Glossary.

The key terms around fax, letters and registered mail, briefly explained. The way we use them at faxpostal.

48 hour pass

One-time starter offer for faxes with up to 50 fax pages in 48 hours. Unless canceled, it then switches to faxpostal Standard. We remind you by email 24 hours before.

Address field

Area on the first page of a letter that shows in the envelope window. In Germany, its position is set by the DIN 5008 standard.

Address sheet

Extra first sheet of a letter with the address placed exactly in the envelope window. Recommended if the address in the document is not in the right place. It counts as one sheet.

Automatic detection

faxpostal reads the address, fax number, subject and sender from uploaded documents. This turns several documents to different recipients into separate shipments. Detection runs in the browser.

Business day

At faxpostal, Monday to Friday. On these days we print letters and hand them over to the post.

By fax in advance

Note above the address, for example By fax in advance to: +49 30 1234567. It shows that the same letter is also coming by fax. faxpostal takes the number from it automatically.

Cancellation

At faxpostal, in two clicks in your account under Subscription and payments, or without signing in via Cancel contracts here at the bottom of every page. You get the confirmation immediately as a PDF.

Country code

International dialing code of a country, for example +49 for Germany, +43 for Austria or +41 for Switzerland. It goes in front of every fax number.

Cover page

Optional first fax page with recipient, sender, subject and a short message. It counts as one fax page.

Delivery report

Combined report for the fax and letter of one shipment, with the fax transmission report and the stages of the letter.

DIN 5008

German standard for the layout of letters. Among other things, it defines where the address goes so that it shows in the envelope window.

Double-sided

Printing on the front and back of a sheet. Saves sheets and therefore postage on thick letters.

Enclosure

Document without its own address, such as a copy or a supporting document. With several files, an enclosure goes into the same shipment as the document before it.

Fax

Transmission of a document as an image over the telephone network to a fax machine. Also called telefax. One page takes about 15 seconds.

Fax and letter in parallel

The same document goes out both as a fax and as a printed letter. Both channels are under one tracking number in one delivery report.

Fax number

Telephone number of a fax line. At faxpostal you enter it with the country code and without the leading zero, except for Italy.

faxpostal Standard

Fax subscription with 500 fax pages per 4 weeks. Can be canceled anytime for the end of the 4 weeks. Even with the subscription, you pay for letters per item.

Handover

Handing the printed letters over to Deutsche Post. For orders placed by 2 pm German time (CET/CEST) on business days, the same day.

Online fax

Service that sends faxes from the browser, without a fax machine and without your own phone line. The file is converted into fax pages and transmitted over the telephone network.

Postage

The postal service's fee for carrying a letter. In faxpostal letter prices it is included, together with printing and envelope.

Receipt of a declaration

Legal term: a declaration has been received when the recipient can take note of it under normal circumstances. In Germany, a fax counts as received once it has arrived in the memory of the receiving machine.

Receiving machine

The fax machine that receives your fax. It usually reports an ID, a name or a number, which appears in the transmission report.

Redial

New attempt when the line is busy or the fax machine does not answer. faxpostal redials automatically up to three times. We do not charge for pages that were not delivered.

Registered mail

Deutsche Post letter with a tracking number whose route is documented. At faxpostal there is registered mail with mailbox delivery and registered mail handed over against signature, both only to addresses in Germany.

Registered mail handed over against signature

Registered mail that is only handed over against a signature. If nobody is there, it is held for collection.

Registered mail with mailbox delivery

Registered mail that the carrier puts in the mailbox, documenting the delivery. The recipient does not have to be at home.

Sender ID

Text in the header of every fax page that reaches the recipient. At faxpostal you set it in the settings, up to 20 characters. If left empty, it reads faxpostal.

Sheet

One piece of paper in the letter. Printed double-sided, two pages make one sheet. The letter price depends on the number of sheets, at most 90 per letter.

Sign-in code

Six-digit code we send by email for signing in. It is valid for 10 minutes. faxpostal has no passwords.

Text form (Textform)

Term from German law, § 126b BGB: a legible declaration that shows who is making it. Fax, email and printed letters meet it.

Text recognition

Reads text from photos and scanned PDFs so we can find the address and fax number. Also called OCR. At faxpostal it runs in the browser.

Tracking history

Stages of a registered letter at Deutsche Post, from handover to mailbox delivery or handover against signature.

Tracking number

Number starting with FB that identifies a shipment at faxpostal. Registered mail also has a Deutsche Post tracking number.

Transmission report

Log of a fax with date, time, recipient number, receiver ID and result for every page. At faxpostal as a PDF in your account.

Written form (Schriftform)

Term from German law, § 126 BGB: the declaration requires a handwritten signature on paper. Neither a fax nor a printed letter meets it.