Warning Bulletin

Why spamming is a death-wish for your business!

By John Counsel

The majority of spammers are newcomers to the Internet who fall for the "come-on" spiel of professional spammers. They don't know any better. (There are other people who DO know better, but who ignore it anyway. Not much we can do to save those deluded souls.)

Buying or renting mailing lists of e-mail addresses is a very risky business.

Here's why…
 

The owners always promote them as "clean" lists.

That means they're current – that all duplicate or undeliverable e-mail addresses have been removed.

REALITY:
They're not. The low-lifes who peddle these lists are as willing to lie to you as they are to the people they send spam messages to, using forged names and return addresses, as well as hijacking other peoples' domain names and getting them disconnected by their ISPs for allegedly spamming.

The names in these lists are harvested by robot software. They visit web sites and harvest any e-mail addresses they find. That can mean that the "clean" list you bought can have literally dozens of e-mail aliases for the same businesses or individuals. I routinely receive a dozen or more copies of every message sent to some heavily marketed lists.

The owners always promote them as "opt-in".

That means the people on the list all chose, voluntarily, to have their addresses included.

REALITY:
They didn't, for the same reasons as above. They don't even know they're on these lists until they receive the first mailings. The first reaction of most is to block your name and e-mail address using their anti-spam filters.
 

The owners offer specially discounted mailing services, where they'll do all your mailing for you, including writing your copy, etc.

This saves you time and optimises your results by using a "professional".

REALITY:
They're about as "professional" as the average outhouse rat. They'll destroy your business and reputation overnight.

They use false names and forged return/reply addresses, and non-existent "remove" addresses.

They use deceptive SUBJECT lines designed to get your message read – but which gets your message deleted as soon as the recipient realises they've been conned. Since yours is the only legitimate name and address listed, guess who goes on the recipient's "blocked mail" filter? That recipient will NEVER read another e-mail from your address.

 
Spam is the single biggest threat to the e-mail system.

The latest research by a European Internet consortium in late 2000 estimated the cost of spam at more than US$10 BILLION per year.

That expense has to be recouped from someone. That means every single Internet user is paying the cost of this abuse of the system – not the spammers. So spammers are universally regarded as parasites, vermin and Internet pariahs... not the most attractive or positive perception of you and your business, is it?

 
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?
 
There are several things you can do immediately, if you've bought one of these dubious mailing lists:

1. Recognise and accept that you were conned by experts. You've lost your money. Don't add to your losses by losing your Internet access, your good name and your business on-line, too.

2. Never use that list again. Trash it.

3. Contact your ISP/Mail host IMMEDIATELY and explain the situation (IF you still have access, since your ISP is probably already aware of your spamming activities and may have taken steps to disconnect you.)

By the way, ISPs will "shoot first and ask questions later" when it comes to disconnecting alleged spammers for very good reason:

They can be listed at services like ORBS and The Real-Time Black Hole List, which tens of thousands of ISPs and web hosts subscribe to in order to block mail hosts known to tolerate spamming. If they're listed, they can be out of business in minutes, and it takes a long time to sort the problem. They won't risk it.

4. One of the first signs that your message has been received – which will also trigger alarm bells at your ISP – are the "mail bombs" that usually arrive from disgruntled recipients. These are programs that will fill your in-box in seconds with tens of thousands of junk e-mails so that your chances of receiving any genuine replies are almost zero.

You didn't hear any of this from the low-life you bought your list from, did you?

(Surprise, surprise!)

5. Don't spam ever again, no matter how tempting it may seem. It really isn't worth it. There are plenty of excellent sites that will teach you how to promote on-line legitimately. Why not start right here at The Profit Clinic?

Hope this helps!

Back to the Bulletin Board

©1998 The Profit Clinic. All rights reserved. This page updated 6 June 2003.