Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q:  How much does it cost?

A:  This depends on the type of ad. Different types of ad have different costs. There is a charge to place the ad, plus a small commission upon successful sale. See the rate table here for details.

Q:  How long before I can see my ad online?

A:  All ads are reviewed and screened before going live and available for public viewing. This normally takes only an hour or two, but may be up to 1-2 days depending on when you submit your ad. Payment for the ad is also required before they are 'live'. A preview of your ad can be arranged before finally going online.

Q: Does SMEX have a store I can come to and visit to browse?

A:  No. SMEX is an Internet based online service only and has no physical shop front. It exists only in cyberspace on the Internet. It is open EVERY day of the year for 24 hours a day - unlike a physical shop - and is accessible world wide, not just in a local city area. In fact, it's location is immaterial. And yes, it is real people, not computers, who work behind this screen.

Q: Why can't I see my ad, or see the update? (no. 1)

A:  Most browsers (including the popular Internet Explorer and Firefox), keep a local copy of recently vistited web pages in your computer. If you cannot see an expected change, press F5 (Refresh) to clear out your local copy and reload the latest revision from the server. Any changes should now be visible.

Q: Why can't I see my ad, or see the update? (no. 2)

A:  The Firefox browser has been discovered to have a bug in the display engine behind the scenes, and some other browsers also have some issues. All known browser compatibility issues are listed in the browser compatibility page. Read these known problems first before reporting an issue.

Q: Why do I see 'Error - page not available' error messages sometimes?

A:  That page may have been updated, or there was an Internet error. Most browsers (including the popular Internet Explorer and Firefox), keep a local copy of recently visited web pages in your computer. If you get this error message, press F5 (Refresh) to clear out your local copy and reload the latest revision from the server. Any changes should now be visible. If you think it is still a problem, report it to SMEX

Q:  How do I update my ad?

A:  Use the update form once you have logged in to your account, or send an email.

Q:  I've forgotten my password to log in?

A:  Your password can be recovered automatically. Go to the 'Log in' page and click on 'Forgot Password?', and enter your UserID and the original email address you used. Your login details will be automatically emailed to that email address. Once logged in, you may update your email address if required. Or if you forgotten your UserID too, you may manually request your details by email, but make sure you provide sufficient detals to identify yourself.

Q:  How do I pay?

A:  You may make payment online by using your credit card, or your PayPal account. Go to the 'Payment' page and select options 1, 2 or 5. Payment by EFT transfer is also available, contact SMEX for details. You may also make payment by normal surface mail with a cheque or Money Order. Sorry, credit cards not accepted by mail or telephone - online only.

Q:  Why don't I get an email copy when I select 'Email me a copy of my submission' when I sent my ad?

A:  Photos sent from the submission form are attached to an email which is sent to SMEX. Any attachment for an email must be encoded to be able to be sent, and this encoding adds an overhead which increases the size of the file and the resulting email. This encoding overhead varies but is approx 30%, so a 2Mb size photo file becomes about 2.6MB when encoded. With multiple attachments, apart from taking longer to upload, the resulting email size can easily reach 10MB or 20MB or more. Most Internet service providers (ISP), or web mail accounts, (i.e. the service that provides your email account) limit the maximum size of each email into your inbox, and a typical limit is 10MB per email. They also limit the total maximum size of your inbox. Your requested copy is indeed duly sent by email, but if it exceeds your inbox email limit, or your inbox is full, it is rejected and returned by your email service, and is never received by you.

Q:  My anti-virus program is reporting a virus. What do I do?

A:  The first thing to determine is whether it is a genuine virus or not. This can be done by putting the name of the reported virus into your browser search engine, and seeing what results, or looking at the web site of your anti-virus progam supplier. It is an unfortunate fact of life in the modern digital world that malicious software exists at all, but it does. Make sure that your virus-definition files are up to date for your anti-virus program and update if required.

There are no known viruses or malware on SMEX, but it has been reported by some anti-virus programs that there is a virus on SMEX named 'statcountcode'. This is a genuine piece of code used to help keep a few statistics of how many people use SMEX. It is NOT a virus. It simply counts the number of visitors, what browser and operating stytem is being used to view, time of visit and how what screen size (in pixels) is being used (and nothing else), and saves these in a simple database - that is all, period. If your anti-virus program says this is malicious software, it isn't, and set an exception for this only or ignore the warning. It is totally benign and an incorrect warning from your A-V program.