Help

Welcome to ColorMailer’s Help Section! Browse through the following topics to get information. Please contact us in case you cannot find the information you are looking for, below.

General

What is the ColorMailer Service?

Would you like to have your digital images printed on professional photographic paper (silver halide paper)? If so, don’t look any further; this is exactly what ColorMailer can do for you! Whether using our direct online ordering interface or the free ColorMailer Photos & Posters program, we offer you a simple and easy way of transferring your digital images to our professional Lab. Unlike ink-jet, dye-sublimation or color laser printers, the colors of your photos will remain stable for dozens of years when you use ColorMailer.

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About Digital Imaging

A digital image is composed of dots or pixels (abbreviation for pixel elements) arranged in rows and columns. Depending on the type of digital image, the dot may be colored or white. The quality of an image depends on the number of dots used to make the image. This value is known as the resolution of a digital image. This resolution is measured in dots per inch (dpi) and simply reflects the number of dots used to make up an image. For example an image with a resolution of 300 dpi is composed of 300 dots for every inch of the image. To put it another way, each dot or pixel making up the image is 1/300th of an inch. This implies that an image with a low resolution (e.g. 50 dpi) may appear speckled, while a high resolution image will appear smooth. Since the resolution reflects the number of dots per inch of an image, a high-resolution image will result in a larger file than the same image with a lower resolution. When you acquire a digital image you can choose whether you wish to obtain a black & white, greyscale or color image. The difference between these data types is based on the number of bits (or values) associated with each dot in the image. To determine how many colors an image will display, simply raise 2 to the power of the number of bits associated. To obtain good quality photographic prints from your digital images, you should use 24-bit true color images. Do not use 256 color images (e.g. GIF file format), since the photographic prints will lack color depth. A digital image can be saved in different file formats (e.g. BMP, TIF, JPG, GIF). Certain file formats do not support all data types. Other file formats support image compression, so that large images can be saved as a smaller file. The file format you use to save the image will primarily depend on choices available in the application used to acquire the digital image.

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How can I pay?

We currently offer payment via credit card or invoice (payment by invoice is only available for Switzerland, Finland and Germany). In order to be able to guarantee our low prices, we have to automate the ordering process to the maximum. For this reason, outside of Switzerland, Finland and Germany, we only accept payment by credit card. ColorMailer uses a secured connection to transfer your personal and payment data, thus offering full security for your transactions.

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When will I receive my photos?

Your photos will be processed at the latest during the next business day after the transmission of your order and will be sent to you by Priority Mail. Average delivery time is 2-4 business days. For posters, the delivery time may be up to 2-3 days longer.

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What should I do to prepare images?

We should point out that a traditional photographic print has a resolution that is superior to all current computer color print technologies. Therefore, it is necessary that the image you upload should have a sufficiently high resolution and colors. ColorMailer will warn you if you send an image that does not have a high enough resolution, but you will still be able to bypass the warning and upload such an image. In such a case the result will probably be a poor quality print (blurred image or distorted colors).

• Traditional photographic film has an Aspect Ratio of 24 x 36, which corresponds to a height of 2 for a width of 3. In the world of computers, and digital cameras, the Aspect Ratio is usually 3:4 (also known a VGA). This comes from the fact that PC's are mostly screen dependent and today these screens usually have a 3:4 ratio. This produces some difficulties when printing a computer-based image onto traditional sized photographic paper. Therefore, ColorMailer offers two different print formats for each print size, allowing you to avoid white borders or having to crop your image. Because our Labs use the ICC sRGB color profile, it is very important that your scanned pictures and other images created with your computer are output in RGB mode and not in CMYK. If you save a CMYK image as a JPEG and send it for printing, quite important and noticeable color alterations may occur.

• In order to allow you to calibrate the colors on your screen, we offer you a downloadable test image that you can have printed with your first test order.

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What color profile does the ColorMailer Lab use?

The ColorMailer Lab uses the ICC sRGB color profile. You can get detailed explanations and specifications about this standard color profile on http://www.color.org/sRGB.html. It is very important that you are using this mode and not CMYK if you are either reworking the files in an image-editing program or if you are using a scanner to acquire the images.

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How do I know that the print I will get back will be a good print?

Should your images be of insufficient resolution or number of colors, a warning will be displayed on your screen while you are selecting them. In this way you will be able to correct or delete the selected image from your order. Even if you get this warning, you will still be able to order the image if you wish, but it may result in a poor quality print.

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Guide For Optimizing Image Resolution For Digital Photos

Image Quality Indicator shows you if the image resolution is sufficient for the size of the paper selected and whether they are suitable for printing.

• Quality indicated is as follows:

• Deep green : Very Good - Suggests Very Good image resolution and is suitable for high-quality prints.

• Light green : Good - Suggests Good image resolution and is suitable for good quality prints.

• Yellow, tending towards Orange : Poor - Suggests Poor image resolution and is not of good quality.

• Red : Not Usable - The image is not suitable for printing.

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Ordering Online

Choosing and changing categories

Choose from the print product categories (Photo Books, Posters & Canvas, Prints, Greeting Cards and Fine Art Prints) by simply clicking on the image tabs on the homepage, this will launch the application pages for those products.

• Once within the application, it’s easy for you to choose photos from your PC, configure them and order prints. Configuration options include Designs, Size and paper type formats. For Photo Books, the different designs and formats available can be viewed online, but the free ColorMailer Photo Books software need be downloaded to create your photo book and place your order.

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Product configuration

Configuration options for different products include Crop and Adjust, Paper type, Designs and Size format information. On choosing Checkout, the application will list configured products that haven’t been added to the cart.

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Accessing shopping cart and checkout

The shopping cart can be accessed directly through the navigational links on the top right of each page. For products that can be configured online, simply click ‘Add to Cart’ on the product pages to add it to the shopping cart.

• Click the ‘Checkout’ option on product pages to complete your order with the current items in your shopping cart. The application will also list products you have configured but were not added to the cart.

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Accessing personal account

Personal account details are only accessible to users who have registered and are logged in. Upon logging in successfully, the ‘Account Settings’ link appears on the navigational menu on the top of the page.

• ‘Account Settings’ is comprised of two sections: Account Details and My Orders. ‘Account Details’ displays registration details like First Name, Last Name, Birthday and email address.

• ‘My Orders’ shows details of past orders placed, order IDs and their status, i.e. whether they are pending, confirmed or cancelled. Items that have been ordered within a specific time period can be reordered.

• A user can edit and update account information like name, password, birthday and email address.

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Accessing order tracking

The Order Tracking feature allows users to check the status of their orders by using the Order Number associated with each order. Order Tracking can be accessed from the navigational links at the bottom of the application product pages and the website.

• To know the status of an order, simply enter the order number in the field given in the Order Tracking page.

• This feature can even be accessed without being logged in. Please remember to save the Order Number provided during Order confirmation, so that it can be used for tracking your order.

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Accessing Contact and feedback

To send us any questions, feedback, suggestions, make a complaint, or just share a thought, simply click on the ‘Contact us’ tab at the top of the page. We will get in touch with you as soon as we can. To contact us, click here

You can also get in touch with us at:

Mailing address:

Colorplaza Ltd

Bosquets 31

1800 Vevey

Switzerland

Fax : +41.21.923.93.61

Tel : +41.21.923.35.00

RC : CH-550-0128841-8

VAT : CH - 476 266

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Accessing product and pricing lightboxes

To get a quick overview of product details and pricing, we have provided a ‘View details and pricing’ tab in the Homepage. Clicking on this tab opens up a description of the category and products, formats, sizes and prices.

To view details of Photo Books, click here

To view details of Posters & Canvas, click here

To view details of Prints, click here

To view details of Greeting Cards, click here

To view details of Fine Art Prints, click here

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Trouble shooting-Flash support, download and updating

This application requires Flash player version 9.0.0 or above. This site is built using Adobe Flex and requires Adobe Flash player to function properly. In order to view the website, your browser must have Flash Player 9 or higher installed. If Flash is not installed, you will be provided with a link to download and install the Flash player. It can be downloaded from here:

http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

Requirements: Flash: Adobe flash player version 9.0.0 and above

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How to order

Orders can be placed in 2 ways:

• After you configure products, add your products to the Shopping Cart. From the Shopping Cart you can proceed to Checkout and confirm your order.

• When you click on the Shopping Cart tab on the top of the page, you are taken directly to your cart. If you are logged in the products you recently added will be displayed along with previously selected products that you haven’t ordered. From here, you can proceed to Checkout and confirm your order.

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Image format support

Only Jpeg images are supported online.

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Product listing, Print paper/Print size support, Print quality information

Product listing, Print paper support, Print size support, Print quality information on each product category can be accessed through the links provided below.

To view details of Photo Books, click here

To view details of Posters & Canvas, click here

To view details of Prints, click here

To view details of Greeting Cards, click here

To view details of Fine Art Prints, click here

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What is the deliverytime-How many days to deliver

Your photos will be processed at the latest during the next business day after the transmission of your order and will be sent to you by Priority Mail. Average delivery time is 2-4 business days. For posters, the delivery time may be up to 2-3 days longer.

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File upload size

Upload sizes are regularly optimized for best web performance.

The maximum file upload size for each category is:

Prints, Cards - 10 MB

Posters, Canvas - 20 MB

Fine Art Prints - 50MB

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Invoice/Credit Card

We currently offer payment via credit card or invoice (payment by invoice is only available for Switzerland, Finland and Germany). In order to be able to guarantee our low prices, we have to automate the ordering process to the maximum. For this reason, outside of Switzerland, Finland and Germany, we only accept payment by credit card. ColorMailer uses a secured connection to transfer your personal and payment data, thus offering full security for your transactions.

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Currency

We support the following currencies: Euros, US Dollars, UK Pounds, Swedish Kroner (SEK) and Swiss Francs (CHF)

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Money Back Guarantee

If for some reason you ever have a problem with an order, simply contact our customer service department and tell us why you are not satisfied. We can then arrange for you to return the photo prints and receive a refund for the full corresponding value, including your postage costs. If desired, the compensation can be given in the form of a credit for a future order. Please note though that this guarantee does not apply in the following specific cases: Inadequate picture quality and/or failure to heed the quality warning when ordering. Omitting to crop your pictures to the format you have chosen. click here to contact us about your order

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Ordering Offline

How does it work?

Select your digital pictures from your hard drive or directly from any TWAIN interfaced peripheral (ex: Digital Camera). Send us your order using either the ColorMailer Photos & Posters program, or via our website using your web browser. Either way, your photos will automatically be transferred to our Lab`s server. Our professional Lab will process your photos and deliver them by post directly to your home or office.

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How can I send my order to the ColorMailer Lab?

There are two ways to send your order to ColorMailer:

• Using the ColorMailer Photos & Posters software program (Windows or Mac). A simple and easy to use program that is available free for download (1.90 Mb). All you do is select the images and the program will automatically send them to our Lab.

• Ordering online using your web browser. A simple online ordering and uploading interface that can be used from any computer that has a web browser and Internet connection (requires Flash player 9.0.0 or greater).

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What types of image files can I have printed?

The current version of the ColorMailer Photos & Posters software program allows you to make photo prints from JPEG, TIFF, FLASHPIX and BMP files. Ordering online only allows prints to be made from a .jpg file. We recommend that you use Jpeg files with minimal compression. The higher the file compression, the lower the quality of the image and hence the lower the quality of the finished photo.

• In case you are wondering why we do not support other image file formats; ColorMailer Photos & Posters software program needs to be as small as possible to enable quick download over the Internet. Each additional format would only make the application bigger and slower. Therefore, it was decided to include only the most popular file formats. Please keep in mind that not every image produced on your PC will make a good photo. There may be problems with the resolution. If that is the case, ColorMailer will alert you with a warning each time it detects a possible deficiency in your image.

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What are the exact image sizes used by ColorMailer?

In the ordering interface, you have the choice between 2 series of print formats and 1 series of poster formats, depending on how your digital images were acquired. It can be either the screen standard / VGA (if you are using a digital camera) or the traditional photographic standard, i.e. 24x36mm, in case you are scanning photos taken with a traditional film camera.

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How can I upload images from my Digital Camera?

Your Digital Camera is supplied with software that enables you to transfer the Photos from the camera to the PC. While you are performing this transfer, make sure that you select a JPEG, TIFF or FLASHPIX file format.

• If you are using a transfer device that is readable as a local drive (such as the FlashPath floppy adapter), you can directly select the files from it into the list. This allows you to skip the step of copying your images to your computer. A downside is that it may slowdown the transfer of your order, since reading from RAM storage is quite slow.

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Can I print images taken with my camcorder?

Most digital camcorders on the market today have a still imaging function. As long as the image generated is of sufficient size and saved as a JPEG file, you can get photographic prints of excellent quality.

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Can I print Black and White images (greyscale)?

ColorMailer's Lab supports greyscale images.

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Can I print a GIF file?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. The GIF file format is widely used for digital images, but they are limited to 256 colors (often called 256 color palette) at 72dpi. Besides its limited number of colors, GIF is a file format that is highly compressed and is optimized for screen display. This is why GIF is one of the standard formats used over the Internet. Please note that if you upload and print a GIF originated file (i.e. after having converted the file from GIF to JPEG), you will still have poor results because of the lack of colors and poor resolution of the original image file. It may look attractive on a computer screen, but it will not be adequate when printed on photographic paper. In the event of your sending us an image with too low a resolution, the ColorMailer software will automatically warn you that the file will result in a poor quality print.

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What Print size and Print finishing options can I select?

ColorMailer allows you to select the size and quantity of images you would like to order. Current available print sizes are: 11x15cm, 13x17cm, 20x27cm, 9x13cm, 10x15cm, 13x19cm and 20x30cm. (In the software interface you have the choice between two types of formats depending on how your digital images were acquired. You may choose either the screen standard / VGA format (if you are using a digital camera) or the traditional photographic standard 2:3 ratio format (in case you are scanning photos taken with a traditional film camera). Additional formats may be added in the future.

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What is the average time needed to upload an image?

The actual speed of a file upload depends on several factors:

• The type of Internet connection, the upload transfer rate always being slower than the Download transfer rate.

• The quality of your provider: the connection speed indicated by your provider usually refers to the Point to Point transfer between your computer and the Provider's network. The load and the internal capacity of your provider's network can result in a lower actual transfer rate.

• The load of the Internet overall: There may be congestion at the level between your provider and the Internet backbone or even a more general congestion at peak hours.

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What if I'm an AOL/Compuserve user?

Connect to the Internet as you would normally do with the AOL, CompuServe or other software.

• Once connected, start the ColorMailer Photos & Posters software.

• In the ColorMailer Photos & Posters first screen, select 'Configure Connection...' and then select 'I connect manually'.

• Click OK and use the software as normal.

• If you continue to have problems, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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When I install the program, I get a message saying that the file is corrupt.

The file must have been corrupted during download, which may be caused by network problems. Please delete the corrupt file and download it again.

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I get the message 'Error http encoding: class not registered' when I connect.

This happens with Windows 2000 when the dial-up connection has been modified after installation of a program using the connection. Try uninstalling and reinstalling the program, this should solve the problem.

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The program crashes when I'm transferring images.

There may be different causes to this:

• It can just be that the network is overloaded, which is independent from both your computer and our service. In such case re-start the program and you will get a message saying that your previous order was interrupted. If you click YES, the transfer will continue starting from the file where the connection dropped. If you click NO, your previous incomplete order will be deleted.

• One of the selected image files is too heavy. Even though there is no precise size limit per file, there is a time-out after 20 minutes of transfer per image. If you have a slow connection or if the network is overloaded, you may already have a problem with a file of a few megabytes. You can check this yourself based on the transfer rate on your side. One of the selected images is corrupt, or the file format is not supported. The supported file formats are Jpeg, TIFF (no LZW compression supported), Bitmap or Flashpix. Please make sure that the images were originally taken in one of these formats or converted using an appropriate application.

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I installed ColorMailer Photos & Posters but I cannot start it.

Please make sure to double-click the icon in the folder where you installed the program. Most often (according to preferences on your computer) the file is automatically unstuffed as soon as the download is finished, and it asks you in what directory you would like to install the program. Once the program file is unstuffed, an icon named colormailer.dmg is left on your desktop. Don't double-click this one to start the application, you can trash it after installation.

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How can I configure the connection through a proxy server or firewall ?

The ColorMailer Photos & Posters program will normally automatically use your default browser proxy settings if you are using the most recent versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape. In case you encounter any problems connecting to the Internet, check the settings in 'Configure Connection - Proxy Server' in the software. In addition, you may want to make sure that your proxy or firewall allows http upload. If you don't have Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or above installed on your system, your images will be transferred by FTP. If you are connected to the Internet via a proxy server, or a firewall which does not allow FTP uploads, or if the software cannot transmit the images using FTP for any other reason, installing Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or 5.0 will enable the use of the HTTP protocol which should work correctly through any proxy server or firewall.

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What file formats can I upload?

The ColorMailer Photos & Posters software supports Jpeg (.jpg), Tiff (tif) and Bitmap (.bmp) file formats. Other File formats that are not supported do not appear in the file Explorer.

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How do I add or remove images to my selection?

Click the Explorer tab to open the file Explorer and select your image files in the Explorer panel. There are several ways to add images to the Preview pane:

• Drag and drop single images or a multiple image selection into the Preview pane

• Drag and drop a complete folder containing images into the Preview pane. This works only if the folder contains only image files

• Select your image files in the Explorer pane and click the 'Add to Order' button.

• The usual Windows keyboard shortcuts work to select several files together in the Explorer pane:

• Click the first image of the selection, then hold down the Shift key and click the last image of the selection you want to make in that folder

• Hold down the Ctrl key to individually select or de-select files in a folder.

• To delete single images from your order selection, just click to select them in the Preview pane and hit the Delete key on your keyboard.

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How do I select print formats and products?

First you need to select the images in the Preview pane. You can see that an image is selected when it has a dark blue outline. To apply the product selection to all images, click the 'Select all' button, then select the products and options you want to apply to these images. To select several images that are not in a sequence, hold down the Ctrl key while you click the images to select them.

• Please always carefully review all images and options before you proceed to Checkout.

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How do I use the Image fitting options?

The first important thing for you to know is that when you have selected a format, the preview of your image shows exactly how your print will look (Wysiwyg). The default mode is automatic crop, so that when the image and the file have a different ratio, a part of the image will be trimmed. The crop is centered by default but you can adjust the crop area manually using the small scroll-arrows next to the image. The Auto fit mode will ensure that you whole picture is printed, the printed paper size will vary accordingly. Due to production constraints, the variable paper size is not available for all formats. The Print entire Image mode will compensate any difference in ratio by adding white bands to the image.

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How can I order different print formats or products from a same image file?

Just click the image(s) in the Preview pane to select it and click the 'Duplicate button'. The duplicated image appears at the end of your selection and you can assign it a different print format.

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How can I see the price of my order?

When you are done selecting your images, formats and quantities, click the 'Checkout' button in the tool bar, enter your personal information and your promotion code if you have any. The calculation will be performed taking into account all taxes and rebates applicable to your selection.

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What is Automatic Color Optimization?

Automatic Color Optimization will automatically be applied to your images before they are exposed onto photo paper. You can disable this option by selecting the image(s) in the preview pane and unchecking the checkbox in the Properties pane.

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How do I use a voucher code?

The Voucher Code field is optional. If you have a voucher code, please make sure you enter it during checkout, as the amount billed cannot be changed after you have placed your order.

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How will my Credit Card data be handled?

Your Credit Card data is encrypted and transferred to a secure server for clearing with the Citibank clearing center. According to the terms of our Money Back Guarantee, we have the possibility to refund the amount to your Credit Card in case of problem with your order.

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Can I send photos to someone else living abroad?

Yes, It's a perfect way to send a gift to your friends and relatives living abroad! You just need to select our international service. To do so select File in the menu bar, then Select Service. The Service selection pop-up window appears and you can select the country of residence of the recipient and the service ColorMailer International Euro. When you order, enter the recipient's address, but leave your own email address and enter your Credit Card info for payment. The recipient will get the photos delivered with just a delivery note and no mention of the price.

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