Before They Fade Away

The ShoeBox Scan service is designed for Bulk Loose Photos Only, that is, photos supplied loose in a box/tub/bag (or more than one box/tub/bag because of quantity). Photos in cardboard mounts, frames or albums need to be removed and supplied loose for this service. Or we may be able to scan these for you with another service offering at a different rate.

Photos supplied grouped into bags or bundles within the larger box/tub/bag for organisational reasons will be scanned into separate matching folders on your USB & the physical photos returned to their groupings afterwards. The rate is $2.20 per folder/grouping. If you do not wish for this to happen, please supply your photos loose.

For our ShoeBox Scan service, we utilise highest quality feed-type photo scanners - Kodak PS80 & PS50 scanners. So the service is offered at such a low price, not because we use cheap scanners, but because we offer the service for qualifying photos only. Not all loose photos are suitable to safely feed into a scanner. To qualify for the ShoeBox Scan rate, your photos must meet the conditions below:

• minimum accepted size is at least 2 inches/50mm on each side. Some slightly larger than this may also not be acceptable if they will not feed safely through the scanner. Where photos fall below this size, you'll really need a higher resolution scan to get a sufficient sized finished image to enable zooming/cropping, or printing the photo. We scan undersized photos on our flat-bed scanners at 1200 ppi or, if you prefer, we can set aside undersized photos and return those to you unscanned.

• maximum size accepted is A4. Anything large than A4 can be flatbed scanned @ 600 ppi, or, if you prefer, we can set aside oversized photos and return those to you unscanned.

• photos need to be in good, clean, flat & flexible condition, not curled, cracking, torn, crumbling, dirty or sticky. A good rule of thumb can be that most photos from the 60's or more recent will usually be suitable. Most photos from the 50's or older may be too small, too curled-yet-stiff, too tattered, torn, or have frilly edges that might make feed scanning unsafe for the photo. Anything we deem unsuitable can be flatbed scanned @ 600 ppi, or, if you prefer, we can set aside unsuitable photos and return those to you unscanned.

• they should be free of sticky tape, staples, paperclips, blu-tac, post-it notes etc.

Other “unsuitable” photo types include:

• newspaper print

• odd shaped cut-out photos

• some laminated photos

• some ink-jet printed photos (results may vary - we recommend flatbed scanning for ink-jet prints)

• some very high-gloss crinkle finish photos

• some cheap low-quality print papers

If you have any photos that you suspect are unsuitable, you can still include them. We’d love it if you could group these separately and label them “unsuitable”, and we’ll flat-bed scan them for you.

Even if you don't know what might be in your box there's still no need to worry. At the time of ordering you can simply instruct us with your choice to have us either flat-bed scan, or leave unscanned, any unsuitables we might come across.

It is also important to note that with this service, due to the processes we have developed to keep the prices so low for such a high quality scan, we cannot scan photos strictly in order.

Prints that do not meet the above criteria (unsuitables) will need to be individually flat-bed scanned. Or you can ask to have us set them aside and return them to you unscanned.

When you drop your job in to us you will be asked your wishes regarding unsuitables we may find - that either:

A) We leave unsuitable photos unscanned, or

B) You can pre-approve us to flat-bed scan up to a pre-agreed number of images at the applicable rates. With a ShoeBox Scan project these rates are:

• under A4 size, flatbed scanned at 600 ppi @ $1.35 ea, or

• undersized (ie smaller than 3 inches/75mm on any side) flatbed scanned at 1200 ppi @ $2.20 ea

• oversized (larger than A4, up to A3 size) flatbed scanned at 300 ppi @ $6.60 ea. (or, if requested, at 600 ppi @ $11 ea)

If there are more than the agreed number of unsuitable images we can stop at that point & set aside the rest, and return those to you unscanned.

Or, if you like, you can simply pre-approve us to do what we need to do in order to give you a great end result on all the photos you've given us.

So, leave them unscanned, set a limit, or set no limit - whatever you feel comfortable with.

• Rush Service (subject to workload):

Due to the massive demand, standard turnaround for the ShoeBox Scan service starts from around 5 weeks at the moment, but if you need it sooner than that let us know. Depending on our workload at the time we may be able to accommodate you. Contact us to discuss options.

The ShoeBox Scan service is designed for Bulk Loose Photos Only, that is, photos supplied loose in a box or bag. We can only keep the price this low if photos are supplied loose. But for various reasons you may wish to supply photos in separate groupings.

Where you'd like groupings of scanned images to be supplied back to you in matching folders on the USB, and/or where the original photos are to be returned to their supplied packets/bags/groupings after scanning, the rate is $2.20 per grouping/folder.

Any groupings need to be supplied in separate bags (we prefer ziplock bags, big enough that they can be sealed so photos don't fall out). This is to prevent photos getting mixed up with other photos in your job. Envelopes, photo packets, and paper bags are also ok. We do not accept bulk loose photos with paper/card dividers separating the groupings, because this increases the chances of errors. If photos are brought in with dividers, or rubber banded, or separated in any other way than we have described as acceptable for this service, you'll be given the option to either sort them in paper bags we supply, or we'll charge hourly rates to carefully do this for you.

Also the rates ($2.20 per grouping) would suggest that we don't really want a bag with one or two photos in it. 200 photos in 180 groupings is not what this service was designed for. 200 photos in say, 3 - 6 bags would be more in line with the way the service has been designed. So do yourself a favour & make your groupings larger to save money.

Due to the workflow that enables us to be able to scan your photos as high quality as we do, yet as inexpensively as possible, we do not undertake to scan photos in strict order with the Shoebox Scan service.

If this is a problem for you, it can be somewhat minimised if you group your photos into groupings. These groupings can be scanned in order. Please note: We can scan the groupings themselves in order, not the individual photos within the groupings, but that will help somewhat. Better to get 1981, 1982, 1983 etc scanned in order than to get back something completely random. We will place grouped photos together in a matching folder on your USB. Groupings/Folders are $2.20 per folder. All photos received separated into bags/envelopes will be charged as folders.

Scanning in strict order is of course available with our flatbed scanning services, so please let us know if this is important to you.

Our ShoeBox packages have set prices for lots of up to 200, 500 & 1000. You’re still welcome to send in lots of less than 200, but if you have much less maybe you could get together with some family, and get up near or over the 200 mark. If that doesn’t suit you, then of course we do offer other scanning services for smaller quantities.

You don’t have to have exactly the right number of photos either. If you have more photos than covered by a particular package, that's no problem. The machine will simply count what you have & we will issue an invoice for the exact quantity. If with your numbers it works out cheaper to upgrade you to the next bigger package we will do that. Whatever works out cheaper for you.

After years of being the lowest price bulk photo scanning service in Australia, we've begun to see a few copy-cat services spring up lately, and some may be offering a cheaper price than us.

We would ask clients to bear in mind:

A) We 100% guarantee to scan your images on-site here in our Brisbane facility. You can breathe easy that we'll never send your photos to India (or anywhere else) just to get cheap labour. With our service there's zero risk that your precious photos could end up at the bottom of the ocean.

B) We 100% guarantee to exclusively use quality Kodak PS series scanners for our ShoeBox Scanning service.

There are some cheap Chinese scanners coming onto the market these days (some as little as 1/10 the price of our Kodaks), but as with most things in life you really do get what you pay for with scanners. We know. We have bought and tested some of these, (even some from usually quite reputable brands), and we've found that they really can only produce a fraction of the picture quality that our Kodaks produce.

We just could not in good conscience use them because of the poor results they produce. So buyer beware!

Due to the immense popularity of our service, we are quoting a minimum of approx 5 weeks at this time, depending on your quantities.

If you need it sooner than that, for an event or a production deadline, talk to us & we will offer some solutions for you.

Please note that with the Christmas season rapidly approaching, large jobs may need to carry over until the new year. Or we can arrange to deliver a part of the job before Christmas.


Christmas Cut-Off Times* for incoming orders:

All jobs requiring shipping must be received no later than 9 am Monday, 11th December 2023, for completion*/invoicing by Dec 18th & Express Postage dispatching no later than Wednesday, 20th December 2023. Australia Post states that the last mailing day is Dec 20th for WA & NT, and Dec 21st for the rest of Australia. Please note that we cannot be held responsible for Australia Post's services.

Pick-up Orders can be placed until Friday, 15th December 2023, for completion*/invoicing by Dec 20th, for collection Dec 20, 21 & 22.

*Any undertaking to try to fully complete a project before Christmas is subject to realistic timeframes considering the size & scope of the project. We will advise if your project cannot fully be processed within the desired timeframe, and discuss options for partial pre-Christmas delivery if that helps.



Store Christmas Closure Notice:

RetroMedia will close 5pm Friday, 22nd December 2023, re-opening 9am Monday, 15th January 2024

PLEASE NOTE: During the holiday month of January, our store will operate with reduced staff, as we conduct annual general maintenance. As a result, service timeframes may be longer than anticipated.



Left Your Run A Little Late?

For Christmas this year we are offering beautifully gift-wrapped Gift Certificates! Any service, any value from $100. For that special somebody in your life! And so easy for you to take advantage of!

Ask us how!

Terms:

• We will ask for a part payment (deposit) at commencement, of approx 25% (minimum $10)  

• To keep things as fair as possible, for regular queued projects your job will go into a queue of work and will be attended in turn. We're always very busy, dealing with a lot of very old, obsolete media, in a wide range of physical conditions. So predicting timeframes is not an exact science. It's simply not possible to precisely allow for unforeseen issues that may occur in your job, or in the jobs preceding yours in the queue.

So we aim at estimated turnaround targets. We ask for your patience with us on this. To do the best possible job, and to do it at a reasonable price, means it can't also be quick. We can choose only two of the three, and we're unwilling to cut corners on quality. If you have a looming deadline or event, please let us know, and we can discuss some options with you.

• Original media is available for collection upon full payment. Unless prior arrangements have been made, we ask for payments to be made within 7 days of invoicing.

• We like to be as flexible as possible. We’re happy to work with you before commencement of the job to come to a mutually acceptable arrangement. But we do ask that if we have not made alternate arrangements with you before commencement, that you will honour our terms.