Although it's rare, occasionally a customer might receive a print with white borders they weren't expecting as part of the print. Unfortunately this can happen if you rush through the order process without paying attention to some key steps and prompts in the order process.
How did this happen?
A great thing about Posterprintshop is that we specialize in custom sizes, letting you order any kind of custom size you might need. But, it's important to remember that just because you are ordering a certain size, that doesn't mean the image you are uploading sizes proportionally to that same size. This is called aspect ratio. More often than not, the image you're uploading does not size proportionally to the size of paper you are ordering.
Our order wizard loads a white canvas with rulers along the top and side showing the size print you are ordering. It then places the image you're uploading centered on the canvas. If the two match, great! You've got an aspect ratio match. If not (and probably not if you're reading this), you'll see white borders along the sides or top and bottom. This represents the difference in the size you are requesting and the size of the image you uploaded.
The wizard has prompts explaining white space and provides blue handles in the corners for you to resize, move, and crop the image to fit. 99.9% of our customers do this and eliminate the white space.
You're also given the ability to download a proof, and finally 'accept and continue' which means you've seen the layout and are accepting what is on screen and in the proof. If you've left white space, the print you receive is going to have white space.
Take a look at the below example. This customer uploaded an image that doesn't quite fit the print size requested. Notice the white space on the edges, the rulers showing the size ordered, the instructions at the top right of the page, etc. You were shown a similar page with your order, but must have zoomed through it instead of reading the instructions or looking at the layout. You can try the order wizard now with your file to recreate what happened.
I chose "Trim to Bleed" which said there would be no white borders..
We didn't add any white to your print. If you measure the paper you received, it's the print size you ordered. The issue is with the image you uploaded, and you not correcting the issue before checking out.
Why didn't you fix this for me?
There are 4 reasons:
Many customers purposely leave white in their designs for matting or artistic purposes. We always respect yourdesign as submitted. We don't add white space and we also don't remove it.
We must assume you are paying attention throughout the order process, saw your proof and layout, paid attention to the rulers, and when you hit "accept and continue", you are truly accepting this layout. Note that the layout is shown to you on two more screens (with white space), in the cart, checkout, and on your order confirmation - so there are multiple areas this is shown - we must assume you are proceeding with exactly what you want. Our terms of service, agreed to on checkout, indicate that you've seen your proof, your layout, and are accepting a print and layout as shown on screen.
Changing the layout to fit the print and eliminate white space requires resizing (and cropping) your image in some way. This results in losing part of the image to make it fit, and we don't know what you are willing to crop - this is a personal decision on your end, that's why we present the blue handles and cropping ability in the Order Wizard so that you can size your image how you'd like it.
We specialize in rush processing and printing - that's how we get orders out so fast. We process and print hundreds of orders a day, so there isn't time to second guess your layout and stop the presses wondering what you were thinking.
Now I'm upset, unhappy, angry, frustrated, etc...
We know it's frustrating to have made a mistake or rushed through something. But, please don't blame the mistake on us. We printed and delivered what was ordered.
How can this be corrected?
You can go back to the site with the same image and start the Order Wizard again, going a little slower and looking at the screen, layout, and rulers. You can now use the blue handles to size and crop your image to fill the paper size and eliminate the white space.
What about a refund or discount?
As agreed in our terms of service, custom printed materials are non-refundable, as we did deliver what was ordered. However, as a one time courtesy, we can offer a 10% discount on your future order if you wish to go back to the Wizard and size and crop the image as you like. Contact us via Live Chat for this special discount code.