Cash in on football mania
publication date: Jun 7, 2006
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- Editorial
- Customer Service Strategies on eBay
by MichaelHehn
- How to Reduce Spam in Your Inbox and
Enhance Your Email Security
by RichardRogers
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Editorial
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Welcome to another issue of our weekly
eLetter. Another exciting week, in football
terms if nothing else, and I wonder just how
many of you are cashing in on this once-in-
four-years buying extravaganza. You could
be selling anything from England flags to
eBooks about past World Cup Trials and
Tribulations as someone I've just noticed is
selling. His eBook is packed with facts and
figures, jokes and stories about the game of
football, not just World Cup endeavours but
including footie matches from the early
1900s. He's also packed in a good few early
photographs and postcards of past famous
footballers which are almost certainly from
the public domain. The book costs just £34.99
and sells about 10 a day it seems, not bad at
all, and I'm sure the current mention of 'World
Cup' in his listing will quickly be replaced with
some generic football term when the World
Cup ends.
It isn't the football aspect I'm focusing on
here, as much as the fact that a book of
around 50 pages should not have taken more
than a week to create and it could potentially
be a best seller from now to forever.
The potential is so-o-o-o great for anyone to
create their own books, either in their own
words from careful research or by using out-
of-copyright documents, pictures and
photographs.
Football's been done, you could still try a
competing title, but why bother when the
market is wide open for so many other
seasonal and special event eBooks? These
ideas came off the top of my head at the
speed it took to key them into this eLetter.
* 'Herbal Teas' - it's one hundred years since
'The Book of Tea' by OkakuraKakuzo was
created. That puts it well in the public
domain and I've seen the book itself selling in
pdf format on eBay by several different
sellers. So be different, create THE BOOK
OF HERBAL TEAS ('herbal teas' attracts
thousands of Internet searches each month)
and add 'The Book of Tea' as a freebie.
* 'SPAM (Why There's More to Spam than
Unsolicited eMail)' - I'd love to write this
myself because I'm from a generation that
ate SPAM almost every day. It's like ham but
not of such high quality and my mother and
other women of her day created hundreds of
different recipes for making the daily dose of
SPAM just a little more palatable. So we had
fritters made from SPAM, risotto including
SPAM, toasted SPAM sandwiches, SPAM in
the Hole (like Toad in the Hole but with
SPAM replacing the sausage), and so many
more. I have my mother's recipes though
she long since passed away and I could
actually just publish her ideas untouched.
But, as always, I don't have time. If SPAM's
not to your liking you could write up on 100
plus ways to create great menus from other
budget foods, like bacon, eggs, cheese.
Here's a tip: at boot sales and flea markets,
also auction salerooms, pick up really old
magazines like 'Pearson's Weekly' from the
1920s and '30s and you'll find them packed
with recipe ideas. Recipes do not have
copyright, only the manner in which they are
written up. So rewrite the recipes in your
own words, convert to pdf, give your work a
great title, and begin selling your work on
eBay.
Happy eBaying,
All the best,
Avril
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Today's Free Subcriber Only Gift
***
This week's free gift is 'Writing for Fast Cash'
and it is all about writing articles that can be
uploaded free of charge to article directories
and represent an ongoing source of income
for you.
eMail me mailto:avril@clippingsfactory.com
- put FAST CASH in the subject box - and I'll
reply with download details. I'll try to upload
the eBook tonight but it could be early
tomorrow, the eBook is well worth waiting for.
Writing articles for profit is also one of the
topics covered in my own latest book THE
WEB WARY GUIDE TO MAKING MONEY
ONLINE which you can read all about at
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Customer Service Strategies on eBay
by MichaelHehn
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Customer service is important on eBay.
Buyers rate their satisfaction with sellers, and
your rating can make a difference on whether
potential customers are willing to buy from
you.
Customer service strategies on eBay start by
providing an accurate product description.
Displaying clear pictures and describing any
imperfection shows the buyer what to expect.
It's much better for customer satisfaction if
the buyer receives a product in better shape
than he expected than if you oversell and
disappoint your customer.
Customer service strategies on eBay include
acknowledgement of the winning bid and
prompt shipping information. Use an
automated response to let the buyer know
you have received his bid. Acknowledge
payment quickly. Ship immediately, and
inform the customer when the product is
shipped. Customer service strategies include
providing a tracking link to the product
whenever possible.
Some eBay sellers offer free shipping as a
customer service strategy. If you charge for
shipping, don't charge much above shipping
costs. Customers notice the postage cost
and will likely complain if the shipping and
handling is several dollars over. They
understand the cost of materials, but they
don't want to pay for your time to package
the product.
Customer service strategies on eBay include
a return policy. It is worth it to accept returns
any time a customer asks. You can probably
resell the item, and receiving a good rating is
worth the cost and hassle.
Customer service strategies on eBay are not
any different than traditional online stores.
Make sure the product is as good as you say
it is, don't inflate shipping and handling, ship
quickly, and have a liberal return policy. This
is the way to achieve high customer service
ratings.
About the author: To find the best home
based business ideas and opportunities so
you can work at home visit:
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How to Reduce Spam in Your Inbox and
Enhance Your Email Security
by RichardRogers
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Spam is the Internet's equivalent of junk mail.
Spam is defined as an e-mail message sent
to people without their consent or permission.
Addresses of recipients are often harvested
from Usenet postings or web pages, obtained
from databases, or simply guessed by using
common names and domains.
Spam is sent to promote practically any
product or service ranging from 'Adult'
products to logo design for websites. It is
also used by hackers to spread viruses or
links to dangerous websites used to gather
your personal information like credit card
details or passwords for sites like eBay or
PayPal. To the average user these
messages appear genuine. Even the link has
a genuine looking domain name. This
technique is known as 'Phishing'.
Here are some smart strategies and tips you
can employ now to start reducing Spam and
boost your email security.
- Configure your anti virus software to
automatically scan your incoming email for
viruses. Email is still widely used to distribute
malicious software. Make sure you keep your
anti virus software definitions up to date.
- If you are someone that frequently signs up
for 'freebies' or other stuff on the internet
start using a separate e-mail account just for
this purpose. Accounts from providers like
Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Google's Gmail all
come with generous storage as standard.
About the Author
RichardRogers is a owner of a number of
computer related sites. One of his sites offers
Computer Help for Windows XP Users -
More Tips from RichardRogers
- If you are posting your email to a blog or
your website then submit it in a way that is
only recognisable to a human. For example if
your email is johndoe@hotmail.com then
post it as "johndoe at hotmail.com".
- Never open a message from an address
you do not recognise - always delete it
straight away. This is especially so if there is
an attachment.
Never reply to a message as this only
confirms the email address is "live" to the
spammers.
- If you get an official looking message from
your bank or eBay or another site you are not
sure is genuine here is what you do. Instead
of clicking on the link embedded in the mail
log on to the site normally via your browser. If
there are any genuine serious problems you
should get a message when you log on.
Alternatively contact the site's customer
service via the phone if possible.