Order two copies of the same book on the same day and they will be indistinguishable. Order one now and one in eight months, and put them side by side, and there will be a small difference.
This is normal, it is true of all printing everywhere, and it is worth knowing before you compare rather than after.
What varies
Ink. Batches of ink differ marginally. Ink also behaves differently as a cartridge or reservoir empties.
Paper. Paper is a manufactured product with its own batch variation. Its base whiteness shifts very slightly between runs, and everything printed on it sits on that base.
The machine. Calibration drifts and is corrected. Temperature and humidity in the room affect how ink sits on paper.
Age. The older print has been exposed to light for eight months and the newer one has not.
| Compared | Difference |
|---|---|
| Two copies, same order | Effectively none |
| Two orders, same week | Very small |
| Two orders, a year apart | Small but visible side by side |
| Two orders, different products | Different paper. Expected |
How large it actually is
Small enough that you would not notice either copy in isolation, and visible if you put them edge to edge under good light.
That is the honest description. Nobody opening the second copy notices anything; somebody holding both open at once may see that one is a fraction warmer.
Why it matters most for one thing
Ordering copies for several households at different times.
If two households are getting the same album and you order them six months apart, the two are not identical objects — and the only person who will ever know is whoever eventually sees both.
⚠️ Order copies together if it matters. The design happens once and the printing runs together, so the copies come from the same batch on the same day.
There is a second reason to decide at the time: we keep your files for seven days after dispatch and then delete them permanently, so a later copy means re-sending everything anyway. A second copy for another household →
Getting several copies right the first time
Ask at the proof stage, on WhatsApp. Extra copies of a designed piece cost less than the first, because the design is already done, and they are printed and dispatched together with the first copy — one run, one batch, one Monday.
For a magazine you designed and send us to print, copies are simply priced per copy and chosen when you order, up to 20 on one line of the basket and more by message. They too come off the press together.
Round up rather than reorder. For a college magazine or a society booklet, a few spare copies in the first run cost less trouble than a second run for latecomers — which would mean sending the file again once our copy is deleted, and would sit very slightly apart from the first batch on a shelf.
If you are going to want a copy later, keep two things now: your original photographs, and the proof you approved. The proof is a watermarked preview rather than a print file, but it is an exact record of how every page was laid out, which makes a second version years later a matter of matching it rather than remembering it. Reordering a gift you gave before →
Comparing two copies fairly
If you do end up with copies from two different orders, compare them in a way that measures the printing rather than the room:
- Same light, same moment. Both flat on one table by a window in daylight — not one under a lamp and one in your hand by the door.
- The same page in each. Two different spreads carry different photographs, and different photographs never look alike.
- An inside page as well as the cover. The cover of an older copy has seen far more light than its inner pages, so it will have drifted further. Inner pages compare the printing; covers compare the years.
- Look for a uniform shift, not a local one. A whole page a fraction warmer is batch variation. One patch, one stripe, or one photograph that looks different from its twin is worth looking at more closely.
When it is not normal
Batch variation is a small, uniform shift. These are not that, and are worth raising:
- A visible colour cast on one copy and not the other
- Banding — visible stripes across a printed area
- Text or edges that are soft on one copy and crisp on the other
- Any mark, smear or scuff
Those are printing faults rather than variation, and they are a different conversation.
That conversation has a deadline. A printing fault or damage is reprinted free — within 48 hours, and sent with the next Monday dispatch — but only with unboxing evidence: an unedited photo or video of you opening the parcel, sent to us with the order number inside 24 hours of delivery. So compare a new copy against the old one on the day it arrives, not the following week.
What is not covered is the thing this page is mostly about: small natural variation in paper tone between two printings, and the ordinary difference between a screen and ink on paper. Returns, refunds and damage →
What about a reprint of a photograph you printed elsewhere?
Expect a larger difference. Different paper, different ink, different process — and if the first was on photo paper rather than a printed page, the two are not comparable at all. Photo paper and printed pages →
The version of this that is not printing at all
A related confusion worth naming: the same file looks different on two of your own devices.
A phone, a laptop and a television will each show one photograph differently — brightness, colour temperature and screen technology all differ, and none of them is calibrated.
So “it looked different on my laptop” is not evidence about the print. It is evidence that two screens disagree, which they always do.
The print is a third thing again, and the only one that stays the same wherever you carry it — which is, quietly, one of the better arguments for printing anything.
Frequently asked
Why does my reprint look slightly different? Ink batches, paper batches, calibration and the age of the older copy. Small variation is normal in all printing.
How big is the difference? Invisible in isolation; sometimes visible with both copies open side by side under good light.
How do I get identical copies? Order them together. They print in the same run on the same day.
Can I reorder later? Yes, but you will need to re-send the files — we delete ours seven days after dispatch — and the copies will not be from the same batch.
When should I report a difference? When it is a cast on one copy only, banding, softness, or any mark. Those are faults rather than variation.
Part of our guide to paper and printing. See also: why printed colours differ from screens and a second copy for another household.
Order copies together: Photo magazines from ₹499 · Hardcover albums from ₹1,299