Placing an advert or ordering a subscription online - Frequently Asked Questions
If you are having trouble placing an advert via our website please take the time to read through our frequently asked questions below.
***************************************
How do I place an advert online? »
To place an advert in your local paper via our website click the 'Buy and Sell' button which is located near to the top right hand side of our site. Alternatively click the 'Place an advert' link from our left hand navigation menu.
If prompted, next select the main publication you wish to advertise in. Multi-publication packages are available under each title.
The next page you will see asks you to pick a category for your advert. For example if you were advertising your car you would click on the 'Motors' category.
Now select the type of advert you would like to place from the options listed. This could be an advert that is displayed in a box, as plain text (lineage), with a photo or for one or two weeks depending on the advert category you have selected.
Once you have selected the correct advert type you will be asked to enter your advert into the text box provided. Read through the instructions listed with each advert type to make sure you enter the correct number of words and also choose the correct package/cost option where applicable.
Click the 'Add to Basket' button.
The following page will display your advert along with its price in a table for you to check through.
If you would like to add another advert click the 'Go Shopping' button to return to the category index and submit your second advert.
When you are happy with your advert(s) click the 'Purchase' button to continue (even if your advert is free of charge you will have to click 'Purchase' to submit your advert to us).
If you are prompted with a security alert click 'OK' to continue.
The next page will display your advert again and ask you to either 'Log-in' if you have used our site before or 'Sign up' as a new member if not.
If you have already registered click the 'If you are already a member please CLICK HERE to Log-in' link. This will take you to a page where you can enter the email address and password which you registered with to continue.
If you need to sign up click the link which says 'New members please CLICK HERE to sign up here'. You will be asked to enter your name, address, email address, telephone number and a password to continue. Click 'Submit Details'.
Once logged in or registered your advert will be displayed again followed by your name, address and telephone number.
If your address is missing click the 'Add new address' link to enter your house number and postcode, then submit and confirm this new address.
If you are trying to send a paid for advert you will now be asked for your credit or debit card details. Enter these carefully.
Once you have completed all the fields click the 'Proceed with order' button.
You should then see a thank you page and you will also receive an email to confirm that your advert has been submitted successfully.
Follow the link to the 'Order Status' page to track your advert through our system.
I have filled out my advert text but when I click the 'Add to Basket' button the page just reloads and doesn't go any further.
This happens when you have too many words in your advertisement. Check the advert information text for a word limit. A new word is counted every time you use a space in your advert. A telephone number entered as '' would therefore count as two words. You must put spaces between all your words, if you try to cheat the system by joining words together that shouldn't be, your advert may not be printed.
Even if you are convinced you have the correct amount of words please try removing one or two more before calling us.
I am trying to upload a photo to accompany my advert but it won't work. What am I doing wrong?
To attach an image to your advert it must first be saved in a 'jpg' or 'gif' format. You must have saved your image as this format from your camera, scanner or image editing software and not just renamed the file. Renaming a file does not change it's format.
Image file names must not have any spaces or characters other than the letters a-z 0-9 a hyphen - or an underscore _
All image file names must end in .jpg or .gif and there should be no other dots in the file name except in this place.
To upload a file click the 'Browse' button. This will open a window showing files on your computer. Navigate through this window to where you have saved your image. When you can see your image use your mouse to highlight the file name and click the open button. The window should then close and your image name, preceded by its location on your computer, will be displayed in the text box next to the browse button. Once you have completed your advert text click the 'Add to Basket' button, if you have followed all the steps above correctly you should be taken through to a new page. This means that your image has been uploaded successfully. Continue with the check out process.
I would like to place a Trades and Services advert, where can I do this?
Unfortunately we cannot take Trades and Services adverts online at present. To place a Trades and Services advert please call (North Herts) or (Royston).
I would like to place a Recruitment advert, where can I do this?
Unfortunately we cannot take Recruitment adverts online at present. To place a Recruitment advert please call .
I'm not sure whether my advert/order has been sent or not?
When an order has been sent you will see a page that says 'Thank you for your order'. This page also offers you a link to the order status page to track your order.
If your order has been submitted successfully you will also be sent a confirmation email to the account you used to register with us.
If you haven't received an email or seen a thank you page it is likely that you have not yet managed to send your order. Please read the other questions on this page to try and find out why.
Can I place my advert/order over the phone?
Paid for adverts such as Motor and Property boxes can be placed online, by coupon or over the phone by calling (South Herts), (North Herts) or (Royston).
Unfortunately The Herts Advertiser, Welwyn & Hatfield Times & The Comet cannot take Announcements or Articles for Sale adverts over the phone, these must be submitted online or by posting us a coupon from the paper.
You can order a subscription over the phone by calling our distribution department on (Royston Crow subscriptions can also be taken on )
My order has been saying 'Waiting' for hours now, why is it not being accepted?
Our online ordering system is not yet entirely automated. When you submit an order to us it will stay 'Waiting' until a member of staff at our end manually processes your order. Therefore if you have placed your order at the weekend or outside of normal working hours your order will not be processed until the next working day. As our deadline day is Monday for most adverts, your advert may remain waiting until this day especially if a large volume of adverts have been received that week. Please only call us if your advert is still in 'Waiting' after midday on Monday.
My order is showing up as 'Failed', why?
If your order has been marked as 'Failed' please first check that you are reading your orders status and not the key.
If you are certain your order has been marked as failed call (South Herts), (North Herts) or (Royston) for help. This usually happens if you have attempted to advertise an item under the wrong category.
I am trying to register as a new member but when I click 'Submit Details' the page just reloads and doesn't go any further.
This happens when you have either missed out a required field or filled in a field incorrectly. Please do not use any characters in your address and telephone number fields other than a-z and 0-9. Please do not put your telephone number in brackets or use any dashes (01234) 567890 or WILL NOT be accepted.
The required fields on our full sign up page are: First name, Last Name, Email Address, Home Phone Number, Address 1, Town, County/State, Post/Zip Code, Password & Confirm Password. You must have filled in all these fields to place an advert or order a subscription, reader travel brochure or any other item from our online shop.
If you are asked to sign up to use our forums you will not be asked for your address details.
If you are still having trouble please call for assistance.
I have already registered on your website but I can't log in.
Currently membership to our Property, Jobs and Motors Search pages is separate to our Advert Booking, Forums and Subscriptions membership. This means you will have to re-register on our Advert Booking service even if you already have a Property, Jobs or Motors account.
If you are sure you have already registered on our Advert Booking service, but it still isn't letting you log in, double check the email address and password combination you are using. If you are sure that at least the email address is correct click the 'Forgotten your password' link. Your password will then be emailed to you.
You will not be permitted to register another account using an email address that has been already registered. If you get this message please follow the 'Forgotten Password' link to be sent the password for your existing account rather than creating a new one.
I have changed address/email/telephone number or I wish to change my password. How do I change these details?
You do not have to create a new account when you change any of the above. To change the details on your existing account click the 'Log in' link within the 'Membership' box in the right hand column of our site. Enter your email address and password - If you are updating your email address or password please enter the address and password you originally registered with.
Once you are logged in, an 'Update your details' link should appear under your name in the 'Membership' box in the right hand column. Follow this link.
Here you can change your details and password if you wish. Click the 'Submit Details' button. If you are taken back to the website home page your details have been accepted.
If you have changed your email or password you will need to use these new details to log in from now on.
I have read all of the above tips but am still having problems what should I do now?
If you are still having trouble the problem could be technical.
Our shopping system uses a secure server for your protection, however if the security settings on your browser are set too high this could be stopping you from continuing with your order. You can check your security settings in Internet Explorer by choosing Tools>Internet Options from the menu at the top of the window (On a mac it is Edit>Preferences). Choose the 'Security' tab.
Please ensure that you also have javascript and cookies enabled (under the Advanced tab) as these can also prevent you from using our shopping system.
If you are still having problems after checking all of the above you can report your problem using this form »
This form will ask you a number of technical questions about your computer to which we will need to know the answers to enable us to assist you further.