Last updated: 28 September 2026
This policy explains what you can expect from dye-sublimation printing and exactly what we promise on colour. It forms part of your contract with us.
1. Why colour is hard
1.1 Dye sublimation transfers ink into a polymer coating at high temperature. It does not lay ink on a surface like a printer on paper, so some colour movement is inherent to the process.
1.2 Your screen is not a reference. Every screen is set up differently — brightness, colour profile, ambient light and panel type all change what you see. Two phones showing the same file will look different, and neither will match the printed keycap exactly.
1.3 We do not use "colours may vary" as a way of avoiding responsibility. Instead we limit what you can choose, and we tell you before we print when something is approximate.
2. The three categories
Every colour you can choose falls into one of three categories, and each one promises something different. The editor tells you which category you are in as you design.
3. Category 1 — validated colours
3.1 These are solid colours we have physically tested and can print accurately. Colour accuracy is guaranteed for these.
3.2 The editor will only offer you a guaranteed colour where we have a validated result for it. That restriction is the guarantee — we are not asking you to trust a tolerance figure, we are only letting you choose colours we can hit.
3.3 Where the colour you have chosen prints outside the validated range, it is a fault, and section 8 of the Terms of Service applies in full.
4. Category 2 — approximate colours
4.1 These are colours we can print, but cannot guarantee to match. The editor flags them as approximate.
4.2 They are not a fault if they come out as the editor warned they would. If you need certainty on one of these, order a proof (section 6) — that is what it is for.
4.3 We recommend against approximate colours for anything where the exact shade matters, such as matching an existing set or a brand colour.
5. Category 3 — artwork, images, gradients and transparency
5.1 Some things cannot be reproduced exactly by dye sublimation — artwork with fine detail, gradients, transparency and low-opacity colours.
5.2 We decide what is achievable on these, using our colour correction process, and we will tell you before we print that your design is in this category and what to expect.
5.3 A proof is available, and is the way to have certainty.
5.4 This is a discretion over the achievable outcome, not a disclaimer. We still promise to use reasonable skill and care. A print that does not resemble your design, or that is defective, is a fault, and section 8 of the Terms of Service applies. Nothing in this section reduces your statutory rights.
5.5 Two things worth knowing before you design:
Dye sublimation has no transparency. A colour set to 30% opacity prints as a lighter solid colour, not as an overlay. It will not look the way it looks on screen.
Gradients print, but with some shift at the ends and a degree of banding. A gradient will read as a gradient; it will not be a smooth photographic blend.
5.6 The editor does not currently support uploading images. If we add that, this section governs how they print.
6. Swatches and proofs
6.1 A swatch is free — you only pay the delivery cost. A swatch is a small printed sample on the same material and coating we will use for your order. It shows how your chosen colours actually come out, rather than how they look on your screen.
6.2 A proof is a printed sample of your actual design, on the same material, before we produce the full order.
6.3 Where you approve a proof, your order is matched to it. The approved proof is the reference for your order, and this is the strongest protection you can have — it removes almost all argument about colour.
6.4 A swatch is not a reference for your design; a proof is. A swatch tells you how a colour behaves on the material. Only a proof shows your design printed, so only a proof can be the standard we match your order to.
6.5 If you approve a proof and the production run then differs from it beyond what we promise, that is a fault and we will reprint or refund.
6.6 If you do not request a proof, the reference is the design file you submitted, assessed against our validated palette.
6.7 A proof adds time before production. If you have a deadline, tell us and we will confirm whether a proof is possible in time.
7. Print and legibility corrections
7.1 To print your design properly we may need to make print and legibility corrections without asking you first. These are:
moving an element that would be cut off by the edge of the keycap, or that would collide with another element;
adding an outline or a border so a design reads clearly against its background;
changing a legend colour so the letters are legible against the keycap colour.
7.2 We make these because without them the item cannot be produced usably. They are not design changes we have chosen to make for our own convenience.
7.3 We record what we did and tell you about it in your order confirmation.
7.4 Where a change is one you would notice and a usable alternative existed — a different colour, a moved element, a resized logo — we will ask you first, and you may approve it or cancel for a full refund.
7.5 You keep your right to reject if the finished item differs materially from what you designed, even where we have made a legibility correction.
7.6 Business orders. Where you are buying under the Trade & Corporate Terms, your logo, brand colours and brand marks are not legibility corrections. Any change to those goes through the sign-off process in those terms before we print.
7.7 If you have specific requirements about a particular colour, tell us before production and we will confirm what we can achieve.
8. How we assess a colour complaint
8.1 We assess colour under controlled lighting, against the reference — either the approved proof or our validated palette.
8.2 We do not assess colour from a photograph, a phone screenshot, or a photo of the finished product taken under uncontrolled lighting. Those are useful for spotting a defect, but they are not a reliable colour measurement.
8.3 If you believe a print is wrong, send us photographs and the physical item if we ask for it. We assess it against the reference and tell you the result. We pay return postage where the item turns out to be outside what we promised.
9. If you are not sure
Email contact@techtoppers.co.uk before you order. Tell us what you are trying to match and what matters to you, and we will tell you honestly whether we can hit it, whether you need a proof, and how long that adds.