Help
| Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) |
What is Zeringo?
Zeringo is a web-based tool that:
Enables two way private conversations between individuals or businesses;
Enables complicated and involved event-planning tasks;
Enables online commerce for both events and classified ads;
Tracks contact information;
More on the way!
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What does Zeringo do?
Zeringo is an online portal that:
Brings communication and commerce to organizations that normally do not maintain their own websites;
Brings classified ad buyers and sellers to the table faster by simplifying communication between them;
Simplifies event planning for organizations and their members.
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How much does it cost to use Zeringo?
Zeringo is free!
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What vertical spaces does Zeringo support?
Zeringo supports many vertical spaces. A small subset of the business spaces that Zeringo supports are as follows:
Classified Advertisements
Parent Teacher Associations
Home Owner Associations
Marathon Groups
Cultural Associations
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What classified ad problems does Zeringo solve?
Zeringo helps to solve several problems that current online ad sites posess, such as:
Communication frequently breaks down between buyer and seller;
It is nearly impossible to keep identities private until the sale is concluded;
Many sites lack easy online payment options, and
Most sites do not provide metrics
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How does Zeringo solve the classified ad problem?
The Zeringo solution to the classified ad problem is as follows:
Content and communication are intimately linked;
Both buyer and seller can exchange information as needed;
The buyer doesn't need to go through any extra steps (such as prior registration with PayPal) to pay for the item, and
Metrics for each destination (online and print) can be tracked separately.
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What Parent Teacher Association (PTA) problems does Zeringo solve?
Zeringo helps to solve the following problems with Parent Teacher Associations:
Most have few financial resources for a separate website;
Even with the website communication is externalized;
It is difficult to harvest and maintain contact information;
There are no viable online payment options;
Coordination of group activities is difficult.
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How does Zeringo solve the PTA problem?
The Zeringo solution to the problems with PTA communiques are as follows:
- Zeringo provides more than a separate website;
- Member communication is always relevant;
- Zeringo harvests member contact information in a natural way;
- There are several methods of online payments, and finally
- All group and sub-group activities can be tracked with ease.
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What Home Owner Association (HOA) problems does Zeringo solve
A standard HOA has the following problems: finally
HOAs usually do not maintain a separate website;
The HOA website (if it exists) is difficult to maintain;
Member contact information is probably out of date;
There are monetary and environmental expenses from mass mailings and finally
There are no viable online payment options.
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How does Zeringo solve the HOA problem?
Zeringo solves this problem with the following:
Zeringo eliminates the need for maintaining a separate web site;
Member contact information is up to date;
Delivery of newsletters and forms is guaranteed - without the cost;
Dues collection is made easier, and finally
Members can make use of the HOA community in an unprecedented way.
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What spontaneous group problems does Zeringo solve?
Groups have the following problems:
A separate website is too expensive to maintain;
It is difficult to monitor group activities;
Member dues and fund collection activities can be difficult, and
Communication is not even in the picture.
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How does Zeringo solve the spontaneous group creation and communication problem?
The Zeringo solution for allowing communication and creation of spontaneous groups is to:
Provide another avenue for members to "get a life";
Provide easy tracking of group activities that members can reference at any time;
Provide communications that are continuous and contextual, and
Allow the natural formation of sub-groups;
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How do I add contacts to my Zeringo address book?
Prior to adding contacts, export your addresses to a comma separated file (CSV). Zeringo supports Yahoo, Google, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Hotmail formats. Once you have exported your contacts, login to Zeringo and surf to the SmartBook area. Click on the "Import" link on the left. Pick the type of file to be imported, select the file from the filesystem, choose the contacts to import, and click the "Import" button. Zeringo adds your imports and invites your new contacts to join you at Zeringo.
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How do I add contacts not in my Hotmail, Yahoo, Outlook or Gmail address book?
Login and surf to the SmartBook tab and then click on the "Add Contact" hyperlink on the left panel. Pick the type of contact that you would wish to add: individual or business. Fill out the form, especially the bold fields which are required. Click the "Save" button. This action will save the information in your SmartBook and will also send an email to your new contact, inviting this person to join Zeringo and to share their up-to-date contact information with you.
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How do I add a contact who already uses Zeringo?
Simply add your contacts as described in a few of the questions and answers above. No matter which method adds the contact to your address book, an email will go out to your added contacts - whether or not they are using Zeringo. However, if they are Zeringo members, then the system will alert them of your membership and of your request to synchronize contact information with them. All that remains to be done at this juncture is for your invitation to be accepted at which point both you and your contact will be able to access public information from each other's profiles.
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Who has access to my email address and password?
You are the only person that will ever have your password. You are also the only person who will ever have your email address unless you let someone else use it. Zeringo will not give away or sell your information.
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How can I see the contact information of a Zeringo contact?
Log into Zeringo and surf to the Smartbook tab. There is a column on the left. One of the entries in that column is "Browse SmartBook". Click on this link to be presented with your contacts. There are two ways to see the contacts: all at once (the default) or alphabetically. Currently your contacts are sorted by their first names. There is a hyperlink for each contact; click it to see the contact information. You may also make changes to the contact by clicking the "Edit Contact" button at the bottom of the page.
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How do I create new contacts directly in Zeringo?
This question is also answered in "How do I add contacts not in my Hotmail, Yahoo, Outlook or Gmail address book?". However, login and surf to the SmartBook tab and then click on the "Add Contact" hyperlink on the left panel. Pick the type of contact that you would wish to add: individual or business. Fill out the form, especially the bold fields which are required. Click the "Save" button. This action will save the information in your SmartBook and will also send an email to your new contact, inviting this person to join Zeringo and to share their up-to-date contact information with you.
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How do I add my contacts to a category?
Zeringo has the concept of groups. Each account begins with a public and a private group and more groups can be added by each user as needed. Each group has informational fields associated with it (email address, name, address, etc.). These fields can be assigned to one or more groups by the user. Then the user can assign their contacts to one or more groups. The contacts will then have access to the information that the group is allowed to see. In this way, Zeringo allows access to as little or as much contact information as a user may desire. To add a user to a group, login and surf to the SmartBook tab. On the column to the left click on the "Groups" hyperlink. You will see a Groups area that allows you to add new groups; this consists of a textbox and a button. You will also see a large area at the bottom: a few hyperlinks (Private and Public) and two listboxes. When you first come to this page the Public area is selected; all of your contacts are by default in the Public group. If you wish to move your contacts to a different group (Private for instance) then click on the Private hyperlink and select the contact(s) to be moved. Click on the "Add" or "Add All" button to move your contact from the "Contacts" to the "Members" listbox. Conversely, to remove a member from a group, click on the contact in the Members listbox and then on the "Remove" or "Remove All" button. This will move the selected contact(s) into the Contacts listbox.
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How do I delete a contact?
Log into Zeringo and surf to the Smartbook tab. There is a column on the left. One of the entries in that column is "Browse SmartBook". Click on this link to be presented with your contacts. There are two ways to see the contacts: all at once (the default) or alphabetically. Currently your contacts are sorted by their first names. Once you see the contact to be deleted, there is a "delete" link - click it. Be sure you mean to delete the contact because there is no warning to confirm the deletion!
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How do I fill out my Zeringo profile?
Login to Zeringo and surf to the profile area. There are several fields in bold that are required; everything else on the page is optional. There are sections for personal and work data; there is also a section for custom fields that may contain any information that a user may desire such as: hair color, karate belt level, or any other personalized information.
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Who has access to my user info? What info is confidential?
Zeringo has the concept of groups. Each account begins with a public and a private group and more groups can be added by each user as needed. Each group has informational fields associated with it (email address, name, address, etc.). These fields can be assigned to one or more groups by the user. Then the user can assign their contacts to one or more groups. The contacts will then have access to the information that the group is allowed to see. In this way, Zeringo allows access to as little or as much contact information as a user may desire.
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What does my Web profile contain and who has access to it?
Your profile at a minimum contains your name and your primary email id. It may also contain a photo (hopefully of you), phone numbers associated with you, addresses associated with you, email addresses, and custom fields if you so desire. Various fields in the profile can be accessed by different groups according to the security settings that you set. See the question and answer immediately prior to this one for a fuller discussion of security groups.
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Can my personal information be sold to third parties?
Zeringo does not and will never sell your information to any third party. However, you are free to share your information with any Zeringo member to include both individuals and businesses.
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How do I make changes to my account (change my name, first name, language, password, options)?
Your profile contains these fields. Please see "How do I fill out my Zeringo profile?" for any further answers to this question.
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How do I delete my Zeringo account?
Log into Zeringo and surf to the "My Account" page. There will be a "Delete me from Zeringo" link in the lower right corner. Click the link and follow the directions. Your account and profile will be removed from Zeringo.
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Is my credit card information stored on your system?
No. We do not store any credit card information anywhere on our system.
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Why do I need to enter my credit card information each time?
You must enter your credit card information each time you purchase an item through Zeringo because we do not store any credit card information.
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Do you sell my credit card information?
No. Since we do not store credit card information we cannot sell it.
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Do you sell my personal information?
No. We would not want anyone to sell our personal information and so we feel the same way about yours.
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What security measures protect my credit card information?
One measure is that we do not store your credit card information. Another measure is that when we transmit your credit card information, the information is encrypted using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer).
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How can I pay for a classified ad?
Zeringo current accepts the following payment options: ACH payments using bank account and routing numbers, MasterCard, and Visa. In the future we will accept other credit cards and are also looking into a PayPal option.
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What is a Zeringo profile?
A Zeringo profile stores your personal (and not so personal) information. The profile contains your name, phone numbers, email addresses, and other information related to you.
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How does field level security help me?
Field level security segregates your information into groups. Zeringo members that belong to one of your groups have access to the information contained in the group. They do not have access to information contained in other groups.
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What problems does SmartBook solve when compared to an email address book?
An email address book is static as compared to the dynamic Zeringo solution. The Zeringo solution pulls email addresses from the system where they have been updated by their owner (if the profiles have been synchronized).
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What is two-way synchronization in SmartBook terms?
Two-way synchronization occurs when your friend has access to your profile, and you have access to his (or hers). You should shoot for this condition with most of your contacts since that way both of you will always have the most up-to-date information on each other.
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What happens if my friend breaks synchronization with my profile?
The first thing you should do is to buy your friend flowers or a six pack of beer and offer an apology! Otherwise, there is not much that you can do if your friend does not want to share their profile with you.
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What types of credit cards are accepted for payment?
We currently accept MasterCard and Visa and are planning to accept more in the future.
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