Netropolitan

IF YOU need a clever comeback to those folks accusing you of being a wastrel and a mouse potato, tell them it is not a way of life but a profession. Not a very well-paid one, admittedly, but you could earn £20 a month from the comfort of your own home. No, really.

This may sound like dozens of other e-mails you get each month once you have some weeks of surfing under your mouse. But thanks to HTMail (http://www.htmail.com/) you may soon be inviting direct marketing messages into your mailbox rather than cursing them. HTMail is offering cash for every e-mail from its clients that you read, and every one of its clients’ Web sites you visit.

Not a lot of cash—5p for each e-mail you open and 10p for each Web site visited. Each qualifying site or e-mail comes with a code number—collect the numbers and send them back to HTMail and the company will pay you for each one you return. To get around £20 a month you would “only” have to look at five direct marketing e-mails and five Web sites a day.

Though HTMail has to pay you, it believes it can still make a profit because advertisers are willing to pay good money to get their message across. After all, as HTMail point out to advertisers thinking of using its service, 5p is a fraction of the price of a direct postal mailing, and advertisers will know that their potential customers have at least glanced at their material.