How to Make Profits With a Commission Mailing Business

By DeAnna Spencer
Posted Tuesday, January 25, 2005

There are many mailorder publications that will list your nameunder this directory... "Commission Circulars Wanted"...

List your name under this classification and dealers will mailbundles of circulars to you with a blank space at the bottom ofthe ad in which you stamp your name. You mail these out and theads "appear" to be your own. You receive money for whatever isadvertised on the circular. You keep 50% and the dealer whosent you the circulars will fill the order for you for the otherhalf.

Never mail out a single circular by itself. Mail as many of thedifferent circulars as you can, in the same envelope. Stuff yourenvelopes full. The more you mail to one customer, the morelikely you'll make a sale and the less will be the per unitmailing cost. Mail order enthusiasts do read these circulars!

Next, run ads in different magazines saying that you mailcirculars for others. Charge whatever you determine is fair. Use the standard rate charged by others in the business. Youcan get this information easily by checking several dealersoffering this service in the various mailorder publications andadsheets. Then determine a fair charge based on the variationsof your services from the normal operations.

Always mention in your ads that "WE MAIL COMMISSION CIRCULARSFREE!" Whichever part of the ad the reader responds to, you canmake money. It is possible to run this business into a fulltime job and make good money well worth the effort you put intoit.

The best plan to follow is to keep growing. Run an ad everychance you get. Take on new commission circulars, test them,keep the ones that pull, omit the ones that do not pull. Beforeyou realize it, you will graduate from a part-time mailer to afull time money-maker!

Nine Steps That Put You in the Commission Mailing Business:

1. Order a good rubber stamp with your name and address on it.

2. Send for some free imprints (Commission Circulars). You pay only the postage for these. They are available from prime source mailorder firms.

3. Buy a supply of envelopes and stamps.

4. Address the envelopes to the names wanting big mail.

5. When you receive your circulars, stamp your name and address in the blank space on the commission side of the imprint.

6. Put one of each type of circular in each envelope, filling to the maximum weight for each level of postage rate.

7. Mail them.

8. When you receive orders, take out your commission.

9. Forward everything else to the source. (The firm or individual) who sent you the circulars... and you are in business!

If you are serious about commission mailing, you will take thetime to look over each offer in the Big Mails you receive. Mosteverything one needs to follow the nine steps above is offeredin the various Big Mail Packets, most of it free.

There is money in mailing, but it is not as some advertise it You won't make $50,000 a year by working one hour a week fromyour kitchen table. NO! It doesn't work that way.

If you will follow instructions, be happy with from $100 to $400a week, spending a few hours every night, five nights a week,then you too can make money in mailing the various offersavailable to you.

The nine steps listed above give you everything you need to getstarted. It is now up to you. You invest only what you wish,you grow as big as you want. Just one note of advice... Whenyou send your commission circulars, send more than one of akind... You will pay the same postage to mail one as you will tomail several. The more you mail at one time, the better theodds of receiving orders. It's also a good policy to never getyour circulars and your name lists to mail to from the samedealer.

Yes! Using these nine steps can put you in the commissionmailing business!

Making Money With Your Own Adsheet!

When you are in a position to publish your own adsheet you willbe able to expand your basic commission mailing business foradditional profits.

Adsheets are usually started by the publisher cutting ads fromother magazines and making paste-ups with these "Freebies". Thepublisher then mails his adsheets to these various dealers andasks them to re-run their ads with him at $$ per column inch. This is a risky beginning because many dealers are not in aposition to buy, or do not want to purchase additional ad spacefor one reason or another.

There are a number of publishers who have a method for startingadsheets that is almost 100% risk free. They send you partialpage, or full page ads, that pay from 50% to 100% commission andyou may run these ads over our name in your first edition ofyour adsheet. As paid ads come in, you simply replace thesefree ads with the paid ads.

Until you get paid ads for your publication, you have a chanceto make money whether you have paid advertisers or not. Moreover some companies will give you substantial discounts ontheir various mailorder programs if you run their 3x6 ad in thefirst edition. Thus you can make money off of their ads and youget professionally designed mailorder programs at very littlecost.

Also, there are a number of mailorder companies that have fullline printing plants and they will print your adsheet for you atvery competitive prices, in the event you don't have your ownprinter.

As you dig deeper and deeper into the world of mailorder, youwill be able to locate and contact many firms and individualswho will offer many and varied programs and services.

How to Get Your Circulars Mailed Free!

There is another way to get your circulars mailed free. As soonas you can afford it, become a supplier of commission circulars.The easiest way to do this is to take "all-profit" offers andhave circulars printed on two sides. On one side have your ownname and address printed. On the other side leave space for arubber stamp imprint.

Offer these circulars to circular mailers on a commission basis.They keep a commission from 50% to 100% on the one side, andyou make your profit on the other. Use the same method for anyoffers that you develop for yourself.

You can reach these mailers by advertising in, or subscribing toseveral mailorder trade magazines and adsheets. Another way tolocate mailers for your literature is to notice the ads bymailers; usually at the bottom of their ads they state"Commission Circulars Mailed Free", which means they get oneside and you get the other, as above.

If you really want to get rolling using this method, take two"all Profit" offers, one on each side, and give the mailer 100%on one side. You still make yours on the other offer.

Also, if you are interested in obtaining additional commissioncirculars for yourself, include "Commission Circulars MailedFree", in your own ads.

Still another way to get your literature mailed free is toinclude this little note in all your advertising... at the endof the copy... "Stamp appreciated". It only costs you twowords, but it could save you a great deal in postage. If youare advertising in trade publications or adsheets use "SASE"which means "Self-Addressed, Stamped Envelope". The savingsfrom envelopes, addressing labor and postage can add up fast. Many small dealers use this method exclusively, even in thelarge circulation magazines. They have been using it for yearsand it still works!

How to Make $100 mailing 100 EnvelopesBy Using the Exchange Mailing Plan!

Regarding this plan they have been telling you to have 5,000 3x6commission circulars printed, the circulars offering $1.00 itemsand paying 50% commission on every order received. Then mail100 each to 50 "Exchange Mailers" in 50 envelopes marked X-100SY(which means Exchange 100-Send yours). When you receive 100circulars from each of the exchange mailers, mail out one eachin 50 envelopes. This way 100 envelopes mails your 5,000circulars. If you have a good circular offering a popularseller, and the exchange mailers you sent yours to, are honestand dependable, you should receive at least a 2% return. Thenthey state that this plan will bring $50 profit.

This is the complete plan and they say it works. That it isworking every day for many mailers and that it will work for you!

I have no doubt that it works; however the $50 profit theymention is Gross Profit before any expenses. Figure it up. Bythe time you purchase the printing, the envelopes and thestamps, your expenses will leave you little if any Net Profit.

Of course, if the exchange mailers send you top pullingcirculars for their "fast selling products" and you receive 50%or more commission on orders from these, you can make asubstantial Net Profit, perhaps enough to pay for your time andeffort.

If you are serious about making money at home, commissionmailing is one way to do it, but you must have circulars thatoffer top selling items. In this day and age of inflation andhigh postage costs it is difficult to make a buck by mailingcirculars selling only $1.00 products. You should have a veryminimum selling price of from $5.00 to $8.00 in order to pay youa reasonable amount!

For just the postage and handling, many mail order firms willsend you commission circulars and the names of other mail orderdealers who will send you all the names you want, FREE! Thereare other dealers who are happy to send you their circularswithout the cost in order to defray their mailing expenses. Allyou have to do is write and request their circulars or place asmall display ad in various mailorder advertisers and ad sheetsindicating that you mail good commission circulars free!

You can get the names of a number of printers in the mailorderbusiness who print commission circulars for a very reasonablefee. I would suggest that you order 6,000 3x6 circulars ratherthan 5,000 as suggested on the prior page for the simple reasonmost printers like to keep their printing formats and priceschedules in round figures and 6,000 3x6's (approximately 2-3/4x 5-1/2, not actually 3x6) will fit on 1,000 sheets of thestandard size 8-1/2x11 paper.

If you handle your commission programs on a conservative basisuntil you have tested and proven the value of each program, youcan very well make $100+ by mailing 200 envelopes with anexchange mailing plan!

Postage Saving Tips

As with all your mailorder programs, just like any otherbusiness, you must operate efficiently and save dollars wheneverand wherever possible. In your commission mailing programs itis especially important to get the most use out of every dollaryou spend on postage and mailing costs. Errors and lack ofplanning when preparing mailing programs costs untold millions. Incorrect scales and mistaken rate calculations account for manymore millions. The use of machines for folding and inserting,etc., can save substantially when your mailings get large enoughto warrant their use.

Most letters mailed at one ounce rates weigh much less than oneounce. Save money by stuffing your mailings with othercirculars and inserts unless your mailing involves a specialoffer that is best promoted separately. Most people do notrealize that a #10 envelope plus five standard 8-1/2x11 sheetswill go at the ounce rate. It also is a saving idea to print onboth sides of your documents.

With a small battery operated mail opener that costs less than$20, you can open most envelopes quickly and easily withoutdamage to the inserts.

To maintain your mailing list on a current basis it will pay tospecify "Forwarding and Return Postage Guaranteed", and "AddressCorrection requested".

See your postmaster for third class bulk rate information. It's a simple procedure to get set up forBulk mailing. After an initial charge you can renew for anannual fee. You will get back the cost of the fees just in thefirst few hundred mailings, and ride at the bulk rate for therest of the year. However, it can take from a week to two weeksfor delivery. Paste on color stickers are used to indicate thedestination, making it easy to sort and bundle by zip areas, etc.

Note to editors:
To show my appreciation to the editors that use my articles, I offer a free solo ad. Simply send an email to me by using the form on the contact me page on my website to tell me the url the article was used on or send me a copy of the ezine it was used in.

About the Author
DeAnna is the publisher of the ezine, Prospecting and Presents. Subscribers get one free ad per week. Subscribe today by visiting (http://www.pnewsletter.com)