·  WHAT IF I SIGN UP AND CAN NO LONGER FULFILL MY OBLIGATION?
No worries! Things come up! Please.. PLEASE just email and let me know. No hard feelings! I understand! I promise! However if you sign up for a month and need to cancel but then sign up for the next month and then cancel again I will need to terminate our black box relationship. I only hold spots for so many businesses each month and when you hold spots over and over again and keep backing out you are taking the spot of someone who could have nabbed your spot and followed through with participating. Again, one cancellation ok! Two cancellations in a row, not good. Hope you understand.

·  HOW CAN I BE A SPONSOR?
Sponsorship is easy! First you must have a banner that is 468px by 60px in either .gif or .jpeg format. Then you have two options. We understand that not everyone can supply us with a ton of promo items. Your craft is tough work! We ask that everyone interested in sponsoring pay a $30 dollar refundable deposit for their site. Then if you supply us with at least 150 samples for the month you participate we refund your deposit. If not then we use it as the cost of advertising and the fee remains with the site and is used for site maintenance as well as the cost of advertising our own site. Just let us know what you want to do when you email for a sponsorship spot. The sponsorship spot has no competition and is the only banner on the front page of the site allowing thousands of people a month to see their banner.

·  DOES IT COST?
No! The only thing it costs is the amount it costs to create your samples. Think of the cost of your product as the price you would pay for advertising. The items that you contribute will be sent to 150+ people a month. A 150+ people that would have never heard of your company until you donated the item for your advertising purposes. We sell out every single month! The more contributers the more boxes! We currently have over 8000 people on our mailing list. The reason they signed up is because they want to learn about businesses like yours. We aren't messing around! You aren't just blindly sending your samples to me and hoping that they end up in the hands of people that want them. They want to make purchases from business like yours!

·  DO WE GET PAID TO PARTICIPATE?
No, you do not get anything in return from donating your items.The money that the site gets from the sale of the boxes is left with the site as it covers the price of shipping your items out to our customers and also also for my time. I provide the customer base for you. If your items "WOW" the box buyers you are guaranteed sales! We also purchase advertising in major magazines during select months.

·  WHAT IF I CAN'T SEND YOU ITEMS OF MY WORK?
For some businesses it's nearly impossible to create some sort of actual product to send in for the boxes. Either your art is too expensive to mass create or the item is too large. We have found in the pass the businesses usually send in postcards, flyers, or business cards to go in the boxes then. We don't have a problem with you sending in these however we don't count these as actual submissions for the box and you will not be asked to place a banner on our site if you go this route. We have heard time and time again that the box buyers do NOT want these counted as a promo in their box and would like them only used as extras and we listened.

·  WHERE DO I SEND MY SAMPLES TO?
You should package your stuff up and send it to:

The Little Black Box
44066 W. McCord Dr.
Maricopa, AZ 85239

·  WHAT TYPES OF STUFF DO YOUR CUSTOMERS LIKE IN THEIR BOXES?
We are open to all sorts of things! Previously there has been: candles, melts, votives, scrubs, soaps, lotions, perfumes, stationery, food, dog treats, teas, coffees, bath bombs, bath melts, cosmetics, hair care, gift certificates, coupon codes, magnets, pens, key chains, buttons, hair clips, necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets, photography, bookmarks. You should send in whatever you think personally suits your business and also what you think will blow the consumer away! Afterall, this is all about YOUR advertising needs. What do you think will make people want to order from you again? Don't forget coupon codes and your business card! Each promo item should come with a business card and for an extra added push you should give the buyer 10-15% off their first order.

·  WHEN IS MY BOX OF SAMPLES DUE TO YOU?
If you sign up and do not feel that you can follow through with your commitment please let me know. Businesses that sign up and have no contact with me and their samples do not show up will not be allowed to participate again. Due dates are as follows:

·  HOW MANY SAMPLES SHOULD I SEND IN?
How many samples you send in all really depends on what you can afford. We send out 150 boxes a month currently. The more samples you send in the more boxes they go into. That means more potential business for you as well. Other then that there's no minimum on the amount of promo items you need to send to us, but again please keep in mind that the more you send in the better the response!

·  WHO PURCHASES YOUR BOXES?
The Little Black Box audience is mostly women ages 25-60 from a middle income background. I get asked all the time if the people buying the boxes are other businesses or actually people who are buying the boxes to then make purchases, and I can assure you that 90% of the boxes do go to actual people who trust that I will make them aware of the hippest handmade business on the net. 5% go to the media and 5% to other businesses who purchase the boxes to check out what we do to.

·  HOW SHOULD THE SAMPLE BE PACKAGED?
Sometimes we have a theme going, but most of the time we don't. Usually you should package your sample like you would if you were giving it to a customer or as a gift. Some people really like to go out of of their way to give their samples some extra flare! When the customers open their box you want them to go straight for your sample. You want to make them want to order your item in a full size because whatever it is that you did was amazing! Most contributers include coupon codes, business cards and such. I strongly suggest a coupon code of 15% or higher as people LOVE discounts and it creates word of mouth buzz. 

·  ARE THERE RULES FOR MY PACKAGING?
Yes! If you are sending in bath and body or food all ingredients MUST be labeled properly. This is a legit online business and we only deal with online businesses that hold quality and care for their customers to the highest value. If packages show up here and are not labeled, leaking, not finished, broken, or in any way not appealing they will NOT go in the box. Not only am I advertising for your business but I am advertising for the other businesses that are in the box with you. Please make sure that everything is sealed properly and labeled correctly! **This include items for dogs or cats!!!**

If you have any additional questions, please email us!