• You must register as a GuideToBeadwork.com sponsor to participate in our sponsorship programs. Registration is free and carries no other obligations. Click here to register right now.

• There are eligibility requirements associated with becoming a GuideToBeadwork.com sponsor.

• All sponsors certify that they agree to our General Terms and Conditions when they register.

• Page sponsorships last three months. The associated bidding deadlines are:

  • January 1 through March 31
      Deadline: November 15 - 11:59 P.M. (PST)

  • April 1 through June 30
      Deadline: February 15 - 11:59 P.M. (PST)

  • July 1 through September 30
      Deadline: May 15 - 11:59 P.M. (PST)

  • October 1 through December 31
      Deadline: August 15 - 11:59 P.M. (PST)

• Page sponsorship is exclusive. Banners are static. They appear near the top of their page for the whole term. We do not award any one page to more than one sponsor at a time. No banner rotation occurs.

• Pages awarded during a quarter are pro-rated with a minimum $5.00 billing.

• You can view the current status of all pages by clicking here.

• Pages, along with their prices, are listed in "bidding menus" grouped together with related pages. These bidding menus are divided into three main categories:

• There is an index page for each categoriy as well as a Main index page listing all categories and bidding menus:

  1. Store List pages
  2. Book Chapters
  3. Premium pages

• Links to these index pages can be found on most of the sponsor pages (including this one) in the white boxes at the upper right of the page.

• Remember that you cannot actually bid on any pages until you register.

• A fast and efficient way to bid is to "zoom in" on the single page (or location) you want by clicking on the "zoom in" link for the page on the bidding menu. There are several other good reasons to do so.

• The page will reload much faster than a whole bidding menu when rechecking for a page's current status.

• You get some more info about the page including the last bid date and the number of bids in the current quarter.

• You can bid directly from any bidding menu but only one page at a time so there is no advantage to bidding this way. Some of the store list bidding menus have quite a few pages listed.

• The zoom-in pages are the ones to bid from. Each page in each bidding menu has a "zoom in" link associated with it. It's the location name for store list pages. All the others are very prominent and obvious.

• We recommend that you use the bidding menus only for comparison pricing, checking page availability status, and navigating to the associated zoom-in page when you're ready to bid on or reserve a page.

• Only registered sponsors may reserve or bid on pages.

• The bidding menus show each page's status (Available or Sponsored) and the current high bid or base along with two links:

  1. to the zoom-in bidding form for the page
  2. to the actual page (for instance to see if there is a banner there yet)

• Each bidding menu and zoom-in form is a CGI (server program). The information (bids and/or status) changes every time a sponsor confirms a high bid or reservation for an associated page. If you've been looking at one for a while deciding, always use 'Reload' or 'Refresh' right before you bid to help avoid confusing results.

• Bidding menus are where you select a single page to sponsor, then zoom in on that page. At this point you begin the two step bidding process.

• IMPORTANT: Always use the 'Reload' or 'Refresh' button when returning to a bidding menu to bid on other pages in the same menu in order to get the latest bid and availability status (including results for your own bids and reservations).

• Pages marked "Available" may be reserved immediately by bidding the listed base price. Generally, this means your banner display can appear at the top of the page within days.

• The minimum bid is $5.00 for three months of page sponsorship. Lower bids will generate an Invalid Bid error.

• The minimum bidding increment is $1.00 for each bid. All bids must be entered in whole dollars with no decimal point. Bids entered with a decimal point or any other non-numeric character will generate an Invalid Bid error.

• You can always enter a bid that is less than the base price listed for a page, as long as it is not less than $5.00 (the minimum bid for a single three-month page sponsorship). There are several reasons for possibly wanting to do this:

  • Nobody might offer the base price (thereby winning the page immediately if it is marked "Available")
  • The high bidder may fail to pay in time.
  • The winner might be found ineligible for sponsorship under our Terms and Conditions.

• HOT TIP: In theory, any page at GuideToBeadwork.com (including our homepage and main store page) could be won with a $5.00 bid. This is the case for every unclaimed premium high-traffic page we have! There are about fifteen of these.

• Winning bids will automatically be used as base prices for subsequent terms.

• Bidding on (or reserving) a page is a two-step process once you reach the zoom-in form (or bidding menu) which contains the page(s) you are interested in bidding on (or reserving).

• The zoom-in form gives you more info about its associated page(s) and reloads much faster than the bidding menus.

• All bids are considered binding once Step 2 below (Confirming your Bid) has been completed.

  STEP 1 - Sending your Bid

  • Select a page by clicking on its radio button (when applicable)
  • Enter your e-mail address and password
  • Enter your bid (in dollars)
  • Click on the Send button.

STEP 2 - Confirming your Bid

• You receive a confirmation page which varies depending on the status of the page and your bid.
• It shows the page you selected and the amount of your bid
• If it's different from what you expected, remember that a page's status can change in the seconds between loading the zoom-in form (or bidding menu), filling in the form, and sending your bid
• Click on the Confirm button. (You can quit any time before this step, but not after)

If there are no errors, your bid becomes binding and unretractable except under special conditions (see below).

• Your bid is officially processed and time-stamped
• Your browser is always then redirected to a page with a message concerning the final outcome status of your bid and what happens next.
• Please note that it is possible for a page's status to change in the short time between when you Send your bid and the time you Confirm it. This can cause yet another type of error and results can be very confusing if this occurs. (See Outages below for more details on these non-fatal errors).

  • When you're not sure if a bid was registered it really doesn't hurt anything to enter an identical bid twice. The first will always take precedence anyway. Don't do this too often though.

  • You may also check with us via e-mail if you like. Use "Bid Query" as the subject and get as close as you can to the date and time (including time zone) of the bid in question. Include your password for verification, as always.

• Bids are not retractable once they have been confirmed except in unusual circumstances such as when:

  • An obvious typographical error is made.

  • You receive a non-fatal error message because the page's status changed between the time you sent your bid and the time you confirmed it.

    To retract such a bid see our Bidding Rules.

• In the extremely unlikely event of a tie (identical high bids recorded less than one second apart), the page(s) in question will be awarded to the sponsor with the earliest date of registration.

• All pages marked "Available" can be reserved immediately by offering their base price (or $5.00, whichever is higher). Generally, your banner display can appear on the page within a few days.

• Partial terms are pro-rated automatically ($5.00 minimum). Full terms are three months (one quarter).

  Example:

  • Page X has a base price of $15.00 and is available
  • On March 1, you bid $15.00 and are awarded Page X immediately
  • You would be billed $5.00 for the last month (March) of the quarter or one-third of the term. (The actual rate would be a little less because it would take a few days to get your banner up, however...)

  • Minimum billing amount is $5.00

• You may reserve multiple pages via e-mail. (You must use the zoom-in forms or bidding menus for single page bids and reservations.)

  • Include the URL (copy the link) for each page you want.
  • Include your password for verification.
  • Make the subject "Multipage Bid"
  • Send it to greg@vinson.com
  • We'll assume you are offering the base price for all pages listed, award you the pages still available based on the e-mail's time-stamp, and bill you accordingly, pro-rated as applicable.

• Offers lower than the base price (but not lower than $5.00) are accepted as bids and recorded (but not displayed). If nobody bids the base price (thereby winning the page immediately) before the next deadline, the highest bidder will be awarded the page(s) after the deadline.

• These pages will show the base or current high bid for the next quarter.

• You can always bid on any page for the following quarter, regardless of its status.

• Check for an actual banner on the page. If only the generic GTB banner is there, it may become "Available" again. (see NOTE below)

• Bids higher than the base or current bid are accepted, recorded and shown immediately. ('ReLoad' the zoom-in form or bidding menu to see new high bids)

• Bids lower than the base or current bid (but not lower than $5.00) are not shown but are accepted and recorded in case:

  • The high bidder fails to pay in time.
  • The high bidder is not eligible for sponsorship under our Terms and Conditions
  • Nobody bids the base price and your bid is the highest.

• IMPORTANT NOTE: If a particular page (or set of pages) you want to reserve is marked Sponsored, check the actual page(s). If there is no banner displayed (not counting our generic GTB banner), the sponsor who was awarded the page(s) may:

  • Default on payment
  • Become disqualified under our Eligibility requirements

  If either happens, the page(s) will revert back to Available status.

  1. You may want to bookmark the group bidding menu or zoom-in form containing the page(s) and check back from time to time to see if they become Available again. (They can be bookmarked but you should always reload them for current data.)

  2. An even better strategy is to bid the base price for the next quarter because, in that case, if they become Available again for either of the above reasons, you will be awarded the page(s) immediately (unless another sponsor uses the same strategy before you or outbids you in the meantime).

  If a banner display appears on the page(s), it means the sponsor has been approved for eligibility and made payment. You can still bid for next quarter.

• Shortly after the deadline, sponsors with winning bids will be notified via e-mail. Instructions for submitting their banner display and their payment will be included.

• Sponsors who reserve an available page will be notified via e-mail within a few days of confirmation. Instructions for submitting their banner display and their payment will be included.

• Base prices are pro-rated for partial terms. (full term: three months) minimum billing: $5.00

  Example:

  • Page X has a base price of $15.00 and is available
  • On March 1, 2001, you bid $15.00 and are awarded Page X immediately
  • You would be billed $5.00 for the last month (March) of the quarter or one-third of the term. (The actual rate would be a little less because it would take a few days to get your banner up, however...)

  • Minimum billing amount is $5.00

• All sponsors must meet eligibility requirements which are usually verified at this time.

• Payments must be postmarked within 7 days (including weekends and holidays) after receiving notification that you have been awarded a page. If a sponsor fails to meet this deadline or is disqualified under our eligibility rules, the page(s) in question will be awarded to the next highest bidder. There are no exceptions to this policy. You may pay via PayPal or we accept business and personal checks, money orders, and cashier's checks (payable to "In Touch Enterprises") via regular mail. (Include your registered e-mail address on all payments.)

• IMPORTANT NOTE: Look for actual banner displays on pages marked "Sponsored" or "Unavailable" (besides our own). If it's only the generic GTB banner, the page may revert back to "Available" if the above conditions are violated by the sponsor who reserved it.

• When you reserve a page, you may now lock in it's price for up to one full year.

• When sending your payment, multiply the winning bid amount by the number of three month terms you want (up to four).

• Page sponsorship is exclusive. Banners are static. They appear near the top of their page for the whole term. We do not award any one page to more than one sponsor at a time. No banner rotation occurs.

• Banner displays are limited to a single JPEG or GIF graphic.

  • maximum area: 320 by 40 pixels
  • maximum file size: 10KB
  • Animated graphics are prohibited

• You may provide the banner or we can create it for you.

• In most cases, we can have your display ready to go by the time your payment arrives.

• There are some special considerations regarding the store lists.

  • Each location (state, province or country) has three different store list pages associated with it.

  • The stores themselves are the same for all three but they are ordered differently

    1. sorted by City
    2. sorted by Zip code
    3. sorted by Store Name

  • The purpose of this is to provide list users with different options to expedite the process of locating a store near them which is, of course, the main purpose of the lists.

• The three pages for any location may be bid on or reserved separately or you can bid on or reserve the whole set of three.

• To win all three in a set, the winning bid must be higher than the combined total of high bids for the three separate pages.

The following items explain how the reservation process works when some or all of the pages in a set are still marked "Available".

• If all three separate pages are still available, you may immediately reserve the whole set by bidding the listed base price. This is the quickest way to reserve the set of three immediately.

• If one or more of the individual pages in the set is marked "Sponsored", the "All 3" option will be marked "Unavailable". This only means that the set cannot be reserved immediately. You can still enter a bid for the next quarter.

  PLANNED

• The server is offline for a few minutes at 10:00 p.m. PST for routine automated maintainance. You will be unable to bid for those few minutes.

• Bidding is suspended for the first 48 hours after a deadline passes. This is to give us time to determine and notify winners and reset the database for the next quarter.

  UNPLANNED

• During peak traffic times, such as near the deadline, it is very possible for non-fatal errors to occur. The most common example is when another sponsor reserves a page between the time you submit a bid and the time you confirm it. In this example, you might:

  • Receive a confirmation message (after submitting the bid) that you had been awarded the page
  • When you clicked on the Confirm button, you would receive an explanatory error message which indicated you had not won after all.

  This can be confusing so please be aware of it. The best strategies to avoid such errors are:

  • Use the zoom-in form when reserving.
  • Type in your e-mail, password and bid (if applicable) and click Send as quickly as possible after checking the current page status.
  • Use a short password.
  • 'Copy' your e-mail address before you start so you can just 'Paste' it while bidding.
  • If you see "Congratulations!", Confirm as quickly as possible. You don't have to read everything (you'll get it all via e-mail anyway if you win), just quickly check your bid and the page title at the bottom and Confirm. (Use the 'Back' button if you goofed the amount or page)
  • Use a faster computer and internet connection if possible.

• Unplanned outages are an inconvenience to all concerned. When they occur, we ask that you be patient. Click here for procedures regarding outages lasting more than an hour.

• If unplanned outages occur near a deadline due to high traffic volumes, we may extend the deadline at our discretion.