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Home  Money Business Is There Money To Be Made In The 900 Business?
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Is There Money To Be Made In The 900 Business? |
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Page 7 of 8
RESELLER
An independent marketing company that acquires large blocks of
dedicated 900#s and re-sells them for a profit. Some re-sellers
specialize in Extensions. They go to a service bureau, buys a 900#
Master line which they ask the service bureau to subdivide into
Extensions, and which re-sellers market by the unit or in blocks of I 0
to 20 Extensions at a time.
SERVICE BUREAU
A technical support company that owns and operates telecommunications equipment capable of handling inbound calls.
SB ACTIVITY CHARGE
The amount a Service Bureau charges for processing calls generated by a
lineholder's 900#. Charges may be based on number of calls AND number
of minutes. In many cases, this charge is actually a combination
several different charges which include the following:
= Monthly Line Lease
= Monthly Line Maintenance
= Per Call Charge
= Per Minute Charge
= Program Usage Fee
SB SET-UP FEE
A fixed, non-recurring Service Bureau charge for setting up a 900
Master line of a 900 Extension. Some Service Bureaus charge $49 to $99
for each 900 Extension. Those
who sell Master lines sometimes charge as much as $2,500 per 900 Master line with
999 extensions in it, bringing down the cost to around $2.50 per extension when acquired in blocks.
The Business Of
Reselling 900 Extension Numbers
And Why It Is The Most Profitable Way To Get Into
The Pay-Per-Call Business
The following is a brief summary of different ways you can make money
given the current structure of the pay-per-call business. Based . on
information from previous pages, you can compare these opportunities
against each other, and conclude why reselling 900 numbers is the most
profitable among the following:
900 EXTENSIONS
Getting a 900 Extension is certainly the most difficult and the
riskiest way to get into the pay-per-call business. After investing $99
for a line, you are required to invest more money for advertising.
And after you realize that few people are going to call your 900
Extension (people don't call 900#s anymore), you're out a few hundred
dollars.
809 & 011 NUMBERS
These numbers are international access numbers not primarily designed for pay-per-call
services. The only way promoters make money with 809 and 011 #s is
from the long distance charges. The difference between what promoters
charge their callers and the what they pay the phone company is where
they make their money.
There are two ways you can get your own 809 or 011 numbers:
SET YOUR OWN BOX
You can become a long distance reseller, and make all arrangements with the phone
company to set-up your own relay computers (magic box) in a foreign
country of your choice, and start charging your own rates to people who
call up your phone numbers in that country. (This can cost in the
millions, considering the guarantees you have to make with the long
distance phone company, the local phone company in the foreign country
of your choice, the equipment and the travel cost.)
GET A LINE FROM A PROMOTER You can buy (actually you are leasing
because technically you do not own the phone number because it sits on
foreign soil) an 809 or 011 number for around $750 each, depending on
who you buy them from and which foreign country the call goes to.
WHAT TO PAY. If you are getting the numbers direct from the promoter
who owns the line, you may pay $500 or less if you buy them in huge
blocks of numbers. However, from a middle man, expect to pay $750 to
$1,5 00 - the highest so far I have seen these numbers being sold for.
WHERE TO SHOP: To shop around for 809 and 011 numbers, you can read the
classified ads pages of the USA Today on Mondays or Fridays where a
slew of resellers place ads selling ready-to-go numbers with programs
already attached to them.
PROGRAMS: When you buy an 809 or a 011 number, chances are the
numbers are already set up in such a way that they are answered by five
operators who provide "adult" entertainment services.
Because 809 and 011 numbers fall into the cracks and are not under the
microscopic tenses of the various agencies that police 900#s, people
who operate 809 and 011 are a lot more aggressive. Don't be surprise
to find 809 or 011 numbers that offer hard core adult programs.
PAYOUTS: The problem with 809 or 011 numbers is not the cost of
acquiring the fine or the type of programming that usually goes with
them. The biggest problem is VERY LOW PAYOUTS. Because the money made
in the call comes only from the long distance charges, there is not
really much room to make a large profit margin.
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