GGgggrrrrrr - I really should know better!!

[mrs maggot]

i offer a free design service (for all orders placed) so send them an invoice anyway and state that your terms are free design service for all orders placed, and otherwise try a £40/£50 and see what happens

[jennywren]

At least they sent you a email telling you no, in stead keeping you hanging around. The fact they asked should cheer you up and they know that your there.

[Traynor26]

At least they sent you a email telling you no, in stead keeping you hanging around. The fact they asked should cheer you up and they know that your there.

Your right,

the person i was dealing with was completely on side and very apologetic, and i did indeed 'thank' him for at least letting me know.

[mrs maggot]

so another lesson learnt, is that the person you were dealing with was not the decision maker so whatever price you agreed with them, they could not give you the go ahead. watermark everything and make sure you are giving prices to the person who can give you the order.

[John G]

If sending a pdf proof, put security on it so it cannot be printed or edited. It won't stop people completely but its another hurdle.

[Traynor26]

so another lesson learnt, is that the person you were dealing with was not the decision maker so whatever price you agreed with them, they could not give you the go ahead. watermark everything and make sure you are giving prices to the person who can give you the order.

In my defence on that one, i was dealing with both the office manager and the MD, the MD gave it the thumbs up..............but then must of had second thoughts over the weekend. But certainly good advice, thank you

Another top tip there John, many thanks, will start playing in Photoshop to 'lock' things down.

Thanks for all your comments, i have certainly calmed down since yesterday.........another day and all that

Lee

[Andrew]

On the bigger orders Lee it's often the case where you do a lot of ground work and ends up being for nothing. They might be talking to a few companies at the same time in many instances or just testing the water. It is hit and miss with picking these up but part of the process you need to go through. Don't let this one put you off. It might be worth asking them what price they settled on if you can as part of the learning curve. Pitching at the correct price is what it comes down to most times but there are the occasions where you can never win when people expect things for next to nothing.

As far as artwork is concerned, we just supply low res proofs rather than print quality. Watermerking can be okay but sometimes they are a third party supplier themselves. I doubt this had too much bearing on the outcome as any larger mug printer wouldn't mind doing a few artwork options so I don't think they were just using you for this. We go through this type of thing all the time and some times produce multiple printed samples as well with nothing eventually coming from it.

[John G]

Hi Lee,
It won't be the first or the last time this type of thing happens, just got to forget it and take precautions not to let a similar thing happen again. I got caught out the other day, I did design after design for a mates business card - who eventually got vistaprint to do them, some mate.

In coreldraw when you produce a pdf, go to the security tab and put password protection in. As said before, it won't completely stop them but its another hurdle they have to jump over to enable someone else to use your design.

Cheers John

[mrs maggot]

in reply to Andrews answer about the watermarking, i put "artwork for approval by" and then the customers name on it, so if its going off to a company they are supplying, then it has the 3rd parties watermark on it rather than mine and send it as john says via corel PDF with security protection, belt and braces.

John another kick in the nuts from a so called mate then grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr makes it worse when its a mate

[John G]

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr makes it worse when its a mate

Yeh, you don't expect to get screwed over by a mate.