Does this happen at your shop often?

[reQ]

From time to time, i have "potential customers" who stop by to ask for price & print some decals/signs etc. When i ask if they have the artwork, they present me a picture which they took with a cell phone from someones monitor, right directly from Corel/illustrator etc. When they do it, i know right away that one of the shops from our area started or already finished artwork for this "customer" without charging any money. Just for sh*ts and giggles i ask them who did the artwork? Their answer is ALWAYS - Oh, a friend of mine. Then i say - That is great, you can get original file, so i don't have to charge you, right? Few seconds of silence... No sorry i can't get it right now from him, but can't you just use my picture and print it?...... At this point i start to be mad already... because pardon my french, scrubs like that always make me mad.

After that i tell them they have two options:

1) Get original file, so there will be no artwork charge
2) Or i can create new artwork, but will not copy the one they showed me, because i do not copy other people work.

Last two 20-25 year old business guys who started skid steer business said right in front of me - "F*ck it, lets get the f*ck out of here:


Since i had this situation more & more now, i would like to know if its a common issue? Happens more & more here....

 

[CanuckSigns]

Yup, you are not alone

Just had a guy in yesterday wanting some work done, I could tell in the first minute that something didn't sit right with me about him, wanted some engraving done, a few red flags popped up

1) he was getting the work done somewhere else for about 1/4 of what I quoted him (different process) but said he would rather use me since we are good buddies (never met this guy before in my life)
2) he was a very fast talker, and a selective listener, I would give him a ballpark price, he would quickly change the subject then 2 minutes later say so it will be $x.xx (substantially less than I quoted earlier)
3) he didn't have his own logo
4) he brought up the old "if you give me a good price on this little job, I'll send tons of work your way" speech
and lastly, he kept itching his ba**s in front of me, I was about to ask him if he needed a moment by himself.

 

[TXFB.INS]

yup, it appears to be happening more and more.

usually we will have someone show an image they took of the monitor of something found from a search image and want it exactly like that. even though you can see in the picture there are watermarks all over what they want.

 

[reQ]

and lastly, he kept itching his ba**s in front of me, I was about to ask him if he needed a moment by himself.

LOL. Maybe he thought that u r hot!

 

[Andy D]

Yup, you are not alone

4) he brought up the old "if you give me a good price on this little job, I'll send tons of work your way" speech

Yeah, I love this one, but as tempting as a customer sending all his broke-@ss friends to me, I usually take a pass.

 

[threeputt]

It happens to all shops. The ones with any" character" send them packing. We will definitely not steal other shops work, or use unlicensed art from the web.

People do get mad. We have long ago decided that turning away some work (from problem clients) is in our best interest. There are about five other shops in my little town they can go to.

 

[ChaseO]

On the flip side of the equation, I sent a guy a small jpg of a mock up for his sign. I did get an artwork deposit, and even made the sign, but about a year later, I saw one of his business cards that had used my original low quality thumbnail jpg. I would have gladly sent off for his cards for him, or sent him a decent file to work with, but I guess he was too scared to ask?

 

[d fleming]

My response is usually "kopy shak is right down the street." The people at Kopy Shak hate me.

 

[reQ]

My response is usually "kopy shak is right down the street." The people at Kopy Shak hate me.

Their name is Kopy Shak for real? Then i see why you send them there :Big Laugh

 

[d fleming]

Their name is Kopy Shak for real? Then i see why you send them there :Big Laugh

Yeah, for real. Actually I mis-spelled it, it is "Kopi Shak" . The old owner asked me to buy it. It's a fed ex drop off and a copy machine. He decided to retire when Fed Ex put another drop off across the street from him. No thanks. The young lady he sold it to opened about three hundred yards down the road. I get people now all day coming in looking for quotes telling me she's nuts.

 

[oksigns]

From time to time, i have "potential customers" who stop by to ask for price & print some decals/signs etc. When i ask if they have the artwork, they present me a picture which they took with a cell phone from someones monitor, right directly from Corel/illustrator etc. When they do it, i know right away that one of the shops from our area started or already finished artwork for this "customer" without charging any money. Just for sh*ts and giggles i ask them who did the artwork? Their answer is ALWAYS - Oh, a friend of mine. Then i say - That is great, you can get original file, so i don't have to charge you, right? Few seconds of silence... No sorry i can't get it right now from him, but can't you just use my picture and print it?...... At this point i start to be mad already... because pardon my french, scrubs like that always make me mad.

After that i tell them they have two options:

1) Get original file, so there will be no artwork charge
2) Or i can create new artwork, but will not copy the one they showed me, because i do not copy other people work.

Last two 20-25 year old business guys who started skid steer business said right in front of me - "F*ck it, lets get the f*ck out of here:


Since i had this situation more & more now, i would like to know if its a common issue? Happens more & more here....

When I used to work at a print shop, I saw this from time to time. Especially the soccer mom type needing invitation printed out- Oh, we should give her a good deal cause she will then spread the word at "how good we were". Or people coming in with this cropped screenshots of etsy or some stationary website for card reproduction.

Welp, sad news is, your gonna spend the same or more because you want me to design it from scratch. I try to be positive and spin the situation in to selling what product we have, but they see that thing and want it copied.