did you read "about us"?






David Hamuel

yes. I did. But I still like to have a "consumer" perspective before I give out my cc#. I've had my number "borrowed" off the net before (and it was from a secured site). Guess I'm just a little sensitive these days about unknown sites.

Dawn, it appears that you are as safe purchasing at that site
as you are purchasing from fonts.com.

Fonts.com has set up dozens and dozens (hundreds?) of sites --
i'm going to call them Joker Sites -- that appear to
be operated by third-parties, but are really set up and maintained
by fonts.com, which is powered by AGFA Monotype.

Anybody googling a typeface has tripped over these annoying sites,
which inevitably lead to fonts.com.

The site you refer to**, with it's "volume discounts" (lol), looks
like a Joker Site -- still, it'd be reasonable to assume that
it's e-safe and the fonts are legit.

This appears to be just another boardroom idea*** to move type;
the joker sites build traffic and google status.




bj

* an example of a Joker Site is
http://www.fonts-free.com/

** Ironwood is No. 1 on the best seller list.

*** Apparently designers are suckers for
Market Price: $20.00
Our Price: $15.00

sorry to waste more time and pixels on this....

this is as-is from the terms and conditions posted on the professionalfonts.com site.

---

quote:

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Each font downloaded from Professional Fonts is encoded
with a unique transaction identifier. This makes it possible
for us to track illegally distributed fonts back to the original
purchaser. This anti-piracy feature does not violate your
privacy in any way, only our database can relate the
embedded code to a specific purchase. Do not redistribute
the fonts you purchase from Professional Fonts, we will
pursue copyright violaors.

---

---

quote:

About Professional Fonts

How can we bring you quality fonts at such low prices?
The answer lies in our three operating principals.

Volume
We negotiate with the owners of existing font libraries for
the rights to distribute their fonts. These 'block sales' mean
large chunks of money for the library owners up front, in
exchange for us being able to bring the individual fonts to
market at whatever price we choose. If you are the owner
of a font library (at least 100 fonts please) and would like
to receive a signifigant one time payment for the rights to
distribute, contact Alicia in our acquisitions department.
Acquisitions@ProfessionalFonts.com.

Simplicity
To keep our costs low, we cannot offer technical support on
the fonts you purchase from us. If you need high quality
technical support, may we suggest purchasing your models
from Fonts.com. You'll pay a lot more, but you'll also
receive great tech support. Also, we only distribute the
most popular fonts, and only for the PC platform.

Automation
Our system of font packaging and distribution is totally
automated. This allows us to bring you fonts quickly and
efficently, without raising our prices.

---

thanks for the input. Actually no pixels wasted. I was leary about the about us section and really appreciate the info about the site

Added note. When I sent the fonts I wanted to the shopping cart not only was there a $5 discount as stated on font screen, but there was an additional discount. It showed that I could get the 4 fonts I needed for $35 instead of $99 at Phils or FF. I do all my work at no charge for non-profits so I guess sometimes I do need to be a sucker. But if it works, its okay by me. You can call me a sucker anytime I save a $ and get a good product. Again, I really appreciate your time and effort.

I'm thinking of starting a website called 'Under the table fonts dot com'. When a designer like Dawn finds a great deal like $35 instead of $99 for fonts that some type designer has in good faith licensed to some vendor, in the belief that he's going to make some money in royalties, the designer can come to 'Under the table...' and send a confidential message to the original type designer asking if he or she will accept $35 to buy a license under the table (confidential and under the table because so as not to undermine the value at which the type designer would prefer to be selling his type). If the type designer agrees, he or she gets the full $35, instead of a percentage of a percentage of a percentage of a discounted discounted price, and the designer gets the fonts with the added joy of putting his or her money in the hands of a type designer, with the only caveat that he or she agrees to keep quiet.

Of course, the long term solution, for the type designer at least, is to stop signing contracts that allow vendors to cross license and discount prices.

I think "contextual pricing" is generally a great idea.

hhp

Isn't it odd that all the fonts they sell seem to be from the Adobe Type Library, or fonts that used to be in the ATL, but aren't any more (i.e., fonts from Berthold such as Formata)? It all seems a bit fishy to me. I mean, did they actually negotiate with Adobe and pay them a "large chunk of money" for their entire library (as they suggest on their about page) to allow them to sell Adobe Garamond or Minion at a discount? It seems rather implausible on the face of it.

Dawn, I didn't mean to imply that you are a sucker
for getting fonts there.

For what you are doing, it makes sense.

I applaud anyone who buys fonts...(cheers)
AND does work for non-profits.

Mark, thanks for the additional info.

bj

BJ--I didn't get that implication at all! But I am going to research the company a little more before I purchase. Like I said, I really appreciate the input. I have a very dry sense of humor and assumed you were being facetious as well. --you were weren't you?

I agree with Mark, Adobe isn't a charity and they sell their fonts directly. What would be the point for them?

>> you were being facetious as well. --you were weren't you?

I was kinda poking fun at them, but at the same time,
the site is kinda insulting and not funny.

I don't think it's a "company" really...no address, no
phone, and only a single email contact.

so much for refraining from further comment.

bj

They didn't license the fonts from us (Adobe). It's possible they licensed them from either Agfa Monotype or Linotype.

They would have to have a separate deal with Berthold Types Ltd., since (as far as I know) neither AMT nor Lino resells those fonts any more.

I have inquired to them where they license our fonts from. It will be interesting to see what they say.

Regards,

T

Thomas, hows the Open Type library coming?

Hi Daniel,

> How's the OpenType library coming?

Well, we finished converting our existing type library early in the year (we were almost done last year, except for a handful of stragglers). There are about 35 fonts we can't ship in OpenType format because our licensing doesn't allow for it, but the other 2250 or so are all out there.

I'll have a presentation at ATypI this weekend that's a "technology preview" of Unicode and OpenType functionality in a future version of Adobe Illustrator.

Cheers,

T

.....future version of adobe illustrator" - when?






David Hamuel

It's very scary what you can find on the net after a few simple searches and viewing source code. I found out that this site is registered on Tucows and Tucows listed an address and a phone under their domain listing. The address is for a Mailboxes N More in Everett, WA and the phone # is not a valid phone # (several reverse searches on the big guys revealed no such number). The Sec of State in WA website did not list this company so I emailed them and they said no such company existed in the state of WA nor was there any pending paper work. Oh, well, such much for the bargain of the week. I'm off to Phils!

I wouldn't buy from that site based on the look/feel of it. That's just me.

After some checking, we have not found any reason to believe that "professionalfonts.com" has licensed their fonts legitimately. Several type foundries are now pursuing appropriate actions against professionalfonts.com.

T

Thats good news Nigel. I hope they stay shut down and not morph into some other shape. I have a question, should there be a list of sites like that one that someone could go to and not be swindled? Dan