Questions & Answers

Minimum & Maximum Sized Orders
The minimum order is one dozen. A dozen=12 pencils. The minimum order can contain an assortment of pencil colors of either hexagonal or round or golf pencils but not a mixture of styles, with one lettering color per dozen, and identical text per dozen. There is no maximum order size at this time, though delivery times will be extended for very large orders.


Samples
No free samples. The minimum order is just one dozen pencils.


Bids & Price Quotes
Complete pricing information is available on the website 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Staff will not prepare bids.


Payment
All orders must be pre-paid.


What does "Made in the USA" actually mean?
Over the past few decades, the USA pencil manufacturing industry has experienced tremendous consolidation. Hundreds of USA pencil manufacturers existed in the 1900's, but today only about three remain. Of those three, only one company holds fast and true to the statement "made in the USA from tip to tip" and yet its name is Panda Pencil Co. which is bizarre and confusing because panda implies China. The bottom line is that USA pencil manufacturers are using global resources to manufacture pencils. We can no longer say with 100% confidence that any of the pencils we sell are truly 100% made in the USA. Explicitly Yours™ is a printer of personalized pencils. We try to bring you a great pencil product regardless of where it was manufactured or painted.


Hexagonal Pencils
are full-length, wood cased pencils that come in a variety of solid colors and fonts, with either standard #2 lead or soft lead. Sold in small quantities by the dozen (12 pencils) starting with just one dozen pencils. We stock hexagonal pencils by different manufacturers and use whichever pencils are best suited to the selected font. Not all manufacturers make pencils in all colors.


Pencil Pantone Numbers
Pantone numbers are universal color identifiers that we cannot provide because exact color matches are impossible. Explicitly Yours™ is a printer, not a manufacturer of pencils. As inventory changes, the pencil colors change.


Round Pencils
are full-length, wood cased pencils that have #2 lead available in patterns and solid colors. Sold in small quantities by the dozen starting with just one dozen pencils. We stock round pencils by different manufacturers and use whatever manufacturer is in currently in inventory for a particular design.


Golf Pencils
are shorter wood cased pencils that come in two styles. Golf pencils without erasers are approximately 3.375 inches long and golf pencils with erasers are approximately 3.875 inches long. The printing surface on golf pencils without erasers is longer than on golf pencils with erasers. Explicitly Yours™ currently sells only hexagonal golf pencils.


Coloring Pencils
are sold only in sets of 18 and 24 different lead colors. Lead colors are not sold individually. Coloring pencils are imprinted only with uppercase Arial font. Coloring pencils are manufactured in China. They are intended for children, not serious artistic drawing.


Previews
Previews are not available online. We tried it and the images were more confusing than helpful. Explicitly Yours™ sells tens of thousands of font, pencil and print color combinations.


Quantity Discounts
www.ExplicitlyYoursPencils.com does not offer quantity discounts.


Pencil Quality
Our full-length and golf pencils are USA made, First quality, wood cased pencils with #2 lead unless #2 Soft Lead is specified. The pencil erasers erase, not smudge. The coloring pencils with colored lead are made in China and are intended for children, not serious artists.


Pencil Combinations Within a Dozen or Order
We are pleased to make any pencil color assortment per dozen so long as one lettering color works on all pencils in the dozen. Each dozen consists of either hexagonal or round pencils, but not both. There is no limit to how many dozens can be purchased, and each dozen can be unique. We do not manufacture pencils, so assortments must consist of pencils already in our inventory.


Lettering Color Selection & Contrast
Dark colored pencils need light colored lettering and light colored pencils need dark lettering for contrast.
Light contrast looks like embossing rather than print. It's all up to you. It will be hard to read but that just may be the desired look. We won't second guess customers. If you order pencils and print colors with weak contrast, that is what will be printed.
Universal colors tend to be white, gold and silver.


Logos
Explicitly Yours™ does not print logos on Pencil Orders by the Dozen. Logos can be submitted in high quality format for printing on personalized ribbons.


Fonts in General
Each font has it's own letters, numbers and punctuation capabilities. Fonts are described online in detail, with images. See our link called Fonts at the top of every webpage in this estore.


One Font Per Dozen
This is the rule because different fonts do not line up appropriately. If you absolutely need an exception to this rule for your order, there will be an additional $7.99 fee per dozen.

8pt Specialty Fonts
The 8pt specialty fonts are available only because the metallic hexagonal pencils and some solid colored hexagonal pencils are narrower than the 10pt fonts can accommodate.


10pt Fonts
The 10pt fonts are unique with each font having different punctuation and printing capabilities. There is no uniform text size between 10pt fonts so pencils are chosen that best accommodate the selected font.


Characters Per Text Line
The number of characters, which includes spaces & punctuation, that can be used on a text line depends on which font is selected, the pencil length and the individual characters used in the text line. It varies widely. M's and W's are double wide characters and therefore count as two characters in all fonts. There must be at least three characters, not including spaces or punctuation, per text line on all imprinted pencils. Text lines on full-length hexagonal pencils exceeding 32 characters incur a $7.99 per dozen line length fee and must be approved in advance of placing the order.

Follow the FONTS FOR HEXAGONAL PENCILS link at the top of each webpage for a description and image of of every font available.


Identical Text Per Text Line Per Dozen
Explicitly Yours™ sells by the dozen. A dozen must have identical text in identical print font and color per dozen.


Hexagonal Multiple Line Layout Options
This only applies to hexagonal pencils orders with two or more text lines since each text line is printed only once. Hexagonal pencils have six sides, sometimes referred to as panes. Adjacent Panes means the text lines appear on sides right next to each other. Every Other Pane means there is a blank side between text lines. Opposite Panes can only be used for orders with two text lines and the text will appear on opposite sides of the pencil.


Number of Text Lines Included in the Price

Orders by the Dozen
• 1 text line with identical text, printed once
• Hexagonal (full-length & golf) pencils have the option of a second & third text line for an additional fee per dozen.
• Text lines with more than five words or 32 characters incur a $7.99 per line per dozen set-up fee and must be approved in advance of placing the order.

Return Policy
All sales are final because personalized pencils cannot be resold. If Explicitly Yours makes a printing error, we will correct our error and reship at no additional cost to the customer. Do not send pencils back to Explicitly Yours.


Sales Tax
Under current state and federal tax law, billing and shipping addresses within California are charged sales tax at the uniform rate based on Los Angeles County. Because the Yahoo servers are located in Texas, as of 2011 Explicitly Yours™ is required to collect sales tax from Texas billing addresses at the highest prevailing sales tax rate in Texas regardless of actual city or county of residence within Texas.


Rush Orders

Rush service means that error free orders jump the printing queue and are shipped by the end of the next business day. This has nothing to do with customer selected speed of shipping. In other words, selecting USPS Express Overnight Shipping without paying rush service fees does not mean that orders will jump the printing queue and ship by the end of the next business day.


The fee is $7.99 per dozen and the following restrictions apply:
• All personalized pencils in the order must pay and qualify for rush service.
• Personalized pencils with three lines of text cannot be rushed and so orders containing a dozen with three lines of text cannot be rushed even if they contain single line dozens that otherwise would qualify for rush service.
• Please check your email often during the 24 hours after placing a rush order in case errors are found in the order that must be corrected prior to printing.
• Rush service fees must be paid to receive rush service.
• Explicitly Yours&trade: is not responsible if orders must be received in less than one week from the date of ordering to be useful for the purpose ordered if Rush Fees and USPS Express Overnight shipping were not paid for at the time of placing the order.

Personalized Ribbons
Personalized ribbon is sold by the foot so that your gift purchase will be stunningly personalized. This is the only computerized printing done by Explicitly Yours™

Date Guarantee Delivery Limited to Rush Orders & USPS Express Overnight Shipping
The ONLY way to know exactly what day the order will be in your possession is to pay Rush Service fees and select USPS Express Overnight shipping.

Explicitly Yours™ will not guarantee a non-Rush Service order printing date or non-date guaranteed USPS shipping methods.

Shipping
Explicitly Yours™ ships Orders by the Dozen via United States Postal Service (USPS) using Parcel Post, First Class, Priority and Express shipping services. Only USPS Express is date guaranteed delivery. All orders are shipped with signature required for delivery because your credit card company requires a Cardholder's signature at delivery to prove receipt. We're following their rules and it is not negotiable. Orders in California must ship to the address that matches the Credit Card. All orders paying with a United States Postal Money Order can ship anywhere in the U.S.A.; orders need not be shipped to the billing address. Shipping is not included in the price of products or services unless stated otherwise on the website, and includes one shipment to one location per shipping fee. In most cases, any adult can sign for delivery it does not have to be the purchaser. Local pick-up is available for a fee of $3.00. Arrangements must be made via email for the exact, single day window for pick-up in Sherman Oaks, California.

• Returned shipments must pay a new shipping fee plus a $10.00 handling fee.

Printing is for Right Handed Users
Explicitly Yours prints pencils so that the text is read from left to right while being held in the user's right hand. Upon written request, orders can be printed so that the text is legible for left handed users. All pencils in the order must be either for right handed or left handed users, not both. To request left handed printing if it is not part of the order page itself, an email must be received prior to the start of printing the order.


Blank Pencils
Explicitly Yours™ is not a distributor of blank pencils. Blank pencils cost the same as printed pencils. To order blank pencils, simply order the pencils and write in text line 1 "I want to purchase these pencils blank" Customers must communicate in writing that the order is for blank pencils.


Pencil Accessories & Extras
These items are only available to accompany the purchase of personalized pencils. Not sold separately without a personalized pencils purchase.


Multiple Fonts
A dozen may have only one font regardless of the number of text lines. The greater the number of different fonts in a particular order, the longer it will take to complete the order.


Telephone v. Email Communication
All communications are required to be in writing via email to prevent errors or miscommunication.

Customers must provide valid email addresses on orders so that we can communicate. Because email does not always work, change requests must be received before printing occurs and we must confirm receipt of the customer's email change request for the change to be effective.


Customers are solely responsible for checking their SPAM email boxes if they have their email accounts set up with a SPAM box.


Payment
Paypal is used for credit card payments. Neither cash nor checks are accepted. Orders with three lines of text might be price negotiable depending on the specific text per line to be printed. If you desire to negotiate, email the exact text to us prior to placing an order. Price will not be negotiated after the order is placed.


Order Cancellation
Email communications that are not responded to within 48 hours will likely result in cancellation of the order. Explicitly Yours™ reserves the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason.

Explicitly Yours™ will send a timely email confirming that the order cannot be processed and that credit card authorization or payment was voided. It can take several days for a bank statement to show a refund, but the customer's PAYPAL account will instaneously show the status of a refund or authorization void. Customers are responsible for checking their email, SPAM and Paypal accounts.


Mobile Presence for EStore
Explicitly Yours™ has no immediate plans to expand to a mobile estore. This estore requires reading to properly place an order and be informed, and we don't see that taking place on a mobile device with a small screen.


Fraud Prevention Explicitly Yours™ does not collect or receive credit card numbers. Customer credit card information never resides on our computers and we do not have access to your credit card numbers. Customers pay Explicitly Yours™ through use of their privately held Paypal account. Customers create or sign into their Paypal account via secure encrypted transmission. This is the best consumer protection available today.

To protect Explicitly Yours™ from credit card fraud and dishonest customers, we will pursue all legal remedies available to us.