FAQ

Placing my advert

Placing an advert on ArabiBay is quick and easy. Simply visit the ArabiBay home page and click on the "Place Advert" button on the top of the page. Then:

1. Choose the most relevant category for your advert.
2. Select the country and city in which you want the advert to appear and then click 'continue'.
3. Log in if you already have an account or simply fill in your name, email address and chosen password to create an account. When you create a new account you will be sent an email with your account information in it. Please save this email in case you forget your login details.
4. Fill out the details for your advert in the form. Include a precise title, description, price and currency, and the contact details of the person who should be contacted in regards to the advert.

Once submitted, there may be a short delay before the advert will appear online, so please be patient while your advert is moderated.

After you submit your advert, you’ll be sent a confirmation email which will contain details of your advert. You will also receive a confirmation email if your advert is approved.

Where should I place my advert?

To get the best response for your advert you should place it in the most relevant section.

I made a mistake in my advert – can I edit it?

If you have made a mistake in your advert, simply log in to your account using the username and password that you chose when you registered. Then click on 'My Account' at the top of the ArabiBay homepage. Here you can edit the contents of your advert. Note that if you change your advert, it will have to go back into the moderation queue once resubmitted.

I can’t see the changes I made to my advert. What’s wrong?

After you edit an advert, there is always a slight delay before these changes are reflected in your advert so please be patient. If you follow the instructions for editing your advert above then the changes will appear shortly, once moderated. Check back on your advert a bit later and you should see the changes live.

I have placed my advert in the wrong category – can I change the category?

If you have posted in the wrong category, simply log in to your account using the username and password that you chose when you registered. Then click on 'My Account' at the top of the ArabiBay homepage. Here you can delete your advert, and then place a new advert in the correct category. The location of an advert can’t be changed after it has been placed.

Can I put a link in my advert to one on another site?

Normally, no. You should find everything you need on ArabiBay to create a successful advert. You can:

• use as much space as you like in your advert
• edit your advert at any time
• include photos

...so there is no need to direct people elsewhere.

If you have something for sale, a job offer or even a place to rent you have the freedom to place it on any site you wish, however we would appreciate it if you could assist us by not including links to these other sites.

I have placed an advert, but I haven’t received a confirmation/ activation email. How long do I have to wait?

After placing an advert, you should receive a confirmation email within a few minutes. If you are using an AOL, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo or another generic email account and you are waiting for an activation email after placing an advert, please check your junk mail folder as these emails are sometimes directed there.

Why has my advert been deleted?

If you find that your advert is no longer on the site then it is probably due to one of the following:

• Your advert has been reported to us When this happens your advert may be temporarily suspended (this depends on a few things) until we look at it.
• We check reported adverts as quickly as we can. As long as we find that it hasn’t broken any posting rules or terms and conditions it should be back up again shortly. Check back after a few hours to see if this is the case.
• Your advert has been identified as inappropriate by our automated tools When this happens your advert will be temporarily suspended until we look at it.
• We check these suspended adverts a quickly as we can. As long as we find that it hasn’t broken any posting rules or terms and conditions it should be back up again shortly. Check back after a few hours to see if this is the case.
• Your advert has been removed adverts either reported to us or identified by our automated tools as inappropriate, that we then find do break our posting rules or terms and conditions will be removed from the site.
• Your access has been restricted Posters that regularly break our posting rules/ terms and conditions may find we also have to restrict their future use of the site. Even if your current advert meets our posting rules/ terms and conditions, if you have previously broken these you may be unable to post on ArabiBay again.

I can’t find my advert. What's happened?

There are a few possibilities for why you can’t see your advert:

1. Your advert has not yet come on line
   There will always be a short delay before an advert that is placed or edited appears online so if you only recently posted/ reposted your advert then it should be appearing shortly. We need to moderate all adverts to ensure that they comply with our terms and conditions.
2. Your advert is there but amongst all the other adverts it can be hard to find!
   Use the search box on the ArabiBay homepage to locate your advert. You can enter some text that you included in your advert, e.g. the contact email address, phone number or something else you put in the description or title.
3. Your advert has expired
   If you posted your advert some time ago then your advert may have expired.
4. Your advert has been temporarily suspended or removed
   See above for details.

If you have checked out all of these possibilities and none of them apply to your advert then please let us know and we will take a look.

When I try to submit my advert, I keep getting told that the price is wrong – why is this?

When you enter the price into the price field of your advert please don't enter either a space, a comma or a “£" sign in the price field along with the numbers. This field only recognises numerical characters (numbers) so if anything else is entered it will interpret it as being incorrect and will therefore not accept it. If you want the price £450 to appear, simply type in: 450

Adding images to my advert

To help with your advert you can add up to 4 images. There is no need to worry about sizing your images as that will be done automatically for you when you upload them to your advert. To add images:

1. At the bottom of page where you will add the description of your advert, click on the buttons labelled “browse” to search your computer for the relevant image files.
2. Once the images have all been chosen (and the location of the image appears in the white text box), click the “submit” button. Of course, you should ensure that you have filled all the other details relating to your advert before submitting it.

I am having trouble with the password for my advert

If you are having trouble entering your password then:

• Check when you enter the details that you don’t inadvertently include a space along with the correct characters at the beginning or the end of the password. This can happen if you copy and paste the details from an email, rather than typing the details in individually.
• Also, please be aware that passwords are all case sensitive so ensure the case of the letter matches the originally entered password.
• Forgotten your password? Simply click on the “My Account” button on the top of the ArabiBay home page. Then, click on 'Forgot Password', enter your email address and click submit. Your password will be sent to the email address that you used to register on ArabiBay.

Reposting my advert

There are so many adverts on ArabiBay and the most recent ones appear first, so your advert may quickly move down the listings and you may find you get fewer responses after the first few days. To repost your advert so that it appears at the top of that day’s listings you have a few options:

• Use the “My Account” section on the ArabiBay homepage
• Click the “My Account” button on the top of the home page and find the advert that you would like to repost. Then, if the advert is over 10 days old, a button called 'repost' will be there. Simply click on this button to repost your advert.

Deleting my advert

Your advert (as long as it meets ArabiBay posting rules) will stay online either until it has expired or until you decide to delete it.

To delete your advert at any time simply click the “My Account” button on the top of the homepage and select the advert you would like to delete. Then, click on 'Delete'.

I am not getting much response for my advert. What’s wrong?

Reasons for this might be:

• Your advert could be in the wrong category. In this case, you will need to delete your advert and place a new advert in the correct category.
• It could have moved down the listings pages, in which case it's worth reposting your advert so that it appears under today's date.
• You may have entered your contact details incorrectly, in which case you can edit your advert from the 'My Account' section of ArabiBay.
• If you don’t think that any of the above is the problem then it might be worth making some changes to your advert to help it stand out more.

I have received spam in connection to my advert on ArabiBay. What should I do?

Please report it to us so that we can take appropriate action to stop them from spamming ArabiBay users again.

Tips for posting an advert

• Be descriptive: Unlike other mediums (magazines, newspapers), you can use as much text as you like in your ArabiBay adverts – there is no limit. We encourage you to be as descriptive as you need to be. Think of all the typical questions someone might ask and put them in your advert.
• Be graphic: You can include up to four images with your advert. We have found that this makes your advert more appealing, and sets it aside from other adverts. See 'Adding images to my advert' above.
• Be friendly: Give your adverts some personality! ArabiBay is a community, and as such our users like to feel that they are more than just a number. So when you construct an advert, give it some “human” features so it does not just seem like an automatically generated posting.