Would you...................

[Gino]

Guy came in a few weeks ago. He's gotten some other things done by us, but now he's changed his logo. Showed me the logo and wanted us to make some magnetics. Talked over size, price and time-frame. He agreed to it all. Said he had appropriate artwork files.

Turned out they were all raster and he agreed to have us vectorize them. Quoted him $105. to do that part of it.

He agreed and we finished the job. He's coming over tomorrow to pick up the magnetics and he asked since he paid for it.... can he have the vectorized artwork.

So, we didn't develop or do anything with this logo and we DID get paid to vectorize it, but that was for our files and not for him. I probably would've quoted him differently had I known he wanted them afterwards.

I'm kinda stuck on not wanting to give the file to him, but someone here said, well, he did pay you for what you asked....... Just that, it was for me/us to be able to do his job for him.

So, does the wording have to be correctly described or is this in fact now theirs ??

Afterall, I wanted payment to convert his file, not to create a CD for him. And yes, I know, the CD only costs 9¢ and a minute of time, but I just can't wrap my head around giving him something I normally would've charged more for. When he said to go ahead with vectorizing it, it was after he talked to his designer and he said we were much cheaper and we could do it right away, where he couldn't have done if for another two weeks and still would've charged him more.

Would you just hand it over..... or save it to a vectorized format that is proprietary to one of our systems only ??

Gino
​

 

[Baz]

I do that all the time .. Whenever i get raster logo files i add a "vectorizing" charge to my quote. Now the customer can chose not to go that route and then i will print out whatever crap they gave me.

Now .. This has never hapened to me yet .. The customer either choses to have their logo vectorized or they somehow managed to find their vector .pdf file of their logo (funny how that is). But a big selling point for the extra charge is that i do send them the vectorized art. I don't make a cd or anything like that ... Either i email it to them or they come in with a USB key.

To me it's not like creating from scratch a new logo or "style" ... That takes allot more time than vectorizing an existing logo. And i find that the customer won't go somewhere else for their signs ... They just want a cleaner logo for all their stationary or web stuff.

 

[CanuckSigns]

I would give him the artwork, in his eyes he's paid for it, and if you try to tell him otherwise you're gonna look like the bad guy. Not worth loosing a repeat customer over.

 

[fresh]

This is a tough one... Can you find out who is using it and send it directly to whoever needs the vector version?

We typically don't give out vector files for anything, but occasionally we will provide one of our client's vendors with good artwork.

Alternatively, you can tell them that it was made only to work with your software, and that there is an addtional fee to convert it. Or you can just give it up and add it to your terms & conditions for the future.

 

[d fleming]

Give it up like a prom queen.

 

[CanuckSigns]

I do that all the time .. Whenever i get raster logo files i add a "vectorizing" charge to my quote. Now the customer can chose not to go that route and then i will print out whatever crap they gave me.

Now .. This has never hapened to me yet .. The customer either choses to have their logo vectorized or they somehow managed to find their vector .pdf file of their logo (funny how that is). But a big selling point for the extra charge is that i do send them the vectorized art. I don't make a cd or anything like that ... Either i email it to them or they come in with a USB key.

To me it's not like creating from scratch a new logo or "style" ... That takes allot more time than vectorizing an existing logo. And i find that the customer won't go somewhere else for their signs ... They just want a cleaner logo for all their stationary or web stuff.

We do this as well, If you give the client the vector artwork, it's now their responsibility to keep it safe, they can't come back to you 8 years later expecting you to have it on file still.

 

[CanuckSigns]

This is a tough one... Can you find out who is using it and send it directly to whoever needs the vector version?

We typically don't give out vector files for anything, but occasionally we will provide one of our client's vendors with good artwork.

Alternatively, you can tell them that it was made only to work with your software, and that there is an addtional fee to convert it. Or you can just give it up and add it to your terms & conditions for the future.

How does that conversation go? "I'm sorry but I won't give the artwork that you paid for to you, but I will send it to your screenprinter, who will in turn give it to you anyways and look like the hero"

 

[ThinkRight]

Give it to him, a good repeat customer tells other potential customers about you treating him right.
It will work out in the long run.

 

[qmr55]

I would give it to him. You vectorized an already designed logo....not like you created it from scratch, if that was the case I'd have to agree with not giving it to him.

 

[SignManiac]

You could always give him a .dxf file, not sure what good it would do with him having it?

 

[wildside]

We do this as well, If you give the client the vector artwork, it's now their responsibility to keep it safe, they can't come back to you 8 years later expecting you to have it on file still.

i agree, if you told them your charging to convert it to useable and better artwork, the client is expecting to get it since they paid for it...

but like watson just eluded too, we tell them that they are getting the only copy of the vector, we have it on file for future use for them, but if they need a vector file again, it is however much money to get it again

we have been paid multiple times by several clients to get the artwork again :Big Laugh, one even asked how much extra to just have us keep the disk in our safe for them

 

[Pat Whatley]

Personally I'd give it to them with a smile, I don't believe in holding the work hostage once they've paid me for it.

Of course, if you're using FlexiSign you could always give it to him in an .fs file format and tell him that you converted it for use with your sign software and he'll have a hard time finding someone else who can use it.

 

[tsgstl]

You charged him a rate to do a service period. How much more would you possibly charge? Do you really think you are looked at well trying to squeeze a extra couple of dollars out of someone?

 

[fresh]

How does that conversation go? "I'm sorry but I won't give the artwork that you paid for to you, but I will send it to your screenprinter, who will in turn give it to you anyways and look like the hero"

Honestly, its really not that big of a deal. I usually say "Can you have your screen printer email or call me? I want to make sure they have the correct format." It rarely happens, and honestly, we almost never charge to vectorize stuff, and when we do its like, $25.

But I do like Baz's method of sending it back to them for future use. I'm going to have to discuss that with my partner!

Either way, I think we should all have a minimum extra fee for providing clients with a disk of artwork. Make a big sign that says "There is a minimum $150 fee for file transfers unless noted on the original invoice. This includes onto CD, email, and zip drive. "

 

[Gino]

I guess my thinking goes back to when we all used turnkey systems. It was all propriety and there was no universal software.

What if on our system, I couldn't give him a file that he or someone else could use ??

Making his file usable for our software, doesn't necessarily equate to becoming a standard everyone can use. So, if i had made it to work on my ANA Design software, there's no way anyone without another compatible version could use it...... and that's the truth. .jbs is my vector format, unless I go another route, which would then entail more steps, which I wasn't commissioned to do.

It's not the money or losing him. He's been coming around for almost three years now and is completely satisfied. Job signs, trucks, cars, banners and some other stuff, but I just don't know why he'd need a vector format of this thing. Besides, like I said, his other guy was much more expensive for the same thing.... and he created it. He should be the one GIVING it to him, not us.

I'll probably cave tomorrow or say something like, here it is and show it to him on my software and then say..... this probably won't do you any good unless you have the same stuff and then e-mail him the file.

 

[rjssigns]

If I got paid I'd turn it over. If I didn't get paid and turned junk into usable art I own the usable copy that I created.

 

[Baz]

Allot of times the customer is really happy just receiving a cleaned up .jpg ... not caring about the vector file since they can't use it themselves.

 

[ThinkRight]

I guess my thinking goes back to when we all used turnkey systems. It was all propriety and there was no universal software.

What if on our system, I couldn't give him a file that he or someone else could use ??

Making his file usable for our software, doesn't necessarily equate to becoming a standard everyone can use. So, if i had made it to work on my ANA Design software, there's no way anyone without another compatible version could use it...... and that's the truth. .jbs is my vector format, unless I go another route, which would then entail more steps, which I wasn't commissioned to do.

It's not the money or losing him. He's been coming around for almost three years now and is completely satisfied. Job signs, trucks, cars, banners and some other stuff, but I just don't know why he'd need a vector format of this thing. Besides, like I said, his other guy was much more expensive for the same thing.... and he created it. He should be the one GIVING it to him, not us.

I'll probably cave tomorrow or say something like, here it is and show it to him on my software and then say..... this probably won't do you any good unless you have the same stuff and then e-mail him the file.

You could do that ...Or
You have the design, you could up sell him a complete marketing package to include business cards , stationary,pens and "Church Keys" to give out to his customers.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Honestly, its really not that big of a deal. I usually say "Can you have your screen printer email or call me? I want to make sure they have the correct format." It rarely happens, and honestly, we almost never charge to vectorize stuff, and when we do its like, $25.

But I do like Baz's method of sending it back to them for future use. I'm going to have to discuss that with my partner!

Either way, I think we should all have a minimum extra fee for providing clients with a disk of artwork. Make a big sign that says "There is a minimum $150 fee for file transfers unless noted on the original invoice. This includes onto CD, email, and zip drive. "

We tell customers that we only keep files from the last 2 years on our server, anything older than that is kept on external HDD's off site. If they are ordering a sign from us and we need to pull something off those HDD's, there is no charge, but if they just want a file, we charge them a fee for the service.

It's a standard practice in the graphic design world, if you hire a designer to design you a logo, and 2 years later you want them to send you the file again, they will charge you for storing the files since it is costing them something to store all the files they create, along with the time to locate the proper file and convert it.

 

[Graphics2u]

Hand it over to him. All you did was recreate it in vector, you got paid for it, be the nice guy and give it to him. I don't know how involved it was but it sounds like you were paid well enough for it also.

And the fact that what ever format your machine needs, to me, is irrelevant. We all know that in this day and age all it takes is a click of the mouse and it's in whatever format you need.

But then again I am in a small community and can't afford to upset my customers.