Michael Roebuck's Blog

If you receive copies of your Yahoo orders via fax, then you know that the fax feature has been "temporarily" disabled. Yahoo has posted an Outlook workaround for those of you who use Outlook as an email client. If you haven't read it, please go here: Yahoo Email Orders Help Article.

For those of you that don't use Outlook, or are Merchant Starters and don't have the order fax ability, here is your solution: Automatic Print Email

Here's how it works in a nutshell:

1. Set up a separate email address for orders only. (This is totally optional. But if you receive hundreds of orders daily, or don't want anyone accessing your email, it may be convenient.)
2. Set your Yahoo Manager to email your orders immediately and as an Adobe PDF attachment.
   
3. Load Automatic Print Email on a computer that will remain on. Set it up to read your email and set a filter to only print the order attachment. (My bigger accounts are set to check every 2 minutes.)
4. Watch the orders print automatically.

Once set up correctly, the Automatic Print Email software will log into your email account at pre-determined intervals set by you. It will scan your emails and print those that trigger the filters you set, such as orders. Instead of checking the fax for new orders, you simply check your printer.

Automatic Print Email comes with a fully functional 30 day trial period so you aren't out any cash while you check it out. If you do like it, the cost is only $49.90 so it's not very expensive either.

NOTE: The orders you print out will look just like the downloaded orders EXCEPT they will NOT have credit card data. Remember, Yahoo will NOT email credit card data on orders because it isn't secure. If you want credit card data, use the Yahoo solution as previously listed here: Yahoo Email Orders Help Article.

Here's how to set it up:

1. Determine an email address to send orders and Download and run the Automatic Print Email program. The rest of the rules pertain to the software program.
   
2. Set up a POP 3 Email account. If using a Yahoo Business Email account, remember to check the secure connection box and change the Server Port Number to 995.
   
   
   
3. When you hit Next, Be sure to select "Print Only Attachments"
   
   
   
   
4. Select "Advanced Options" and be sure to select "Yes" to print all pages of the documents.
   
   


5. Click "OK" to finish setting up the email account.

You are almost done now. You have set up the email address to check, now you just need to set up the filter to tell the software what emails to print.

1. Click on the "Filters List" button and "Create New Filter."
2. When setting up rules, because you only want to print orders, it's easier to set a rule stating what NOT to print. Therefore, I set my rule to state that if the subject doesn't contain "Yahoo! Orders as PDF" then don't print. Note that this screen gives you a check box providing the ability to delete mail from your mailbox. This is nice if you get lots of orders.
   
   
   
   
3. Next, select "More Actions." Here, you only want to print the attachment.
   
   
   
   
4. Click OK. You are basically done now. One last item to do is tell the software how often to check for email. To do this, click, "File" - "Options" - "Visual Appearance and Usage"
5. Under the left nav bar of "Visual Appearance and Usage" you'll see where you can select minutes and seconds to check your email.
6. Finally, after everything is set, you will see a little countdown timer on the bottom left corner of the main screen. This will tell you when it will check your email again. Other columns are pretty self explanatory.
   
   

That's it! I hope this helps you with receiving your orders. If you have any questions or need any help, please be sure to contact me.

Labels: checkout, fax, yahoo

Most of us by now have received some sort of Fax or Mail Spam regarding the renewal of domain names. Back in April, 2006, my friend Karl Ribas wrote an article about SEO Fax Spam.

I received another form of this the other week and wanted to see how many others received the same thing. This one was actually fairly legitimate looking from an overseas company claiming to be the "Central Registration Service" and includes bank details to send your funds. And the funds are HIGH! They want $966 to renew a domain. I tried going to the website to check them out but the URL didn't work.

I can see this slipping through at around $30, but to be listed at $966 is ludicrous. I can't imagine many people paid this but I'm sure enough have to make this worthwhile.

Also, check out the last paragraph on the back. What's this about charitable donations? Isn't this fraud?

How many of you have received this letter? I've only received one, but it would be interesting to see what other kinds of domain fraud is running around.

Labels: fax, fraud, spam