posted on June 10, 2002 10:24:18 AM new
Hello AW Team!
I sent out a customer email message using the AW Customer Management tool and I just received an eBay Spam violation warning from eBay's Safeharbor team.
Why? It was my understanding that the Customer Management tool was aligned with eBay's policy so that we as sellers WON'T violate those policies or AW's policies.
I don't often send these emails out. Probably has been about 45 days since the last one. Each one has my own large flag informing how to unsubscribe along with the standard one from AW.
It seems that I had one Past Winning Bidder that refused to remove themselves and opted to report me to eBay. I immediately removed the customer per their request but it was a nasty email they sent me asking me to do it. That's okay, but if AW's Customer Management tool is violating the policies of auction venues such as eBay, then we have a serious problem here.
For the record, here is my generic customer relations message that I sent out that got me a warning:
"==========UNSUBSCRIBE INFO AT BOTTOM==========
Hello From Retro Bargains!
Thank you for visiting and/or winning one of our past auctions!
I don't send email very often but I wanted to express my gratitude and let you
know there are many, many more bargains currently available and many more to come!
I am currently searching for new items to place at auction and on my upcoming
website, but I will continue to post used books and merchandise as well.
We have about 40 auctions currently running. Some are Buy It Now, most start at
$1.99 - none of them are reserve price auctions.
If you collect vintage postcards, National Geographic Magazines, old books
(English and Foreign), or are looking for The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
and Families CDs, Books and tapes, then check out the auctions today!
I just never know what will post next.... I try to keep a variety going!
Thanks again and visit our AuctionWatch Storefront at the following address:
http://shop.auctionwatch.com/RetroBargains
Have a great day!
Greg Williams
Retro Bargains
http://shop.auctionwatch.com/RetroBargains
==========UNSUBSCRIBE INFO AT BOTTOM==========
I would appreciate any clarification I can get from the AW team regarding what is or is not spam in regards to the Customer Management email function.
We are in compliance with eBay's policies regarding SPAM. I am sorry to hear that this has happened to you, many people will usually unsubscribe themselves from the list as directions are provided on how to do so. It looks like in your case, the customer bypassed that information even though the mailings through the customer management tool meet eBay's rules.
posted on June 10, 2002 06:41:51 PM new
SafeHarbor states the following:
[i]Sending spam - Sending unsolicited (without prior permission), commercial email. Examples:
Sending unsolicited offers to bidders for the same or similar products that they have bid on in the past
Soliciting a seller to sell a listed item outside of eBay. [/i]
Remind me, because I haven't used the system for a while, but the WBN doesn't provide a "mailing list" in/out option does it?
If not, then anything you send (like the letter above) to past winners is a violation of eBay's terms.
The fact that someone has the right to opt out is "after the fact."
The only way around this would be to to send a "Do you want eBay-related mail from me?" first before you could talk about what you are offering on eBay.
posted on June 11, 2002 06:39:13 PM new
Thanks kahml.
SONYA:
From my perspective, and the information that kahml has posted, there is definitely a problem between eBay and AW on what SPAM is.
I received a response from eBay's Safe Harbor team that clarified eBay's position on SPAM - that position is NOT in alignment with the "Past Winning Bidder" function of Auction Watch's SM Customer Management feature.
Ebay sent me a link to their Privacy Policy. And pointed out Section 5. Here is the link and the third paragraph of Section 5. I'm sure you will see that we sellers are "stuck-in-the-middle" on this gray area:
SECTION 5, PARA 3: "eBay and our users do not tolerate spam. Therefore, without limiting the foregoing, you are not licensed to add an eBay user, even a user who has purchased an item from you, to your mail list (email or physical mail) without their express consent after adequate disclosure."
This one needs hashed out between eBay and AW and get us seller's out of the loop.
