The Hotline Knowledge Centre brings our buying guides, product ideas, FAQs, case studies and site news together in one place on hotline.co.uk. It's there to help you work out what to order from a range of over 2,000 branded products, what it'll cost and how long it'll take, before you speak to anyone. Everything in it is free to read and you don't need an account.

Hotline Promotional Products has been supplying branded merchandise to UK organisations since

In that time we've answered the same questions thousands of times on the phone: what a sensible spend per person looks like, whether 50 units is enough to get a decent price, and how long a printed hoodie takes compared to a printed pen. The Knowledge Centre is where we're writing those answers down, so you can get them at nine o'clock on a Sunday evening without waiting for us to open on Monday.

What's in the Knowledge Centre Guides explain how promotional product buying works. Budgets and quantity breaks, minimum order quantities, lead times, branding methods and the artwork you need to send. Start here if you're ordering for the first time, or if you've inherited a merchandise budget from someone who has left.

Ideas are product suggestions grouped by occasion and audience, for when you know the event but haven't settled on the item.

FAQs are short answers to single questions. Minimum orders, VAT, setup charges, file formats, turnaround times.

Case studies are real orders we've delivered, covering what was ordered, why that choice was made, and how it went on the day.

News covers changes to our range and our website. New products, new categories, and the features we build to make ordering less work.

Who the Knowledge Centre is written for It's written for the person who has been handed a merchandise budget and a deadline, which in our experience is rarely someone whose job title mentions merchandise. That might be a marketing manager with an exhibition stand booked, an HR team building an onboarding kit, an events team planning delegate bags, or someone ordering branded pens for a small business for the first time.

You don't need to know the terminology. Where we use a term like MOQ or pad printing, we explain it the first time it appears and then use it normally.

We've also tried to be useful about the things suppliers usually go quiet on. Minimum order quantities vary from 5 units on some clothing to 100 on printed sweets. Dispatch times run from 5 working days on a screen printed tote bag to 22 on a full colour bamboo fan. Those numbers decide what you can realistically buy, and they belong in public rather than in a quote you have to ask for.

Where to start if you're new to branded merchandise If you want to see your logo on something before you spend anything, read how a Visual Proof works. Proofs are free, they come back within 20 minutes and there's no obligation to order.

If you know your budget but not your product, read how to filter by budget, quantity and date. It covers working out your cost per head and narrowing 2,000 products down to what fits it.

If you have a fixed date to hit, read guaranteed delivery dates on promotional products. Every product page on our site shows the date we'll deliver on or before, and that article explains how to read it.

And if you want to check something is actually available before you plan around it, read how to see stock levels.

If you already know the kind of thing you're after, the News section also covers our Big Brands range for corporate gifting, branded sweets and food for events and direct mail, and promotional fans for outdoor summer campaigns. Or go straight to the full product range and browse by category.

What we're adding next The Knowledge Centre will keep growing. We're adding guides in the order our customers ask for them, which means the things people ring up about most get written first.

If there's a question you want answered and it isn't here yet, tell us. We'd rather write the answer once and publish it than give it out one phone call at a time.

Frequently asked questions What is the Hotline Knowledge Centre? The Knowledge Centre is the free advice section of hotline.co.uk. It holds buying guides, product ideas, frequently asked questions, case studies from real orders, and news about changes to our range and our website.

Do I need an account to read the Knowledge Centre? No. Everything in the Knowledge Centre is open to read without an account, without an email address and without a sign-up step.

Is the Knowledge Centre just product listings? No. The guides explain how promotional product buying works, covering budgets, minimum order quantities, lead times, branding methods and artwork requirements. Product listings stay in the product categories, which the guides link to where it helps.

Who writes the Knowledge Centre? Our own team. Hotline Promotional Products has been supplying branded merchandise to UK organisations since 1989, and every guide is written by someone who has answered the same question on the phone.

Where should I start if I've never ordered branded merchandise? Start with how a Visual Proof works, so you can see your logo on a product for free before spending anything, then read how to filter by budget, quantity and date to narrow the range down to what fits your spend and your deadline.

Does the Knowledge Centre cover prices? Yes. Our guides publish real figures rather than asking you to request a quote to find out. Prices and minimum order quantities also sit on every product page, so a branded canvas tote shows £2.55 and a minimum of 50 before you speak to anyone.

Can I use the Knowledge Centre to plan around a deadline? Yes. Every product page shows the date we'll deliver on or before, and our guides explain how lead times work so you can plan backwards from an event date.