FAQ: Why aren’t there online pictures for every ad?

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Questions. We love ‘em. When somebody has a question for us here at Paper Shop, we know that they’re either already advertising with us or thinking of giving us a try. We’re happy to help with and all inquiries, and we’ve found that a number of them are, well, frequently asked questions. Here’s where we take some time to talk about them.

This is a surprisingly common question, and though the answer might seem evident, there are a number of reasons why many of the online ads don’t include photos of the item. And, no, it’s not because only certain ads are eligible. Or because there’s a charge for posting a photo. In fact, we welcome photos for every single ad that’s placed, and it’s always, always free to do.

The most common reason for a dearth of photos is that the advertiser is either not comfortable using the internet or that they don’t feel a photo would enhance the appeal of the item (a good example of this might be, say, a hammer or a pallet of bricks). In other cases, the seller might assume that the item will sell quickly enough on its own merits that a photo isn’t necessary (oftentimes they’re right).

It never hurts, however, to ask for a photo of an item you’re interested in; even if the seller isn’t particularly internet-savvy, once they know they’ve got an interested party for the item, they may well commandeer a friend or family member to help get the photos to you via email.

Got a question for us? Ask! We’re happy to get you an answer.

FAQ: How do I report an item sold?

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Questions. We love ‘em. When somebody has a question for us here at Paper Shop, we know that they’re either already advertising with us or thinking of giving us a try. We’re happy to help with and all inquiries, and we’ve found that a number of them are, well, frequently asked questions. Here’s where we take some time to talk about them.

You’ve sold your item! Congrats! Now what?

It’s pretty easy to let us know that you’ve had a sale and that you no longer need to run the ad. The most common way to let us know is to give our office a call at 1-800-537-9377 and bring us up to speed. We’ll stop the ad so that you won’t continue to get phone calls on it, and we can make payment arrangements. We’re happy to send you a bill in the mail or you’re welcome to pay over the phone with a credit or debit card. We accept Visa, MasterCard & Discover.

You can also report the sale on thepapershop.com. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you’ll see an option to “Report an Item Sold”. Click on that option and let us know exactly what you’ve sold. A bill will automatically be generated and mailed to you.

FAQ: Why is there a plus sign just before locations in ads?

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Questions. We love ‘em. When somebody has a question for us here at Paper Shop, we know that they’re either already advertising with us or thinking of giving us a try. We’re happy to help with and all inquiries, and we’ve found that a number of them are, well, frequently asked questions. Here’s where we take some time to talk about them.

Today’s query is a shockingly common question. We get asked all the time why there’s a little + just before the location in every ad. Generally we’re asked directly, but every once in a while we’ll get a mystery-minded caller who suspects they’ve cracked some sort of code and wants confirmation.

Here’s the symbol in question:

plus sign

We’d love to tell you that it’s evidence of a highly-developed system of ad ratings or even discreet commentary on the location of the item at hand, but the truth is far more prosaic. Our ad system automatically inserts the location right next to the phone number, and the plus sign – despite looking rather, well, positive – is just there to help differentiate visually between the numbers listed for the price of the item and the contact number for that item.

And that’s positively the long & short of it.

FAQ: Can I post pictures of my item online?

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Questions. We love ‘em. When somebody has a question for us here at Paper Shop, we know that they’re either already advertising with us or thinking of giving us a try. We’re happy to help with and all inquiries, and we’ve found that a number of them are, well, frequently asked questions. Here’s where we take some time to talk about them.

A commission ad might run to thirty words, but what would you say if we offered you the chance at four thousand words? For free? After all, they say a picture’s worth a thousand words; since we offer up to four photos with every ad, you’ve got the chance to get pretty wordy.

When you place your ad on thepapershop.com, you can attach pictures right along with the ad text. Even if the ad’s already running, you can use “Change or Correct an Ad” (find it at the bottom of the page) to add photos after the fact or even change the ones that you currently have posted. Add or change photos at any time, and if you run into difficulty or even just have questions, feel free to give us a buzz. We’ll be happy to help you get your ad picture perfect.

FAQ: How soon will my ads appear?

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Questions. We love ‘em. When somebody has a question for us here at Paper Shop, we know that they’re either already advertising with us or thinking of giving us a try. We’re happy to help with and all inquiries, and we’ve found that a number of them are, well, frequently asked questions. Here’s where we take some time to talk about them.

If there were a ranking for the frequency with which we get asked certain questions, this one would not only be in the top ten, it would likely be the crowned champion of FAQs.

The answer? It depends.

Our deadline is 11 am every Friday for the following Wednesday’s print edition. If we get your ad before then, you can count on it being in print the following week. Once we get past that deadline, ads we get are scheduled to appear in the following Wednesday. So if we got your ad before 11 this morning, you’ll find it in the March 20th issue; if we got it after that, it’ll be in print for March 27th.

Remember, though, that every ad we get goes on thepapershop.com within 30 minutes of us receiving it. So even if you’ve missed the deadline for the print edition, your ad will be online within half an hour. And we do get a large percentage of reported sales through online ads; it’s not uncommon for items to sell before they even go into print!

FAQ: Why do you ask for my phone number first?

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Questions. We love ‘em. When somebody has a question for us here at Paper Shop, we know that they’re either already advertising with us or thinking of giving us a try. We’re happy to help with and all inquiries, and we’ve found that a number of them are, well, frequently asked questions. Here’s where we take some time to talk about them.

We’d like to tell you that we ask for your digits because you’re simply too charming to resist, but we’d be lying (though we’re sure your charm is off the charts). We do it for a few reasons, most notably for ease in quickly locating your account.

It’s funny how last names tend to run the gamut from the difficult to pronounce (and spell!) to the strikingly common. By looking you up on our system using your phone number, we bypass both spelling confusion and the large number of, say, John Smiths that we’ve got on record. It also enables us to easily make sure that we’ve got the correct and current phone number for you.

FAQ: What if I have a bunch of things I’d like to sell together?

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Questions. We love ‘em. When somebody has a question for us here at Paper Shop, we know that they’re either already advertising with us or thinking of giving us a try. We’re happy to help with and all inquiries, and we’ve found that a number of them are, well, frequently asked questions. Here’s where we take some time to talk about them.

It might be a living room set. Maybe it’s parts from a classic car. Perhaps it’s a collection of some sort. No matter the circumstances, it’s not all that unusual for us to run an ad that lists a number of items for one price.

Because of the way commission ads are set up, we must list one total price for the all items in that type of ad. Sometimes it’s as simple as selling the items as a package deal. Other times, though, the seller might be willing to sell the items piece by piece – and there’s a pretty neat way to handle that. By listing a price for all the items and adding “or will separate” afterwards, we’re able to charge for the parts of the ad as they are sold.

Example: a seller has 300 vinyl records, and wants to sell them at different prices. When we include an asking price of, say, $500 All, or will separate, the seller can report the items as they are sold and we’ll charge the commission accordingly. If some of the records were sold for $50, we’d charge the $5. commission on the sold stuff and readjust the ad to only include the remaining items.

You know we’re always here to help, and it never hurts to inquire about the most effective way to advertise (and sell!) you items.

FAQ: How do you figure out the commission fee?

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Questions. We love ‘em. When somebody has a question for us here at Paper Shop, we know that they’re either already advertising with us or thinking of giving us a try. We’re happy to help with and all inquiries, and we’ve found that a number of them are, well, frequently asked questions. Here’s where we take some time to talk about them.

As you probably know, commission ads are our most popular kind of ads. You might also already know that the commission fee comes due when the item is sold. But do you know how, exactly, we get that number?

For the sake of consistency, we base the commission on the printed asking price of the item (something to keep in mind when bargaining with a potential buyer). It’s 10% of the first $100 and 3% of the balance over $100. So if you’ve got an item listed for, say, $200, the commission on that item would be $13: $10 for that first $100 and $3 for the remaining $100 of the price. A $300 item would carry a commission of $16. A $400 item? $19.

There is a maximum commission charge of $70. So anything advertised for $2100 or more – whether it’s $2100, $21,000 or $21,000,000 – will have a commission of $70.

FAQ: What if I want to change an ad I’ve placed?

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Questions. We love ‘em. When somebody has a question for us here at Paper Shop, we know that they’re either already advertising with us or thinking of giving us a try. We’re happy to help with and all inquiries, and we’ve found that a number of them are, well, frequently asked questions. Here’s where we take some time to talk about them.

They say the only constant is change, and we’d have to agree.  So what happens if you’ve already got an ad running with us and you feel like making some changes – can that be done? Short answer: yes! If you’d like to lower the asking price on your item or maybe change the wording a bit, we can do that. At any time.

You’re welcome to call our office at 1-800-537-9377 to tweak your ads over the phone, or you can even change things up using “Change or Correct an Ad” on thepapershop.com (you’ll find it at the bottom of the page).

FAQ: What if I don’t sell my item?

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Questions. We love ‘em. When somebody has a question for us here at Paper Shop, we know that they’re either already advertising with us or thinking of giving us a try. We’re happy to help with and all inquiries, and we’ve found that a number of them are, well, frequently asked questions. Here’s where we take some time to talk about them.

So you’ve placed a commission ad with us. It’s going into its fourth issue (commission ads run for four issues) and you haven’t sold your item. Hey, it happens and we understand that – sometimes it just takes a little time to sell something. If you are approaching that last issue, no need to worry: we’ll give you a phone call to see how you’re doing.

If you haven’t sold but you’d like to keep advertising, we’ll be happy to rerun the ad for another 4 issues. The commission will not increase with each run: it’s solely based on the asking price of the item and not on the length of time that you advertise. If the commission on the item is, say, $50, it’ll be $50 when it sells regardless of how many weeks it’s run.

But what if you didn’t sell and don’t feel like rerunning the ad? No problem. As long as the item’s been kept available for sale (it wasn’t thrown away, traded in, given away, etc.) and has not sold, we’re happy to simply let the ad expire and you’ll owe nothing.

Remember that we’re always happy to explain how we work and go over any and all policies with you. Give us a call at 1-800-537-9377.