Most first-time buyers learn the process by getting it wrong once. You pick a tumbler, find a logo that looks sharp on your laptop, and then a quote shows up with two charges you didn't plan for. None of it is a trick. It's a sequence, and once you know the order, the whole job gets easier to run.
Here is the order we walk first-time buyers through, from the product page to the boxes on your desk. The step that matters most comes near the end, and it's the one people hurry through.
Step 1: Pick the Product and the Count
Start with the item, then the quantity. Art comes later. A logo looks great on any blank until you find out the blank comes with a minimum you can't use. Pick the product, write down the count, and check the minimum before you fall for anything.
Take the Thor 40oz Straw Tumbler. The catalog lists it as low as $7.19/unit · min 50. Catalog prices exclude setup and run charges, so the quote is where the real total shows up. Want 30 for the sales team? You're buying 50 or picking a different cup.
One product beats three for a first order. Each product is another quote, another proof and another minimum. Three items at 50 each means 150 pieces to approve and three chances to misspell the company name.
Apparel gets counted by size and color too. Write the breakdown on paper before you ask for a quote. 'Twelve mediums and everything else' is how a simple order turns into three revisions.
Step 2: Send the Art and Know What File You Have
The file type matters more than most buyers expect. A vector file (AI, EPS, or a PDF with live vector shapes) describes each color as a clean shape with exact edges. That's what screen printing and embroidery need to split the art into color layers. A high-resolution PNG works well for many full-color and digital jobs. It's still a picture, though, and a picture has no clean edges to separate.
The JPG is the file most people have, and it causes the most questions. It's flattened, the edges are soft, and the colors are whatever the screen showed when someone saved it. If a JPG is all you've got, send it anyway and ask what the job needs. We'd rather find that out before the quote than after the proof is signed.
Send a short package with the art, not the file alone:
- The vector or highest-resolution file you have, with its original name.
- Pantone numbers or hex values, if your brand guide has them. 'Our green' is not a color specification.
- Where the logo goes: front, back, left chest or the wrap of a cup.
- The count and the colors, in the same email.
Step 3: Read the Quote, Not Just the Catalog Price
The quote is where the catalog price turns into your total. It adds decoration, and decoration comes in two parts. The setup charge is a one-time fee to get the art ready to print. The run charge is a per-unit cost to decorate each piece. On the Thor tumbler, color screen print lists a $55 setup, a $0.375 run charge and $95 for each added color. Laser engraving lists a $55 setup and $0.80 per unit.
Here's the catalog math for 50 tumblers in one screen-printed color: $359.50 in blanks, $55 setup and $18.75 in run charges, which comes to $433.25 before tax. Your quote can land somewhere else if the count or the colors change, and the quote is the number you approve.
Ask for setup and run charges on separate lines. If the quote is one number, ask for the breakdown. You need to see which part moves when the count does, because the decoration is usually what changes.
Send the final count, the final art and the final placement in the same message when you ask for pricing. Each revision reprices the job, and every reprice is another round of waiting.
Step 4: The Digital Proof Is the Checkpoint
After the quote, you get a digital proof: the art placed on the product, with the colors and size you're paying for. Nothing prints until you approve the proof. Read it the way you'd read a contract, because for this job it is one.
- Spelling and capitalization. Check the company name the way your legal team writes it, not the way it sounds in a meeting.
- Placement and size. Measure the logo against the blank on screen. A mark that looks right on a laptop can look tiny on a 40 oz cup.
- Color. A screen never matches ink exactly. If a brand color has to match, say so before you approve and ask how it will be checked.
- Counts. Every size and color on the proof should match your order sheet. A mismatch caught here costs one conversation. Caught after production, it costs product.
- Blank color. Confirm the product color on the proof is the one you want, not the one you remember from the website.
What Slows an Order Down
Most delays start on the buyer's side of the table, and they're predictable.
- Late art approval. Production waits on your signed proof. A proof that sits in a shared inbox for a week costs you that week.
- Counts that change after the proof. Moving twelve mediums into a size run means a revised proof for that breakdown, and a fresh check on every line.
- Color matching. Matching one specific Pantone takes a conversation, and sometimes a physical check, not a request.
- Art that has to be rebuilt. A JPG that needs to be redrawn as clean vector is one more step before the proof exists.
- Approval by committee. Three people who each want to see the proof, one of whom is on a plane, is the classic version. Name one person who signs.
- Crowded months. Fall and the holidays are busy for everyone who sells swag. Ordering in the month before the event, not the month of, is the cheapest insurance you'll buy.
The buyers who never feel rushed are the ones who started in the right month, with the art already in the folder.
Production, Then Delivery
Once the proof is signed, the order moves to production. Delivery is the last leg, and it depends on the product, the decoration and where the boxes are headed. Ask for the delivery plan on the quote and keep it next to the proof, so the paperwork says the same thing your event planner does.
Plan backward in months. If the event is in March, sign the art in January and place the order that same month. If it's a holiday gift, settle the art before the summer ends, so September is for checking counts instead of chasing files.
Two questions before you sign anything: when do the boxes need to be in the building, and who checks the boxes against the proof on arrival? Those answers matter more than any general timeline, and they vary by product.
Still stuck on a count or a file? Talk to a human: 888-267-6059. Five minutes on the phone beats fixing a size breakdown after the boxes are packed.
FAQ
Do I need vector art to place an order?
No, but vector art gives the cleanest result for screen printing and embroidery. A high-resolution PNG can work for full-color and digital jobs. A JPG starts the most conversations, so send it and ask what the job needs before the quote goes out.
Is the catalog price what I'll actually pay?
It's the starting point. Catalog prices exclude setup and run charges, and the quote adds them. Use the catalog to pick the product and the quote to set the budget.
Can I change the count after I approve the proof?
Changes to size or color counts mean a revised proof for the affected lines. Lock the breakdown before you sign it.
What if the proof looks wrong?
Don't approve it. Reply with exactly what's off, such as a misspelled name or the wrong color, and ask for a corrected proof.
What's the simplest first order?
One product, one color, one decoration method, and a count that clears the minimum. Add complexity once the first box has landed and you know how your team handles it.