Custom Ink Questions, Answered: Cancellations, Promo Codes, Journals, Glass Figurines & Card Sizes

I'm an operations lead who's handled custom merchandise orders for 8 years. I've personally made—and documented—23 significant mistakes, totaling roughly $21,000 in wasted budget. Now I maintain our team's order checklist. This FAQ is the thing I wish I had before the first expensive typo.

Here's what I'm covering:

• How to cancel a Custom Ink order
• Is there a current Custom Ink promo code?
• What is the most common greeting card size?
• Does Custom Ink offer custom glass figurines?
• Can I get a custom journal for my team?
• Why do printed colors look different from the screen?
• What should I check before approving an order?

How do I cancel a Custom Ink order?

If your order hasn't entered production, cancellation is straightforward. Log in to your Custom Ink account, open the order, and look for a cancel request. If the status already says "in production," the cancel button usually disappears. In that case, contact Custom Ink support right away—they may be able to catch it before it goes to press, but no guarantees.

I once waited until the confirmation email said "in production" because I assumed there was a 24-hour grace period. There wasn't. We ended up with 150 branded tote bags and an awkward apology gift for a client. That's when I learned to check the production cutoff before clicking submit, not after.

If the order has already shipped, it isn't a cancellation anymore; it's a return. Custom Ink's return policy will apply, and you'll need to ship items back within the allowed window. The longer you wait, the more it becomes a donation.

Is there a current Custom Ink promo code?

I get asked this a lot. The honest answer: I don't have a single universal code to hand you, and anyone who tells you "this code always works" is usually pulling from an expired list. Custom Ink rotates offers, and the current one depends on your order size, date, and sometimes whether you got a quote through their sales team.

As of May 2025, the best places to check are the official website's promo code box at checkout, their email signup offers, and quote requests. I've seen sitewide percentage-off codes around major holidays, plus free-swap codes for qualifying orders. But read the fine print. A 15% off code with a $250 minimum doesn't help a small trial order. If you have a quote from a competing printer, Custom Ink's price matching can sometimes save more than any code.

(Should mention: I once applied a promo code after placing an order and asked support to add it. They couldn't retroactively apply it. So enter the code before you pay. Lesson learned.)

What is the most common greeting card size?

The most common greeting card size is 5 x 7 inches. It's the standard for folded cards because it fits a matching A7 envelope (5.25 x 7.25 inches) with enough room for a message, a photo, and a standard postage stamp. Other common sizes include 4.25 x 5.5 inches (A2) for thank-you notes and 5.5 x 8.5 inches for more formal cards.

I designed a custom greeting card for a client at 5 x 7 and made the rookie mistake of not checking the envelope size; the card fit but just barely. A proof would have caught it. For custom print, set up your file at 300 DPI at final size. That's the industry standard for commercial printing. A file that's 1000 x 1400 pixels will print fine at about 3.3 x 4.7 inches at 300 DPI, but not at 5 x 7. If you're not sure, ask the printer for a template before you start.

Does Custom Ink offer custom glass figurines?

In the standard catalog, no. Custom Ink focuses on apparel and promotional items—T-shirts, hoodies, bags, pens, keychains, journals, that kind of thing. Glass figurines are a different product category, usually sold by awards and trophies suppliers. If you need a custom glass figurine for a recognition award or corporate gift, you'll likely need a specialty shop that handles engraving and etching.

That said, if someone asks for a glass figurine and you're already ordering other branded merchandise, it can be tempting to force it into one order. I've done that with other products. It delayed the shipment and taught me that mixing specialty items with apparel creates unnecessary complexity. Keep the glass figurine on its own timeline.

For custom journals, on the other hand, Custom Ink does have options. More on that next.

Can I get a custom journal for my team?

Yes. Custom journals and notebooks are a common promotional product, and you can add your logo to the cover. You'll usually choose cover color, paper style, page count, and imprint method. If you use a vector file (like an AI or PDF), the logo will print sharper. If your logo is a raster image, use the highest resolution you have. At 300 DPI, a 2-inch logo on a journal cover needs at least 600 x 600 pixels. At 72 DPI, the same logo will look soft.

I ordered 200 custom journals for a conference in 2022 and forgot to include the website URL in the artwork. Caught it at the digital proof stage—which is exactly why we check proofs. That was a "no extra cost" catch, unlike the time I approved a typo on 1,000 T-shirts.

Why did my logo colors look different on the printed shirt?

This is the question nobody asks until after the order. Your monitor displays colors in RGB (red, green, blue). Printing uses CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) and, for spot colors, Pantone. The math doesn't always line up. A bright RGB green can print muted if it's converted to CMYK without a proper Pantone match.

Per Pantone Color Matching System guidelines, industry standard color tolerance is Delta E < 2 for brand-critical colors. Delta E of 2-4 is noticeable to trained observers; above 4 is visible to most people. That's a small margin, and it's why I don't rely on a screen proof. For a large run, I order a physical strike-off. The March 2023 vendor failure changed how I think about this. We approved a digital proof, the print came back with a slightly off blue, and $3,200 worth of shirts didn't match the client's brand.

If your color has to be exact, ask for a Pantone reference and request a print sample before the full run.

What should I check before approving a custom order?

Here's the list I use with my team:

• Spelling and contact info on every piece of copy.
• Logo placement and dimensions relative to the product.
• Color references (Pantone numbers, not just "this looks right").
• File resolution (300 DPI at final size) and file format.
• Delivery date and production cutoff, not just the estimated ship date.
• Proofread by a second person, not just the designer.

In my first year, I made the classic specification error: assumed "standard" meant the same thing to every vendor. It doesn't. A "standard" color conversion on one vendor's press was different from another's. The mistake cost us a $600 redo.

When I compared our Q1 and Q2 results side by side—same team, different approval process—I finally understood why a checklist matters. We cut our turnaround from 5 days to 2 days on many orders, and we've caught 47 potential errors using this list in the past 18 months. That's efficiency you can put a number on.

Moral of the story: a proof is only useful if you check it like you mean it. The one time I didn't, we paid for it. Now every order goes through the same checklist. It's not glamorous, but it saves a lot of money.