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General Questions about Unique Products Photo Gifts.
General Questions
- How does The Photo Touch Gifting work?
- Do you have a catalog?
- What kind of computer do you recommend?
- Is there a setup fee?
- What is the minimum quantity required to order?
- What are the supported file types?
- Can I use Black and White images?
- What is the preferred image quality or resolution for uploaded images?
- What does "dpi" mean?
- What is the difference between standard and expedited shipping?
- Do I have to create an account in order to shop?
- Why do I have to log in to place an order?
- How long do my uploaded images remain online?
- What is a cookie?
- Can anyone else see my uploaded photos?
- What if I forget my password?
- Can I change my order after it has been placed?
- How do I contact Customer Service?
| How does The Photo Touch Gifting work? |
The Photo Touch Gifting
is a convenient location to create, preview, and order a wide variety
of items able to be personalized with your pictures.
We
offer you the option to use your traditional pictures or digital
pictures to create high-quality, attractive products that are sure to be
enjoyed for years to come.
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| Do you have a Catalog? |
| Our products are limited only by your imagination. Any image or
combination of images can be used, provided you have the right to
reproduce them. Because of this, we do not have a catalog. |
| What kind of computer to you recommend? |
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To best view and order our products, we recommend the following technical requirements be met: Recommended Hardware
Processor: Pentium®-class
Memory: 32MB or more
Resolution: 800x600 or greater
Color Depth: True-color (24 or 32bit)
Connection Speed: 56Kbps or higher
Recommended Operating Systems
Microsoft® Windows 98, NT, 2000, or XP or
Macintosh OS 8.6 or higher
Recommended Browsers
Netscape® 6.0 or higher or
Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6.0 or
higher or America Online 8.0 or higher or
Mozilla 1.2 or higher |
Is there a setup fee?
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No setup fee is required to order from The Photo Touch! Simply create an account and you're ready to order!
No setup fee is required for any of our personalized products. There
are no hidden charges. You pay for all the personalized products you
want, plus the applicable shipping charge. That's all.
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| What is the minimum quantity required to order? |
Due to our advanced digital process, there is no minimum quantity
required to order. You can order one of each of our products, or you can
order a thousand of each of our products. It's entirely up to your
needs.
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| What are the supported file types? |
There are 5 basic file types you can use for your photo gifts: .jpg, .bmp, .tif, .png, and .gif.
JPEG (can
be .jpg or .jpeg)- JPEG's support over 16 million colors, but can
"distort" the image to compress the file size. The amount distortion is
directly related to the 'quality' setting the image is saved with. We
also recommend that you use the least amount of jpeg compression
possible. (This is a setting on cameras that is sometimes called
"quality" or "compression".) While high resolution and low compression
will increase transfer times, they will produce the best results.
BMP (MS
Windows Bitmap Format) - BMP is the native bitmap file format of the
Microsoft Windows environment. For example, if you create a document
using Paint, chances are it will save as a .bmp. BMP files are usually
not compressed, and so are large for their image quality.
TIFF
(Tag Image File Format, can be .tif or .tiff) - A bitmap graphics file
format that was developed by Aldus and Microsoft for storing scanned
images. It can be used with black and white, gray scale, 8-bit color,
and 24-bit color images, and transfers well between different platforms.
TIFF images can be compressed, although loss does occur.
PNG - Portable Network Graphics format that supports a completely loss-less compression.
GIF - Graphic Interchange Format files work best with simple line art, logos and icons. |
| Can I use Black and White images? |
YES! In fact, black and white images can give your photo gifts a
"timeless" feel that will give them a special feeling to you many years
from now.
Feel free to use black and white images, sepia
("old-fashioned") images, or even just designs your kids have drawn
using Paint or some other computer-graphics program.
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| What is the preferred image quality or resolution for uploaded images? |
What looks good on your screen will not necessarily look good printed.
The
preferred image resolution depends on the size the image will be
printed on your Photo Gift. Some of our ornaments have an image hole
that is only about 1+" in diameter; in our calendars, the image will
print much larger - 8" x 10+".
We will display a message if you select an image we feel may not have a high enough resolution to look good.
For
best results, please check the FAQs or Instructions for the Photo Gift
you are creating to make sure that your image meets the recommended size
for that gift.
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| How big of an image can I upload? |
We will accept almost any size picture. However, in order to be able
to efficiently produce your order, we will only store enough image data
to print a 300 dpi 10.5" x 8" picture - the largest possible image we
print on a Photo Gift.
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| What does "dpi" mean? |
When a computer displays a digital image, what it does is take the
data in the file and display thousands of tiny dots on your screen. The
more dots an image has, the more detailed the picture can be. Image
quality is measured by dots per inch, or "dpi".
For best results, we recommend that your digital pictures be at least 200 dpi when printed on the Photo Gift.
Why?
75 dpi is usually acceptable when an image is viewed on a computer
screen. However, unless you have a very expensive, high-quality monitor,
there's a good chance that your screen doesn't display much more than
75 pixels in an inch. When you see an image in person, you expect it to
be clearer. For the most part, we expect images to be at least 100 dpi
when we see them in person, or we notice that edges appear a little
fuzzy. Professional photography quality is usually around 300 dpi or
higher! Here's an example of two images that look similar when viewed on
a screen, but look very different when seen at printed image size:
| 1000x800 |
640x480 |
 |
 |
| When printed as an 8x10, here's what they'll look like (only part of the image is shown): |
 |
 | |
| What is the difference between standard and expedited shipping? |
Standard Shipping will usually arrive 3 to 5 business days from the time the order is shipped*.
Expedited shipping will arrive up to 2 business days from the time the order is shipped*.
*Most
orders are shipped within 2-5 business days. During times of high
volume, it may take as many as 7 business days to produce and ship an
order.
Some products may have longer production cycles. Check the
product's FAQ page for details on how long it takes the product to be
produced.
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| Do I have to create an account in order to shop? |
No. Although there are advantages to creating an account and logging
in before you start to create your Photo Gifts, you are only required
to create an account when you actually check out.
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| Why do I have to log in to place an order? |
We allow you to shop completely anonymously up until the point where
you go to check out. When you place an order, we need to have some
basic contact information about you so that we can get in touch with you
in the unlikely chance that there is a problem with your order.
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| How long do my uploaded images remain online? |
If you have logged in before uploading images, you will be able to
use those images to create your Photo Gifts for at least 30 days. We
clean all accounts regularly in order to keep the performance of the
website high, and so it's always easy for you to see the most recent
images you've uploaded.
If you have not created an account, you will need to upload your images each time you visit UniqueProducts.com
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| What is a Cookie? |
|
What is a cookie? A cookie is a piece of
information that your web browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape) places
on your computer so that web sites can identify you. We use cookies so
that you can conveniently re-use your images to create different Photo
Gifts without logging in. We DO NOT contain any account information in
cookies. In order to make sure that your computer is accepting cookies:
Internet Explorer:
- Select "Tools" from the toolbar at the very top of the screen.
- Scroll down and select the "Internet Options..." option - it will be at the bottom of the Tools Menu.
- Select the "Privacy" tab.
- Make sure your setting is NOT set to "Block all Cookies".
Netscape:
- Select "Edit" from the toolbar at the very top of the screen.
- Scroll down and select the "Preferences" option - it will be at the bottom on the Edit menu.
- Select the "Privacy & Security" line from the menu at the left.
- Select the "cookies" sub menu.
- Make sure that "Disable Cookies" is NOT selected.
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| Can anyone else see my uploaded photos? |
If you have uploaded your pictures into an account, the only way
someone else can see your images is if you share your username and
password with them. Other than that, you are the only person who can see
your images.
If you have not created an account and you upload
images, nobody will be able to see them unless they sit down at the same
computer you used, and your session is still valid. If you want to make
sure this doesn't happen, just close your browser when you're done.
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| What if I forget my password? |
- On the Login page, click the "Forgot Your Password?" link. It's right under the space to enter your username and password.
- Enter the email address you use to log in.
- Click Continue.
Your password will be sent to the email address you entered in step 2. |
| Can I change my order after it has been placed? |
First of all, always make sure you check over all details in your
Photo Gifts thoroughly to make sure that what you are ordering is
correct.
If you decide you want to change something after you've
added your Gift to your shopping cart, but before you check out, there
is no problem. Simply click to edit the item in your cart, and you'll be
able to make any changes you want.
Once you've completed your
order, our automated manufacturing process immediately schedules your
Photo Gift for production. Because we strive to deliver high-quality
Photo Gifts to all our customers as quickly as possible, we are unable
to accept changes to an order after an order has been placed. |
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