SPOD Frequently Asked Questions
1) Why use Superior Print on Demand over other printers?
- Quick elevator pitch! Superior Print on Demand is a family owned and operated business located in a small town in New York, so number 1 point would be to support small/local. We then offer some of the industries lowest prices, with the highest quality printing we can produce, with that consistently getting better and better as we learn and perfect the trade, and upgrade our equipment and materials to fit all of your needs. We try to be as transparent as possible, sometimes too transparent even, but we view that as a good thing keeping our customers in the loop and their expectations real. Not to mention one of our biggest selling points of being able to print 1 copy of whatever you need. Whether it be for a sample, a gift, a school project, or anything else if you need just one of it we have you covered at an affordable and realistic price point.
2) How do I set up my cards?
- Check out the Support Center tab for lots of helpful info and guidelines on how to set up and order your cards, as well as the product descriptions for all products. If you still have a question or need help please reach out at info@superiorpod.com and we are happy to help you more or point you in the right direction to look for your answers. A baseline answer is to always set up your cards to the size you want them to be, make sure you account for bleed on top of that, and make sure you have your resolution set to at least 300DPI and then 99% of the time we will be able to work with your artwork from there.
3) What is the best resolution (DPI/PPI) I should use for my artwork?
- We require/ recommend 300DPI as a baseline for artwork, but if you would like to go higher up to 600, 1200, or even 2400 we could do that for you. We have found there is just the slightest variance between the higher numbers and our baseline 300 which is why we do not require anything more than that, but it is always up to you the customer and what you would prefer.
4) What design software should I use?
- We use the Adobe suite for everything and love it. We know that may be out of some peoples price range, so there are a lot of free alternatives online you can use. Canva, Gimp, and Pixlr are a few, although be careful with Canva when saving as PDFs as it does not embed your fonts properly, so warn us if you used Canva so we can make some quick fixes to prevent issues while printing. You can also use Microsoft products to do designs if you go about it the right way with page sizes and resolutions, although we are not experts on doing so, so some outside research may be required here.
5) I am not seeing a specific product I would like to order on your website, can you make custom products?
- We can absolutely make custom products so if you have any questions about a product just reach out to us at info@superiorpod.com for a quote and answer on if we can do it for you or not. We also have a large number of products that we can make that we just have not had time to list on our website yet, like different sized counters, cards, boxes, books, etc.
6) Why are your template links not working for some products?
- We have been having technical issues with our website for the longest time for some product template links and we apologize for this. Always feel free to reach out via email so we can send you the templates you need.
7) How do I put my cards in order/ name them so you know what the fronts and backs are?
- If you are sending a multipage PDF for a 54 card deck, please have the first 1-54 pages in the PDF be the faces in order, and then the following 54 pages (55-108) be the backs in the same order 1-54. We will make sure the backs match to the fronts if everything is unique, or if you have a common back for everything then you only need to include one copy of that as the 55th page in the PDF and we handle the rest. If you are saving things individually just name your files accordingly like "face 1" then "back 1" and so on we will handle everything from there.
8) How can I get my cards in an exact order, like New Deck Order for a deck of playing cards?
- This is more complicated so please note that you would like your deck in the exact order as you submit your PDF and we will do so for you if you are ordering more than 10 or so decks. If you are only ordering 1 deck you will not get your deck in the exact order of your PDF as the way they are cut puts them in order of 1, 4, 7, etc. We can change the set up to make it so they are in the perfect order, however this is complicated and time consuming which is why we will not do it on small orders. If you want to try to tackle this yourself please reach out to us on how to do so.
9) Can I get samples before I order?
- Quick answer is unfortunately no. Our business model is centered around you being able to order 1 copy of whatever you need, whether that be for sample purposes or anything else, so sending free samples would defeat that purpose. If you would like samples you can order 1 sheet of cards on each card stock for example, and then for less than $10 you have a sample package with your very own artwork as well.
10) Could you do my order fulfillment?
-Quick answer is yes! Please look at the order fulfillment tab for more info!
11) What do I do if there is an issue with my order?
- Please reach out to us at info@superiorpod.com if there are any issues with your order. If it is a mistake that we made then we would be more than happy to fix and replace that for you! If it is a mistake that is caused by your artwork there may not be anything we can do to resolve that, but it is always best to reach out so we can figure out what happened.
12) What is the status of my order/ how do I track the status of my order?
- The status of your order can be seen when you login and review your order, and it will be marked to represent where it is at. "Order received" means we have the order but have not started it yet. "Artwork Downloaded" means we downloaded and reviewed your artwork. "Prepress" means it has been set up and is ready for production and is just waiting for its spot in the production schedule. "Press" means that it is in production and being made as you are looking at that status! Finally "Order completed" means that your order has been completed and is being shipped, which you should also get an email about with tracking info. You should get emails at each of these stages with a more in depth explanation as well as to what they mean.
13) Why does my shipping cost this much/ why is my international shipping so expensive?
- SPOD does not upcharge any shipping, and all rates are calculated by our website as it works with our shipping curriers and estimates what the cost will be based on what is ordered. International shipping is especially expensive right now and we apologize for that, but that is out of our control. If you ever feel like your shipping costs are way too high then feel free to reach out because we have had a handful of instances where there were glitches in the system causing inaccurate rates to appear, so we could make sure that is not happening to you.
14) Can I order more than 72 tarot cards/ how do I order more than 72 tarot cards?
- We can absolutely do decks larger than 72 cards, and really that number is infinite. This is something we have been meaning and meaning to change on the website but the pricing engine is difficult and time consuming to mess with which is why we have not done so yet. If you would like to order a deck with more than 72 cards simply order 72 cards and then another deck of however many cards you need, and state that both decks should be combined into one master deck. The pricing is all the same so do not worry about hidden or extra fees, it is just a way to get around our technical website issue right now.
15) How is SPOD environmentally conscious?
- All of our card stocks and papers are responsibly farmed and follow all regulations there, and are partially recycled. Recycled paper/ stock is a good option however it is very expensive and is not something we have brought in due to that high price point. If you would like 100% recycled paper then we could give you a custom quote and bring that in for your project. We also avoid using plastic at all cost which is why we make all of our inserts our of card stock instead of plastic. We reuse all of our waste in many different production tasks, and even reuse scraps and trimmings where we can to get the full use out of everything. After something has truly gotten its use or is not useable then we of course recycle, and fill 4 massive recycling bins everything week!!
16) Do you do 3D printing?
- Unfortunately we do not and do not have that on our list of things to bring in for the near future. There are a lot of start of costs to 3D printing and a lot of learning to perfect the trade that we do not have the time for right now. In the far future it may be something we bring in, but no specific date would come to mind with that.
17) What do I do if I want you to sell my products for me 100%?
- Reach out to us at info@superiorpod.com and get your products listed on either Adventure Game Source or Wackadu depending on what your product is! AGS is designed for everything gaming, where Wackadu is a fun place for everything else that is not gaming related! These are our selling platforms and we will list and sell your products for you, and then write you a check each month!
More FAQs to come as things are brought to my attention or when I remember some specific ones that I probably missed. Of course if you have any other questions and could not find your answers here or in our support center, please reach out to us via email!
