I had to figure it out by trial and error, but it works well. I'm not aware of documentation.
I use it for a lot of things, even for holiday banners in specific areas on top bar and over widget sidebar, rules for certain specific forums, special banners that ONLY show to unregistered guests - encouraging them to register with a link to do so, etc.
That said, I'm probably using 10% of what it can do.
My primary use is to let (pre approved and added to a special usergroup by me) vendors purchase banners, completely on their own. It lets them pick a term which has graduated discounts, upload their art, point to a url, pick alt text, etc. It then sends the ad to me for approval. Once I approve it, it invoices them directly, and they pay directly with CC or Paypal. Their ad goes live immediately. This is all built in functionality, as long as you have a payment vendor already set up in Xenforo.
In the above example, I'm selling a suite of 728x90 banners. I have the banners randomly rotate, with all other advertisers, in positions such as the top and bottom of each page (
above content, below content), as well as after every 5th post. (
below every 5th thread post container) I set this up as a PACKAGE, under BANNERS.
For package BASIC SETTINGS, I have:
Name: "Banner Suite Pkg 728x90", POSITIONS (
above content, below content,
below every 5th thread post container) (Control+ click each)
For package SETTINGS, I have:
BLOCK, CENTER alignment, 728x90 UNIT SIZE, RANDOM ad order, Limit 1, Count views and clicks are ON, NO FOLLOW, Open in new tab.
For package ADVERTISING, I have:
728x90 ALLOWED SIZE, 20 Maximum Ads, AD COST $150 USD PER MONTH (example/not what I have), MIN 1 month, MAX 24 months, (term) Discounts (24mo/60%, 12mo/40%, 6mo/20%), Package description and guidelines TEXT of your own, You can put a preview image if you wish, You can define a usergroup that has access to buy ads, and a usergroup that will they will be set to automatically ONLY when their ad is live. (love this, because I use it to put a banner on their posts that they are a sponsoring vendor, and market them with special targeted banners)
So there you have an example of how to set up a PACKAGE.
The banners themselves can be set to just use the PACKAGE settings. You can even offer multiple packages, if you wish. When you create an ad (or a customer), it will set it up within the above package parameters.
Like I mentioned, this is just one small example of how it CAN be used. I'm sure others are doing much more with it. I do it this way on two Xenforo forums, and it has been a huge success. Most folks go for the longest term/biggest discount, which I have set up to be pre paid.
It works VERY well once you get that package set up, and give it a try.
You asked about putting banners in the slots that you want to sell. I do that too, but only approved vendors are set to see them. (and currently active vendors are set NOT to see them) I have one regular banner in the rotation, advertising the banner system, and the link leads to the sign up screen (ADS MANAGER). I have them all randomly shared, not married to just one position, so it may appear in any of the above places.
I hope this is helpful to get started, and to experiment with it.
Good luck!
Rhody