Single Copy Subscription Sales - Business Magazines

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Single Copy Subscription Sales [Print/Digital]

A single copy sold and distributed to an individual or organisation for a contracted period.

Principles

1. There must be a contractual arrangement between the subscriber and the publisher (or their agent)

2. Single copy per issue, distributed to a known addressee

3. Single copy knowingly paid for by the subscriber

4. For a contracted period and for a minimum number of issues (at least two) 

Requirements 

1. There must be a contractual arrangement between the subscriber and the publisher (or their agent)

1. You must be able to provide evidence of the contractual arrangements between the subscriber and the publisher (or their agent) including the issues/period and the price.

2. If you merge publications or purchase a subscription list from a ceased publication it must be clear that subscribers have made a choice to receive the publication claimed.

Guidance Available

2. Single copy per issue, distributed to a known addressee 

1. You must retain a list of individual recipients for one designated issue each reporting period (the Audit Issue - see General Principles and Record Keeping section). In addition you must be able to recreate a list for any issue in the reporting period on request.

2. You must be able to demonstrate the copy is distributed to the addressee. 

Guidance Available

3. Single copy knowingly paid for by the subscriber 

1. The subscriber must be the addressee except:

   1. Where the addressee is an employee whose employer is the subscriber.

   2. Where the addressee is the recipient of a gift subscription from the subscriber (maximum 12 gift subscriptions per subscriber).

2. The purchase by the subscriber may be in cash or by other means agreed by ABC in writing.

3. You can claim copies where payment is outstanding as long as there are reasonable grounds to consider them to be live, good and collectable.

Guidance Available

4. For a contracted period and for a minimum number of issues (at least two)

1. Back issues up to 12 months old supplied as part of a subscription agreement can be claimed against the issue current at the time of sale.

Note: If you’re claiming digital copies, please also refer to the additional requirements in the Digital Copies section.

Reporting

You will report the following, which will be shown on the ABC Certificate:

1. Audit Issue total single copy subscriptions for UK and Other Countries

2. As an option, information on the prices paid for subscriptions and/or subscription package information

Guidance

G1. There must be a contractual arrangement between the subscriber and the publisher (or their agent).

1. If you merge publications or purchase a subscription list from a ceased publication it must be clear that subscribers have made a choice to receive the claimed publication. Examples of how this may be achieved are shown below.

If you merge publications where there are live subscriptions:

Subscribers to one publication only

• You may continue to fulfil the contractual requirement of the subscription by mailing copies of the ‘new’ publication until the expiry of the subscription period.

• Subscribers to both publications
  • You may refund the unexpired portion of one subscription and continue mailing copies until the remaining subscription expires; OR

  • You may net the value of the unfulfilled subscriptions and allocate copies on an issue by issue basis until the value has been subsumed.

Purchase or transfer of subscription lists from a ceased publication

• If you purchase or transfer a list of subscribers from a ceased publication, you could claim these as subscriptions if you could demonstrate:
  • The amount each subscriber is 'in credit' in terms of the payments for their subscription to the ceased publication.
  • How the credit is applied to the subscription to the claimed publication.
  • The subscriber has either:
    1. Elected to continue his subscription to the claimed publication; or

    2. Has been given the option to discontinue his subscription to the ceased publication and obtain a refund.

b. As records for two or three year subscriptions may need to be provided for audit you must ensure these are still available. You may wish to ask us to seal the galley (mailing list) at audit where this might prove difficult going forward.

G2. Single copy per issue, distributed to a known addressee

1. Distribution evidence: This will usually be from a third party company whose normal business is single copy distribution (such as Royal Mail). Typically the evidence will include testing the payment of invoices and related advice notes sufficient to identify the publication, issue, quantities and date distributed.  

G3. Single copy knowingly paid for by the subscriber

1. Cash means legal tender notes and coins, cheque, credit/debit card, wireless payment systems.

2. Where payment is outstanding you may take into account the following in considering whether there are reasonable grounds to consider the debt to be live, good and collectable:

   1. Publisher's normal credit terms

   2. Payment history

   3. Credit control efforts
      

Examples of Subscription Promotions

Note: The following examples of promotional offers would result in all copies being claimed as paid:

'Save 25% on your subscription'

'18 issues for the price of 12'

'Buy 12 issues get 6 free' (note: All 18 issues can be claimed as paid, with the price paid being allocated equally accross them)