posted on April 19, 2004 07:28:17 PM
I understand that ebay is trying to eliminate unsolicited spam.... but can I email my customers with new introductions and auctions which are within the ebay system?
posted on April 19, 2004 07:40:12 PM
Perhaps I should define the situation in more detail. We have been using Vendio to capture email addresses from our customers and interested parties asking questions.
We sent a mailing out to this address list introducing some new auctions and got a spam warning from ebay.
posted on April 19, 2004 07:50:09 PM
What did the warning say? One of them (or more )was not excited about hearing from you. These people are NOT your friends they are buyers, once it's over, poof...But then again, You DO make e mail friends and you have to KNOW who were and who never care to hear from you again. Nothing personal mind you, they bought and end of the trail. there are many I know I could e mail right now and they would be estatic to hear from little ole me, for the most however, feedbacks given and (or NOT) and poof! cyber.....
posted on April 19, 2004 07:55:17 PM
The e-mail from ebay was ......
Recently, we became aware that your eBay
account was involved in sending unsolicited
email of a commercial nature (spam). Below
is a copy of the email sent:
We realize that you may not have been aware
that there was a rule against this activity.
Please understand our goal is to help you
understand our policies to ensure successful
experiences at eBay. Therefore, we
respectfully request that you refrain from
this activity in the future to avoid possible
suspension of your eBay registration. We
invite you to review eBay’s policies on spam,
which can be found at:
posted on April 19, 2004 08:01:23 PM
Like I said,,,,Someone,,,,
the internet and E bay are not quite all that friendly no Matter WHAT WE may think and or Feel,,,,,,the Good feelings were sent by YOU and Not happily recieved..Think of this as Purely Business,,, you sold,,,,Be happy,,,,Forward......they will find YOUR products if THEY want to buy more....knocking on SOME peoples door Upsets them......
posted on April 19, 2004 08:10:54 PM
From Vendio Sales Manager, Click on: Customers, In the middle of the page is a list of Contacts click on:Mailing List.
The people it shows are the ones you can contact with no problems, they opted in for it!
posted on April 19, 2004 08:32:06 PM
If you're determined to spam your customers, use an email address that is not registered with eBay.
As in most marketing efforts, your results will be commensurate with the effort and expense involved.
In other words, it costs little to spam your customer list, but it won't pay off much, either. It may actually hurt your business.
An approach that may be far more successful and that I have used and continue to use with success is to send small gifts to customers who haven't bought in a while. I ship a little silverplated trinket box or a pair of sterling silver earrings. It gets their attention.
posted on April 19, 2004 08:37:53 PM
I never send spam. Certain customers who I have established a relationship with occasionally contact me outside eBay but I never send unsolicited mail. It tend to piss people off.
Friends don't let friends vote Republican!
posted on April 19, 2004 08:47:21 PM
Any time you send an unsolicited email to a customer concerning anything other than a specific transaction you are both engaged in, Ebay will most likely view it as spam. All it takes is one customer to turn you in. You've already been warned once. The next time they will most likely suspend you. I personally don't see how any perceived benefit you might get from contacting them can be worth the risk.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on April 19, 2004 08:58:28 PM
I bought a book on eBay about 2 years ago. I'm STILL getting the seller's snail mailed booklet. Will I ever buy from her again? Absolutely not!
Same goes for the guy I bought an LP from. He's on my "don't even look at his auctions" list for sure.
I have a No Soliciting sign right above my doorbell. The few churchies and candy-selling kiddies who don't read are pointed to it. Politely in the case of the kiddies.
posted on April 19, 2004 09:03:05 PM
One key piece of the puzzle is missing here. How did you e-mail these people? Did you do it from your own e-mail account or did you do it through ebay's system or maybe even Vendio's system? Without knowing this, a conclusion would be premature.
posted on April 19, 2004 09:54:39 PM
When I sell an item that I have more of, I always tell the buyer I'll be listing more of them in the future and would he/she like to be notified when they're up for sale. I don't do this often, but I've never had a complaint and I have had grateful buyers who came back for more.
I don't send unsolicited e-mails, though.
___________________________________
posted on April 20, 2004 12:01:53 AM
All you did was send an email about your auctions to a buyer that didn't appreciate it and they reported you. There are many buyers that don't want or wish to have any correspondence with the sellers That is up to them but when it happens and they don't like it they report you and eBay frowns on that. It is called spam. Something like telemarketers.
posted on April 20, 2004 09:44:50 PM
I have been a very active buyer on eBay for several months (350+ transactions), but I just started as a seller last week. I opted to use Vendio as my image host because I wanted to be able to design nice looking listings with their custom templates. I have labeled one of the Custom Text boxes at the bottom, UPCOMING AUCTIONS and in it, I thank people for visiting my auction and let them know about items I will be listing in the coming weeks and months and INVITE them to come back and browse on the chance they might find something they have always wanted. One bidder told me that after she read that, she put me on her Favorite Sellers list. We have exchanged quite a few emails and I have every expectation that she'll be a repeat buyer. To me, this is safer than the chance of being accused of spamming. Everyone who visits ANY of my auctions sees it and no one gets ticked off by unsolicited emails. I have also printed up a little Thank You note to enclose in the packages I ship, with the same information on it and also telling them to let me know if they are looking for specific items that I might be able to find for them. No big deal, but if someone sent ME a note like that, I would remember the seller and return to look again.
posted on April 20, 2004 09:51:40 PM
I just got one from a past buyer,,,,,,Hey Jack,,,,,got anymore of them "ITEMS".....HEY!!!!!! they were SPAMMING ME!!!!!!! From a YEAR ago sale.....
I MUST turn them into EBAY,,,,,,Reverse spamming??
posted on April 20, 2004 11:52:51 PM
Just relating an experience from a few years back. I sent Holiday Greetings to past customers from my list from Vendio (then AuctionWatch) and was promptly informed by one person that it was "spam" and not appreciated! Haven't done it since and won't be doing it again!
posted on April 21, 2004 06:17:17 AM
Remember 911 time? Everyone was sending those e mails. poems, coincidences etc. Please forward this to everyone. You know the moving type messages. Well foolish me did just that, I forwarded many of them Until,,,,,,I got an e mail from one of my past customers, Do NOT send me any more of these, Somehow,She was sent another one, Not intentionally mind you. Well, she had Never left feed back, She finally DID. Yup, negged me. Yup, she showed me GOOD!
From a YEAR ago sale.....