Frequently Asked Questions
- What is your minimum order?
We have no minimum order quantity. You can order just one pen!
- What is the difference between digital printing and laser engraving?
Laser engraving is a process that permanently marks a metal pen using a high-precision laser that is programmed to the shape of your logo or design. This method is the most durable method of branding metal pens, but because a laser is used rather than ink, it always appears in one single colour. Laser engraving produces a crisp white design on most pens, but on some pen colours it may appear as a light grey.
Digital printing uses coloured inks to print your design directly onto the surface of the pen in an almost unlimited number of colours. The digital inks are still very hardwearing and can even produce small text and gradients.
- Do you print on one side of the pen or both sides?
The prices shown on the website include your design printed (or laser engraved) on to one side of the pen. Printing on both sides is available for most of our pens if required. Please contact us for a quote if you require double-sided printing or engraving.
- How are the pens supplied?
Pens are usually supplied in bags or boxes with 50 pens in each bag/box.
- How much do you charge for delivery?
All orders delivered to the UK have FREE FedEx courier delivery! Where available, we also offer a choice of delivery upgrades as part of the online ordering process. If you're ordering 1-250 pens before 10:00am you can even have them despatched the same day! To see our current list of delivery options please see our Service & Delivery Options page.
- Do you offer international shipping?
Yes, we have options for delivery in the UK, Europe and the Rest of the World. Please see our delivery page for more information.
- How fast are your turnaround times?
Our turnaround times are the fastest in the industry!
- Orders of 1 - 1000 pens will be despatched on the next working day
- Orders of 1001+ pens will be despatched in just 3 working days
For more information, please see our Service & Delivery Options page for our current service and delivery choices. We even offer a Same Day Despatch service!
If you need your pens quickly, or to a strict deadline, we have a number of express services and courier options to get them to you even faster. Contact us to see how quickly we can produce your custom printed pens.
- Orders of 1 - 1000 pens will be despatched on the next working day
- Are there any setup or design fees?
Here at Fast Pens we are proud to say that we have no hidden charges. To keep ordering simple, all that you pay is the cost of the pens, delivery (where applicable) and VAT on the total. That means no origination fees, no setup fees and no design fees*
*For a very small number of orders where customers provide a design that is unusable or require small changes to a design, we do offer a chargeable artwork service to redraw or recreate designs for you. This design service includes 1 amendment, but any additional amendments will incur further charges.
- How much do your products cost?
All of our prices are based on the quantity of pens. The more you buy, the cheaper each pen becomes. If you want to order online straight away, simply choose your product and follow the order process! To see our full pen price list, visit our Prices page.
- How can I pay for my order?
There are 4 different methods of payment that you can choose from on our website:
- Credit / Debit card
- PayPal
- Bank transfer
- Cheque
The Credit / Debit card and PayPal options are an instant payment, causing no delay to your order. Bank transfer can take between 24-72 hours to be confirmed and cheques may take several working days to clear. If you choose to pay by bank transfer or cheque your order will be placed on hold until payment is received or your cheque has been cleared.
- How does your service compare to others?
Our quality of service is the best in the industry and we strive to keep it that way. At Fast Pens we offer a reliable, friendly service and we invite you to give us a call at any time on 01790 755 833.
- How long have you been in the industry?
We have been in the printing industry for more than 40 years, gathering a vast amount of professional knowledge that we can use to help you create the perfect custom printed pens for you or your company.
Other aspects of promotional printing that we can provide you with include Stickers & Labels, Name Badges, Signs & Graphics, Heat Seal Transfers and Workwear.- Do you supply a digital proof before printing?
If you order your printed pens on our website, a digital proof will be shown on screen after you click the "Finished Designing" button. Please check this carefully to ensure everything looks correct.
If you place your order via email we will send you a PDF proof for approval. The order will not enter production until the PDF proof has been approved in writing (email) and payment has been received. If at all possible, it's always faster to place your order on our website as there are no delays for emails to be sent/received and no waiting for artwork approval.
- How do you print the pens?
We print our pens using state of the art, high resolution digital printing machines. We print using hardwearing CMYK inks.
- How do you engrave the pens?
We engrave our pens using state of the art, high precision digital laser engraving machines.
- I don't have a logo or design to upload to your website. Can you recommend where I can make a logo or design?
Our website allows you to upload an image or design and place it onto various different products. If you don't already have a logo, image or design in mind, we would recommend that you try visiting www.canva.com/free
Canva is a free-to-use online graphic design tool that can help you to create a design or logo using one of their thousands of free templates. Once you have created your design on Canva, click on the "Share" button, then "Download", then choose "PDF Print" in the "File type" box and click the "Download" button to download it to your device. You can then upload this PDF file to our website and place your order.
- How do you prefer my artwork / logo to be supplied?
When designing your pen online, the website allows you to upload .jpg .jpeg .png .gif .pdf .eps and .ai files. Via email, we can accept logos and badge designs in almost any format, just send us the best quality logo you have and we'll be able to produce the best possible result.
As a general rule, our preferred file formats are .pdf .ai and .eps. Other common file formats that we can accept include .jpg .jpeg .doc and .docx. As previously mentioned, we can open almost anything. In the unlikely event that you send us a file we cannot open, we will contact you about your options. We can currently accept files via email up to around 10MB. To find out more about submitting your own artwork and logos please visit our artwork guidelines page.
- What are the minimum recommended sizes for printing barcodes and QR codes?
For EAN-13 retail barcodes, the standard size is 38mm wide x 25mm high. The minimum size we recommend for EAN-13 barcodes is 30mm wide x 20mm high.
For complicated QR codes we recommend a minimum size of 30mm wide x 30mm high. For less complicated QR codes we recommend a minimum size of 20mm wide x 20mm high.
Below are examples of a very simple QR code (left), a typical QR code (middle) and a very complicated QR code (right):
We strongly recommend that you do not include barcodes or QR codes on pens due to the small print area.