of making printing plates from PostScript files created by desktop publishing.

Saddle stitch: Binding a booklet or magazine with staples in the seam where it folds.

Scanner: A device used to scan art, pictures or drawings in desktop publishing.

Score: A crease put on paper to help it fold better.

Self-cover: Using the same paper as the text for the cover.

Shadow: The darkest areas of a photograph.

Skid: A pallet used for a pile of cut sheets.

Specifications: A precise description of a print order. Also called “specs”.

Spine: The binding edge of a book or publication.

Spoilage: Planned paper waste for all printing operations (see waste).

Spot Color: A spot color is an ‘extra’, or ‘special’ color that is used in addition to the CMYK four color process. The extra ink is added to its own roller on the printing press, so as to more accurately print certain colors that are hard to reproduce with CMYK inks. There are a number of companies that manufacture and specify spot colors, most common of these is the Pantone color matching system (PMS).

Spot varnish: Varnish used to highlight a specific part of the printed sheet.

Stamping: Term for foil stamping.

Stet: A proof mark meaning let the original copy stand.

Stock: The material to be printed.

Text paper: Grades of uncoated paper with textured surfaces.

Transparency: A positive photographic slide on film allowing light to pass through.

Trapping: The ability to print one ink over the other.

Trim marks: Similar to crop or register marks. These marks show where to trim the printed sheet.

Trim size: The final size of one printed image after the last trim is made. Our small postcards are printed 6 1/8 x 4 3/8 and trimmed to 6 b 4 – 6 x 4 is the trim size.

Under-run: Production of fewer copies than ordered. See over run.

Up: Printing two or three up means printing multiple copies of the same image on the same sheet. We print 6 x 4 postcards 18 up on each print run.

UV coating: Liquid laminate bonded and cured with ultraviolet light. Environmentally friendly.

Varnish: A clear liquid applied to printed surfaces for looks and protection.

Vector graphics: A vector is a mathematically calculated method of plotting accurate lines and curves. Unlike bitmap images, it is resolution independent and allows graphics images to be enlarged to any size, without any loss of quality.

Vignette: A photo whose background gradually fades to white.

Washup: Removing printing ink from a press, washing the rollers and blanket. Certain ink colors require multiple wash-ups to avoid ink and chemical contamination.

Waste: A term for planned spoilage. When printing, a certain number of sheets are wasted while getting the colors etc. set up correctly.

Mail List Glossary

To help you out here is a common list of terminology used when purchasing a mailing list:

Business Mailing List – A compiled mailing list of businesses. Typical selections include geography, type of business, revenue, number of employees.

Compiled List – Any direct mail list created from the compilation of public sources such as phone books, deed information, directories, newspapers and courthouse records.

Consumer Mailing List – A compiled mailing list of consumers. Typical selections include geography, income, age, homeowner/renter, children present in household.

Counts – The number of addresses that fit your selection criteria.

House List – A mailing list compiled of those who have previously purchased from your own company. This would be your customer base.

List Selection – Using criteria such as age, income, homeownership etc to create a targeted mailing list.

List Cleaning – The process of updating a mailing list by correcting and/or removing a name because it is no longer correct.

Merge-Purge – Combining two or more mailing lists while simultaneously eliminating duplicate names.

Occupant Mailing List – These inexpensive lists are perfect when you want to saturate a market of any size. Occupant Lists include all the addresses in a geographic area. The occupant mailing list you order will contain the address, city, state, and ZIP+4 but not the name. The files are addressed to Current Resident.

One Time Use Mailing List – Unless specified otherwise, most mailing list rentals are for a single use. It is understood that the mailer will not use the names on the direct mail list more than one time without prior approval of the mailing list owner.

Sample Mail Piece – Some direct mailing list owners require submission of a sample prior to agreeing to rent their mailing list. This not required for compiled mailing lists but often required for specialty mailing lists.

Specialty Mailing List – non compiled mailing lists such as lists of subscribers to a magazine, or health club members. Specialty mailing lists often cost considerably more than compiled lists but often allow for a more targeted mailing.