These terms apply when you reserve and pay for ad space in a Spotlight postcard or other print edition from Downey Spotlight Media (“we” or “us”). By completing a reservation, you agree to them. If anything here is unclear, ask us before you pay.

Reserving and paying

  • Your space is reserved once your payment goes through. You’ll get a confirmation email.
  • While you’re checking out, we hold your space for a short time so no one else can take it. If checkout isn’t finished in that time, the space is released.
  • Prices are per edition and shown before you pay. Payment is in full, by card, through Stripe. We never see or store your card number.
  • If we send you a reservation link, the space it describes is held until the date on the link. After that it may go to someone else.
  • Each reservation is for one edition only. There are no long-term contracts and nothing renews automatically.

One business per category

  • On editions that offer it, only one business per business type can advertise. For example, one dentist or one plumber per edition.
  • You choose your business type when you reserve. It should match what your ad promotes. If it doesn’t, we may move or cancel the reservation and refund you.
  • Exclusivity covers your business type in that one edition. It doesn’t cover other editions, our website or directory, or businesses whose type is close to yours but not the same.
  • If your type is already taken, you can join the waitlist. We’ll contact you if it opens up or for the next edition.

Your ad: design, artwork and proofs

  • Ad design is included. Send us your logo, photos, offer and contact details, and we’ll design the ad. Or send finished artwork in the size we give you.
  • We’ll email you a proof. Your price includes 2 rounds of changes. More rounds, or a full redesign, may cost extra; we’ll tell you the price first.
  • Please check your proof carefully: phone number, address, website, prices and spelling. Once you approve it, it goes to print as approved.
  • Everything you send us must be yours to use, or you must have permission to use it. You’re responsible for what your ad says, including any offers or claims.
  • You keep ownership of your logo and materials. We may show your printed ad as an example of our work, for instance on our website or social media.

Deadlines

  • Each edition has a reservation deadline, an artwork deadline and a proof approval deadline. We’ll tell you the dates when you reserve.
  • If we don’t get your materials by the artwork deadline, we’ll design your ad from your business listing and what we already have.
  • If you haven’t approved your proof by the proof deadline, we’ll print the most recent proof we sent you.
  • Mailing dates are our best estimate. We may move a mailing date if needed and will let you know.

Cancellations and refunds

  • Before the reservation deadline: cancel for a full refund. Just email or call us.
  • After the reservation deadline: we’ve started planning the layout around your space, so we can’t refund it. Once, we can move your payment to the next edition instead.
  • If we cancel an edition or can’t include your ad: you get a full refund.
  • If we make a mistake in your ad that you didn’t approve: we’ll make it right. That can mean a correction in the next edition or a partial or full refund, depending on the mistake.
  • Refunds go back to the card you paid with. Your bank may take a few business days to show it.

Printing, mailing and delivery

  • Household counts are approximate. The postcard is mailed by the U.S. Postal Service to the area described for that edition.
  • We don’t control the Postal Service, so we can’t promise the exact day a postcard arrives or that every address receives it.
  • Printed colors can look a little different from your screen. Small color differences aren’t a printing mistake.
  • Your ad’s position on the postcard is up to us. We place ads so the whole card looks good and no two similar businesses sit side by side.

What we can’t print, and the fine print

  • This is a community mailing that goes to families. We may turn down or ask you to change ads that are adult-themed, hateful, misleading, illegal, or that attack another business. If we turn down an ad, we refund you in full.
  • If something goes wrong on our side, the most we’ll owe you is what you paid for that edition.
  • We aren’t responsible for results. We can’t promise a certain number of calls or customers from your ad.
  • We may update these terms. The version on this page when you pay is the one that applies to your reservation.
  • These terms follow California law.

Questions

Call us at (562) 745-9329 or email support@downeyspotlight.com. We’re happy to walk you through anything before you reserve.