Copy Express Limited : Terms and Conditions

Every business operates under terms of services – ours is no different. We love working with you and really do want a long-term relationship. To help us achieve this we apply the following terms and conditions to ALL transactions:

Pricing and Quotes

All prices exclude GST unless otherwise stated.
All prices presume payment prior to or on collection of the job. Delayed payment attracts a higher rate (see payment terms).
All prices exclude delivery which will be calculated separately as part of the total order.
Shipping to customers rely on selecting the correct delivery category from the list at time of order. If the wrong one is selected the customer is liable for any additional charges and they must be paid prior to delivery.
We reserve the right to put any order on hold if the system generates an incorrect price. As this system relies on external providers to operate, any changes they make in the system may effect our online store. We are not liable for incorrect charges because of this. In these circumstances we will work with you to come up with the best solution to the issue.
Quotes are valid for 10 business days unless stated otherwise.
All quotes for printing work assume that print-ready artwork is supplied. We charge for all time required to prepare your documents for printing.
Quotes based on specifications only and not the finalised print ready files are liable to change when the files are supplied. There is some material we just don’t want to print and some files require additional work or are not printable for the quote supplied. By supplying a specification-based quote we are in no way committing to print any job supplied. We reserve the right to adjust the quote if additional information comes to light that effects pricing. We reserve the right to refuse any job for any reason.
Quotes that contain part or all work through a production partner are subject to their terms and conditions.
We do give discounts to select clients. This discount is subject to the work being done, production time frame and current workload. There is no guarantee that a reorder of a previous job which received a discount will receive it this time.

Production and Shipping Times

All time frames quoted assume standard business days - Monday to Friday only. Weekends, Public Holidays, and our Christmas Shutdown period are excluded from this calculation.
Calculation of production completion dates are based on production starting the next business day when the order is received.
When creating material for you or preparing a file to print ready and we send you a proof for your approval. The production time is calculated based on when we have seen your approval of the work.
Standard completion on all print & cut (flyers, business cards, copies, etc.) work is two business days unless otherwise stated.
We can often complete your work faster than that on request, but may result in an additional charge for rush service. Rush fees are based on how many days faster the production time is and how busy we currently are. Please contact us first prior to placing your order with us to confirm we are able to match your time requirements.
All work done with our production partners is subject to their production schedule and may have a limited or no option for a faster production time.
Our Express Service pricing schedule applies to while you wait or short turn-around printing, which does not have rush fees (as it is already rushed).
Work outsourced to a production partner is quoted with estimated production times as quoted to us. The work is subject to their production time frames and we are not liable if they have delays in production or delivery to us of the completed work.
Shipping times are estimates only. We have no control of the delivery once it has left the business. Any delays or delivery issues are the responsibility with the business doing the delivery for us.

Abandoned Jobs

Every now and then we get asked to design or print something and the customer takes too long to respond to questions, decides to cancel the job after we have incurred expenses, or simply doesn’t show up to collect the job.

You have committed to pay us as soon as you ask us to perform any service for you. This includes any pre-printing work such as design or editing, even if you subsequently decide not to proceed with the job.
We are entitled to invoice for any uncollected or abandoned job. A job is deemed to be uncollected if it has not been picked up after seven days of notification. A job is deemed abandoned if you have not responded to our requests for more information or approval to start printing in seven days from the first request. All jobs that are abandoned or uncollected become payable in full immediately upon issuing an invoice and deemed complete and unpaid. Late fees will apply and prompt payment and any other discounts offered are automatically withdrawn.

Payment Terms

We love working with you. We also love getting paid. My kids also love to eat. Cash flow is an important issue in most businesses at the moment. We understand that – it’s important to us too. But we are not a bank and are not in the business of providing financing to other businesses. This seems obvious, yet there are a few that seem to think that not paying their bills on time is perfectly acceptable.

All prices presume payment prior to or on collection of the job. Acceptable forms of payment on collection are
- Cash
- NZ Debit Cards
- NZ Prepay and Credit Cards
- AMEX and UnionPay Cards
- Other international cards
- NZ Bank Card Apps
Depending on the total value of the transaction or the payment method used we reserve the right to add a transaction processing fee to cover the transaction costs.
All prices quoted and charged ALREADY reflect a 10% pre-payment discount. If payment is not made on completion of the job for any reason, or if any payment is declined or rejected after presentation the pre-payment discount is forfeit and becomes payable in full. The pre-payment discount may be waived for on-account customers if payment is received in full by the due date.
If we agree to receive payment after the completion of the job, payment terms will be 7 calendar days from invoice unless otherwise stated. Loss of discounts (including any offered price below our standard pricing, pre-payment and prompt payment discounts) and late fees will be effective on the due date if payment has not been made in full.
If payment is not received by us in full by the stated due date you will be assessed a late fee of $20. This late fee will be charged each week until all balances (including new charges and late fees) are paid in full.
Should any invoice be unpaid in full by the due date all outstanding invoices shall become payable in full immediately and any discount offer withdrawn immediately.
Credit cards are not accepted for payments on account. If account payments are made with a credit card, an additional fee for credit card charges will be applied.
Special order products may require payment in advance.
We reserve the right to change the offer of deferred payment terms at any time and without notice. Please check your invoice for the due date.
Once a debt is more than 60 days past due we may refer it to a debt collection agency or take legal action.
We will collect any additional costs of collection from you, including, but not limited to, credit agency/debt collection fees, accounting and legal fees connected to collection, costs of registering on the PPSR register, postage and courier charges for serving notices, our time incurred in following up debts at $1/minute. Late fees will continue to accumulate.
Failure of us to apply late payment fees or withdraw discount offers in one instance shall not require us to do the same in other instances. If we let you off the hook once, be thankful, not demanding – we probably won’t do it again!

Yes, I know that this all sounds very draconian and legalistic – it is. But if you pay on collection then none of this will apply to you. If you pay before the due date, then we are both happy. But if you treat us like a bank then we will have to charge you like a bank.

Let’s use a parenting analogy: I tell my kids the behaviour that I expect from them and the consequences that will follow if they choose different behaviour. When they break the rules I tell them that I don’t like having to enforce the punishment but they have chosen this punishment by their choice of actions and I would be unjust if they were to get away without punishment. If they had chosen the behaviour they knew I wanted then they would have received rewards, not punishment. It’s their choice.

So now it’s up to you – when you ask us to print something you have accepted our terms of service and agree to pay for it promptly. I have clearly explained the consequences of not paying for it as we have agreed. If you choose to violate that agreement for payment, you now know the consequences and have agreed, in advance, to us implementing those consequences. If you don’t like the consequences, pay on time. That way we will both be happy!

Acceptance of Jobs, Printing Quality and Standards

We pride ourselves on the quality of the work we do. However, there are some things that we can’t control using the technology available to us. We also find that the design of a job sometimes has an impact on the final result. By working well with us you can often get a better result.

When you supply print-ready artwork or approve a proof that we have prepared you have accepted total responsibility for the content of that job. Any changes made after approval may result in additional printing charges and/or time charges. You should carefully check all details, especially phone numbers, email and other addresses as these are common areas where unobserved errors can creep in.
We reserve the right to decline to complete any job for any reason. No compensation shall be payable if we are unable or unwilling to complete any job.
We cannot guarantee absolute colour matching. If you require a specific colour match you must advise us in writing before the job is accepted by us.
Cutting tolerance is up to 2mm.
We do not take responsibility for printing or cutting issues where a job is not supplied with adequate bleed (at least 3mm).
Folding tolerance is 2mm. Folding on printed toner can lead to cracking. We do not take responsibility for cracking or folding errors.
There will be a variation between the same job printed at different times. While we do everything to maintain print quality and accuracy there can be up to 10% in the shift of colour values.
We can not be expected to 100% match colours or surface finishes to work done on other equipment or other materials.
While we do everything to maintain consistency, there are many factors that affect the finish of our work that are beyond our control. We are happy to print samples of in house work for your approval before starting production. For work produced by outside contractors we can not produce samples before production and must work with their quality standards.
We take no responsibility for products that we have not created. This includes paper you supply for printing, cutting and scanning. Mistakes do happen and machines do “eat” things. This is a cost of working with physical material. If any of your property is damaged in the process of our work, even if it is our fault, you are responsible for the cost of material you have supplied. We will not reimburse you for costs in the event of damage or results that you are not happy with.
We reserve the right to no print on any material you supply that we are not 100% sure is safe to run through our equipment.
Claims for work not meeting expected standards must be made within 5 business days of work collection. We do require photographic proof of defective products, and may require samples of the physical product returned to us for evaluation. We reserve the right to refuse any claim made after this time. If the error is in content or finishing instructions that you approved then you are liable for the full costs of the reprint. If we accept a claim we will reprint or refund the price of the job – at our discretion.
We are not responsible for the quality of work outsourced to specialists. In the event of a problem we will lodge claims following their processes, but the acceptance or rejection of the claim is theirs and we hold no reasonability for it.

Ownership of files and printed work

All printed work and designs remain our property until paid for in full. We reserve the right to register a PPSR charge against you or your organisation to maintain our security interest.
Any artwork or documents that we have prepared for you are your property (once paid for). However we are entitled to charge a small administration fee to send these to you if this is requested after the job is completed.
Any artwork or content purchased from an independent source (such as commercial clipart) is yours when purchased but its usage may be restricted by the copyright holder. If you have any concerns we are happy to give a copy of their licence agreement or a web page link to their Terms & Conditions and explain it if required.
We are entitled to hold (and not release) any artwork or printed material to you if you have other outstanding balances with us.
We store your artwork, logos and other information on our systems for a limited time. You are responsible for maintaining and securing your business documents. We are not responsible for damages if we are unable to locate your artwork or previously printed files. We are not responsible for files that have broken or are no longer accessible from our online production system. We will charge for time if you request us to recreate any artwork. Work that has not been accessed for more than 12 months may be archived and after 36 months may be deleted from our system.

Communication

We send invoices and other correspondence out by email. If you have contacted us by email or supplied us with an email address then we assume that you have received our email messages. Late payment penalties will still apply if you didn’t read our email messages or receive our invoices.
By making contact with us you consent to receive communications from us by telephone, SMS, Email, postal mail or any other reasonable method.
We do not supply your contact details to third parties.
All our bulk emails are compliant with New Zealand Anti-SPAM legislation. You may opt out or change your profile by following the instructions on the email.

Limitation of Liability

AT ALL TIMES OUR LIABILITY IS LIMITED TO THE PRICE YOU HAVE PAID US TO COMPLETE THE JOB. YOU AGREE THAT WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND.

Grace, Humour and Thick Skin

Life is too short to get upset with people. It is true that we make mistakes and even offend people from time to time. The mere mention of terms of service, late fees, and the like is offensive to some people. So I apologise now to anyone who takes issue with this. We don’t take ourselves that seriously and like a bit of a laugh from time to time – even at our own expense. We try to be as gracious as possible, honest and ethical, while still trying to run a profitable business that employs people, feeds families, pays bills on time and doesn’t get in trouble with the IRD. My skin is pretty thick. I forgive easily. If this is how you do business then we’ll get on just fine. If not, I’d be happy to recommend some of my competitors that you can do business with.