Have new advertisers sign contract or sign waiver ?

[BitShift]

Im new to the direct advertising world but I plan on selling advertising space on my website. Do website owners typically have the advertiser sign a contract or fill out a form waiver of some type ? Whats a standard practice, if there is such a thing ?

[ember]

We sell direct advertising and I've never had an advertiser sign a contract. They pay for a set timeframe (month or 6 months or a year) or number of impressions. They have to agree to terms, though, when they pay. These are fairly simple saying that we will run the ad as stated but cannot guarantee how many visitors they will receive through our site. I always add a sentence at the end saying that any disputes (i.e. lawsuits) have to be filed, contested and settled in our home state which helps discourage out-of-state advertisers from thinking they could easily sue us.

One note of caution, if you take payment via credit card, ALWAYS get a hard signature by fax. Always.