About e23: Information and FAQs
Updated April 15, 2008
e23 is two things. It's a digital publishing project from Steve Jackson Games, and it's a "department" in our online store, Warehouse 23.
Eventually, because it's a part of Warehouse 23, you will be able to find all our digital products through the regular Warehouse 23 search. They'll go
in your shopping cart along with everything else you buy from W23, and they'll count toward your sales total for free shipping on your physical products.
But right now, while we're shaking things down, it has its own separate shopping cart and orders are not combined with W23 orders.
Because digital product sales are a new thing, we've also set up a distinct "front end" for the e23 project. You probably came here through the e23 home page. There's a separate e23 section in our web forums. We want
to make it easy for gamers . . . and writers! . . . to find these new digital releases, talk about them, and give us feedback.
Read what people are saying about e23!
When you buy files from e23, we'll send you e-mail with a download link. If you buy by credit card, this will happen very quickly. PayPal takes a bit
longer (see this answer for more details). (Note that if everything in your order is free, approval is instant, so we'll give you
the download links when you check out.)
Checks and money orders are not accepted for e23 purchases.
The best way to see how it works is to experiment! If you go to the Free Samples page, you can go through the whole process without putting any money down . . .
Most of the files we sell on e23 are in PDF format, but not all. Some executable files, our own GURPS Character Assistant, are on sale right now. And there's no
telling what the future will bring . . . but PDFs will be the majority of downloads for now, and any file that doesn't specifically say otherwise in the description will be a PDF.
To read a PDF, you will need the Adobe Reader (which is still known for some systems as the Acrobat Reader). If you don't already have this program,
you can download it here, free. (Mac owners running OSX can also use the built-in
Preview program to read PDFs.)
When you download a file, you can print it out, or just read it onscreen. Your choice.
Note that these files aren't copy protected. Copy protection causes trouble for everyone. Our business model depends on our users' sense of ethics. See this question for more information.
A drawback of buying digital products is that if something happens to your hard drive, you're hosed. So . . . e23 gives you insurance.
If you're a registered customer, we'll keep a record of every digital file you have bought. If we update a file, you'll get a notice (if you've chosen
to be on the notice list, that is), and you can download the new version.
And if a bad thing happens to your system and you need to replace some or all of the files you have bought, you can do that too. No problem. You bought
it, you own it.
Q. What's the point of selling PDFs rather than physical products?
A. Overhead is lower! We can't stay in business with printed books and games unless we expect to sell several thousand copies. That means that lots of
good ideas never get printed because demand is too low. The break-even point for digital products is a lot lower. And for you, the customer, the point
is that you can choose from a wide variety of PDFs and get the one you want instantly.
Q. Where can I send comments and errata?
A. For a Steve Jackson Games product, send comments and errata to errata@sjgames.com . . . that will get it to the correct people.
For a product created by someone else, send comments and errata to the original publisher . . . contact information should be on the product, but you
should also be able to find it through the listing on this site. However, if you really like, or really hate, a third-party product, drop a line to manager@warehouse23.com, because we depend on customer feedback when deciding what to carry!
Q. Will buying from e23 get me onto spam lists?
A. Absolutely not. Here's our privacy policy.
Q: Can I have a copy shop print up a copy of a file I bought?
A: Yes, you can have one copy printed for personal use, whether at home or through a copy shop. If the copy shop needs proof that you have permission, you can point them at this page, or write us at manager@sjgames.com to get official permission on company letterhead.
Q. Are the files in e23 copy protected?
A. No. That would interfere with your use of them. We just have to hope that we can sell enough to honest people to make up for what gets stolen by the kiddies and cheapskates.
Q. Can I repost these files so others can use them?
A. No. Please don't. The only way we can afford to do this is if people are honest, and don't "share" (that is, steal) our files, or use files posted
by the "sharers."
Q. What about making printouts for my play group?
A. Legally, a gray area. Our answer is "If you bought things to use with your play group, and you need to make copies of part of the material to have a
good game, go ahead." Just don't do anything that turns into "handing them to the world." It is also possible to buy multiple copies of a file, if you
want to print out the full book for multiple people to have (though that might get a bit hard on your printer).
Q. If you have no copy protection, how can you enforce all this?
A. If we find a serious piracy operation we'd try to close them down. Generally, however, we can
say "Please play fair with us, because if we lose money on this we'll have to quit."
Q. What if my hard drive dies and I lose my files?
A. No problem. If you are a registered e23 customer, we keep a record of everything you bought. You can download it again any time you need to, though
of course we'll nuke an account if we see so much traffic that we suspect it's fallen into the hands of the "sharing" thieves.
Your information may be reviewed on your own Account Page.
Q. What if I forget my password?
A. Still no problem. Log in to our secure server, give it your e-mail address, and it will send you a new
password. Now, if you discontinue your old e-mail address AND forget your password, you are well and truly hosed. So if you get a new address, you
should QUICKLY log in and update your account information.
Q. I don't want to register or give you any personal information. Why should I have to?
A. You don't HAVE to give us any information other than the credit card number or PayPal account you use for your purchase and the e-mail address we
send the download code to. And if you choose not to register, the information you give us for a purchase will not be used for anything else, ever . . .
see our privacy policy. But if you don't register, we will have no record of your purchases
later and you won't be able to replace lost files. It's your call.
If you choose not to register, you will be sent a download code that will be good for 30 days or three download attempts, whichever comes sooner.
If you forget to log in before purchasing, we can attach your order to a registered account after the fact. E-mail orders@warehouse23.com with your username and the order number. As long as the e-mail address on your account matches the e-mail address used to place the order we'll be happy to update the account information so that you can enjoy the benefits of registration.
Q. If I buy a file and hate it, can I get a refund?
A. No. That would just BEG for abuse. Please read the description and the ratings (coming soon) before you buy. If you don't like a product, though, we
DO want to hear about it. If we find out that something is flawed, we'll fix it (and registered users who bought it will be able to get the improved
version for free). If we find out that a lot of customers hate a given product, we'll stop selling it.
However, from time to time a customer isn't aware they are purchasing a digital product. If this happens to you, you notify us immediately, and you do not download the file we can generally provide a refund. If the file has been downloaded, however, we cannot offer a refund.
Q. What is the minimum order?
A. There is no minimum order. If all you want is a single small item, or even a single free one, go for it!
Q. Why do you not accept checks and money orders?
A. Our experience on the Warehouse 23 side of things is that (a) they're a terrible pain to process, (b) we get very, very few of them nowadays anyway,
and (c) the majority of the promised checks and money orders don't even show up. If you are one of the very few customers who has no other payment
method and actually remembers to send checks after ordering, we apologize. Please check out PayPal. It costs you
no more; the seller pays the fee.
Q. How long does it take to receive the download e-mail if I pay with PayPal?
A. It varies from 2-6 business days, depending on what type of PayPal transaction you choose. If your PayPal account is connected to a credit or check card, or if you are using an existing PayPal balance, the transaction should occur within 1 business day. An electronic funds transfer or an e-check can take as along as 4 business days. Regardless of payment details, it then takes 1-2 business days total for the notification e-mail to reach us, us to approve the order, and the download e-mail to get to you.
Q: Some of your products are labeled "Adult Material." What does that mean?
A: Occasionally, one of the products we sell will have some explicit art, language, or adult subject matter. And PayPal has a specific policy against
dealing in "obscene" material. So a few of our products carry the "Adult Material" tag -- that means you won't be able to use PayPal for a purchase
that includes that item, and when you purchase this item you are certifying that you are over 18 years of age.
Q. Can I write something to go in e23?
A. We welcome submissions. For instance, digital publishing is the ONLY really cost-effective way to release adventures. See the page of e23 Authors' Guidelines.
Q. I'm already publishing my own digital game material. Will you sell it in e23?
A. Maybe! We'll be glad to evaluate what you have published and see if it fits our store. Please contact e23@sjgames.com for more information.
Q: How can I tell which products are new since the last time I logged on?
A: The "What's New" link at the top of this page is the best bet. It will take you to a page that lists the latest releases, in order of freshness. The
listings have subheads that give you the exact upload date, and you can click into the archives all the way back to before the opening of e23, if you
want. And there's always the "e23 News" feature on the front page, which mentions the hottest new additions to the site.
Q: What about an email reminder when a new product is uploaded?
A: You can get one of those, too. Just sign up at mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/e23-announce and you'll get an email update every
time a new item is added to e23's inventory.
Q: What's this about product ratings?
A: People who have bought a product have the opportunity to rate it on a scale of 1-5. Those ratings are there for everyone to see, and you can also
see the Top Ten rated items on our What's Hot! page.
Q: Can I buy something on e23 as a gift and send it to somebody else? How about a gift certificate?
A: Those we're still working on. Hang in there.
Q: What about us guys with PDAs? PDFs look totally lame on our devices; how about offering all these cool files in HTML, too?
A. Right now there doesn't seem to be enough demand to justify it. The people who want HTML really want it, and we're keeping the question in
mind . . . but some observers think that the hardware standards are likely to change soon anyway, leading to PDAs that can handle page-size PDFs more
gracefully. We'll see.
Q: Can I link to your website?
A: Of course. You don't need any special permission to add a link to us. Just link to http://e23.sjgames.com/. And if you want, you can
use one of our e23 banners.
Other FAQ files you can read include:
The Warehouse 23 FAQ
The general Steve Jackson Games FAQ
Questions about writing for e23 should go to e23@sjgames.com.
Questions about buying our digital products should go to orders@warehouse23.com.
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