Posting a classified ad: eligibility

For sale and want ads in the Letterpress Classifieds are intended for use by printers and collectors who need help finding and selling letterpress-era printing equipment or printing supplies.

The Classifieds are also intended for time-sensitive events, workshops, and classes. Questions about value and equipment identification are better suited for the Discussion forums. Permanent ads for individuals and organizations sponsoring regular events, resources, collections etc. are welcome in the Printer's Yellow Pages.

We try hard to keep the Classifieds useful for our core audience; hobby printers, fine press printers, and small shops. For this reason, our guidelines for what can be posted are somewhat strict. If you’re not sure whether your for sale or want ad is eligible, please review the following guidelines.

Free ads

Individuals or organizations who do not commercially or regularly sell letterpress equipment or related services are eligible to post up to three free ads at any one time. If you need more space, combine items into one ad or delete your outdated ads.

Ads of a commercial nature or of significant value

Printers, dealers, resellers, suppliers and others who commercially or regularly sell or sold large equipment including printing equipment or letterpress products or services, are eligible to post commercial ads for a fee that will support our free services. Printers or collectors who post shops or equipment of significant value are also requested to support our site. Schools and non-profits who derive income from classes and/or the sale of equipment are included in this category, as well as online stores.

The payment is required but the price is up to you: pay what you think is fair. Let the value of the item or service you are advertising be your guide (more info). Ads that appear to be commercial as defined above will not be published until we receive this fee. In order to coordinate the ads with the payments received, the fee must be submitted at the same time or within one day of submitting the ad.

Eligible commercial ads are for individual items for sale or upcoming events and not for general services or merchandise regularly available. Such ads as “We sell presses, rollers, and supplies” are better suited to the Printer's Yellow Pages.

Eligible items

Eligible ‘for sale’ ads are those for hand-operated printing presses; for equipment related to letterpress printing; and for items such as type, type cabinets, printing tools, and pertinent books. Ads for book presses, etching presses, board shears, and similar antique equipment are also welcome.

Not eligible

With the exception of some popular presses such as the 10 x 15 Heidelberg Windmill and some tabletop and proof presses that were made in the mid to later 1900s, we decline ads for larger commercial presses and modern prepress, printing, and binding equipment, as it is of a substantially different nature from letterpress-era machines. Examples of non-eligible items include photopolymer plate makers, Multigraphs, Kwikprint machines, KSBA and Heidelberg cylinder presses, and presses like the larger Miehle, Kelly, and Kluge presses that are regularly sold on sites for commercial printing equipment. Note: If items listed above are not being sold alone, and if they are an insignificant part of a larger eligible letterpress inventory or shop, they may be included in an ad.

Also not eligible, are wholesalers or third party brokers and high-tech businesses that are clearly not focused on letterpress-era products or services. Examples are shops that sell stationery products, reproduced posters, t-shirts, mugs etc.

Multiple postings

Multiple postings of the same ad within a period of three months is considered spamming the Classifieds. Members who post repeated ads for the same items or events may lose the privilege of posting in the Classifieds.

eBay auctions

We cannot accept ads that advertise active eBay auctions or stores. The volume of letterpress items on eBay is so great that our Classifieds pages would soon be overwhelmed by eBay ads, were we to accept them. The Classifieds at Briar Press is intended as an alternative to eBay for those who prefer more personal transactions.