Frequently Asked Questions and Other Information
Thank You For Visiting:
We look forward to providing you with the finest in awards and gifts. We have listed the steps that we take to insure that your order is a total success:
We Care – Whether it’s spending a few extra minutes on your artwork, matching your artwork to the item, making sure that each and every item meets our high quality standards, or calling to insure that your order has arrived – WE CARE! We want to insure that your gift or award is the best.
We Deliver – No matter how good the price or how nice the piece, if it doesn’t show up on time, it doesn’t really matter. We worry about the delivery so that you don’t have to. Although our normal delivery time is about three weeks, we can usually fit in your rush order. However, unlike many other companies, we don’t charge extra for this service.
We Can Meet Your Budget – At first look, many people believe that our prices may be too high for their budget. Although it is true that we produce many of the finest crystal awards and gift items available on the market, it does not mean that we do not have items to meet your budget. We have no minimum order quantity, so you can order just a single item. With good artwork, there is no logo set-up charges on many of our items. Further, we offer many pieces for less than $20 (coffee cups, mugs, glasses, paperweights, trinket boxes, mirrored plaques, etc. Email us for our Awards & Gifts under $20 Catalog). Therefore, a small organization can afford to present an outstanding gift or award to a single customer or employee.
We Do Custom – Do you want a special cherry base or walnut presentation box? Do you need cast medallions in addition to your crystal award? Would you like an acrylic serving tray to go with your decanter set? Would you like a one-of-a-kind custom optical crystal award for your top donor? Do you have a specific budget that you need to meet? Is there an item that you can’t find anywhere? We do custom pieces at reasonable prices.
We Can Fulfill Your Needs – Do you need an insert card with your gift? Would you like a special package? Do you need us to mail the gift directly to your customers? Do you need us to warehouse your inventory? We can meet all your fulfillment needs.
We Consider Our Customers To Be Friends – We are very fortunate to have an outstanding group of customers that we consider to be friends. When you’re doing a project for a friend, you take that extra effort to insure that the end result is the absolute best that you can do. This results in recurring business as well as referrals and many long-term friendships.
We could list the Fortune 500 Companies and National Associations who are our customers but since we consider every customer to be very important whether they order one item or one thousand items, you won’t see a list in our literature.
We are always glad to provide references. I’m sure that you will find them to be so good that you will think they are relatives. But, they are just satisfied customers who have become friends. As one customer told me, “I knew it would be nice, but I never imagined that it could possibly be this nice.”
GLASS ETCHING:
Each item is skillfully etched by hand to achieve the maximum detail and clarity from your original artwork. Our 20 years of experience combined with our attention to detail allows us to produce the finest products available on the market. Many customers have told us that we do the absolute best job of reproducing their logo on glass and crystal.
We are committed to quality, consistency and dependability. In fine glassware, air bubbles, flow lines and slight variances in size can occur due to the nature of the production process. While other etchers will tell you that these are not defects but rather characteristics of the manufacturing process, we are committed to give you the best possible item that can reasonably be produced at that selling price. As such we review each piece for quality to insure that it meets our standards for that product and we discard items that do not meet these standards.
PRODUCTION TIME:
Normal production time for a stock order is 2-3 weeks from the approval of your final artwork. However, we will do our absolute best to meet your deadlines.
ARTWORK AND LOGO SET-UP CHARGES:
Orders should be accompanied with high quality digital files of camera-ready artwork quality. Facsimile, copier reproductions and poor quality computer files will not produce results acceptable to our standards. We will work with you to get the best artwork for the job. If necessary, your artwork can be created or improved by our art department for a small additional charge. For most etched items with good artwork, there is no set-up charge.
Some complex orders may require artwork or typesetting charges to get the artwork in a format that will provide the best results. Typesetting charges will be incurred for significant quantities of text that are not submitted in digital format. We will work with you to get the best product at the lowest additional cost. Additional charges will be included on the quotation/sales order for your approval prior to production.
Cast and Deep Etched Metal Plaques, Printed Products, Custom Orders and some Engraved Products, may require a set-up, screen or artwork charge. These additional charges, if required, will be included on your quotation/sales order.
Prices quoted are per piece to be packed in bulk master cartons. Contact your sales representative for prices on gift packaging or re-shipper cartons if needed. All orders are custom produced and require a 50% deposit at the time of order placement. Balance due upon delivery. All prices are subject to change without prior notification.
We do not currently accept credit cards but we do accept Paypal payments.
QUANTITY DISCOUNTS:
We offer quantity discounts on most orders where there is an exact repeat of the original artwork. Other orders may also be eligible for quantity discounts based upon multiple products ordered. Due to the significant number and variety of products that we produce, we quote quantity discounts on an individual order by order basis.
SHIPPING:
Most shipments are made by FED EX ground and are FOB Akron, OH.
If a particular shipping method is needed, please let us know when placing your order.
All UPS/FED EX shipments require additional handling and packaging and are subject to a fee not to exceed 5% of the total order.
CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS – PROPOSITION 65 WARNING:
The California state government in 1986 passed legislation that is intended to warn consumers in the state of the possibility of exposure to toxic chemicals. Officially known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, it is better known by its original name of Proposition 65.
Proposition 65 requires the State to publish a list of chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. Currently, there are around 750 chemicals listed, with lead and cadmium being the chemicals of concern to decorators.
Proposition 65 requires businesses to notify Californians about significant amounts of these listed chemicals in the products they purchase, in their homes or workplaces, or that are released into the environment. Proposition 65 specifically lays out the required testing method, limits for lead and cadmium leaching, and the warning requirements for articles that exceed the limits.
Limits for warning purposes are covered in the following document:
Heavy Metal Limits
To review the warning requirements, or to view the regulation in its entirety, please refer to the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment web site at:
http://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/proposition-65-background-information
Prop 65 Warning Notice:
Consuming foods or beverages that have been kept or served in leaded crystal or leaded products will expose you to lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please contact us for further information. Ceramic ware does not need warnings if the leaching test results are below the specified levels shown above. It should be noted that while ceramic dinnerware can exceed these limits and still be legally sold in California, if these limits are met or exceeded, Proposition 65 requires warnings be provided to inform consumers of the potential exposure to the toxic chemicals. In addition, Federal limits still apply to ceramic dinnerware regarding allowable lead and cadmium leaching.
Frequently Asked Questions – Engraved Crystal & Glassware
(Please contact us for specific details on Plaques, Screen Printed Products, Acrylic, Promotional and Special Order Items)
Q. Do I have to order a minimum quantity? (We don’t really need 100 pieces.)
A. WE HAVE NO MINIMUM QUANTITY on our etched glass and crystal items, whether it is a jade crystal award or a single glass coffee mug. Therefore, a company that can’t use 144 glass coffee mugs can purchase a few stunningly engraved mugs for a small $ amount. (There will be minimums on printed items as noted).
Q. What is the set-up charge for my artwork? (I can afford the item but I can’t afford to pay $100 for artwork on a single item.)
A. We consider our set-up charges to be the most reasonable in the etched-glass field. We do not believe that the set-up charge should make it prohibitive to select a single engraved item. Therefore, we offer a one-time logo set-up charge of only $30.00 or even less if you have quality digital artwork.
Q. Do I have to pay the set-up charge every time I order? What if I select a different item?
A. It is a one-time charge for a specific logo. As long as you use the same logo, there are no additional artwork charges no matter what item you select.
Q. Do I have to provide you with digital artwork for each item? What if I personalize each item?
A. We are more than happy to design the artwork for your items. Just send us your digital logo files (eps, ai, cdr) along with the wording for each item, and we will lay out the artwork to fit the item. For personalization, we charge $5 for most items.
Q. If you design the award, do I have to pay design charges?
A. No, we don’t charge for designing the award layout. Our goal is to give you the “Best” award possible. We believe this is usually achieved with us designing the layout. The only charge would be a minimal typesetting fee to offset our cost. We would inform you of this cost, if any, prior to artwork approval. Therefore, there are no surprises as to the final cost.
Q. What is high quality digital artwork?
A. It is a high resolution file of your art. The lines will be straight and crisp and when you zoom in on the image, it will not be jagged. We prefer to have the file from the original program that created it (cdr, ai) but we can work with an EPS or a high quality B&W JPEG. If your art does not meet the quality required, our graphic artist can redraw it for a fee that usually runs $30. Sometimes very complex art can run $60 to $100 but that is rare. Give us what you have, and we will try to work with it. We work miracles with art.
Q. My graphic artist has made a specific design for our item. Can we use his exact layout? Can I send it to you on disk?
A. Sure, we will be glad to fax you a template for the item so that they can size the art or, if you prefer, send us the art and we can size it. Send us camera-ready art or send us a file in CorelDraw, EPS, HIGH QUALITY B&W JPEG, etc.
Q. Can we E-Mail you a file?
A. Absolutely, some larger files may need to be zipped for emailing. We will always send you a proof to verify the results.
Q. Why should we select your company?
A. There is no one large reason, but there are a lot of little reasons.
(I) We are conscientious and we care.
(II) Our goal is to give you the best award or gift possible.
(III) We pay attention to detail.
(IV) We want your award to be beautiful & accurate & timely. If you don’t get all three, did you get what you paid for?
Q. How do you ship? Will it get broken?
A. We ship primarily by FEDEX. We have a super outstanding record of successful shipments. In the unbelievably rare instance that there would be damage, we will quickly replace the item and handle any claims. It takes a great amount of time and effort in packaging to insure this safe shipment. Therefore, your freight cost includes a charge not to exceed 5% of your order plus the applicable shipping charges. This helps to offset our cost for the packing and to insure safe delivery.
Q. I’m sold. How does the process work?
A. (1) Email us your digital logo and text. (2) We will lay out your art and email you a proof and sales order for your approval. (3) Fax/Email us your approval or changes. If you make changes, we will email you a new proof. (4) Mail us your 50% deposit. (5) After artwork approval and receipt of deposit, your order will be produced in about two to three weeks. (6) We will ship your order (usually FED EX ground) along with an invoice for the remaining 50% plus shipping. (7) You’ll be very happy with your award or gift. As one customer told me, “I knew it would be nice, but I never imagined that it could be this nice.”