Ordering Branded Tote Bags Against a Deadline

If you need printed tote bags for a date that's close, start with our Express Cotton Tote Bag, keep the print to one colour on one side, and have your artwork ready before you request a Visual Proof™. Then check the current delivery date. If it lands before you need the bags, select that date at checkout, and once your order is placed it's guaranteed, subject to normal payment and order conditions.

Here's what decides how quickly a tote bag order arrives, and what to change if the date you see doesn't work.

How do you know if tote bags will arrive in time?

Check the current delivery date before you order, and again in your basket before you check out.

Enter your quantity and choose your print options to see the delivery date for that bag. Your basket then shows the delivery options available for that line, each with its own date. The date you select at checkout is a guaranteed delivery date rather than an estimated dispatch time, and it's locked once your order is placed, subject to normal payment and order conditions.

Delivery dates can change until you place your order, so rely on the date in your basket rather than one you saw earlier in the week.

So whether 200 bags can reach you by Friday is something you can check in a minute, without asking anyone and waiting for a reply.

What makes a tote bag order faster?

Five things, and you control most of them.

The bag you choose. Delivery dates vary between bags, sometimes by a lot. Our Express Cotton Tote Bag is set up for fast turnaround, and our express range shows everything else on the same footing. If you're comparing two bags, compare their dates as well as their prices.

The print. One colour on one side is the simplest job. In screen printing each extra colour is another screen and another pass, and a second side is a second print job. A light logo on a dark bag usually needs a white base layer printed first, which is another pass again.

Your artwork. A vector file goes straight onto the proof. A JPEG or PNG can often be cleaned up or redrawn by our in-house designers as part of the Visual Proof™ process, but a vector saves that step. Our guide to briefing a promotional products supplier covers what to send.

The approval. Your Visual Proof™ usually comes back in around 20 minutes. What takes longer is getting it signed off, so name one person who can approve it the same day before you request it.

The colour you pick. Where a bag shows live stock, check it for the colour you want. If that colour is low, choosing one that's in stock avoids a change of plan, and if you'd rather wait for it, you can set a stock alert on the product page. If stock changes before you check out, your basket will tell you.

How does the guaranteed delivery date work?

You select it at checkout, and it's locked once your order is placed, subject to normal payment and order conditions.

Where they apply, your basket shows No-Rush, Standard and Express delivery options, each with its own date. The options available depend on the product and the order. The date you select at checkout is the one we guarantee, and we deliver on or before it.

If your event is weeks away, No-Rush may give you all the time you need. If it's much closer, check Express first, where the bag offers it.

Delivery options are chosen per order line rather than for the whole basket, which matters if you're ordering more than one product for the same event.

What can you change if the date is after your event?

Make the job simpler, or put the bags you need first on the fastest option.

Switch to the Express Cotton Tote Bag, if you weren't already on it.

Simplify the print. One colour on one side of a natural bag removes the extra passes, including the white base layer a dark bag needs.

Choose Express, where it's offered on the bag you want.

Split the order. Because delivery options are chosen per order line, you can put the bags you need for the event on the fastest option and the rest on No-Rush. Check the basket total before you decide, since two lines can cost more than one.

You can also narrow the whole range by delivery date on our site, which is the quickest way to see every product that can arrive in time.

What's the quickest way to order when time is short?

Six steps, all of them online.

1. Open the Express Cotton Tote Bag, enter your quantity and check the current delivery date.
2. Keep the print to one colour on one side unless the date leaves room for more.
3. Upload a vector version of your logo and request a free Visual Proof™.
4. Get the proof approved by one named person as soon as it comes back.
5. Add it to your basket and check out online, selecting the delivery option whose date lands ahead of your event.
6. Track your order in your account until it arrives. If you're paying by BACS, that can affect when your order is able to progress, so allow for it when you check the date.

What happens after you order?

You can follow it in your account.

Sign in and open the order to see its progress, from placing it, through production, to delivery, with delivery information once it's been dispatched. There's no need to email us for an update. Our article on tracking your order online explains what you'll see.

For more on choosing the bag itself, our guide to the best promotional tote bags for businesses matches totes to events, and our tote bag pricing guide explains what moves the price.