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A Reminder of our Advertising Policy


Riekie

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We've had quite a few members recently - mostly new members - who advertised their services or businesses on the forum.

Our full advertising policy is below but there seems to be some misunderstanding about what is considered to be "advertising" and what is not, so herewith a more simple explanation:

If you sell anything (service, goods, knowledge, advice...) and you charge for it, it is advertising.

If you derive an income stream from it, it is advertising - even if it is not your main source of income!

If anything you sell is your business - whether it is a main or side-line business, it is advertising.

If you have a registered business (including online services, such as a website for this purpose) or work for a registered business (including online services, such as a website for this purpose) for whatever service or goods you are offering, it is advertising.

If you offer something for free with the possibility to derive a future income from that free offering, it is advertising.

So basically, if you make any money from it, either directly or indirectly, it is advertising.

The only exception to this is if you sell something once-off like a car or book or whatever, in which case you'd place a free once-off add in classifieds. All free advertising in classifieds for this purpose could only be placed once a member has contributed at least 100 posts. This is to aleviate spammers registering on the forum with the sole purpose to sell their goods. (That is what Ebay & Gumtree is for...)

We have in the past, allowed long-standing and loyal, contributing members to sell fudge or something similar, as they did not have a business and were not doing it as an income stream but rather as a treat to forumites. (If you think that you fall into this category, please contact the admin team BEFORE placing your ad).

In all cases, all advertising should be placed in classifieds only and can only be placed once.

I hope this makes it easier to understand. We will continue to remove all posts which do not comply.

Please feel free to contact the host team if you wish to advertise or to discuss your individual situation for clarity.

Herewith the official advertising policy as mentioned above:

This forum is a not for profit initiative to help prospective immigrants in their move from South Africa to Australia. The forum is managed by a group of unpaid volunteers called "hosts". In the past, the hosts covered the internet hosting expenses by offering advertising to commercial businesses. For a small fee of A$25 per year we offered advertisers a small banner which appeared either on the top or at the bottom of each page. Advertisers were also allowed to make a post in the commercial threads sections advertising their services.

With immediate effect our policy on adverting is changing as follows:

1. Any commercial business wanting to advertise on www.saaustralia.org will need to utilise the services of Google Adwords. Google Adwords will receive payment from the business and provide a banner advert on the top right hand corner and/or bottom of a page on the forum. Advertisers can request that their advertisement banner appear on our website specifically in addition to other websites the advertiser may wish to target. See https://<strong clas...strong>.com.au/ for details.

2. In view of this change, no commercial advertising posts will be permitted at all on the forum with the following exception – Certain commercial members will be permitted to have a post advertising their services/business. These exclusive members (called featured contributors from now on) are members that the hosts consider to have provided substantial and quality help in informative posts to other members.

3. Classified adverts for non-commercial purposes will continue to be free. These are adverts for non-income earning reasons. For example, the once-off sale of a car or furniture etc. However in order to make a classified advert, the member will need to have made 100 posts previously. This is to prevent people registering on the forum and their first and last post is a classified advert. Members who have made a minimum of 500 posts will be permitted to advertise for small home industries such as tuisnywerheid products etc. But the rule will be that if you have an Australian Business Number, you will need to utilise Google Adwords.

4. Commercial members will not be permitted to start a thread advertising their business (however disguised it may be as an 'informative post'), however they will be permitted to answer a post of another member provided details of how their business will be able to help. However should a commercial member exclusively make posts that are aimed at selling their services and flood the forum with such posts, they will be asked to stop and to make more meaningful contributions.

5. Migration Agents will be required to disclose their company name, MARA registration number, real personal name, website details and business contact details in their signatures. They will not be charged for this.

The following businesses have been awarded "Featured Contributor" status and therefore will be permitted to make an advertising post in the Commercial threads free of charge.

SD_MOA - Stephen Dickson from Migration Outcomes Australia
tanyavdwes from Exchange4Free
Brannigan_FX from Treasury One
Ajay - Amanda Harris Registered Migration Agent

Those businesses who have paid the $25/yr advertising premium will be permitted to retain their advertising post until their annual subscription expires at which time their advertising post will be deleted. Then should they wish to continue advertising, they will need to go through Google Adwords.


The volunteer hosts have made these changes to lessen our workload in managing advertising ourselves.

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  • 1 year later...

Hello forum members

I'd just like to bump up this post re our advertising policy on the forum for newer members to read.

Many thanks for your compliance

AndreaL

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