"Christ the King" Printing Scam from Mary Lampo

from mary lampo

to ****@elevateprinting.com

date Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 10:37 AM

subject Order

signed-by yahoo.com

Hello, Good day, I am Mary and i have contact you regarding an order of some Banners printing and i will like to order the sizes of 30 x 60 and i will like you to write on it CHRIST IS THE KING and with the color Blue so i will like you to email me back with the price Quote and that will be pick up from your location and also what method of Credit card do you accept....Please advise Thank you Mary Lampo

Another printing scam!

Elevateprinting.com back up online - offering free printing

Elevate Printing [elevateprinting.com] is back online after a short incident, further delayed due to the recent hurricanes. During site upgrades, including a new shopping cart program and a few other additonal applications, our hard drives on our dedicated server were damaged. The offsite backup tapes were delayed due to weather, but have now been restored. This also effected the email servers we use.
To compensate for any inconvenience caused, Elevate Printing is giving away free printing for the rest of the weekend. Any order under $40 will be fulfilled for free, any order over $40 will receive a $40 credit off of the total. This offer is valid through Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at 11:59 PM for up to the first 30 customers (existing customers and clients DO qualify). Limit one free order or credit per person, company, and/or address. Other additional terms, restrictions, limitations, and exclusions apply, contact Elevate Printing LLC for more information.

To place an order, use the website (http://elevateprinting.com/), email free@elevateprinting.com, or call 888-993-5382 (messages left will qualify). We expect a large demand, so if we do not get back to you before the weekend do not worry. You will be eligible if you are one of the first 30 and contact us within the timeframe. You can contact us to request a quote during the timeframe and the credit will be applied, as long as the order is placed within the following week. If you are using Google Checkout (such as for the Vector Banner Creator), use coupon code FREESEPT08 during checkout to take advantage of this discount.

Online Vinyl Banner Printing Myths and information - Part 1

When looking to having a custom vinyl banner printed, the internet can be your best and worst friend in the search. A quick online Google search for Vinyl Banners will show over half a million results and as of this article, no less than ONE HUNDRED advertisers bidding on that keyword. Thats ten pages of sponsored results for Vinyl Banners alone. How do you search through all of those providers to find the best one to fit your needs? Use the follow rules when choosing a print shop or sign shop to print your custom vinyl banners.

High Resolution -- vs -- Low Resolution

Most print shops and sign shops offering custom vinyl banner printing under $3 per square foot are printing at low resolutions, 180 DPI or 360 DPI. The reason the banners are so cheap is because the printers they use can quickly spray the minimum amount of ink needed to create a low resolution print. This resolution is acceptable if you are not going to be looking at the banner from more than a few feet away, such as a billboard, banner for a building, etc. For Tradeshows, store displays, businesses, and other corporate use these low resolutions will allow you to see noticable resolution "dots" and when up close the image will appear fuzzy.

For high end banner applications, high resolution is needed, such as 720 DPI or 1440 DPI. The higher DPI, or dots per inch, your Banner contains the more clear and photo-realistic the image will look. For banners containing background images or photographs this is a must! 1440 DPI is photo quality for all intents and purposes and will yield an excellent result with deeper, more saturated colors.


Full color vinyl banners -- vs -- four (4) color vinyl banners
Four color vinyl banners, or printers that offer 1/2/3/4 color vinyl banners, are generally not a wide enough color gamut to correctly produce all the colors that most current banners need. Now new printers offer up to 12 inks to produce colors never before available and colors and shades significantly better than any four color banners. When printing background images and photographs onto custom vinyl banners, generally at least 6 inks are recommended -- 8 inks or more preferred!

MOST IMPORTANTLY - REQUEST SAMPLES
Always request print samples if your project allows time to do so. This can give you a night and day experience of some of the differences in quality out there in the printing world. The samples should be free or you should pay a nominal fee to qualify yourself (to prove you're really interested) and cover shipping costs. If they will print a sample for you of your exact image, that is the best but not always an option.

Online Vinyl Banner Printing Myths and information - Part 1
Online Vinyl Banner Printing Myths and information - Part 2

Online Vinyl Banner Printing Myths and information - Part 2

Eco-solvent or Solvent Vinyl Banners -- vs -- Inkjet Vinyl Banners
Inkjet Vinyl Banners are only good for indoor use or short term outdoor use. They are not designed to be durable, scratch resistant, or UV resistant. Neither pigment inkjet vinyl banners and dye based inkjet vinyl banners are acceptable for heavy use. Inkjet vinyl banners are easily scratched, no matter how many coats of protection are used on them. If they are laminated they can be acceptable, but usually the cost of laminating and the higher cost of inkjet vinyl material makes this economically impractical.

Beware of Old Machine and Cheap Ink
Make sure you are working with a company using machines not older than 5 years old if they are printing digitally. Ideally, check for someone who has the latest model or one generation behind that to be sure that you are getting a print off of the latest technology. This is especially important if you are printing something with gradients, photos, pictures of people, company logos, etc.

The use of Proper Color Management and ability to match Pantone Colors
Properly calibrating the equipment, computers, and monitors are crutial in getting outstanding performance when printing wide format banners. The ability to use Pantone Colors is another thing you should inquire about, even if you do not need them. Pantone colors are a book (swatch book similar to ones used for choosing Paint colors) of universal colors across all possible outputs. For example, Coca Cola has a pantone color for their logo's red that must be the same no matter where it is printed or what it is on. The ability of a shop to match Pantone colors is a good indication they have an effectively color controlled workflow.

Check the printers Reputation, Clients, and References
Many shops use referrals as a major source of new customers and depend on their reputation to grow their business. Many others do the opposite, leaving unsatisfied customers and moving on to the next number in the phone book. To prevent against ending up the latter, do some research on the prospective company. A good Google search on the company name and domain (i.e. Search for "Company Name" and "companyname.com") to find out if anyone is ranting and raving about their service. Don't be put off if you find a few bad reviews out of overall positive ones, but if people are only saying negative things you should avoid that company. You can also ask the company for a list of clients and references if the job size and cost are significant enough to warrant it.

The $.99 per Square Foot Banner Companies Advertising Online
I receive a lot of questions about why some companies are significantly more expensive than companies offering vinyl banners for 99 cents a square foot. Often times these are "Billboard" Quality printing -- prints made on machines designed to quickly products printing that will look good from a distance. If your application is such that people will never approach the banner (like a billboard), these banners will work great and I would highly recommend them. If you will have people approaching your banner, such as at a trade show or inside an office, I would not recommend this printing type as you will be able to clearly see the different pixels and it will not look very attractive from a few feet away or less.

Online Vinyl Banner Printing Myths and information - Part 1
Online Vinyl Banner Printing Myths and information - Part 2

Elevate Printing - Vector Banner Creator for designing online Vinyl Banners

Elevate Printing has just announced the release of its Vector Banner Creator™, an online application to allow anyone to design vinyl banners online and have them instantly printed. Creating a professional quality vinyl banner in minutes is simple with this application. It currently works with vector files (.ai or .eps) to make sure your image can be scaled to create banners up to 10 feet wide. The program allows you to resize your image or logo and reposition it on the banner. While the Vinyl Banner Creator is still in Beta version, they are offering free stuff and coupons if you send Elevate Printing your comments, bugs, etc. Future updates are due to support adding text, changing background colors, and adding multiple images. All their banners are created with high resolution printing onto top grade 13 oz vinyl.

More information and banner printing specs can be found here: Printing Information - Vinyl Banners.

Try out the Vinyl Banner Creator HERE.