Custom Promotional Pens in Dubai: Complete Buying Guide

A branded pen is one of the cheapest items a company can hand out, and one of the longest-lived: it gets picked up, used and passed along long after a flyer would have been binned. This guide covers how PrintOnline's custom pens work and how to order them.

Plastic vs metal

PrintOnline sells both. The economical choice is the Custom Plastic Pen, offered with screen print and UV print. Metal pens sit in a higher bracket, for example the UMA Metal Pen. The full comparison is in plastic vs metal promotional pens.

Pen colours

The plastic pen comes in six barrel colours: black, red, blue, green, orange and white. The metal pen comes in five: grey, red, black, sky blue and navy blue.

Pick the barrel before you finalise artwork, not after. A one-colour logo has to sit on that barrel colour, and a dark logo on a dark barrel disappears. White and black barrels are the safe choices if your logo has to work unchanged.

Screen vs UV

The plastic pen is offered with two print methods, screen print and UV print. PrintOnline's own guidance is simple: screen printing for a large quantity with a simple one-colour design, UV printing for a smaller quantity or a more detailed, multi-colour design. The full breakdown is in screen printing vs UV printing on promotional pens.

Quantity

PrintOnline publishes a quantity range per method: UV printing from 25 to 1,000 pieces, and screen printing from 100 to 3,000 pieces. That is the practical reason the two methods exist side by side, rather than one simply being better.

The online quantity list runs from 1 up to 500 in steps, so for a run larger than that, or if you want a specific method confirmed against your artwork, talk to the team on +971 52 383 1019 rather than forcing the order form.

Artwork

A simple, high-contrast logo prints most cleanly on a pen barrel, because the print area is narrow. See what should you print on a promotional pen for what to include and what to leave out.

Pricing

Pen pricing is almost entirely a volume story. On the Custom Plastic Pen, the printed price works out like this:

Ordering 100 instead of 25 roughly doubles the bill and halves the unit cost. That is the single most useful fact on this page if you are budgeting a giveaway.

Across the wider pen range, other plastic models start from about AED 1.80 (UMA Plastic Pen) and AED 2.60 (UMA Stripe), while metal pens run from around AED 5.00 (Metal Ballpen Billund) up to AED 17.00 (UMA Metal Pen). Those are per-model starting prices, not like-for-like quotes.

Production

Standard production dispatches in 5 working days, with an urgent 3-working-day option for a surcharge that scales with quantity, from around AED 8 on a small run. The metal pens run a little longer: 6 working days standard, 3 urgent.

The timing detail that matters: production starts only after artwork approval, not when the order is placed. Your own sign-off time is part of the schedule.

Delivery

Pick your delivery location (Dubai/Sharjah/Ajman city limits, or other Emirates, which covers Abu Dhabi), then your mode: courier, 1 to 2 days after production and included, or a special driver within 6 working hours (AED 50) or 10 working hours (AED 150) of production finishing. Check the delivery date shown during ordering before you pay.

Corporate use

Pens suit client meetings, onboarding kits, bank and clinic desks, and branded stationery packs. A plastic pen works for volume; a metal pen suits a senior-client gift.

Exhibitions

Pens are an exhibition staple because they are cheap per head and genuinely used. Quantity planning is covered in how many promotional pens to order for an exhibition.

Events

For conferences, launches and training days, a branded pen on every seat or in every welcome bag keeps your name in front of attendees after the event ends.

Ordering

Choose plastic or metal, choose screen or UV (plastic), set your quantity, upload your logo and approve the proof. Start on the product page.

Order custom promotional pens from PrintOnline.

Related: screen vs UV printing, plastic vs metal pens and what to print on a promotional pen.