Because of VATMOSS rules we’ve confirmed we cannot offer the sponsored book feature after June, or run OIO Publisher. As you can imagine this will cut the site’s funding a great deal. Basically UK online businesses are virtually barred from selling direct: Paypal does not collect the data that would allow us to stay inside the rules, and rebuilding a shopping cart to do it then storing the data takes funds we don’t have. So basically we have to find a third party to handle it for us.
(Apparently we should have done this in January, but since we didn’t find out about the rules change until March that would be difficult. If you want details about the change, read the PDF here )
We’ve applied to Riot Ad network, but if we were accepted we’d need to change the site around, including a width adjustment to the sidebar.
In the sidebar:
– The Sponsored book slot at the top of the sidebar would be replaced by the Riot Ad network skyscraper (above the tags).
– The OIO Rectangle would be removed.
– The PW half banner would move to the footer
– The PW skyscraper would go to the bottom of the sidebar or be removed.
In the footer:
– The sponsored book would be replaced by a PW banner.
– The OIO half banner would be replaced by a PW half-banner
This would leave one large ad in the sidebar above the fold, and two in the footer.
If anyone would like to feedback on this, please let us know. Of course, it all depends on whether we can get accepted…
