Answers to Common Questions About our Digital Scrapbooking Products and Boutique
When will my box of scrapbooking products arrive?
Scrap Girls sells downloadable graphic files. Unless you have purchased a CD burn or a certain DVD (which is clearly marked), your order is fulfilled with your order email receipt. This email provides you with the download passcode you will need to access your files.
All of our products are fulfilled via download unless you arrange for the files to be shipped to you on a CD by ordering Let Us Burn Your Order on a CD, located here:
http://store.scrapgirls.com/product/406/
The fact that our orders are fulfilled via download is pointed out on each product information page as well as in the check-out process. Perhaps you will recall that you had to check that you agreed to the Terms of Service statement prior to going through the check-out process. The statement about the order fulfillment is in red print.
Here's the information that is found on the product pages:
When you complete your purchase, you will receive (via email) a pass code which will allow you to download your product files directly from a download area that is assigned specifically for your use. You will also be able to locate your download and pass code information in your Scrap Girls Boutique account area.
Here is the statement that is part of the Terms of Service statement agreement that you must agree to prior to checking out:
By purchasing Scrap Girls products, you agree that you understand that unless a product delivery has been identified as being delivered in a different way, your delivery will be accomplished through downloads. Furthermore, you agree that by purchasing Scrap Girls products (not specifically identified as a non-downloadable product) to accept your delivery through these downloads. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL YOU BE SHIPPED PAPER OR PAPER PRODUCTS IN A BOX. SCRAP GIRLS DOES NOT DEAL WITH THIS TYPE OF PRODUCT. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR READING THIS STATEMENT AND UNDERSTANDING THIS FACT BEFORE YOU PROCEED WITH YOUR ORDER! It is not fair for you to demand a refund later simply because you have not taken time to notice that our products are downloadable. Why? Because it costs us money to process your order and it costs us quite a bit of money to refund your money to you because of your mistake. For more information on this topic, please click through and read the complete Service Agreement.
If you wish to receive your downloadable product through different means, you understand that the CD burning service option is available to you at an additional fee + shipping costs.
Why can't I sign into the Boutique? I am on the Scrap Girls newsletter list.
If you haven't ordered from us since we moved to our current store (in late January 2005), you wouldn't have an account with the Boutique yet, as you create it at the time of your first order. This is because the store requires a separate sign-up for security reasons that protect you and your personal information.
This means that there are three sign-ups.
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For the newsletter: Just requires your email address.
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For the boutique: This occurs at the time of your first order and is not connected with the newsletter sign-up. Until you create your Boutique account (at the end of the first order check-out process), you would not have an account or a password for an account.
- For the message board: We use a third-party solution for our message board. The company we contract with manages the message board and gallery, and since it is their primary business, they take care of the huge database that is required, including user accounts. It sure saves me a lot of headaches!
Since each company that helps us manage each part of Scrap Girls is different from each other, this means that the sign-ups and account information for each part has to be unique. This helps protect you and your personal information, rather than having one account shared through three different companies.
I am getting a 999 Bit Error when I try to place an order at the Boutique. What is wrong?
This particular error which caused your credit card to not be approved is related to the browser you are using rather than being a problem with your credit card or our boutique.
Apparently, if you are a Mac user, there are certain browsers (such as Safari) which will cause this particular error to happen. These browsers actually prevent normal communication during checkout from occurring, and many shopping carts experience this difficulty. The credit card company can't interpret the information that the browser is trying to send through, and so it rejects the credit card.
You can solve this problem by going back to the Boutique and using a different browser - such as Internet Explorer or Firefox. You should have a better outcome.
I am a PC user and I can't get my QuickTime movies to play correctly. What do I do now?
Here are a couple of things for you to try.
Make sure that you have unzipped the files. It is possible for you to double-click on the zipped files and see what is inside them, but if you try to watch the movies without unzipping the files first, they won't play. To do unzip your files, right-click on a zipped file and choose “Extract All” from the pop-up menu that appears.
If they still won't work, try using the Windows Media File versions instead. If you will notice on the downloads, both the QuickTime and Media File versions are provided. This was to help people who just can't get QuickTime to work on their computers.
You might also want to check the file sizes and compare them with the file sizes listed in your download area to make sure that they match. It may be possible that you got incomplete downloads. This happens when your Internet connection hiccups (without you being aware of it). If this is the case, try downloading them again.
I have discovered that my Internet connection just isn't good enough to download the files. Help!
We will be happy to burn your digital scrapbooking files on a CD for you, but first you will need to order a CD burn in the boutique. The money received helps partially defray the cost of the materials and time required to burn and ship the CDs to you.
As soon as we receive the order, we'll get started on your CD right away!
Let Us Burn Your Order on a CD
I am a satellite user and am suddenly having problems downloading my Scrap Girls files - even though I didn't used to - and I have successfully downloaded from other sites in the past. What is going on?
SATELLITE USERS: As of approximately July 1, 2006, a Fair Usage Policy has been enacted by satellite Internet Service Providers that limits the total amount of information you can download per hour. If you exceed the total amount per hour that your particular ISP allows, your downloads will slow to the point where you will either not get the files correctly, or you will get an error message telling you that the site you are downloading from can not be found.
It is highly recommended that you carefully watch the file sizes (including attempts at downloading the file, as that would count towards your hourly total) and how much you are downloading at once, and that you are well acquainted with your ISP's Fair Access Policy. You can find out what your ISP's Fair Access Policy limit is by contacting their customer service department.
I am having problems with getting my Windows Media movies to play. How do I fix it?
What kind of an Internet connection do you have? Do you have dial-up? Sometimes dial-up customers have problems during the download and they don't get the complete files because the download was interrupted. If this has happened to you, delete the folders and download them again. Make sure that the downloaded folders are the same size on your hard drive as they are listed in the download area once you have finished.
Have you unzipped the folders? You have to unzip them before trying to watch the movies. If you try clicking on the movies that are inside of the zipped folder, you will get an error.
What version of the player are you running? Maybe you need to update it. You can get updated downloads here, along with other utilities that can help troubleshoot what may be wrong with it:
Maybe you have a larger issue with your player. Here's a page that has possible solutions:
Troubleshooting playback in Windows Media Player for Windows XP
You may want to consider downloading and installing the free QuickTime viewer and then use the QuickTime version instead. (The quality of the movies is slightly better because QuickTime movies are just better quality than Windows Media files in general.)
I keep seeing a “.DS_Store” file and I'm not sure what it is. Is it something that I need to worry about? I can't get the file to open for me and I am concerned that it is corrupt. Will it harm my computer?
The .DS_Store file is something that a Mac computer throws into a folder that tells its operating system about that folder. The .DS_Store file stores viewing preferences, window location, window size, what view option has been selected (icon, list, or column), and the layout of icons in the window for its folder in Mac OS X.The original Mac user can't even see the .DS_Store file because it is invisible to them.
When a PC opens a zip file containing a folder that had been created on a Mac, the .DS_Store file is visible because a PC doesn't know what to do with that kind of file. It would be helpful if Windows knew to treat them as invisible files (because a PC has invisible files too), but that doesn't happen.
So if you see a .DS_Store file, it means that the originating designer created the folder you have unzipped with a Mac, and you are a PC user. The file isn't harmful, corrupt, or necessary to you in any way. You may simply delete the .DS_Store file off of your computer.
I sometimes see a file with a “._” in front of it, along with a regular file. Why am I getting two of the same files, and why does one have the extra “._” in front of it?
The “._” prefixed file is another example of something trying to transfer from a Mac to a PC and confusing us humans in the process.
Before the Mac OS X system, there were two parts to a Mac file. When files got transferred to another computer that worked differently than the computer they were created on, the file split itself into two parts: a fully-functioning, usable file, and an extra “._” file, which is basically just extra data useless to anybody who's not working on that particular Mac system.
So if you see them, it means that the originating designer created the folder you have unzipped with a Mac, and you are a PC user. The file isn't harmful, corrupt, or necessary to you in any way. You may simply delete the “._” prefixed file off of your computer and keep the other file.
I can't find your freebies anywhere.
Go to the Boutique and look in the Freebie category. (Look to the left-hand side and you will see it in the list.) Pick out a freebie you are interested in, click through to see more details about it, and then you will be on the page that has the free download button. Scroll down a little bit if you don't immediately see it.
Don't put the freebies in your shopping cart unless you are planning to buy something, as you will have to pay $0.50 for a low-order processing fee. This is because it costs us money to process these orders and we would lose money with the freebies otherwise. But since there are free download buttons available, it isn't necessary to pay for the freebies - just use the download button!
I don't understand what digital scrapbooking is all about. Can you give me a quick overview?
To create digital scrapbooking layouts, you need to have some kind of graphic- or photo-editing software that allows you to work with image files. Then, you are essentially layering up the graphics to create digital layouts, in the same way you are layering paper and embellishments when you are creating a paper layout.
It is a lot of fun, once you learn how to work the software, and you have even more control over your digital scrapbook pages than you do in the traditional way. You don't have to worry about ruining your photos or your supplies, and there isn't a mess to clean up when you are through!
You either use the photos you have taken with your digital camera, or you can use your printed photos that you have scanned into your computer. It's nice because you can edit them and clean them up before you actually create a digital layout with them.
Check the information we have in the Scrap Girls University, it will give you a lot of help getting started!
I am confused. Why did you send me a bill for this month's Scrap Girls Club stuff? I just wanted last month's.
If you will look at the details of the page for the Scrap Girls Club offering, you will see that it says:
***Note: By purchasing this item, you allow us to charge your credit card monthly (or every six months or year - depending upon your commitment level). You also understand that we will repeat this billing as per the plan cycle unless we hear otherwise from you prior to the beginning of the month when your order is placed. You can cancel at anytime after that without hassle. Your satisfaction and delight are guaranteed!
It might also be helpful to note that the product itself is called, “Scrap Girls Club (Monthly Billing Cycle).” This is to indicate that the club offering includes automatic rebilling.
The automatic rebilling is the reason that club members are offered this outstanding deal - being able to get all of these of products for just $9.99. Otherwise, the products that are included in the club are available to purchase individually at their regular prices.
I use Firefox and am having problems downloading from your site. When I push the download buttons, I get thrown to a different page altogether, a “Page Not Found” error, or other types of similar things. What is going on?
The download buttons are enabled via JavaScript code. Therefore, it is vital that you have your browser settings set to enable JavaScript.
Here's how you do it in Firefox 3.5.3:
1. Go to Tools> Options.
2. Choose the “Content” tab. Make sure that the “Enable JavaScript” and “Enable Java” boxes are checked.
3. Click “OK.”
When I try to download files from your site, all I can download are PHP files and I can't open any of them. Help!
Anytime you are downloading PHP files, it is a browser issue. This is very common with the MSN Butterfly browser. What's happening is that the browser is actually downloading the page code instead of the ZIP file. Try using a different browser to download. Firefox or Netscape seem to produce the best results.
