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Frequently Asked QuestionsGeneral What is MyBoatDetails.com? Publishing How many images can I upload? Entering / Editing Details How can I change the details of my boat I've entered? Registering / logging on Why must I register? Payment When must I pay for my site? Your boat's site What will my web address be? Site Navigation Why do I not get the "your options" box all
the time? Technical Questions What browser should I use? Business Enquiries For all business related enquiries such as broker enquiries or advertising, please contact us info_mbd@myboatdetails.com or call 020 8541 5991.
MyBoatDetails.com is a service that allows YOU to create a website for your boat to enable you to promote her for sale online in a quick, easy professional manner. You get to create a professional looking site for your boat by simply entering details into a template and uploading photographs. You get a unique web address (URL) that includes the name of your boat, web hosting and the ability to change details any time you like. You get the best possible chance of selling your boat, you can give her maximum exposure on the Internet without needing any technical knowledge. A web presence can be set up in an hour or so, day or night. You don't need to worry about web hosting, registering a domain or learning how to design and create a site. Read more... Where can I read the terms and conditions of using the service? Full terms and conditions can be found here. How can I view or change my account details? You can view your account details and current orders here. You need to be logged on to do so. Publishing As many as you like ! On the standard template you can upload up to 12 images for a sail boat and 10 for a power boat - (2 more for a sail boat to include pictures for sails and rig that, of course, power boats do not have).Then you can create your own online image library where you can upload as many as you like (as long as they're of your boat!) and archive the ones you might want to put live at a later date. Ideally the dimension of each image uploaded should be no more than 350 pixels wide. Wider images are acceptable but may 'push' the whole page wider and thus distort the page slightly. The file size must be no more than 60 KB otherwise it will take a long time for people with slow connections viewing your to download the page and they may give up. If your images are wider than 500 pixels or greater than 60KB the system will resize them for you. Very large images will take a long time to upload but will be optimised on the server so they don't take too long to download on your final page. Where can I get more info on uploading images? Please see our help page here. What format must the image be in? All uploaded images must be in 'jpg' format. Further details can be found here. Why can I no longer upload gif images? We've recently added software to the server that allows customers to upload large images that will then be 'optimised' by the server to ensure they are the correct size and will not take too long to download. This feature helps those customers who do not have the software or knowledge to resize images before uploading. Due to licence limitations, the software does not work with gif images so they cannot be uploaded.
You can change all and any of your images as many times as you like. The whole point of the service is that you are free to change any of your details as many times as you like as long as you've paid for your account.
No. The service is only for boat details and photographs.
If you submit an advertisement to a magazine, please be very careful to supply the exact URL (web address) given to you by MyBoatDetails.com. The best way is to test it in your browser then copy and paste it. If the wrong URL is given and the publication cannot be amended or stopped then there's a possibility we can help. It depends on the nature of the mistake and we reserve the right to charge a small administration fee. Contact info_mbd@myboatdetails.com Should you wish to take your website off the Internet for any reason you can unpublish it. Simply log on, go to the details page and click the "unpublish" link. (If your site is already unpublished this link will not be visible). The status indicator at the top of the page will change from "published" to "unpublished". Should you do this your account period remains the same, i.e. a two month account will still expire after 2 months whether your site is published or unpublished for all or part of the period. How do I publish my site after I've unpublished it? If you have unpublished your site and want to re-publish, simply go to the preview / add images page, and click the "publish my site!" button at the bottom of the page. What if I don't have a digital camera? No problem, there are several options. You can take pictures with an ordinary camera send them to us, we'll scan them for a small fee and return them to you. If you have access to a scanner you can convert them yourself or ask the company that developed the prints to do it. Most photos processing companies such as Boots , Jessops , Snappy Snapz and Bonus Print offer a service to put your photos on a CD as digital images as well as give you the printed versions. Or - buy one! They are now very good and reasonably inexpensive, especially as you'll never have to buy film nor pay for processing (unless you want prints of course! Check out the range of digital cameras from Amazon.co.uk. Entering / Editing Details How can I change the details of my boat I've entered? Simply log on and click on the "edit boat details" link to go to the details page. From here you can change any of the details and save them by clicking the 'Save Changes' button for each section or the "next" button at the bottom of the page. When do the changes show on my final page? Immediately the 'Save Changes' or 'Next' button is clicked! There's no waiting!
You can edit details of your boat as often and as many times as you like as long as you've paid for your account. Yes. Simply click on the "style options" link, select a font and click the "set / update" button to save your preference. (The changes are only displayed on the preview page and your final site).
Although you may have hundreds of fonts on your computer, other people might not. If you were creating a web page you could select a font such as Palatino, however, if the person viewing your page does not have this font installed, their browser will use another. The fonts listed above are widely used on the web and are usually available on all Windows and Macintosh systems.
Yes. Simply click on the "style options" link, select a text colour and click the "set / update" button to save your preference. (The changes are only displayed on the preview page and your final site).
People with poor eyesight, visual impairment or even an old monitor, may not be able to view the text unless there is high contrast - i.e. a dark text on a light background. We want your site to be as accessible to as many people as possible and to look stylish. We do not think that colours such as green or bright red, for example, would be suitable. How can I change the size of the text on my site? You have the option to make your text small, medium or large. When logged on, go to the style options page, select the appropriate radio button from the 'font size' option and click the 'set / update' button.
Why don't text colour and font changes appear on the details page? The details page is simply for entering and editing data. It is not supposed to give you an idea of style. The preview page will show you the changes you have made. Can I make text bold or italic? Yes, for bold enclose the text in <b></b> tags or <i></i> tags. Further instructions are given on the style options page. Registering / logging on We need to be able to identify you so you, and only you, can access the details about your boat. Registering is a security measure. We only require basic personal information about you. You log on so you can access your account to edit or enter details about your boat. Additional navigation options are available when you log in. You can use the site without logging in but you will not be access your details.
With so many websites requiring you to register, people find it difficult to remember a username, especially if the one you want is already taken. Your email address is unique, easy to remember and we also need it to contact you to confirmation your registration for example. Payment With the exception of any free offers we must receive your payment within 7 days of you initial registration (not when your site is first published) if paying by cheque. If paying by credit card then payment is required before your site can go live. You can pay for your account online with a credit or debit card. Alternatively you can pay by cheque or by sending your credit card number by post. WorldPay is a worldwide provider of eCommerce and online payment services. Their online payment is used the world over and handles millions of transactions in a trusted and secure way. We use their services to ensure our customers get a totally secure way to pay online. How secure is it to pay by credit card? Very. Our online credit card payments are handled by leading eCommerce provider WorldPay. Once you select an order and click to pay by credit card you are taken to our section of the WorldPay site where your connection is encrypted to secure servers where your credit card transaction is processed. No one at MyBoatDetails.com even gets to see your credit card number and we do not store it anywhere on our web servers, office computers or paper. If you choose not to pay your final site will be disabled so it cannot be seen on the Internet. Your account will remain active and your details will be saved for a period of six months. Should you decide you do want to pay for your account it will be reactivated when payment is made and you will not have to enter your details again.
Your final site will disabled to it cannot be seen on the Internet. You'll be given the opportunity to renew your account if you wish which will reactivate your final site.
No refunds are available should you cancel your account before the end of your payment period. Yes, simply click on the "your account" link. (You need to be logged on to view your account details). From time to time we run special promotions on new accounts and will publish the appropriate prices. Some offers are run in conjunction with third parties who will give a promotion code. On the payment page simply enter the promotion code in the appropriate box and click "apply" which will re-calculate prices. Promotional discount cannot be applied to existing accounts. If you pay online with a credit card you can pay in UK pounds sterling, US Dollars or Euros. The default payment is in sterling but this can be changed to the either of the other currencies once on the secure payment server. Your boat's site Your site's URL (web address) will be a combination of the name of your boat plus myboatdetails.com. For technical reasons we will remove any spaces and convert the characters to lower case. For example, if your boat's name is Blue Moon, your URL would be www.myboatdetails.com/bluemoon. What if there's a boat with the same name? If there's another boat registered with the same name we'll append a number to the end of the URL. If you're trying to register Blue Moon and there's one already registered, we give you www.myboatdetails.com/bluemoon1. Is my site reviewed before going live? The idea behind MyBoatDetails.com is to allow sellers to create and publish a site straightaway unlike a magazine that only comes out once a month, a broker who will take time to prepare your boat spec or an online listing service where you are required to send the details for them to publish. As a result, we do not review or vet your site prior to it going live. However, we do check all sites regularly to ensure no one abuses the service by contravening the terms and conditions and spoiling it for everyone else. If someone were to publish inappropriate material the account will be suspended. What can I do now my boat has a website? Once your boat's website is up and running there are a number of things you can do. If you have already placed a classified ad in a magazine you can point callers to the website so they can see full details and photos. You won't have to repeat the details on the phone repeatedly or send details to potential buyers by post, email or fax . Taking out a classified ad in one of the boating magazines is a good idea as many buyers look there. You can list the basic details in the magazine ad as well as the web address so people can visit the site for further details. You could put a sign on your boat with the web address which would be effective if the boat is in a boatyard where potential buyers will see her. You can do nothing! Your boat will be listed on MyBoatDetails.com and potential buyers looking for your type of boat will be able to find it through the search facility. Or if you really want you can stand in the street and shout about it! We're sure you'll find some creative and imaginative uses!
If you're placing an ad with a publication you'll want to keep it as short as possible. While the full URL is http://www.mymyboatdetails.com/yourboat, to keep it short use myboatdetails.com/yourboat. Will buyers have to register to see my full boat details? Absolutely not. We believe in making your information accessible the moment you publish it so prospective buyers can view ALL the details you publish. There's no annoying 'register for more info' or 'email for full specs' with MyBoatDetails.com as we don't believe in putting up these barriers. Will buyers visiting MyBoatDetails.com find my site? Yes. Every published site and has a valid order will be listed under the 'boat search' section. Potential buyers will be able to browse the list then see full details of the boat they're interested in. As the number of boats increases buyers will be able to narrow their search with specific criteria. It is important that the 'main' image is included which should ideally be a photo of the whole boat as this will be displayed as a 'thumbnail' image on the search results page. Boats sites are also featured at random on the home page. Please note - if there is no main image for your boat, the site will not be included in this.
Site Navigation Why do I not get the "your options" box all the time? You only get the "your options" box on the right hand side when you are logged in. It provides additional navigation options that you can only use when logged in. To whom can I report a broken link? Should you find a broken link, or have any other problems accessing the site, please email info_mbd@myboatdetails.com giving the page URL and link description. Technical Questions The MyBoatDetails.com site has been optimised for MS Internet Explorer version 4 and above and Netscape version 6.0 and above. It is advisable to make sure you have the latest version of either of these two browsers. There are problems using Netscape version 4.0 and it is not possible to use the site with this browser. The site has not been exhaustively tested on other browsers but is known to work with OmniWeb, iCab, Chimera and Opera. There are minor display issues with Apple's Safari browser but (as of January 2003) it is only in beta release so not a finished product. Why do I need to save my changes every 20 minutes? While logged on, if there's no activity for approximately 24 minutes you will be logged off. If this happens any unsaved changes cannot be saved and will be lost. When entering details the system does not recognise data entry as activity, only actions such as saving. This is implemented for security to prevent someone using your computer to change details should you be called away for example and forget to log off. Saving regularly therefore, is a good idea. On the details page if you've not saved any changes within 20 minutes an alert box will remind you. Note - photos are saved automatically when you upload them to your site.
As the site is database driven, many pages depend on variables and other data passed between pages. If a page is reloaded some crucial data may not be sent. There should be no need to reload / refresh any pages other than the Preview page so it is preferable if this is not done. What should I do if parts of the system should fail? This service has been professionally built and thoroughly tested. However, even the world's biggest websites such as amazon.com encounter the odd problem now and then. This is mainly due to the nature of the Internet as connections from your browser to our servers may cause the odd problem and data can corrupt in transit (which we can do nothing about). Should you experience a problem, for example, when uploading an image, the best thing is to log off and then log back on again. This will reinitialise your "session" and should cure any problems. If you continue to have difficulties please email us at info_mbd@myboatdetails.com
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