How We Process Your Order

How Do I Create An Order?

An order consists of a title, which you choose yourself, and instructions to us on what you want us to do with the images in this order. The order title must be unique for all the orders you have submitted under your user name. You may have multiple images as part of an order, but an order has only one set of instructions, so be sure what you tell us to do applies to all the images in that order. If you need to refer to a particular image in your instructions, please be sure to use the file name, not "the second image I uploaded" - the order in which you uploaded them may not correspond to the order in which they were finally copied to your directory space on our server. As an alternative to creating one large order with many different instructions, simply create an order for each set of instructions, even if the order contains only one image.

How Is My Order Processed?

Once you have created your order, we will examine the images and instructions, and set a price we will charge for each image or for the entire order. You will then receive an email from us informing you that your order has been priced, and asking you to review the order and authorize us to work on it. Only after you have changed the status of the order to "Authorized" (abbreviated as "Auth") will we begin to work on it. If you want to delete an image to reduce the cost of the order, you may do so before authorizing us to work on it. If you want to add additional images to the order, the order will be placed back in "New" status, and we will price the additional images and send you an email when the new price quote is ready.

While we are modifying your images, your order status will show "Work" and no further changes can be made to the images in that order. You will receive an email notifying you when your order has been completed. You should review each image to insure that the modifications you requested have been completed to your satisfaction. When viewing completed images, you will notice several watermarks on the image. This is done to prevent the downloading of completed but unpaid images, and these watermarks are set when the image is viewed in your browser - they are not a part of the actual completed image.

When you view your completed order on our site, a payment link will be provided. You may pay for your order using PayPal or by sending us a check or money order. When we receive notification that your order payment has been processed, your images will be released for downloading by you. Note that it may take up to ten business days for your check to clear. When using PayPal, paying with an echeck may take up to 4 business days. PayPal payments by credit card are usually processed almost immediately.

How We Handle Your Images

Every registered Big Island Color user is given their own directory within our server disk allocation. This directory resides outside of the server access path, so that no one can hack into the webserver and steal your images. All images are uploaded and downloaded using SSL encryption for security.

All activity concerning images (upload, download, processing, etc.) is logged and timestamped. For this reason, you cannot upload an image with the same name as one previously submitted to Big Island Color by you unless you first delete it. An image can only be deleted if it is in the "New" or "Priced"status, i.e., has not yet been worked on by Big Island Color. Note also that, once an image has been assigned to an order, it can only be replaced for that order (deleted and re-uploaded) - it cannot be uploaded with the same name for a different order, even if it is deleted from the original order. If you find you must resubmit an image, or you are re-using the file name, you will have to change the name before uploading it to our server.

Who Can See My Images?

Because your images are stored outside of the server access path, only users running our server programs can access your images. These programs always check the user authorization before accessing an image, and allow only the login associated with the account to which that image is assigned to view or delete the image, or cancel an order. On our side, only the consultant assigned to an image may download it for processing. Consultants can never upload new images for an account, delete images or edit the instructions associated with an order.

Questions?

Questions about these procedures or about Big Island Color's handling of your information may be sent to , or use our contact form.