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A web presence, even if only a blog, eventually gathers steam and if you have a genuine product or service to sell, the Internet offers the biggest market of all. Aquaponics is attracting a lot of attention worldwide, especially in times of recession and rising food costs. Those of us fortunate enough to have a head start in this field are beginning to detect a massive need for information.

With this in mind, I started writing a manual entitled Aquaponics - The Synaptoman way and eventually launched it for sale on the internet this week.

The marketing side was easy. I had built up a regular following on my blog, Synaptoman, I had a product to sell that my readers wanted and I think I’d priced it competitively.

So with some trepidation, I pressed the button and officially published my first book. For a couple of hours nothing happened as the search engines and spiders digested my post and then it happened. A steady trickle of orders from all corners of the globe. The USA, Belgium, Kenya the UK.

But then I hit a logistical brick wall. How would they pay me? In my excitement I hadn’t given this a second thought and as one after the other, my precious clients gave up in frustration trying to transfer money into my SA bank account, I cursed my oversight.

The answer is to accept Credit Cards or Paypal. I tried PayPal first and after a few frustrating hours found out that they don’t accept merchants from South Africa. Then I phoned my banks card division and tried to register as an online merchant. A day later they returned my call and their requirements (and commission) were enough to convince me that this wasn’t the answer.

I was just about to give up and give away my book on the Internet as an eBook when I came across, something that seemed too good to be true.

They were based in South Africa, offered a free service and only took 4.9% commission on all major credit and debit cards worldwide in US$ or Rands. In desperation I registered, filled in some simple FICA information, uploaded my product and frantically tried to get hold of my recently departed clients. Fortunately, they obviously wanted the manual and one by one went to the site and paid by credit card.

The site emails me when a new order comes in with full shipping details and the funds are immediately visible in my dollar balance of my profile. At any stage I can withdraw funds and transfer into my bank account at the current exchange rate.

With what I have learned in the past few days I’d be happy to help anyone who has the products but just doesn’t have the skills (or patience) to set up an online store.

Oh, and by the way, PLEASE buy my book.

Kevin Cuthbert
Knysna Aquaculture

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