Frequently Asked Questions

1. There are thousands of printers in the U.S., why Kim Printing Co., Ltd.? 2. Is it complicated to import print products from China? 3. Do I have to pick up the goods at the port and deal with customs? 4. How do I know if the print quality will be good? 5. How much savings can I expect over U.S. printers? 6. What kind of paper will my job be printed on? 7. Are there minimum quantities? 8. How can I ensure quality without a press check? 9. How well will my job match what I see on my monitor if I choose to have a PDF proof? 10. How long will it take to get my order? 11. Will I always receive exactly the quantity I order? 12. What if I want to change something on my order after I've placed it or approved the proof? 13. How do I view my proof if I request a JPEG or Adobe PDF proof? 14. File Preparation What other file formats can you take? 15. How do I check for proper imposition or backup from a PDF Proof? 16. What about privacy and security? 17. What is the difference between the RGB and CMYK color space and why does it matter? 1. There are thousands of printers in the U.S., why Kim Printing Co., Ltd.? True, there are thousands of printers here in the United States. However, none of them can compete with our competitive prices. Our factory is in China. We are passing the savings we get from relatively low operating costs onto our customers. At the same time, we do not compromise print quality. We are a custom print house. We custom produce your order to your specifications so the quality is always guaranteed. In addition, we offer you excellent customer services and many years experience in supply chain management working with large clients such as Dell, Sony, and Panasonic. In short, we can provide you with significant cost savings while maintaining the same print quality and services as you can expect from U.S. printers. Back to Top 2. Is it complicated to import print products from China? Not at all. For a small order, it can be shipped to you by air (e.g. DHL, FedEx) and usually does not require any extra work to go through the US custom. For an order with larger quantities, we can provide you with full services including transportation across the pacific ocean, custom clearance, and inland transportation if applicable so that you will receive your order just like you buy it from a U.S. printer. Our import and export specialists would be happy to assist you whenever necessary. Back to Top 3. Do I have to pick up the goods at the port and deal with customs? No. We can deliver door-to-door to any specified destination worldwide. However, if you prefer to arrange your shipment, you can do so and we will be happy to provide any assistance. Back to Top 4. How do I know if the print quality will be good? We have been in custom printing business for the past decade serving many big, multi-national clients such as Dell, Sony, Panasonic, Cuisinart, Sunbeam, NEC, Lenovo, Phillips, and Mackie. If you trust these big enterprises, you should trust Kim Printing Co. We are ISO9001-2000 certified. With our strong management team, skilled engineers, advanced equipments and tools, and many years of manufacturing and supply chain experience, we have been/are able to provide our clients with zero defect products. We are a custom printing house. You tell what you want, we custom produce it to your specifications. So the quality for your project is always guaranteed! Back to Top 5. How much savings can I expect over U.S. printers? This will vary based on your order quantity, time, and delivery methods. A recent study conducted by Strategies for Management (http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/1/emw195117.htm) indicated that foreign printers are providing U.S. clients average price savings from 30% to 50% (including shipping), principally derived from lower processing costs. At Kim Printing, we always do our best to offer you professional solutions with greatest savings. To see how much you can save, why don't you give us a try? Back to Top 6. What kind of paper will my job be printed on? This will depend on the type of work. We will give you our best recommendation. However you always have the options to decide what you want to use. At Kim Printing, you are not limited to just a standard run of the mill sheet. You decide what you want, we custom produce it to your specification including the use of paper. Back to Top 7. Are there minimum quantities? The biggest myth about overseas printing is that you need to have a large print run in order to save money. We don't really have a minimum order. We can work with any order. Back to Top 8. How can I ensure quality without a press check? We provide you with ACTUAL PRESS PROOFS for your project. NO bluelines, NO matchprints, or Digital Proofs!! If you print a book, for example, we will show you a fully printed book on the actual paper it will be printed on, and in full color, BEFORE you authorize the printing. If you have any corrections, we will make them according to your instructions. No final printing is undertaken until YOU approve it. Once you approve your project for printing, we assign an experienced production coordinator at the plant to be responsible for your job. He/she will watch YOUR project from beginning to end to ensure it meets our high quality standards. Back to Top 9. How well will my job match what I see on my monitor if I choose to have a PDF proof? Most people are surprised at how well their job matches what they see. But because of wide differences in monitor calibration and the different technologies used, some printed colors may not exactly match the colors on your specific monitor. A PDF proof is a low cost but quick method of proofing made available to our customers. The long and the short of it is that you are allowed to proof your job for content and get a pretty good interpretation of the color involved. Upon your acceptance of a PDF proof, we will run your job to a pleasing color standard. Back to Top 10. How long will it take to get my order? There really isn't a short answer to this question. Some jobs take only a few minutes where others may take days. Let us know when you need your job completed, and we'll let you know if it can be done. We go to great lengths to meet your most stringent demands. With proper planning, we are sure that we can meet your timeline. Our typical schedule is as follows: 1 - 2 weeks - Press proofs preparation; 1 - 2 weeks - Printing, binding, packing (This may vary depending on extent and quantity of your order); 9 - 12 days - shipping by sea to a West Coast port; 3 - 5 days custom clearance and delivery to West Coast addresses; Deliveries to the Mid - West or East Coast may take up to 10 days. Back to Top 11. Will I always receive exactly the quantity I order? Most of the time, we ship you slightly more than you ordered, free of charge. On occasion, we ship slightly fewer pieces than you ordered. Printing industry trade standards allow that a 5% over run or under run constitutes delivery of your order and you will be billed accordingly. If you plan to send your print order to a mailing list or need a guaranteed quantity, we recommend that you order 10% over the minimum quantity you need. Back to Top 12. What if I want to change something on my order after I've placed it or approved the proof? If you wish to change your order in any way, you must call us immediately. Depending on what phase of production we're in will depend on the ability to change your order. We will accommodate you in the fullest to change your order as desired. Back to Top 13. How do I view my proof if I request a JPEG or Adobe PDF proof? Once we have processed your file, we will send you an email with the link for viewing your proof. Back to Top 14. File Preparation What other file formats can you take? We can take any Mac or PC version of Quark, Pagemaker, Illustrator, Photoshop, Freehand, InDesign, CorelDRAW, and any file output as a PDF. We also accept files stored on a CD or DVD. In addition, you can also use our FTP server to upload files for faster service. Please send us a FTP request and we will send you a detailed instruction to use FTP server and log-in information. Back to Top 15. How do I check for proper imposition or backup from a PDF Proof? "Imposition" and "backup" refer to how the front of a printed piece is oriented to the back. In the case of a brochure, you normally turn it over right-to-left (like you turn the page of a book) in order to have the back side read correctly -- not upside down. Seems simple, until you get to a postcard where one side is laid out in landscape (horizontal) orientation, and the other side in portrait (vertical) orientation. We use our best judgment when imposing a job, so that it backs up in the most natural or normal manner. Some designs, however, contain both portrait and landscape elements on both sides, making it difficult to make a clear call. When reviewing your proof online, we will always post the front and the back in the orientation that they will print in relation to each other. So, if page 2 appears upside down, that is how it will be printed on the back of page 1. (Some people want it that way, so that the recipient of the piece must turn it over top-to-bottom in order to read it correctly.) Be sure to print out a copy of your online proof, and attach the two sides to each other to create a "mockup" or "dummy." This is especially important when a job will be folded. File Transfer Back to Top 16. What about privacy and security? No information we collect for order processing or from inquiries is shared with any other company or website. Your information is only used to contact you when necessary. Your order is submitted and retrieved with a secure connection to our server and remains secure at all times. Most experts consider that ordering securely on the internet is as safe or safer than giving your information over the phone or to stores. Back to Top 17. What is the difference between the RGB and CMYK color space and why does it matter? RGB refers to the primary colors of light, Red, Green and Blue, that are used in monitors, television screens, digital cameras and scanners. CMYK refers to the primary colors of pigment: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. These are the inks used on the press in "4-color process printing", commonly referred to as "full color printing". The combination of RGB light creates white, while the combination of CMYK inks creates black. Therefore, it is physically impossible for the printing press to exactly reproduce colors as we see them on our monitors. Many programs have the capability to convert the layout/images from the RGB color space to the CMYK color space. We request that you convert your colors from RGB to CMYK if your tools allow you to. By doing it yourself, you have maximum control over the results. You may notice a shift in color when converting from RGB to CMYK. If you do not like the appearance in CMYK, we recommend that you make adjustments while working in CMYK (usually lightening). Generally, you should specify CMYK color builds that look a little lighter than you want, since the dots of ink "fatten up" on press, giving you more pigment on paper than you see on your monitor. Be especially careful to keep backgrounds light if there is black or dark colored text over it, so that the text remains readable. Back to Top