Newbury Today FAQs
The Newbury Weekly News is independent and believes passionately in supporting the community and holding those in power to account. We want to continue serving you for many years to come.
However, it is no secret that the journalism industry faces serious challenges.
Many of our traditional sources of income have shrunk dramatically in recent years, with the likes of Google and Facebook hoovering up most of the advertising revenue while spending nothing on journalism.
Our website allows us to reach more people than ever before, but the simple truth is giving our stories away for free online is no longer a sustainable business model.
We know many people have become accustomed to receiving news online for free, but our journalism costs money to produce.
Using Axate is a fair and easy way to pay for great journalism, and to help to support the future of independent journalism in West Berkshire.
Andy Murrill, Editor
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1/ YOU’RE ASKING ME TO PAY?
Yes, a little bit. Once you sign up to Axate, we’ll take a modest price whenever you choose to read one of our paid-for articles. If you don’t read anything, or if you read one of our free articles, you won’t pay anything.
2/ DO I HAVE TO PAY FOR EVERYTHING?
No. Many of our articles, including breaking news and crime updates, will still be free to read.
3/ HOW DO I SIGN UP?
It’s really easy. You do not need to divulge lots of personal data, and you only need to sign up once. It takes no more than 2 minutes. After that, you will be able to visit any other site which uses Axate without any further action. Just click the “register” button on the Axate tab.
4/ IS IT TRUSTWORTHY?
Yes. Axate uses Braintree and PayPal to process payments, so you know your credit card details are secure.
5/ IS IT TRANSPARENT?
Yes. We want to make sure you know exactly what’s happening at all points. You can choose whether or not to actively authorise each payment, or you can pre-approve certain charges, depending on your personal preferences and spending limits. The green Axate tab on the side of your screen will always let know when you’ve been charged. The tab will also allow you to see prices, your progress towards the weekly “free point” and give you access to your account details.
6/ HOW MUCH DO I NEED TO PAY?
You can get started with as little as £1. If you don’t like it, you can cancel within 14 days and you’ll get a full refund of your unspent balance. There’s no subscription. When your wallet runs low, you decide how much to top up, starting from £3. If you don’t spend anything your wallet stays at the same balance.
7/ HOW DOES THE DAILY LIMIT WORK?
Axate is a pay-per-article system. Premium articles on Newbury Weekly Newsare 20p each, but reading just one article will give you free access to the whole site for the rest of that day. If you forget our prices, just click on the green tab in the top left of your screen to open your Axate. This system means you never spend more than want each day, whether you read three, five, 10 or more of our longer stories*.
9/ DO I HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS EVERY TIME I WANT TO READ SOMETHING?
No. Once you’ve signed up, the payment for each article is instantaneous. You won’t have to continually enter your payment details, or sign up for multiple sites. If you choose to pay automatically, you won’t even have to click anything. This system cuts out any hassle.
Even better, if you go to another Axate-enabled site it will just work there too without any more signing-up or topping-up.
10/ WHAT IF I WANT TO RE-READ SOMETHING?
Having paid for an article once, you can re-read it whenever you like, at no extra cost. If you wish to go back to something six months later, you can – there’s no time restriction.
11/ CAN I USE MY AXATE WALLET ON OTHER SITES?
You can also use your Axate Wallet on lots of other local newspapers. You can also use it on The Cricketer (thecricketer.co.uk), Reaction (reaction.life), and a wide and expanding range of other titles. To keep up to date on where you can use Axate, just go to www.axate.com. If you sign up through one of our titles, you will be helping to support us - even if you use the money to read articles elsewhere. Newbury Today benefits every time you top up your wallet, regardless of where you spend the money. We think Axate have set up a sensible system of funding for digital publishing. If you’re anything like us, you’ll want to graze across various websites without having to sign up or subscribe separately to each one.
– If you want to talk to us about Axate (or anything), please email editor@newburynews.co.uk
– If you have some feedback you think Axate would benefit from, please email support@axate.com
* Fair use restrictions will apply