Be Prepared for the New Year - Order Your New Stamps Now!

by Diana L. Martin

We're almost to the end of another year - do you know what that means?  It means that it's time to check your date stamps.  Are you on the last year band?  Do you need to order a new stamp?

Some customers are confused by the process of ordering a custom stamp. They know basically what they want, but, when their office products dealer asks them for details, suddenly it seems not so simple.  It needn’t be difficult – we’ll walk you through the process. 

How To Order

There are four basic steps:

1)  Decide what type of stamp you want.

Did I lose you already? No need to panic. This question tends to confuse many people. There are three types of stamps – pre-inked, self-inked, and traditional rubber stamps. The difference is in the reinking process and it’s mostly a matter of preference. Most date stamps are self-inking stamps, which we’ll get to in a moment. There are a couple of pre-inked daters out there but they’re not designed for heavy use, so if you’re using the stamp in your receiving or purchasing departments, you’ll want to stick with a self-inker.

Back to the pre-inked stamps… A pre-inked stamp is reinked by using a bottle of ink. You take the top off of the stamp, put in a couple of drops of ink, and let it sit overnight. The next morning it is ready to use again. 

Pre-inked stamp

Refill ink

A self-inked stamp contains a small stamp pad, which is simply removed when it dries out and is replaced with a new pad. Some stamp manufacturers do offer bottles of ink that you can use to reink the pad, but that can be a messy process. It’s much simpler and easier to replace the pad. We call these stamps “ker-chunkers” because of the sound they make when you operate them. Most (but not all) daters and numberers are self-inked stamps. They come in either metal or plastic frames. If they will receive heavy usage, go with the metal frame.

Self-inking dater

Self-inking dater

Replacement pads - Call us

Traditional rubber stamps have no ink in them – you need a separate stamp pad. (This type of stamp generally is not customizable.) You simply hit the stamp on the pad and then hit your paper. If you order a traditional rubber stamp, don’t forget to order the pad. Micropore stamp pads are the best because they never need reinking and they last seemingly forever.

Traditional stamp

Separate stamp pad

Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?

2)  Pick the size you want it to be.

3)  Decide what you want it to say and design your layout. You might be reading this and thinking, "That's it. I'm not an artist - I can't design things..." Well, no worries! All you have to do is write out the text the way you want it to look, meaning that if you want it in all caps, write it that way. If you want it flush left, write it that way. If you want a border around the text, draw one. We'll take it from there. If you have an existing stamp that you want to duplicate, the easiest thing to do is to make a clean impression of that stamp on a piece of blank (no lines) white paper and if you want the same kind of stamp, tell us what make and model your existing stamp is – that information is usually printed on the stamp casing. If we don’t carry that brand, we can suggest a substitution.

Sample layout - All Caps, Centered

Sample layout - Upper/lower case, centered

4)  Choose the ink color and the quantity. You can also specify a font if you want to, but that's not required. If you don't specify one, it will be made in block letters.

That’s really all there is to it. Now, since custom stamps are specially made to your requirements, they are not returnable. For that reason, these orders must be emailed to us. It’s easy to misunderstand someone over the telephone and we want to be sure that we make it the way you want it to be. When the orders are emailed, the details are clear. (The only exception would be signature stamps.  If you want one of those, call us first and we'll tell you what we need.) Make sure that your email includes your company name, shipping address, PO# (if applicable), the name and phone number of a contact person in case we have any questions and the information from steps 1-4. Our email address is orders@oexusa.com. No special order form is needed – just plain white printer paper works best.

OR

You can try out our SUPER FANTASTIC, STAMP WEBSITE!  You can design your stamp just the way you want it to be and see an instant proof for approval (on most items). You can even upload art you've already made! Give it a try and let us know what you think - stamps.oexusa.com.

Of course, Customer Care is still here to answer any questions you may have, regardless of which method you choose to use. You can reach us Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm at 877-795-2600.

Happy Stamping!