Trade Terms and Conditions of Contract

Please see our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)  document, which is hereby incorporated into these Trade Terms and Conditions.

How the SlowPrint Letterpress production process works:

Design Fees: Design is not included with printing estimates. When you have decided to place an order for stationery, invitations, cards, or any other job, we can work with you or your designer to assure that the design is appropriate for letterpress production, or we can provide design solutions for your project for a separate design fee.

Design fees : $150/hr  Half hour minimum. Design or copy changes after approval, 1/2 hour minimum

Samples Available: We will gladly furnish samples of our standard papers and printing for your approval for a small charge which is credited to your order, if we receive your printing order within 21 days after the samples are ordered. Please see Exquisite Paper Sampler

Estimates: Estimates are given based on prices and rates prevailing at the time. Estimates are considered planning documents, not obligations, and are valid for orders placed within 14 days. Please note that we will be happy to work with you to meet your budget! Please let us know! We will try our best to meet or beat any legitimate estimate from a reputable vendor for services and materials of equivalent quality.

Deposit Required: Your job will be billed in advance, and generally full payment will be required prior to beginning work on the job. With your order, we require a minimum 50% non-refundable deposit, after which we create the film and photopolymer plates from the design, order any special papers, and schedule the press run for your project. This deposit is required on our acceptance of the order. This is necessary due to our substantial expense involved in setting up for the job.

Additional Costs: If our costs increase due to changes in the job specification, or other unforeseen reasons, we will amend the project quote, and may require additional deposit to proceed with the job.

Approve the Digital Proof: If we are providing design services, when the design is finalized, we will send you a digital proof (in Adobe PDF format) which you must approve before the job goes to press. Color matching for the press is "as close as possible." Color inks on colored stock are often hard to plan, but we pride ourselves on making the best effort possible!

Working with your Digital Art: We will use our best efforts to produce the best result from client contributed art and typography. We may suggest changes to your design, if in our expert opinion, there could be technical or aesthetic problems in producing the work.

About Color Matching: We are glad to attempt to match special colors, but we don't guarantee perfect matches. Pantone and other custom colors are available. We generally have to order a one-pound minimum of custom colors, if we don't have it in stock, we charge for the ink! If you specify opaque or metallic inks, and or printing on other than white paper , they are used under the assumption that you understand the limitations of printing with such inks and papers.  See our FAQ regarding these limitations.

You accept responsibility for proofing:  Your approval of the digital proof, if required, also confirms that SlowPrint Letterpress will not be liable for any typographical, spelling or design errors. Changes after approval but prior to the press run will be allowed with a 75% surcharge.

Delivery Time & Rush Jobs: Delivery time is generally 15-20 business days after receipt of your approved signed work order. Rush jobs can often be scheduled within 10-15 business days with a 50% surcharge. Extra-rush jobs from 5-10 business days may be arranged with 100% surcharge.

That said, we try to get the work to you well in advance of the 3-4 week time frame!

Final payment: Prior to shipping, we will email you digital photos of your job, and will send an invoice for the balance due. All orders must be paid in full before they are shipped. Orders pre-payed will be shipped when they are finished.

Limited Guarantee: We want you to be overjoyed with the final printed product! If there are flaws due to our workmanship or our mistake we will either reprint the flawed portion of the job at our expense or refund your deposit which will relieve us of further obligation, on your return of the flawed work. However, note that Letterpress printing is a largely manual process and is therefore subject to natural variation of color, impression, registration and other characteristics, and we do not allow claims for concerns of this nature. No claims accepted after 14 days from delivery.

Shipping: We can not be responsible for damage during shipping. If your job suffers damage in transit, you must file a claim against the carrier (UPS, USPS, Fed Ex, etc) to recover the value. We will try to reprint the order as quickly as possible, as a service to you, but we will have to charge the full price for the replacement, including a new non-refundable deposit. Shipping and handling charges are in addition to imprinting costs. We will insure the job at your request, to be billed at cost. 

Cancellation by Us for any reason: We can not be responsible for unforeseen circumstances, work-stoppages, 'acts-of-God' or whomever, which may make it impossible for us to complete your job in a reasonable amount of time. Our complete obligation to you may be discharged in its entirety by our refund of your deposit, without prejudice, and disclaiming any secondary consequences or costs that you may incur.

Cancellation by Client for any reason: If you decide to cancel the job prior to any part of it going to press, you agree to forfeit your deposit. Cancellations after the job has gone to press will not be accepted. If you have received a discount for pre-payment, any refund will be calculated against the full non-discounted price.

Work-for-hire: You agree that your rights to the work produced shall not exclude our right to display, show or exhibit the product for promotional or marketing purposes. Any design, artwork or creative material which we produce on your behalf is licensed non-exclusively by us to you, and shall not be considered 'work-for-hire'. We may, at our discretion, re-use and repurpose such design elements, imagery, creative solutions, without limitation or notification.

Nothing stated on the website shall be considered a binding agreement on us. We are not obligated to accept any job, and our refund of your deposit at our discretion will release us from any further obligation to you whatsoever.

We reserve the right to correct typographic and other errors.

You agree that you are accepting the terms outlined herein and/or in our written estimate or quotation by either: 

 A. authorizing us to place a charge for the non-refundable deposit on your credit-card

or 

 B.  delivering the non-refundable deposit in the form of cash,  check, PayPal  or other instrument.

You agree that the record of correspondence, including estimates and acceptance of estimates by email, will provide sufficient and incontrovertible evidence of the Specifications of Work  Contracted, and become part of this agreement by inclusion.

Semiotx, Inc maintains records of all correspondence and transactions on its various computers and servers for this purpose.

In case of conflicting terms, a signed, written agreement is authoritative.

Disputes will be addressed through good-faith negotiation, or arbitration,  prior to any action at law.

The final contract may amend the terms outlined above. This document shall be included by reference in each estimate, quotation or work-order.

For purposes of contract law, any contract shall be made between you and Semiotx, Inc.,  a Delaware Registered Corporation with its headquarters in Galena, Illinois. 

Contact Peter Fraterdeus, President, Semiotx, Inc, PO Box 248, Galena Illnois 61036 USA  +1 563 223 8231

These terms may be changed without notice. 

The current terms are always available at http://www.slowprint.com/rates-and-conditions/trade-terms

Current as of 2 December 2009