Frequently asked quesions for Supporters, Retailers and Advertisers.

[Lisa]

Frequently asked questions about Retailing, Advertising and Donating

Site Supporters
Being a site supporter gets you access to the trash including creating and posting threads in there. The trash will continue to be the only unmoderated forum on ASC. Private messages limits are increased over those of a regular user (2000vs100), google ads can be turned off and you get a shiny site supporter tag under your avatar. The only difference between the 4 tiers will be the tag you get for bragging rights. Tiers are $10, $25, $50 and $100 (though you can give different amounts other than the tier levels). Site supporters are 1 year blocks of time.

To become a Site Supporter
Go to your User CP and click on the Subscriptions section, or simply follow this link.

Site Supporter Tags
We have three versions of the tags, you can choose which ones you see in your control panel options. This is what they look like;

Site Supporter




Silver Supporter




Gold Supporter




Platinum Supporter

Site Supporter tags for Retailers and Advertisers
Advertisers and retailers will get a complimentary site supporter tag (regular $10 option). The only difference between the tiers is the tag and bragging rights. Advertising and retailing can still donate to receive tiers above "Site Supporter" how ever you can pay for everything at once with the same payment. Retailers will also get the tag

PST (Ontario)
ASC Operates from Ontario so on taxable items PST applies. Advertising on a website is not considered taxable by the Ontario government so no PST for Ontario residents for advertising.

GST
Until we hit that magic income number for GST we are giving everyone a break on the GST by not registering for a GST number until we required to by law. Because GST would be applicable to everyone when we have to charge it it would go on top of the price. There is no tax on donations.

Ad and Retail exposure
According to Google Ads we had 1,566,730 page hits for the month of December. This is not counting the people that have Google Ads turned off (probably anyone who is a site supporter or age verifier/staff). Ads are at the top right and bottom right of the page. If you have 1 of 10 ads your ad is displayed 10% of the time. You can increase that share by purchasing more blocks of advertising (ie 3 ads per month). Multiple ads do not have to be the same. If you purchased 3 ads you would be 3 times as likely to have your ad displayed than some one who has only one ad. Due to the fact that the system does not keep track of the ad you last saw they will be appear as if random to you.

Bulk payment
Buy six months get another month free, buy twelve months get two extra months free (We call this the ASC dozen, Harley can't count, he's an engineer not a bean counter).

Image types
Acceptable image types are gif, jpg and png. Animated gifs are acceptable providing they don't cause seizures in our readership.

Ad destination
The link attached to your ad goes to a destination of your choosing (it can be a thread, it can go to a website or even open an email).

Hiding ads
While site supporters can turn off the google ads the retail section and paid for ads will still be visible to them. I'm not aware of any ad blockers that can block our paid-for advertising ads as they will be part of the site.

Making an ad and hosting
We host the ads for you so there is no need to have webspace of your own. The ad size is 420x89 pixels, and we may re-compress your ad if its file size is too big.
If you need an ad made for you and don't have some one to make it for you we have a couple independent graphic designers on staff. Send a message to Bean, Drake, Manchovie or Mr. Jon about what you would like and they can discuss their rates with you. You can see samples of their work in some of ASC's banners and some of the ads in the right corner.

List of site supporting businesses
We will have a list of businesses that support ASC in our retailer section.

Retailer threads prior to the Retailer program
After October 31st, 2008 we will be archiving your stickied thread to an nonviewing portion of the system unless you are a paid Retailer in which case it will have been moved to the Retailer section. The classifieds will be entirely reserved for private sales. After October 31st, 2008 retailers that post retail ads in the classifieds will be given an infraction. Repeat offences may include removal of access to ASC for a period of time. Retailing is defined as purchasing goods for resale or offering up services for hire. The exception to this is our gun doctor thread, gun doctors are allowed to list their services in that thread only, for free.

Cost for retailers and advertisers (yeah you wanted to know this back on question 1)
Cost will be $50 per ad spot and $50 for a retail space, per month. There is no limit on the number of ads you buy, if you buy 5 ads and ASC is hosting 10 ads you will have ads for 50% of the page views. As an added bonus, we are currently offering a special promotion, if you buy retail space you can have 1 ad space for 50% off and vice versa, for those that have already purchased both you can have a credit of the difference applied or refunded.

Please note:

Terms and Conditions for Retailers on AirSoftCanada (ASC)

• ASC is not liable for traffic or lack of traffic generated by your retail space
• The retail space is available in one month periods starting on the date payment is received or a later date agreed on by the retailer and ASC
• One month will go to the same day less one of the next month (eg retail access starts on the 6th in November it runs to the 5th in December)
• Unused whole months can be canceled for a full refund of the unused portion of the retail space by either the advertiser or ASC
• Bonus months for bulk purchasing are added to the end of the purchased term
• Retail space can be revoked for any reason, unused whole months will be refunded
• Retailers must address all complaints brought against them
• Retailers agree not to sell gun parts or guns to non verified members through ASC
• Retailers selling guns must do so in the age-verified section only

Terms and Conditions of advertising on AirSoftCanada (ASC)

• ASC is not liable for traffic or lack of traffic generated by your ad
• The advertising space is available in one month periods
• The advertising space is not exclusive, other people can buy the same ad space; ads are displayed randomly and will have the same presence as any other
• The amount of exposure your ad gets depends on how many other ads are purchased in the same month
• You can purchase multiple ads to increase your percentage of exposure
• One month will go to the same day less one of the next month (eg ad starts on the 6th in November it runs to the 5th in December)
• All ads must be approved for content by Harley and Lisa and approval can be with held for any reason
• Unused whole months can be canceled for a full refund of the unused portion by either the advertiser or ASC
• Bonus months for bulk purchasing are added at the end of the purchased term
• Ad approval can be revoked for any reason, unused whole months will be refunded
• Ads are hosted by ASC at no charge
• ASC reserves the right to charge a service fee for frequent ad changes

Questions regarding the retailer program and advertising on ASC must be sent via email to ads@airsoftcanada.com. Approval for the retailer program is by no means automatic. Please let us know how your presence as a retailer will benefit the ASC community.

[Mantelope]

Due to a recent influx of retailers, we have decided that retailer subscriptions must be pre-approved. All accounts with retailer status will be grandfathered, and can continue subscribing to the program without difficulty. If you wish to become a new retailer, you must email us at ads@airsoftcanada.com to state your intent. Know that at this point, we will not be approving every retailer that applies; please let us know why you feel your presence on ASC will benefit the community. We feel this action will lead to an overall higher quality of retailers on ASC.