Introduction
The process of submitting classified word ads to the Exponent has been automated for your convenience! The prices are exactly the same as standard submissions through our office, but student discounts cannot be afforded over the web.
Payment is made via PayPal. This is a popular service used on sites such as eBay to handle credit card transactions. You merely need to follow our link to our PayPal sales page which will show your total and request your credit card (or PayPal account) information.
Note: Personal ads are not accepted over the web.
Table of Charges
Here is a table of all of the charges:
| Service | Price |
|---|---|
| Regular text (first day) | $0.50 per word |
| Regular text (following days) | $0.40 per word |
| Own return line | $1.00 per return |
| Bolding | $0.50 per word |
| Headline Type 1 | $4.00 per line |
| Headline Type 2 | $4.50 per line |
| Headline Type 3 | $5.00 per line |
| Headline Type 4 | $5.50 per line |
For example,
4-BEDROOM, 2-BATHGreat downtown location, close to campus, spacious, pet friendly, call 123-456-7890.
would cost $4.00 for the single headline (4-BEDROOM, 2-BATH), eleven words at $0.45 each, and two bolded words at $0.50 each. The total would be $9.95 for the first day. After the first day the ad would be $0.40 for every word of normal text, so the total becomes $9.40 for each additional day. Running the ad for five issues would cost $47.55 total.
Documentation
For most people, a simple message is most cost effective. Basic text has a per word charge. For the first day the classified word ad runs, the price is slightly higher than following days. See above for a table of charges. Here is an example of a simple message, without any extra features such as headlines or bold:
TWO 4-BEDROOM APARTMENTS available for 2nd semester. Call 555-123-4567
Notice that the first three words of every classified word ad are capitalized automatically by the program (this is not the case if a headline or own return lines are used). Capitalization of course has no charge. A "word" qualifies as anything within spaces, so "4-bedroom" is one word and "555-123-4567" is one word. All classified word ads sent in will be screened before they are processed, so we recommend against writing-a-message-entirely-like-this :) Furthermore, all ads have a ten-word minimum; if you use less than ten words, you will be charged for ten words.
All you need to do to submit the above ad is type it exactly as you see there. It will automatically calculate the amount of words and associated charges per day and then your total charge.
Own Return LinesIf you wish, you can add your return lines. It is not uncommon to see something like this:
TWO 4-BEDROOM APARTMENTS
available for 2nd semester. Call 555-123-4567.
There is a charge (see above) to add your own return line. If your first statement is on its own line, we will center and capitalize it for you as seen above. All you need to do to enter your own return line into the classified word ad is hit the enter/return key as usual into the field. The script will recognize it and charge you accordingly.
BoldingAnother extra feature is bolding. You can bold words on a per-word charge as well. Consider this example:
TWO 4-BEDROOM APARTMENTS
available for 2nd semester. Call 555-123-4567
Five total words have been bolded above and the submitter will be charged accordingly. To implement bolding over the web, you must use a little bit of simple markup code. To use the markup code, you could write the message as follows:
[b]two 4-bedroom apartments[/b]
available for 2nd semester. [b]Call 555-123-4567[/b].
All words between "[b]" and "[/b]" (it is not case sensitive, you may also use "[B]" and "[/B]") will be made bold. Don't worry, if you think you messed something up, you will be able to preview what you submitted.
Headline TypesOur final feature is the completely optional headline types. Essentially these put a headline on the top of your ad that is of a larger font size than the regular text. There are four different headline types, with type 1 being the smallest and type 4 the largest. They are charged on a per-line basis and will be automatically formatted to be capitalized and fit the width of the ad column. Our program will wrap your headline into multiple lines if it is too wide, so be concise or expect to pay for multiple lines. The larger the headline, the less characters you can fit in one line. And remember, you can preview the ad before you pay for it; if the program wraps the ad and you don't want it to, you can go back and shorten it. Here is an example of our message before with a headline of type 1:
TWO 4-BEDROOM APARTMENTSavailable for 2nd semester. Call 555-123-4567.
The headline counts as a separate portion so you do not have to pay for your own return line if you use a headline type. Here is an example of a type 4 headline:
WINGSCome to Chuck's for free wings on Saturday nights 4-8!
Classified ads must be placed one business day prior to run date by 2 p.m.
Fill out this form to begin processing your classified ad. Any questions regarding this document or how to use this submission form? Find any bugs? Let us know at online@purdueexponent.org. For any non-technical questions regarding ad submission, please contact Rebecca Swaney at (765) 743-1111 ext. 0 or email classified@purdueexponent.org. We appreciate your input!