With
all the woes of e-commerce sites that aren't making it, it's nice to find
one that has put things together and doesn't mind sharing its secrets with
others.
Suzanne
Wouk, the Webmaster of FundRaisingMom, says she got her money-making ideas
after volunteering to lead a fund-raising effort for a local preschool,
then being stuck in bed for six weeks with a back injury.
She
says the unwanted vacation gave her the idea of asking parents to donate
items to be auctioned off at eBay.com. "It was pure junk from
people's homes," she says, but the auctions raised more than $3,000.
That may not sound like much, "but for a tiny preschool that doesn't
have any money, it's a fortune," Wouk explains.
That
small success was the beginning of much bigger things. Wouk's site now
contains many details on Web-based affiliate and commission opportunities
that anyone, not just nonprofit groups, can take advantage of. A school,
church, or almost any organization can create a Web site and urge its
members to go there to buy magazine subscriptions, books, or any of a
number of other products. The Web site keeps a percentage of each sale.
For
instance, printer ink cartridges can be far cheaper when purchased on the
Web than in stores. Wouk recommends one source, Mr. Ink Man, that sells
new, generic cartridges for one-third the cost of famous brands (see http://www.mrinkman.com.
An Epson 740 ink refill that sells for $29.27 in office-supply stores is
available in a generic version for only $9.95. Mr. Ink Man offers its
affiliates a commission between 20 percent and 55 percent of the sale
price of each cartridge.
Wouk
has found numerous other attractive e-business moneymakers. One of these,
as described on her site, is Webmaster services. Many Web hosts pay
referrers a commission for each new customer, and continue paying a
percentage of each customer's monthly fees indefinitely.
Wouk
says her preschool now receives a check for about $400 a month from
recurring Web-host commissions alone. That's income of almost $5,000 a
year, with no ongoing effort by the school, and the amount can easily grow
from there.
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