Frequently Asked Questions

Due to those pesky little spammers we require newly registered user to verify a link sent to their email. 

If you didn’t get yours and get stuck DON’T WORRY
– we can verify you manually in a jiffy, just WhatsApp us on 0727301620 your email address and we will assist!

We don’t have an actual retail shop, but we do have a showroom that you are welcome to visit during our office hours.  We ask that you book a visit with us, because we are frequently busy with GoDex ribbon printer training, and like to give each visitor our individual attention (the showroom is not all that big).

We do allow collections on arrangement but not for the online shop.  For the online shop we have fixed shipping schedules with our courier partners,   For this reason we created a fully functional online store where you can shop and buy any of our unbranded products and have it delivered to you fast and easy with courier delivery.   (For this reason we also discourage any in person collections from our showroom).

We have a vast and renowned base of customers, that make use of our branding services and fortunately very few people feel the need to visit us, due to the known good quality of our printing, products and business dealings. 

Should you feel the need to view a certain product or do some colour matching, feel free to contact us to book an in person visit by appointment, so we make time to greet and assist you when it is convenient for both you and us.

We make use of various shipping partners including:
The Courier Guy
RAM
SkyNet
Fastway
and Bob Box Drop Box

These partners offer express shipping if we ship before 10 in the morning, overnight if we ship by 14:00 and regional economy that takes 2 – 3 days.

Depending on what time we receive your order and if we have the stock on hand in the showroom stock room, we can ship with the matching partner.  Please note that express shipping does not automatically mean you get it the next day (it depends on the time received)

Ribbon Place is not a retail shop. The core of our business operations are working with other corporate companies, that are also not open on weekends.  Most of our courier partners are also not operational on weekends.  For this reason, it is not feasible for us to be open on weekends.  We kindly ask our customer to plan for this eventuality in advance. (we can assist with last minute orders on a Friday morning, until 12).

Yes, we close earlier on a Friday afternoon.  It’s not about slacking off, it’s about being more productive. On a Friday we all head out of the office a bit earlier, so we can do more of the things that are important to us.  This however means we are more productive in the hours we are working in the office, we make sure our productivity is high, there is no effect on our attention to orders taken, in production or any of our deliverables met.  You will see us furiously working and filling orders right up until closing time on a Friday, having worked until later in the afternoon every day of the week to make sure all our duties are met.  It’s the one perk we in the office and our manufacturing staff get as a reward for a job well done.

Our payment methods include the following:

• Direct EFT payments into our account on invoice ;
• Cash payment at our showroom;
• Credit Card (Master Card, Visa, American Express, RCS) for online orders;
• We can create online payment links for invoices if you want to pay via card or for international orders;

Although we are registered importers we cannot ship internationally.. But no worries.  By making use of the Aramex Global Shopper service you can book a collection from us to your South African based Aramex address, and by using your unique PRY number, the Aramex shopper service will forward the parcel to your address in your country, and only charge you for shipping.

Our online store accepts American Express, Visa and Mastercard purchases and we supply a retail invoice with your shipment.

Because ours is a B2B company we undertake massive print jobs.  (that is also the reason there is MOQ;s for orders).  To cater for this the factory consist of industrial machines that include:

• a rotary machine that can take up to 6 colour printing plates, 
• a long table screen-printer with heat press
• a long dye-sublimation printer
• a hot press and thermal foiling transfer printer
• and other machines for cutting and winding.

Each machine has a prep process to mix ink, make plates and cut ribbon for printing.  We line up multiple jobs and allocate days to them on the machine or in the factory.  

WHEN YOUR JOB arrives we already have multiple other jobs lined up for printing on the machines, and we still have to prep your ink, ribbon and plates.  

As a standard the time between putting new jobs in line, and getting them on to the machines takes between 7 – 10 working days.

Our standard quoted lead time is 7 – 10 working days, during the months of September to December it can be as many as 12 working days.

If you are asking for a shorter lead time during the months of September – December the answer is, unfortunately NO.  This is called the festive season in our industry, and our machines are working overtime to handle the increased demand.

However, during the quieter months of the year, (typically January to August) sometimes one or more machine may have a bit of leeway in the volumes being printed due on the production schedule not being overly full.  We can then try to accommodate an urgent job.

What you need to do to try and get your job printed in a shorter time frame (minimum between 6 – 7 working days) is this;

1. If you need your job before the projected due date on our standard terms, you need to ask us for a shorter lead time before you pay your invoice and commit to the job.
2. Short lead time requests must be done in writing (email shop@ribbonplace.co.za). We will check the production schedule, and if there is a spot open we will let you know in writing (via return email).
3. You will be charged a 25% rush fee (to jump the que)
4. Because this is a time sensitive request, we will require you to then commit to the job with the new lead time by paying your invoice within the same business day to secure this newly confirmed time slot for you.
5. Please remember that lead times quoted includes the last day for production, and excludes shipping time.

If your job is already in the production line, and you only realize after we took it in that you will not make your deadline due to our lead-time for printing, we can probably still manage to issue a refund within the first 24 hours of payment received.  Thereafter we will have allocated resources and bought inks, made plates and positives or foiling blocks.  We will then continue to print your order as per our schedule and deliver the product to you according to our stated lead time.  It is therefor essential that you make sure there is enough time to allow for artwork approvals, pre-production actions and shipping.. 

The origination fee is a fee that is charged for every new custom print job we take in.  Each job requires exact artwork in a specified format, that is placed and designed to work with our software and machines. 

Our artwork department makes sure the artwork is clear, correctly spaced and done in the correct colour codes to match your specification.  We do this even if you supply us with good quality artwork to make sure the design is compatible with our own machines and processes. 

This fee then also includes colour matching, ink mixing, printing plates made, digital artwork proofs for approval signoff procedures, your first time setup and test run. Origination fees vary according to the different printing methods.

When you come back for a re-run of the same artwork we previously printed for you, we will only charge you a reduced setup fee.  This is to cover our change time between jobs, to setup and print your plates/positives/blocks and ink matching.  As long as your artwork does not change, you can switch ribbon or ink colours at no extra charge.

Please get a high resolution open vector file (can be inside a PDF or .png) ready for us to do your artwork setup.  If you have specific size and colour guides in you CI (Corporate Identity) please send those too!
Please don’t use a .jpg or email signature.  These are not suitable.