FAQ

1. What is the aim?
2. How does the site work?
3. Who are you?
4. How do I win for free?
5. How do I get commission?
6. How is the money split out?
7. What about VAT?
8. What if the site goes down?
9. What images sizes and types do you accept?
10. How do I know this isn't a big fraud/scam?
11. What sites and advertising do you accept?
12. What if I want to stop payment / don't renew
13. Will I get spam from the sale of the twitter account or mailing list?
14. What determines the order/placement of adverts on the page?

1. What is the aim?

The aim of the site is to get myself and my family out of the credit crunch. As a self employed person, work has been sporadic, the gaps between work have been lasting for months and rates have been dropping. This is an original way of trying to payback all our debts and be debt free, including the mortgage so that we can lead a stress free life and not have to worry about debts piling up even more. Having had to take permanent work in another country just to make ends meet, all I would like is the chance to back with my family and to be able to provide for them without so much stress, time away from home and hopefully make enough that I can set up my own business closer to home and have enough spare cash to do so for the first time.

2. How does the site work?

The site works on two principles which I believe are original. The first is to create a twitter account with a very large number of followers and which becomes a valuable commodity by doing so. At the end, the twitter account will be sold off to the highest bidder and the proceeds shared between myself, a few randomly chosen followers (ie a free prize draw) and the charities below. The second original principle is that along the way I'll be using the site to try and help others out of the crunch as much as I can as well as helping two charities that have been at the front end of the credit crunch Citizens Advice Scotland (Scottish charity SC016637) and The Samaritans Reg charity number: 21943, who coincidentally have their correspondence address as Stirling, the city of my birth. We are also looking to support other charities and would welcome suggestions via our facebook forum

3. Who are you?

1. Winning an award from Berkshire Enterprise Agency in 1989 for an Internet based job matching service, which I then didn't launch due to a possible move to the US and lack of finance
2. Inventing an early browser in 1990 which foresaw the rise of online advertising and personalised news, 6 months before the web was launched
3. Author in 1992 of the UK's first guide to getting online, a free list I gave away to encourage people to get online for the lowest rates possible instead of the rip off per email charges which were the norm at the time
4. Author in 1994 of the first online guide to Scotland, a free resource for promoting Scottish culture at home and abroad

4. How do I win for free

It's not just "no purchase necessary" it's "no purchase at all". In order to have a chance to win for free all you have to do is follow our twitter account and have a paypal account to receive the payment. As the number of followers increases so does the advertising rate so the proportion of winnings to followers stays approximately the same. Each follower at the time of the draw has an equal chance of winning. The financial split to determine the winnings is explained later in this FAQ.

5. How do I get commission?

We award commission of 10% of the advertising costs to anyone who refers an advertiser, subject to the following criteria.

1. Advertisers pay via paypal and the payment must refer to the referrer's twitter account at the time of the payment and the referrer's email account to receive payment
2. The recipient must have a paypal account matching the one referenced by the advertiser
3. The recipient's paypal account must be a different paypal account to the advertiser's, i.e. you cannot refer yourself
4. The recipient must remain a follower until after the funds from the advertisement are won and the prize draw portion of the advertisement is awarded.
5. Note that if the advertiser renews and the referrer remains a follower, the referrer will continue to receive the same percentage referral fee for each subsequent renewal by the advertiser

6. How is the money split out?

The banner placement fees sold on the per follower per month basis have the proceeds shared out as follows:

15% - Funding my credit crunch
15% - Funding your credit crunch (allocated by random prize draw)
10% - Funding the referrer's credit crunch - advertisement commission payment if appropriate.
10% - Funding for credit crunch charities: Samaritans and Citizens Advice Scotland

The following figures are approximate estimates:
15% - Funding the crunched UK economy - VAT payment
20% - More funding for the crunched UK economy - corporation tax (hey Alistair Darling I hope you will put this money to good use rather than tax breaks for MPs - which ordinary people being employed away from home can't claim)
15% - Funding for the companies helping me to run this site, e-commerce payments etc.

As you can see from the above, this is about helping others as well as myself. I joined the Internet in the 1980s, long before it became a commercial medium and that ethic of providing free help for others still motivates me today.

7. What about VAT?

My company is VAT registered and a VAT invoice can be provided on request. The advertising fees are quoted inclusive of VAT - no hidden charges. Winnings are free of VAT

8. What if the site goes down

We are hosted with xcalibre winner of numerous hosting awards, we will clearly use reasonable best attempts to keep the site up as this is in my interests as well as yours, however in the event that the site is down due a malicious act (e.g. denial of service, hacking etc) we will make reasonable efforts to get the site back as soon as technically possible. No refunds will be paid, however existing advertisers will have their advertising period extended by 24 hours for each complete 24 hours of downtime. We also reserve the right to take the site down temporarily for maintenance if necessary

9. What images sizes and types do you accept?

We use the standard internet 'full banner' and 'half banner' sizes of 468x60 and 234x60. No tiny 10x10 pixel sized banners here that you need a microscope to see properly! The prices quoted are for the half sized banners, the full sized banners are twice the price (because they are twice as big, see I like to keep it simple). GIF images only please, no animations.

10. How do I know this isn't a big fraud/scam?

Look I'm an honest guy, trying my best to help my family. See FAQ 1 where you can check out the various things I've done. My reputation is on the line with this. I hold SC level UK government security clearance from the Foreign Office and that is dependent on having a trustable history. If this was some sort of scam I'd be severely restricting my ability to find future work, besides it would not only be rather stupid, it just isn't the sort of person I am.

11. What sites and advertising do you accept?

We won't link to a site that has nothing to do with the advert or is misleading. We ask you not to use other people's or company's images or logos without their consent. Adverts must be legal, decent, honest and truthful. No pornographic, explicit, violent, illegal content on the adverts or linked to from the adverts will be accepted. In the event an advert is found to breach these rules it will be removed and no refund due. Please feel free to inform us if you notice such an advert as we can't check all 152 adverts every day for changes in the content they are linking to. Linking to alcohol or gambling related sites is OK however, I used to work for a leading brand of online Poker and enjoy the odd drink so have no particular issues with either of those sectors. We are also looking to phase out any animated adverts. Looking at 152 animated adverts is too much.

12. What if I want to stop payment / don't renew

Payment is monthly by paypal. If you don't want to renew for the following month, just let me know. Payments are due monthly at the advertising rate set at noon the day before the renewal. If we don't receive cleared funds within 7 days, the advert will be removed. The minimum purchase is only one month, so you're not committing yourself to anything beyond the first month's payment -if you try it and find it isn't for you, all you pay is the first month. Once the month has begun, you cannot cancel.

13. Will I get spam from the sale of the twitter account or mailing list?

No. We're not going to sell the mailing list. The twitter account will be sold off at the end but if you don't like what the new owner of the account does, all you have to do is unfollow them. Their loss.

14. What determines the order/placement of adverts on the page?

Premium adverts first (an expanding area covering up to 13 rows) then standard adverts. Within each section, the adverts are listed in descending date order of purchase or renewal (whichever is more recent). So if you renew your listing, you go back up to the top of the pile. We're looking to sell 152 adverts in total, clearly many will be below the fold although premium adverts will likely all be above the fold.

General Terms and conditions

1. Don't hack the site
2. We're not responsible for the content held on external sites
3. This site is (c) Craig Cockburn 2009, however the individual banner adverts are (c) the respective owners.
4. Any reference to times on this site will be taken as meaning GMT or BST as appropriate (ie the current time in the UK)
5. We don't necessarily endorse any of the products or services advertised here
6. This site is based in the UK and the relevant legislation in the event of any dispute is based on Scots law. If you seek information on UK gambling law, we recommend out-law.
7. We reserve the right to amend these terms and conditions and FAQ answers.
8. Please see our Terms and Conditions