posted on April 25, 2001 05:11:44 PM
I just received an email from "eBay Marketing", with the subject heading of "Draw More Buyers With Half.com!" At the bottom of this email it says:
To change your communication preferences, "click here"
So, thinking I must have missed a checkbox on my preferences page, I went there and this is what I found:
Listing Confirmations
Receive confirmation for each item you put up for auction.
xYes (receive email)
No (do not receive email)
Bid Notices
Receive notice when eBay has received a bid you have placed on an item.
xYes
No
Outbid Notices
Receive notice when someone has outbid you.
xYes
No
Legal Notices
User Agreement Changes
Receive notice from eBay if the current User Agreement changes.
xYes
No
Privacy Policy Changes
Receive notice from eBay if the current Privacy Policy changes.
xYes
No
Other Emails
Special Promotions, Offers and Events
Receive notices about special offers for eBay members.
Yes
xNo
eBay Product Surveys
Take part in occasional surveys to help us evaluate new features and proposed changes to our services.
Yes
xNo
Daily Status Emails
Receive a daily email status on auctions for which you are a bidder or seller.
Yes
xNo
Auction Watch Reminder
Receive daily lists of all items in your watch list that will end within 36 hours
xYes
No
Other Contacts
Telemarketing
Receive calls on behalf of eBay regarding eBay related products and services.
Yes
xNo
Direct Mail
Receive eBay's product and service related direct mail(through the postal service).
Yes
xNo
*****************************
The only box I have checked "Yes" aside from Administrative Emails and Legal Notices is the Auction Watch Reminder. It's clear that the email they sent me has nothing to do with any auctions I may be watching, so I'm wondering now... is the ad they sent me for Half.com an "Administrative Email" or a "Legal Notice".
to change your communications preferences, "Click Here"
which takes you to your preferences page on eBay. Now, which of the boxes do you need to change from "Yes" to "No" to avoid getting email similar to the one they just sent?
posted on April 25, 2001 05:33:22 PM
Send the email BACK to [email protected] and add SPAM to the reply header.
Every time they roll out a major upgrade, they screw up the preferences (or so they claim) and despite the database with the preferences being able to show you the correct information, the marketing department loses their ability to read that database correctly and they spam another ad out.
posted on April 25, 2001 06:01:35 PM
eBay collects and disseminates lots of info about you to be used by internal and external advertisers. Here's a summary table from their site.
As you can see, there are no restrictions on eBay's internal use of your information. When you limit your preferences, you're only affecting what they provide to outside advertisers.
