1. Acceptance of these terms
By creating an account, reserving advertising space, subscribing to advertising space, or otherwise using The Big Ass Card (the "Service"), published by Big Ass Ventures LLC ("we", "us", "the Publisher"), you ("Advertiser") agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you don't agree, don't use the Service.
2. What The Big Ass Card is
The Big Ass Card is an oversized direct-mail advertising publication. We publish it, we produce it, and we distribute it at our own expense through the United States Postal Service to homes in markets we define.
Each market consists of USPS carrier routes, selected by us, summing to approximately 10,000 residential deliveries. We publish the routes comprising each market so you know where the publication circulates before you buy. Each edition contains a defined number of numbered advertising spaces — each an "advertising space" (shown as an "ad slot" in your dashboard).
What you purchase is the right to have your advertisement displayed in one numbered space in an edition. You are buying advertising space in our publication — the same way an advertiser buys space in a newspaper or on a billboard. You do not purchase, receive, or acquire any interest in the printed cards themselves. We own the publication at every stage, from production through delivery to USPS. We select the carrier routes, set the mailing schedule, determine the format and layout, and choose the printer. We bear the full cost of printing, postage, and distribution, and we do not pass those costs through to you as separate charges.
3. Two ways to buy advertising space
Advertising space is sold first-come, first-served, in one of two ways:
- Single edition. You reserve a numbered space in one specific edition of one market. You pay for that edition only.
- Subscription. You are assigned a numbered space in a market and it stays yours for every edition until your subscription ends. Your space number stays the same, so readers come to recognize your advertisement in the same position — that continuity is part of what you're paying for. Subscriptions are per market: if you advertise in more than one market you hold a separate subscription, space number, and billing for each.
When a market is full, new advertisers join a waitlist. We may decline a reservation or subscription, or decline to run an advertisement, for any reason consistent with Section 11 (Content standards). If we decline before an edition is printed, you are not charged for that edition, or you are refunded in full if already charged.
4. The edition cycle and the Edition Cutoff
Each edition runs on a fixed schedule, because print and USPS schedules do not move. The Edition Cutoff is ten (10) days before that edition's print date. It is the single date that governs your participation in that edition. On the Edition Cutoff:
- your card is charged for that edition;
- your right to cancel out of that edition ends;
- your advertisement is locked for production.
We show the Edition Cutoff for each upcoming edition in your dashboard, and we email you before it arrives — telling you which advertisement is scheduled to run and when the content deadline falls. You will always know the date in advance. If you're happy with what's scheduled, do nothing; if you want to change it, you'll have had notice and time.
5. Fees and billing
You pay the advertising space fee for each edition you run in — once for a single-edition reservation, or per edition for a subscription (charged on that edition's Edition Cutoff). The only other charge that can appear on your invoice is for additional design time, if you request revisions beyond the two proofs included with your space (see Section 7). Your QR tracking and analytics dashboard come with your account at no additional cost.
Payment is handled by Stripe; we do not store your card details. You can update your payment method and view your charge history through your account at any time. Fees are stated exclusive of any applicable sales or use tax; if tax applies to a charge, it will be added to your invoice and identified separately.
We may change subscription pricing on thirty (30) days' notice. A price change takes effect at the first Edition Cutoff falling after the notice period. If you don't want to continue at the new price, cancel before that cutoff.
6. Your content, and how your advertisement is made
You supply the raw materials for your advertisement: your logo, images, message text, contact information, and a destination URL for your QR code. We compose your advertisement from those materials and place it within the publication's layout. If you supply an already-assembled advertisement, we review, adapt, and integrate it to meet our format, color, and production requirements — no advertisement runs without passing through our production process. Composition is included in your advertising space fee, along with two proofs; your advertisement exists as a component of our publication, not as a standalone file you receive.
For subscriptions, your approval carries forward. Once you've approved an advertisement, it runs in every edition until you change it — you don't have to resubmit content or re-approve a proof each edition. If you want a change, submit new content before that edition's content deadline; if you don't, the advertisement we last ran for you runs again.
7. Proofs and approval
When you submit new or changed content, we make an electronic proof available in your dashboard for review and approval. Two proofs are included. The first shows your advertisement as we've composed it; if you request changes, we make them and issue a second proof. If you request further changes after the second proof, we bill the additional design time at our published hourly rate, in fifteen-minute increments — we tell you the estimate and you approve the charge before we begin.
If you submit new content and then don't respond, we'll try to reach you by email (and by phone if we have a number). If we can't by the Edition Cutoff, we run your previous advertisement rather than drop you from the edition. If you have no previous advertisement because this is your first edition, we cannot run you, and we'll refund that edition and hold your space for the next one.
Every proof is viewable within our platform only. It is not downloadable, not transferable, and not print-ready. You may not reproduce, distribute, print, screenshot for reuse, or otherwise use a proof in any other medium (see Section 10).
8. Cancelling
Cancel any time before the Edition Cutoff and you are not charged for that edition; your space returns to inventory. After the Edition Cutoff, that edition is committed — your card has been charged, your advertisement placed in the layout, and the edition is moving to press. For a subscription you can still cancel; the cancellation simply takes effect after that edition mails. You can cancel from your account — you don't have to call us or explain why.
9. Failed payments
If a charge fails on the Edition Cutoff, we'll retry and contact you — by email, and by phone if we have a number. If payment is not resolved before that edition goes to print, we release your space to the next advertiser on the waitlist; the space cannot go to press empty. You're welcome back, but your space returns to inventory and you rejoin at whatever space is available.
10. QR codes and analytics integrity
Your QR code is unique to your advertisement in a single edition of a single market. Every scan of that code is recorded against that edition's campaign. This is why reproduction restrictions matter to you and not just to us: if your advertisement appears anywhere other than the edition it was made for, scans from that other use are recorded against your campaign, and the response data you're paying for stops reflecting reality. You may not reproduce your QR code, or the advertisement containing it, in any other medium or mailing.
11. Content standards
You are responsible for the content you supply. Content must not: (a) violate any law; (b) infringe any intellectual property right; (c) be obscene, hateful, harassing, or deceptive; (d) promote illegal goods or services; or (e) impersonate another person or business. Your destination URL must resolve to a working page you own or control, must not redirect to unrelated content, and must not distribute malware or engage in deceptive practices. We may test destination URLs at any time and may suspend a redirect that violates these standards. We may remove or refuse content for any reason consistent with these standards.
12. Intellectual property
You retain all rights to the logos, images, text, and other materials you supply. You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, adapt, reproduce, print, distribute, and display those materials as required to compose your advertisement and publish and distribute the publication containing it; that license continues for any edition in which your advertisement has already run. We grant you no license to reproduce the composed advertisement, the proof, or the publication. The Service itself — our software, publication design and layout, carrier route selections, scan attribution data, and the The Big Ass Card name and marks — remains our property.
13. Scan data and analytics
We record each QR code scan: timestamp, device user-agent, and approximate IP-based location. We filter automated traffic (crawlers and bots) from your reported figures. Your dashboard reports scan counts, click-to-call events, and directions requests for your advertisement, edition by edition, for as long as your account is open; it is hosted on our servers and accessed through your browser. We do not sell scan data, and we do not share individual scan records with third parties except as required by law. We may use aggregated, de-identified data across advertisers to report on publication performance and improve the Service.
14. Household suppression
Residents may request that our publication not be delivered to their address. We honor these requests to the extent USPS delivery methods allow. Suppression reduces delivery counts modestly and is not a breach of any representation about market size, which is always approximate.
15. Refunds
Before the Edition Cutoff, cancel and you are not charged for that edition. After the Edition Cutoff, the advertising space fee for that edition is non-refundable — the cost has been incurred and the space cannot be resold. If we don't publish an edition, you don't pay for it: publishing depends on selling enough space to make the press run viable, and if we don't get there we refund everything you paid for it in full. We do not refund based on scan performance, response rate, or business outcome (see Section 16).
16. Disclaimers
The Service is provided "as is," without warranty of any kind, express or implied. We do not guarantee any scan rate, response rate, conversion rate, or business outcome. Advertising results depend on your offer, your content, your market, your follow-through, and factors none of us control. Mail delivery is subject to USPS performance; delivery dates are targets, not guarantees, and delivery counts are approximate.
17. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, our aggregate liability arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will not exceed the total fees you paid to us in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim. Neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits or lost business opportunity.
18. Termination
You may cancel your subscription at any time under Section 8. We may terminate a subscription or an account on notice, including for breach of Section 11. If we terminate for a reason other than your breach, we refund any edition charged but not yet printed. Termination does not entitle you to a refund for any edition that has already been printed.
19. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms. When we make a change, we'll email you at least thirty (30) days before it takes effect, and we'll show you what changed. The new version applies to your participation from the first Edition Cutoff falling after the effective date. If you don't agree, cancel before that cutoff and you won't be charged under it; continuing past that cutoff means you accept the new version. If you log into your account before that cutoff, we'll ask you to review and accept the new version directly. The version you accepted, and the version applying to each edition you've run, are recorded on your account.
20. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Indiana, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Howard County, Indiana.
21. Contact
Questions about these Terms: support@thebigasscard.com.
The Big Ass Card is published by Big Ass Ventures LLC, Kokomo, Indiana.