Question:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – So a guy buys two of my informational booklets off eBay and notes that he found out about me from a photocopy of one of my booklets he received from another seller. I check it out, and sure enough, the seller mentions that he provides a free photocopy of such-and-such a manual with his auctions. You can even make out the cover of my booklet in his auction pic. I search my database and discover that he purchased the booklet in October 2002, and since I’ve sold about 2000 of these at $12.95, I was a little sore at the unauthorized photocopies and pointed it out to him. He was very apologetic, offered to stop distributing the booklet, and said he’d provide me with his database of customers who received the booklet. This is where I got creative. I told him that my main concern was unauthorized copies, so the best thing for both of us was to give him authorization. I printed up some full-color covers for his bootleg booklet that included the Web page URL where I sell other booklets plus a ton of accessories that are glowingly described in the booklet he is distributing. The cover blurb also had my eBay ID, and the fact that an "updated" version of the free booklet was available. So, for the cost of some covers printed by ink-jet, this guy continues to assume the expense of making the photocopies, plus mailing them out as promotional materials for me at no additional expense on my part. I doubt if I lost too many sales to the unauthorized copies, but I stand to gain quite a few additional sales through this promotion. I passed on getting his customer database. The last thing I need is for their first contact with me to be in the form of spam. Everything I know, and then some: http://www.auctionmyths.com
Geez. Everybody wins. I’m speechless with admiration. (Which is not a frequent occurence.) — Ty Who is mostly just a slightly skewed Donna Reed A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. –Edward Abbey
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – So a guy buys two of my informational booklets off eBay and notes that he found out about me from a photocopy of one of my booklets he received from another seller. I check it out, and sure enough, the seller mentions that he provides a free photocopy of such-and-such a manual with his auctions. You can even make out the cover of my booklet in his auction pic. I search my database and discover that he purchased the booklet in October 2002, and since I’ve sold about 2000 of these at $12.95, I was a little sore at the unauthorized photocopies and pointed it out to him. He was very apologetic, offered to stop distributing the booklet, and said he’d provide me with his database of customers who received the booklet. This is where I got creative. I told him that my main concern was unauthorized copies, so the best thing for both of us was to give him authorization. I printed up some full-color covers for his bootleg booklet that included the Web page URL where I sell other booklets plus a ton of accessories that are glowingly described in the booklet he is distributing. The cover blurb also had my eBay ID, and the fact that an "updated" version of the free booklet was available. So, for the cost of some covers printed by ink-jet, this guy continues to assume the expense of making the photocopies, plus mailing them out as promotional materials for me at no additional expense on my part. I doubt if I lost too many sales to the unauthorized copies, but I stand to gain quite a few additional sales through this promotion. I passed on getting his customer database. The last thing I need is for their first contact with me to be in the form of spam. Everything I know, and then some: http://www.auctionmyths.com
In other words, you are a scammer who got outscammed by your scamee. — Many thanks, Don Lancaster Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552 Please visit my GURU’s LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
Response:
So a guy buys two of my informational booklets off eBay and notes that he found out about me from a photocopy of one of my booklets he received from another seller. I check it out, and sure enough, the seller mentions that he provides a free photocopy of such-and-such a manual with his auctions. You can even make out the cover of my booklet in his auction pic. I search my database and discover that he purchased the booklet in October 2002, and since I’ve sold about 2000 of these at $12.95, I was a little sore at the unauthorized photocopies and pointed it out to him. He was very apologetic, offered to stop distributing the booklet, and said he’d provide me with his database of customers who received the booklet. This is where I got creative. I told him that my main concern was unauthorized copies, so the best thing for both of us was to give him authorization. I printed up some full-color covers for his bootleg booklet that included the Web page URL where I sell other booklets plus a ton of accessories that are glowingly described in the booklet he is distributing. The cover blurb also had my eBay ID, and the fact that an "updated" version of the free booklet was available. So, for the cost of some covers printed by ink-jet, this guy continues to assume the expense of making the photocopies, plus mailing them out as promotional materials for me at no additional expense on my part. I doubt if I lost too many sales to the unauthorized copies, but I stand to gain quite a few additional sales through this promotion. I passed on getting his customer database. The last thing I need is for their first contact with me to be in the form of spam. Everything I know, and then some: http://www.auctionmyths.com
If you like this post and would like to receive updates from this blog, please subscribe our feed.