GCU Forum - Order Cards for Quality Check!

Kerra_131306

Senior Member
artist

Posts: 263

Order Cards for Quality Check!
Jan 27^th, 2008, 7:07am

Oh my---I am STRONGLY recommending ordering sample cards of your images.

They may look fine online, but in hand---whoa. Not what I was wanting to portray at all.

Out of the 38 cards that I've ordered of mine as samples, 38 need to be redone. I'm not kidding. I wouldn't order another of mine until they are revamped----the images are dark, cropped text, and look like I made them off my printer.

I used 300 dpi, good lighting, and had what I thought was enough 'bleed over' room to not distort the image. I was wrong. Sad

So, if you would like repeat business, please ensure that you're images are coming out the way you would want them to by reviewing a sample card in real time.

Good business means quallity checks!

-Kerra

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Sean_132611

GCU Newbies
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Posts: 14

Re: Order Cards for Quality Check!
Reply #1 - Jan 27^th, 2008, 7:56am

Wow! That's really surprising. I ordered some of my Christmas cards a while back and they came out great. The quality was really good and my images were translated almost exactly as I see them on my computer screen.

I used the templates that GCU provides as the exact dimensions of my images (without allowing for bleed) and used 300-350 dpi.

I have also heard from many other people (members of my Google group) that have had no problems at all with GCU's cards.

That's a shame, I hope you get this problem straightened out.

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Kerra_131306

Senior Member
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Posts: 263

Re: Order Cards for Quality Check!
Reply #2 - Jan 27^th, 2008, 9:01am

Quote from Sean_132611 on Jan 27^th, 2008, 7:56am:

Wow! That's really surprising. I ordered some of my Christmas cards a while back and they came out great. The quality was really good and my images were translated almost exactly as I see them on my computer screen.

I used the templates that GCU provides as the exact dimensions of my images (without allowing for bleed) and used 300-350 dpi.

I have also heard from many other people (members of my Google group) that have had no problems at all with GCU's cards.

That's a shame, I hope you get this problem straightened out.

I think that's wonderful that your cards are turning out great!
I, too, use their template---and thought that my text that I had added had enough room around them not to be cut off or bleed over--but I didn't. The way I see it, there's no way that I'm that unique that only my cards need an overhaul.

On my cards--they all seemed very 'dark' and ominous looking--something that's not reflected in the on-line view--so, this was a big surprise to me.

I should have ordered them earlier.

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Austin_133058

GCU Newbies
artist

Posts: 1

Re: Order Cards for Quality Check!
Reply #3 - Jan 27^th, 2008, 9:12am

Last week I ordered 1 card of each of my images and all of them turned out great. I used to print my own and then had a local printer print them. I was actually surprised at how much better these cards were than the ones I did or my local printer did. I'm not sure why yours did not turn out. I can only imagine that it would be frustrating. I think they offer a money back guarantee if the cards don't print out correctly. Hopefully they help figure out the problem. If you want someone else to look at the image you are sending, I'd be happy to help. Good luck. I know that other companies I have tried such as Zazzle and Cafepress did not print a card at the same quality as Greetin Card universe.

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cliff_132876 GCU Newbies artist Posts: 32	Re: Order Cards for Quality Check! Reply #4 - Jan 27^th, 2008, 12:01pm This is a very good idea! Good advise to all of us. If many of mine turn out wrong...I will have to re-do the entire store. I 'm using the GCU template too and yet sometimes the images when saved into the folder come out RESIZED? Or my program will prompt me to re-scan item at a lower resolution.
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Audrey_132599 Senior Member artist Posts: 429	Re: Order Cards for Quality Check! Reply #5 - Jan 27^th, 2008, 1:31pm Yes, Kerra, I too am in the process of doing many of mine over. My problem is more paper grain and background stuff that isn't noticeable until printed. ~Audrey
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Rosanne_132497

Gold Member
artist

Posts: 611

Re: Order Cards for Quality Check!
Reply #6 - Jan 27^th, 2008, 2:11pm

Hi Kerra,

It's really not good when something like this happens. You may also wish to consider whether your monitor is OK since all your images seem to be affected i.e. that the color temperature is correct. I used to have awful problems with printing my images until I invested in a monitor profiler/colorimeter. What I used to see on screen did not remotely match what came out of the printer (usually I could see a hideous magenta cast on my photographs) but it is perfect now. Most consumer monitors do drift quite badly with their colors. Profiling your monitor with Adobe Gamma is not good enough, unfortunately, one's own eyes are not quite good enough to determine color temperature accurately! I use a Spyder monitor profiler fortnightly (in the dark) and set the color temperature to 6500K.

This is a bit of a ramble and I am by no means an expert. I know that monitor profiling certainly helped the quality of my printed images.

I hope your problem gets sorted out soon because it must be quite frustrating.

Cheers,

Rosanne

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Kathy_131728

Gold Member
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Posts: 610

Re: Order Cards for Quality Check!
Reply #7 - Jan 27^th, 2008, 5:40pm

Hi Kerra,
So sorry to hear about your problem with cards. One thing that might help is to always print the card on your own printer to see how it looks. I have a good printer and I will not upload anything until I have seen how it comes out on my printer. The cards that I have ordered from GCU seem right on with the colors that came out of my printer, so I was pleased. However, I have not ordered any of the cards I put words on, so I may have to do that based on what you experienced just as a check.
I guess it is cost prohibitive to have a quality check on a card before it goes out to make sure there are no problems with it.
I hope you get things sorted out and you don't have to re-do too many.
Kathy

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eugenia_131318 Full Member artist Posts: 244	Re: Order Cards for Quality Check! Reply #8 - Jan 27^th, 2008, 6:04pm Kerra - how disappointing - I haven't seen my cards yet so I can't really comment - I do want to know though that we will get feedback from ADMIN if any customer requests a refund on account of quality... Mindy - is this happening/going to happen? Eugenia
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Colleen_131607

Full Member
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Posts: 164

Re: Order Cards for Quality Check!
Reply #9 - Jan 27^th, 2008, 9:47pm

I've purchased a fair amount of cards. I've had minimal errors that I'm aware of...a couple of cards where the system was off a bit and used wrong font,etc. I also had a scratch or two show up though in truth, the customer probably would probably never have noticed any of these at all. Photo cards have been pretty darn good in regard to color so far.
I HAVE had issue with sizing of print on fronts of cards. Seems like the actual print process does enlarge card and letters can crop off. I've tried to offset by giving most of my cards a border which I would really prefer not to do. Tried also to resize my words on some of them just keeping this in mind.
I will definitely say however, that I like the glossy far more than matte finish in printing quality.
And as far as being a customer, I had no problem getting replacements and I really don't think I mentioned them being MY cards.

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Wendy_132744 Junior Member artist Posts: 79	Re: Order Cards for Quality Check! Reply #10 - Jan 28^th, 2008, 12:54am I haven't ordered any cards from here yet I was waiting for more sales first. Maybe i should order to see them you got me worried now
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Delores_132508

Gold Member
artist

Posts: 978

Re: Order Cards for Quality Check!
Reply #11 - Jan 28^th, 2008, 10:40am

When I received my first batch of cards for quality check, there was a problem with the verses that I had cut and pasted from my word processing program. An extra character was added. I contacted customer service and Shawn worked with me until the problem was eliminated. I have since ordered over 30 different samples of my cards and there was no problem with any of them. In fact, having stores on four other POD sites, I think Greeting Card Universe does the best printing of any of them. Their card stock is superior and their colors are more true than any others I've worked with. I'm very pleased with their product and their customer service gets an A plus! Of course, I will continue to spot check my cards just like I do on other sites.

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Linda_132742 Gold Member artist Posts: 1796	Re: Order Cards for Quality Check! Reply #12 - Jan 28^th, 2008, 10:53am What other sites are you on. Delores? Linda
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Ernestine_131365

Gold Member
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Posts: 853

Re: Order Cards for Quality Check!
Reply #13 - Jan 28^th, 2008, 6:07pm

Kerra-

I've always loved your cards, I can't believe you just recently ordered samples! Though when looking at your cards in my GCU calibrated monitor mode, they DO appear a bit dark. I've been away for a while as my old computer totally crashed and I had to completely rebuild it. . . what a task! (Beware of "tainted" emails!) Anyway. . . are you creating in RGB or CMYK?

The first sample I got (last year) did appear dark as well, but it was created for CMYK print originally, once I calibrated my monitor for RGB print (and I just use that for RGB digital printing) the samples I got were "right on."

If you'd like, send me one of you images, "as is" and I can see what can be done to make it print brighter.

. . . Time to watch the "State of the Union" (Ack!)

-Ernestine

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Delores_132508 Gold Member artist Posts: 978	Re: Order Cards for Quality Check! Reply #14 - Jan 29^th, 2008, 10:38am Linda -- You asked what other POD sites I'm on. I have stores on Zazzle, Cafe Press, and RedBubble.
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