Should customers expect this?

He probably was looking for some samples that he could rip as his own without having to pay for them. Call me jaded but my instincts are usually right on when it comes to this sort of thing. You handled it correctly imho. Of course if the sample you share is vague in any way then maybe that interaction was just the customer's way of telling you to beef up your sample.

I agree that it sounds dodgy. you could put together a sample that you just don't care about people stealing if you want but I think most people wouldn't ask for samples. Sounds like he wanted something for nothing. I was reading somewhere the other day that there's an ebook floating around recommending that people ask writers for samples and then keep and use or re-sell them without paying. Pretty crappy if you ask me.

That sounds like a lame attempt to steal some of your work. Good call IMO on your part.

When people want to see a sample of my writing I send them to my website to see the ones on there. I am not going to write them an article and give it to them for a sample. So I think you did the right thing sending them to a common sample that everyone can see.

This is a difficult one.. On the one hand, yes he could certainly be trying to get some freebies but on the other, he might genuinely be interested to see an example if exactly what he would be getting.

Maybe it would be an option to take a screenshot of one of the emails so that at least if he was a timewaster it wouldn't be a simple cut and paste job of the sample email.

My take is that the person was simply trying to get some samples to rip for free. I've seen this a few times before and always felt like helping someone out as much as possible but everytime I would give them a "sample" they would disappear and i'd later find out that my work was used elsewhere etc etc.

Now I stick to whatever is listed on my sales page and if they choose not to by on that basis then they were probably unlikely to anyway.

Hope that helps

Looking at your site, I see that you are offering autoresponders in two different niches (Health & Fitness and Internet Marketing) yet only offer a sample in one niche: Health & Fitness.

I don't know what niche the buyer was interested in, but if I were interested in one of the Internet Marketing packs and, after asking for a sample, was pointed to the sample for the Health & Fitness niche, I would go elsewhere.

Niches are different and products created for them may be different too. Different focus, different style, etc. What works for one niche may not work for another.

I've worked with a fair number of freelance writers. Before choosing a new writer for a specific project, I'll want to see samples. I do not expect them to write something for me--a sample of their previous work is sufficient for me. If I were looking for a writer to write an article on Internet marketing, and the only samples they could produce were in the health niche, I would select the writer who was able to show me a sample of something they've written in the IM niche. Or, at least a business article--just something that is related from which I can make a reasonable comparison.

Now, if your prospect was looking for a sample out of one of the other Health & Fitness autoresponders, then maybe you have more reason to question why he wants a sample. (But, even so, niches within the Health & Fitness niche may vary too, so it's possible he just wanted to see something from the actual pack he was interested in.)

Of course, if he wanted an additional sample from the Fat Loss 4 Idiots pack, that would throw up a red flag.

But, if the prospect was looking for a sample out of one of the Internet Marketing packages, then I can understand why he disappeared on you after you declined to show him a sample from that niche.