Digital printing is a relatively new technology and our customers often have several questions related to the quality, speed, Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs), and finishing options provided at our press.
We work both online and out of a “brick-and-mortar” store in Shaniwar Peth, Pune. Sometimes, new customers have questions about how to make payments online and how deliveries of finished jobs are handled. Clients also worry about artwork file formats and their resolutions.
Hence, in this section, we have listed the most frequently asked questions our customers have for us.
Job Inquiry: For executing jobs online, you need to send us a mail with your artwork / designs. Also make sure that you put in your name and phone number. We’ll get in touch with you to finalise the material specifications, number of copies, and other details.
Cost Estimate and Payments: Next, we send across a detailed cost estimate for you to ensure that we’ve understood everything correctly. This estimate also contains an online payment link. Please hit the ‘Pay Now’ button in the estimate to find many payment options. You can pay by UPI, credit or debit card, net banking, NEFT or RTGS.
Job Execution: Once payments are through, you’ll get an email saying that we’ve started your job. This email also names the team member handling your job, so you can reach them directly with any questions.
Delivery: Once the job is finished at our end, you’ll get another mail containing the details of the courier or delivery boy who will be bringing your material to you. Outstation courier packets can also be tracked online.
Our machines are fast. Your job will be processed on high-speed industrial-grade machines. When the machines are free, customers who need digital color prints, posters, fliers, etc. can often wait at the counter and walk out with the finished prints in 30 – 40 minutes. But our machines usually have a queue of jobs, so please allow 1 – 2 days, plus a few extra days in busy periods. Jobs received after 5 PM are taken up on the next working day.
Some printing jobs require post-press finishing like lamination, sunboard mounting, metal framing, etc. Such additional processes add to the time for completion. While these too can be pushed for same-day delivery, we generally ask for a lead time of a day or two in these cases.
Also, jobs that need to be installed on-site at your end (like shop boards, wallpaper prints, etc.) take 2 – 3 days for completion.
If your job is urgent, tell us: we can move it up the queue, though we can’t commit to an exact finishing time. And if you are coming to visit us, do give us a call to plan it in advance.
Our rates are fixed. We don’t compete on low prices or discounts; we compete on quality and professional service.
We have 50 odd products on offer. Also most of these products have multiple variations.
Here is a link to our shop page that lists all our categories, products and prices.
You will also find a convenient price calculator on all of these product pages to help arrive at the cost of your job immediately.
Our minimum order value is ₹3,000 plus GST. If your job comes to less than this, we can suggest increasing the quantity to reach it.
For on-site installation jobs (available in Pune), our minimum job size is ₹10,000 plus GST. Installation is charged extra and quoted case by case, depending on the work involved, the distance to the site and how difficult it is to install.
While we hate to say no to any of our clients, it’s difficult to print smaller jobs considering the large scale machinery that we have.
The moment we load any job on these machines they throw out hundreds if not thousands of copies of any single print.
In case you have a smaller job size (say just a few sticker sheets or so) it makes sense to print them at your local photocopier rather than sourcing them from an industrial print house.
We take a lot of pride in our quality. But obviously, just by us claiming to be good, doesn’t necessarily make it so. There are two things that you can do to check how good, bad (or even ugly 🙂 we are…
a. Go to this page which lists reviews and the very nice things that our existing customers have to say, about us.
b. Drop-in at Orchid to check or current work in progress. You can also source a small sample of your job. More on this in the next question.
Yes. At Orchid Digitals, we are extremely confident that our print quality will meet all your requirements.
So, if you are worried about the print quality, we can probably print out a small batch of your job in your presence.
If you don’t like it, you are under no obligation to go ahead with the order.
We offer onsite installation services for upgrading your office interiors or adding storefront signage, which naturally requires us to visit your location to complete the work. However, before we begin the project, we first need to provide you with a pricing estimate.
Your pricing depends on site conditions, job dimensions, and material specifications. In most cases, we require just 3 things to give an estimate for your job. This includes:
Based on these inputs, we can easily provide a quotation or estimate for your project directly over the phone, eliminating the need for an in-person visit. This estimate allows you to decide whether or not to move forward with us.
However, many of our clients prefer that we manage the entire process from start to finish. Consequently, they often request that we handle these three details ourselves by visiting their location to take site photographs and accurate measurements, or to come over and personally evaluate the site conditions where the branding has to happen.
This initial site visit, location recce, or in-person consultation is a chargeable service. However, if you choose to move forward with us on the project, this fee will be fully refunded or applied to your final billing.
Please don't misunderstand us—we truly value your business!
However, conducting a site visit involves a significant investment of time, effort, and expertise. There have been many times where we have dedicated our time and shared our knowledge, only for a client to change their mind or choose not to work with us.
Consequently, we charge a nominal fee for site visits in exchange for our consultation and expertise. I want to reiterate that this charge will be completely refunded to you should you select us for the job. Retaining this fee is of no interest to us; our true goal is to win your contract. Think of our site visit charge simply as an earnest money deposit or a show of good faith! 🙂
We have a separate projects team that handles on site installations. Be it wall prints, glass film prints, poster panel installations or branding your office with logo boards.
And a team member will come to your site to conduct a detailed inspection. This includes:
Our team member will provide you with valuable insights and comprehensive inputs that surpass what even a professional architect might offer, despite charging you for the same service.
Orchid Digitals offers personalized printing services. Our print jobs contain images, logos, and data meant only for you.
So, for example, if you return a sticker or a signboard with your name or logo on it, we really cannot resell it to another client.
Therefore goods returns are NOT accepted at Orchid Digitals like they are, in a mall or clothing store.
But this does not mean that we do not stand behind our print quality. If you find a defect, let us know within 15 days of delivery. We inspect the job first, and if the fault is ours, we reprint or re-fabricate it. A reprint takes about as long as the original job. If your job reaches you damaged in transit, we replace it. We do not give money refunds on printed jobs.
For in-depth information on the same, we’d recommend that you read our Refunds and Return Policy.
Before printing out a job, the same needs to be laid out in a design software. Among other things you need to set the size, colors, content, and images.
Unfortunately, we DO NOT provide design services at Orchid Digitals.
Most of our customers bring in print ready, design files. But if your artwork is not ready, you need to get the job laid out properly, either by yourself or by a professional graphic designer.
We are happy to recommend some very good independent designers / ad agencies where you can get your work done. Here is a page which lists designers in Pune who we really love working with.
When you bring in your jobs for printing, please ensure that you get print ready files in the following formats…
For images please save your files in as .pdfs, .tiffs .jpegs .pngs.
Vector files can also be exported in a .eps format.
You can also choose to send us open files in the following formats:
1. CorelDraw all versions
2. Adobe Illustrator
3. Adobe Photoshop
4. Microsoft Office files like Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
While working with fonts in open files, please remember to do either of the following.
5. Get all the fonts associated with your files
6. A safer option would be to convert all fonts to curves
If your file is created in software other than the ones listed above (for example Autocad), you can save the same as a .pdf and bring it over.
Our digital printing machines reproduce images at extremely high resolutions. Most of the prints we generate look stunningly beautiful. Having said this, if the input resolutions of a file are low, the final output print is going to be of a low resolution as well.
To ensure good image quality of your job at any print bureau, do the following two things…
1. While creating your artwork ensure that the canvas size is the same as the final print size. So for example, if your job size is 2 feet by 3 feet, make sure that your artboard is also set at 2 X 3 feet and not 2 X 3 inches
2. Ensure that image resolutions are at least 72 – 100 DPI at actual size. 300 DPI works best and anything above is icing on top of the cake.
You can design your job in both RGB as well as CMYK color models. Our printing machines are calibrated to handle both formats.
If you are coming to the shop, feel free to bring your files on a USB Pen Drive, hard disk, flash drive, or your mobile phone (do remember to carry the cable in this case).
For remote jobs, you can also send the files to us over the internet.
Most email services will max-out at 25 Mb. So you’ll have to try one of the many online file transfer services to send us larger files. Here’s a few free services we’d like to recommend…
1. WeTransfer
2. Dropbox
3. Google Drive
Our outdoor prints are made to handle rain and sunlight, but how long a print lasts depends on the ink and the material.
We have solvent prints, laminated eco-solvent prints, and UV prints, all of which are rated for outdoor use. But this sentence needs some clarification.
Fading of outdoor prints is a function of rain and sunlight.
So a low cost, low quality, solvent print is recommended for short term ad campaigns. These prints do fade after 6 – 12 months but by then their application is long over.
High resolution backlit prints will last for years and years. But they cost a little more. (These are typical lifespans of the materials, not a warranty.)
Do read up on different ink chemistries, their strengths and weaknesses in this post here. Also feel free to consult with us. We will suggest a media and ink combination based on the application you have in mind for the print.
We are open Monday to Friday from 10:30 AM to 6:00 PM, and on Saturdays from 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM. We are closed on Sundays and national holidays.
Do give us a call on +91 20 24487292 or 9823239793 before you drop in
We have a small empty space in front of our office at Omkareshwar Chowk. You can park your vehicle here.
Alternatively, there is ample parking available near the Balgandharva bridge 50 odd meters away from our office.
Our showroom at Omkareshwar Chowk is on the ground floor just one step above the road level.
While we do not have a separate ramp for our physically-challenged clients, we just need to carry your wheelchair up, one step, which we will gladly do.
No, you do not.
Our wide-format inks are all waterproof and outdoor grade. Having said this, lamination does provide additional protection for the print from scratches, fading and everyday wear and tear.
Also, lamination will marginally add to the cost of the job. Here is a post which discusses this question in depth.
All prints attract 18% GST.
The GST tax component is mentioned in the pricing section of all our product pages.
Moreover, our estimates, email quotes, invoices, etc. will clearly mention the GST component in the cost of the print job.
Since we are talking about GST, there are two more things that you need to note:
1. If your business has a GST number, please make sure that you communicate the same to us. This is because you will get a credit back of the GST amount you pay us, if we mention your number on our invoice. Taxpayers registered under the composition scheme are an exception to this rule.
2. All rates mentioned on this website are excluding GST. You have to add in the tax factor to arrive at the final cost
3. Our GST tax registration, PAN card and other relevant regulatory details are available on this page here.
Solvent prints are very economical and meant for short-term ad campaigns like hoardings and banners. Solvent prints are mainly used for outdoor applications. The quality of the prints is low and not very sharp. But this does not matter because the end application demands short-term life at a low price point.
Eco-solvent prints are much better in terms of print quality. Most indoor photo-quality prints that you see in malls and retail outlets are printed on eco-solvent machines. In addition to having high-resolution image reproduction, these prints also last significantly longer than solvent prints. Eco-solvent prints are marginally more expensive than solvent prints
UV ink prints are the latest addition to digital printing technology. They are of a very high resolution. The inks are virtually indestructible. The prints will last for years together, in the harshest of conditions. This makes UV prints ideal for applications like vehicle branding, shop floor signs, road direction signs, etc. UV printers can also print on nonstandard materials like acrylic, MDF and ACP, which we use for our own signage and products. (We don’t print directly on glass: glass graphics are printed on films that are then pasted on the glass.) The cost of UV prints is higher than eco-solvent jobs and hence are used primarily for specialized applications.
The above paragraph is a short answer explaining the difference between solvent, eco-solvent, and UV ink printing. We also have a very detailed blog about the same here.
While we have tried to cover all possible scenarios here, you may still have some questions. That’s great, and we’d love to answer them for you.
Kindly fill the below form, and we’ll try and get back to you with an answer as soon as we can.
