I ordered some of my cards to see the printing.  most were 'okay' but the colors overall are dull and the colors i used were very bright and vibrant!  The bunny art card has bright rich orange, pink and turquoise in it and it is horrible!  The orange is a dusky rust, the bright turquoise is a dusky dull color and the very bright pink i used is a terrible sort of dusky purple/redish color.  Also I had some big issues with browns.
These are terrible.... i am so dissappointed.  I thought about using cmyk colors since those are how the printer works, but we don't specify colors to the printer and we send rgb files.  what do i need to do?!
Honestly....i am soooo frustrated and angry over this!
HELP!  below are the card numbers and the problems - look at them for yourself.  I am changing the brown on the birthday cards to a brown that printed better on a different card but i have no idea if this will work unless i order it again.
I heard nothing but good things about the printing in the forum - are other people having these issues because it can't just be me.
stacy
366686 / 366687 - birthday cards - brown is terrible, blues and pinks are dusky
366065 - overall dull and all colors except flesh and hair are dusky and dull
378799 - easter egg --- orange and blues and pinks are terrible! they are dusky and wrong colors  
36027 - cat & dog - the turquoise is a dull blue

Thanks for your help.  I have my computer calibrated to the pms coated colors in rgb because i design toys and china uses that system to work from.  the majority of my images are created on the computer, some are water colors i have scanned in and suprisingly those have fared slightly better.  I am not sure what to think but it does make me think i should consider moving to a different site.  I just know if i were a customer and ordered that easter card and it came looking as it does (rust, dull blue, and dusky purple!) I would surely not be a repeat customer.  Isn't that the point? I mean if someone buys from you and likes what they get they are more apt to check out your store again next time.....
just don't know what to think.
stacy

Every review of cards I have seen prior to this one has praised the colors.
 
It sounds like a fluke to me.  I think GCU cards generally impress artists that order them.
 
-Whisper-

Some of the artist that are more knowlegable than me needs to chime in here.  GCU does not print in cymk.  Thats why we use RGB, it is used for the new POD [print on demand] which uses special printing inks.  When GCU changed to the new Printer I was having terrible problems.  But I kept calibrating my computer and suddenly the reproduction improved.  The last two orders have been fantastic.  Be sure you are working in RGB.  You are mentioning all the colors I was having trouble with.  I haven't tryed to use straight PMS colors, I just try to match them and mix by sight from the RGB palette.