Frequently Asked Questions

Got a question on your mind?

If you have a question that you need answering you should find a resolution below. If it's not a question we've thought of, then please let us know, and we will add it to help future customers with the same query. First and foremost we're here to help our fantastic customers in any way we can to make their Handy Tags shopping experience as smooth as possible.

We have made available lots of useful information throughout the website from artwork template downloads, to our fantastic FREE online design tool. We will continue to strive for perfection wherever we can and always love to hear constructive feedback on how we can improve our service to you.


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Delivery and Tracking:

Our standard ‘next day delivery’ to any UK mainland destinations is already included in the price you see online, so no hidden surprises at checkout you’ll be glad to know! All deliveries outside mainland UK will incur an additional charge at checkout which will be displayed before you proceed with paying for your order.

Any additional charges for customs clearance must be borne by the recipient. Handy Brand UK Limited cannot accept any liability for any import duty that is levied by the destination country. Please check with your local tax office or import duty representative to ensure you are complying with the relevant regulations.

We deliver throughout the UK, Scottish Highlands and Islands, Northern Ireland, Scilly Isles and the Isle of Man. We can also deliver to Guernsey and Jersey but you will need to email our sales team for a bespoke quote as this service is not available to order online. For European destinations, you will need to contact our sales team for a bespoke quote and arranging your own collection from us may be required.

It all depends on which delivery method you have chosen and the contents of your order. After you’ve placed an order, we will email a PDF proof for you to approve. Once we’ve received your print approval, we aim to print, finish and dispatch all online orders within 48 business working hours, excluding weekends and Bank Holidays. Please note - Approvals after 11am will automatically fall into the next full business day. Offline custom orders could take longer; please allow for this. If you live in an extended area, please allow for extra days in delivery.

No, this is not a guaranteed serviced, it’s an estimated timeframe that we aim to operate 99% of the time. Occasionally there can be circumstances where your order may be slightly delayed due to stock availability, postal strikes or other circumstances beyond our control. If your order is going to be delayed beyond what is stated, then we will do our utmost to email you in advance to let you know. You have our guarantee that we work extremely hard to get all orders dispatched within the timeframe above but will not guarantee any delivery to a set time. We cannot accept any responsibility or issue compensation for any delays in delivery. If your order is time sensitive, please let us know, and we can advise you accordingly.

We already use a next day delivery service as standard, so this service cannot be improved upon. However, if we can speed up the printing and finishing process of your order, we will always do our utmost to help you. If you require a more guaranteed resolution, resulting in scheduled orders being moved to make room for yours, then there will be an additional charge. Please talk to our friendly customer service team for a bespoke quotation.

Once we've booked your order in for despatch, you will receive an SMS text message or email with a delivery date and time, with 1-hour delivery window. In general, your order will be delivered between 9 am - 6 pm, Monday to Friday. (Not including Bank Holidays)

Yes, we can arrange for your order to be delivered on a Saturday. A Saturday delivery service will incur an additional charge, this type of order cannot be placed online. Please contact our handy customer service team on 01275 460517 for further help.

You can check the status of your order within ‘your account’. We will inform you when your order is being processed and when it’s been dispatched. Once your order is showing as complete, you will receive an email or text via our courier DPD with a tracking number and delivery date and time. Your order can be tracked right up until you’re holding your handy order in your hands.

You’re in complete control of your delivery; it is your responsibility to arrange a suitable alternative address, date or time. You can arrange for our courier to leave your parcel in a designated place. Our courier will photograph where your parcel is left (recycling box, porch etc.) and email notification to us as proof of delivery. Please note: We cannot accept any liability for missing orders if you have asked for this non-signed for service.

Yes, of course, that’s not a problem. You will need to let us know the delivery address before we schedule your order in for despatch. If your order has already left Handy HQ, then you will need to arrange this directly with the courier

Of course. There will be an option on our website when placing your order to do this.

Yes, we’re always happy to see our customers. Our printing headquarters are located at Handy Brand, Unit 6 Harbour Road Trading Estate, Portishead, Bristol BS20 7BL. We will inform you of a collection date and time after your order is placed.

We can deliver directly to your customer in plain unbranded packaging. Just let us know in the comments box when placing your order.

Yes, we can arrange this for you, but it’s not a free service. There will be an additional delivery charge for every additional delivery address you require.

Due to restrictions in contracts between ourselves and our couriers we cannot deliver to PO Boxes.

It is your responsibility to supply the correct address when placing your order. We cannot be held responsible for lost packages due to incorrect delivery details. If you notice the error before we’ve scheduled your order in for despatch, then please call us immediately on 01275 460517 with the correct address, and we will amend it for you. Alternatively, if you order has already been scheduled in, you will need to wait for your SMS text or email notification from our courier to make different arrangements.

If your order is returned to us, this could be for a couple of reasons. The delivery address that you supplied with your order may be incorrect, or the courier company may have tried delivering on several occasions without success. We will contact you to let you know that we have them. If you require us to dispatch them again, we will charge our standard delivery rate to do so.

No, we print every swing tag order in-house. We believe in adding the personal touch to every order we produce, so we don’t outsource like other tag printing companies. It also allows us to keep full control of print quality and colour consistency from job to job. Also, this is the reason why our turnaround times are rapid.



Artwork Tips:

What is the best file format to supply my artwork in? Any design that uses graphics and text elements (mainly any content that doesn’t include photographic content) are best supplied in vector format in the form of either a vector PDF or EPS. The beauty of vector files is they’re not resolution dependent, for example, they can be scaled up to any size without loss of quality. This will ensure your design stays as sharp as possible throughout the printing process. Please see the below comparison between vector versus raster graphics. A raster graphic is typically an image file such as JPEG, TIFF, GIF and PNG.

vector-versus-raster

Our artwork department can handle the majority of files to be as flexible as possible. You probably already know we love vector PDF files as it offers the best printing quality. Don’t despair if you’re unable to supply a vector PDF as we can accept Adobe Illustrator AI, Adobe InDesign INDD, Adobe Photoshop PSD, EPS, JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. Please ensure all font’s and images are embedded within your document if applicable. If you’re unsure how to do this then just call our handy artwork team for assistance.

PDF stands for Portable Document Format is a widely becoming the industry standard for sharing artwork digital files and documents. You can save your PDF using the Adobe PDF/X-4 preset. This is a tried and testing format for printing a typical PDF at it’s best settings.

Let’s start with DPI, Dots Per Inch, this is the resolution your printing machine outputs at. It’s important to note when designing artwork you should be concerned with PPI, Pixels Per Inch. Most graphics grabbed off the web will be 72ppi, this quality is classed as low resolution when a printing process is concerned. We recommend a minimum of 350ppi up to 600ppi to achieve optimum printing results.

It’s important to remember that, if you have a 72ppi graphic and simply try to increase it’s resolution to 350ppi will not increase the quality of the image. All you will be doing is enlarging an already low-resolution graphic. Your action would be to open the original (native) graphic then increase the resolution to your required PPI.

Please see the example below which shows the difference in printed quality between a graphic of 72ppi versus 350ppi; there’s a big difference!

72ppi-versus-350ppi

RGB stands for ‘Red, Green, and Blue’ and are dots of light that your computer monitor and TV screen display in. RGB has a very wide range of colour and is not printer friendly. All of our printers use a 4-colour ink/toner process CMYK - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (K). This is the industry standard for representing ink on paper and what we use to transform your digital files into printed media.

To tell the difference between RGB and CMYK, take a look at the example below of an RGB colour wheel converted to CMYK. The vivid colours appear true on the RGB wheel but are impossible to replicate in CMYK. Colour wheels are showing the difference between RGB and CMYK. If you use RGB colours or images within your design, we will need to convert them to CMYK, which could make the design appear washed-out when printed.

rgb-versus-cmyk

Every day our printing machines are calibrated for colour accuracy to European standards. There's no reason why your reprint should look any different to what you've received previously. We always retrieve your previous orders master copy from our archive to double check colour is consistency.

Not necessarily, all monitors are displayed in RGB, and we use a CMYK printing process, some colour variation will naturally appear. Our printing machines and monitors are calibrated to a 'Coated FOGRA 39' colour profile. Important to remember, if you're viewing PDF proofs on a smartphone the colours can vary significantly.

Yes, if you require a dense black, please make sure your CMYK values are set to the following. C: 50% M: 50% Y: 50% and K: 100%.

We will match as close as possible to a Pantone colour of your choice. Please note this will be using a Pantone Process matching system not a Pantone Spot colour matching system. You will need to make sure your supplied artwork is set to the correct Pantone reference for this to be possible. Please note, not all Pantone colours can be matched in a digital CMYK printing process, but we will get as close as possible by referring to our Pantone to CMYK colour swatch books.

Unfortunately, metallic ink printing is a process we don't currently offer. Alternatively, we can foil your artwork to achieve a luxurious look.

For sure, many of our swing tag materials will allow for this printing process. Our white ink printing looks great on our Colour Board and Brown Kraft swing tags.

Due to our high-quality digital printing process, we're able to print text at very small sizes. We recommend a minimum of 6pt text for it to be legible to your customer's eye but we're able to print smaller. 100% black text will always give you the sharpest possible result.

We always recommend keeping your border 3mm inside the tags trim edge due to the natural movement throughout the printing and finishing process. By following our safe zone guidelines will ensure you achieve a professional look. If you ignore our safe zone guidelines, then you will run the risk of your border appearing uneven once your tags are trimmed down to their final size. Please check our artwork guidelines and a more in-depth example.

At present, you're only able to order a single design per order online. If you have multiple designs you require printing, then please contact our friendly team on 01275 460517. We will calculate the most cost-effective custom quotation for your needs.

Yes for sure, we can print and cut virtually any shape in all of our swing tag materials. For all custom orders, please contact 01275 460517 and one of our team who will be ready to help.

There's an option to add a custom size on every order page, making it easy to order any size online.

Firstly you will see a thumbnail preview of your swing tag design in your shopping basket before your order is processed. Once we've received your order, our artwork team will proceed to create your print-ready PDF proof for approval. We will only schedule your order into production once you have given email authorisation to do so.

Yes, we do. Our creative team are very good at what they do. With many years of design knowledge available at their fingertips, they have a great idea of what makes a good design and what doesn't. Let us show you what we can do!

We certainly do. We have made available templates in all of our online shapes and sizes in various design application formats. Choose from Adobe Illustrator AI, Adobe InDesign INDD and Adobe PDF formats.



Payment Options:

We've tried to make the payment process as easy as possible by offering many different payment options to suit our customers. We accept Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, Paypal, Apple Pay & Android Pay. We do not accept American Express/AMEX.

Yes, we offer a secure payment service. You will see our website displays the padlock symbol and https:// prefix which ensures security. We work very closely with Braintree which is a service of Paypal to provide the most up-to-date systems for secure online payments. Rest assured we never store any payment details and take your security very seriously.

Yes, this is something we can arrange. Your order will need to be processed offline by one of our sales team. Please call 01275 460517, and we will help you with placing your order.

Yes, this is possible, all you need to do is select BACs payment online. Please note: This is not an automatic process. You will then need to login to your bank account and arrange for the exact amount to be transferred to our business account. We will proceed with your order once the payment is showing in our account, this may delay your order. Please use the following details: Bank: NATWEST Sort Code: 54-30-06 Account: 34188061

Yes, you can pay by cheque. You will need to place this type of order offline with our sales team. Please call on 01275 460517, and we will help you through the process. Please note we will need for the funds to clear before proceeding with your order, this could add several days delay to your order.

Once you have supplied us with a current valid charity number, we can then remove your VAT from the order. This type of order will need to be processed offline by our sales team. Please get in touch on 01275 460517.



General FAQs:

Yes for sure. All you need to do is log in to your account, select the order you would like to be reprinted and pay for your order. We archive your print files so we will have them on hand, ready to call up for your reprint. A couple of important things to remember, firstly, we do not re-proof reprints of previous orders, if you specifically want to see a PDF proof you will need to let us know. Secondly, your order will need to be an exact match for material, shape, size and quantity to be classed as a reprint. Otherwise, you will need to place a fresh order.

We all have a responsibility to look after the environment, as we all have a stake in our amazing planet. We recycle all waste and printing consumables, and we dispose of all of our eco printing inks using an environmentally friendly process. Our digital printing process is quick, efficient and cost-effective which has less impact on our environment, so please think green and do your part to cut down on waste. This is why we encourage our customers to only order what they need rather than having surplus stock left wasting away on a shelf. All of our material suppliers have environmental credentials and share our same high standards, we insist on it. We could buy cheaper uncertified paper produced from virgin rainforests, but we set our environmental policy higher than this. We know our customers expect this of us, let's continue to support these vitally essential schemes together.

Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes is fast becoming recognised as the standard for evidence of legal and sustainable sourcing of timber and paper products. For more information, www.pefc.org



So if you want to get designing, first choose a material below, select your options and then Design it Yourself!