This was my first order with Custom…
This was my first order with Custom Packaging (CP). I have a new side gig selling handmade soy wax melts. I wasn't sure how well they'd sell so I had been printing the header cards at home, which is expensive & time consuming. I ordered a total of 6,000 header cards, 3,000 each of two different sizes. The cards themselves are FANTASTIC & I absolutely love them! I was not, however, a fan of the rest of the process. I've used *many* print services for a variety of business purposes over the last 20+ years. CP's process was right out of 1995. At no point was I asked to create an account on the CP website. Everything was done via email with a sales rep, including all the revisions to the cards, and final proofing. The sales rep was persistent, which at first was a good thing. There is persistence & then there is pushy and the rep definitely crossed the line even during the proofing & revision process and continuing through to writing reviews, despite my pointing out that I work a full-time job & the header cards are for my side-gig. The revision / proofing process was lengthier than it needed to be since it was clear the files I provided to CP were being recreated in some other software & the various elements were moved & scaled differently. I almost missed that the proof for the second header card also was at the completely wrong size from the original agreed-upon size which would have made them useless. Definitely pay attention to the sizing on every single proof! I was given two "templates" to at the beginning of the process - 5" x 5" .pdfs that were mostly white space. They didn't provide the measurements for the cut line, or bleed line & definitely weren't to scale so they were useless as templates. Other companies provide templates in standard graphic formats that allow you to place artwork directly on them in a variety of art programs which ensures the end result is correct with minimal (if not zero) revisions. The proofs were very small image files, 800 x 1100 pixels so I wasn't 100% sure how the cards would turn out. I had to go through so many revisions for both labels CP and still wasn't 100% confident I wasn't wasting $600. The payment process was weird for a US-based company. I was sent to a 3rd party site I'd never heard of which showed only the total price of $600. When I printed the receipt, it too only showed the total of $600, no breakdown showing $300 for one size of header card & $300 for the other. That made me nervous that I would end up with 6,000 of one size header card despite an email from the sales rep saying it was $300 for each (not a receipt, an email). I made sure to charge this to my business' AMEX card in case anything went wrong - which is not a thought I've ever had when using an online printer before. Shipping was a mystery. At no point was I sent a shipping confirmation, tracking number, delivery estimate, or even told what shipping company they were using. Then on a Saturday I got a random text from DHL, which I thought was spam so I ignored it. I walked out my front door that night & saw the box on the porch....from Pakistan?!? While the company says they're in Columbia, MO, the order itself was printed & shipped from "Tech Society, Lahore" in Pakistan. The CP name appears *no where* on the box. If DHL had knocked on my door I probably would have refused the delivery as I definitely didn't (knowingly) order anything from Pakistan. I was a bit stunned to find the header cards in the box. The end result, however, is that I do have a total of 6,000 header cards which are going to save me a small fortune & a ton of time as in packing. I'm not sure I'll reorder from The Custom Packaging since the whole process wasn't the best experience.
By Heather M.