IS this allowed for email marketing?

12 replies
Hi guys,

Was just wondering.
Is allowed or ethical when someone broadcasts an email to you when u didnt sign up for that particular list, but u did for 1 of his other lists?

I have practically unsub from most of the lists that i have subsc from in my early days.

But i still keep receiving the same amount of emails a day, and its from either people i do not know of, or lists i did not sign up to.

So there are 2 scenario.

1. I receive emails from people i do not know.
2. i receive emails from people i know but i did not sign up for that particular list, i sign up for his other list.

So for 1st scenario, how on earth did he get my mail?
- web scrapping?
But how did he get my full name?
[i do not post my full name out in public]

For 2nd scenario, is it allowed ? is it ethical? or is it considered spam as well? Since i did sign up for one of his list but he is sending me stuff from another list.
#allowed #email #marketing
  • Profile picture of the author MartinPlatt
    Probably not the question, it's more a case of is it irritating, and does it cause you to buy from them? If they don't earn money from it, it's silly...
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  • Profile picture of the author ejullya
    Hey Newbieee

    I think the first scenario is a spam as you did not sign up for anything from that person.

    I believe the second scenario is ethical because it is a broadcast. It all depends how it is done. As well, it depends on frequency of the broadcasts too. I while back I would often get 1-2 broadcasts from the same marketer. I just unsubscribed from him.

    I am fully aware that when I will sign up for someone's newsletter I will get broadcast from the person, time to time. It's part of marketing and I accept it.
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  • Profile picture of the author nitesh
    In the first scenario, people might have got your email from those who are already having the database of thousands of emails and your email might have been an entity of that database. Many times just to earn quick bucks freelancers sell their email database so this is how your email might have reached them that is someone you know might have sold your email for few cents.

    But I do not understand that why you are in problem. You can always unsubscribe from their service if that stops the message otherwise you can also put them in bulk or instruct your host not to recieve any messages from those emails. This is how you can solve the problem if it is a problem. I hope it helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ian Jackson
    Originally Posted by Newbieee View Post

    Hi guys,

    Was just wondering.
    Is allowed or ethical when someone broadcasts an email to you when u didnt sign up for that particular list, but u did for 1 of his other lists?

    The fact remains that have your name/email irrespective of from where they send you updates (those "unwanted" ones could just have easily been edited onto the one on which you DID sign for)

    I have practically unsub from most of the lists that i have subsc from in my early days.

    But i still keep receiving the same amount of emails a day, and its from either people i do not know of, or lists i did not sign up to.

    In you first paragraph you said HIS other lists; here you're now saying the lists of other people? :confused:

    So there are 2 scenario.

    1. I receive emails from people i do not know.
    2. i receive emails from people i know but i did not sign up for that particular list, i sign up for his other list.

    ditto above :confused:

    So for 1st scenario, how on earth did he get my mail?
    - web scrapping?
    But how did he get my full name?
    [i do not post my full name out in public]

    For 2nd scenario, is it allowed ? is it ethical? or is it considered spam as well? Since i did sign up for one of his list but he is sending me stuff from another list.
    Having read all your post, I'm now assuming you didn't just mean HIS/HER other lists (as you seem to be suggesting in you first sentence).

    So...... visit their opt-in page where you first joined their list, and see if it specifically says "I hate spam too - your privacy is safe with me; I will not give, rent, or sell your name to anyone else" or something like that, usually underneath the name/email boxes. If NOT, then you simply have to unsubscribe from those other lists (you have the option to blacklist their addresses in your email filters, although technically it is NOT spam, as far as I know), as they have done nothing wrong, or done something they said they wouldn't - it's a pain, but it's "fair-game".

    HTH
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  • Profile picture of the author shane_k
    Originally Posted by Newbieee View Post

    Hi guys,

    I have practically unsub from most of the lists that i have subsc from in my early days.

    But i still keep receiving the same amount of emails a day, and its from either people i do not know of, or lists i did not sign up to.

    So there are 2 scenario.

    1. I receive emails from people i do not know.
    2. i receive emails from people i know but i did not sign up for that particular list, i sign up for his other list.

    So for 1st scenario, how on earth did he get my mail?
    - web scrapping?
    But how did he get my full name?
    [i do not post my full name out in public]

    For 2nd scenario, is it allowed ? is it ethical? or is it considered spam as well? Since i did sign up for one of his list but he is sending me stuff from another list.

    For the first scenario what probably happened is what nitesh said. The person who's list you signed up for, probably sold his database (which included your email) to someone else.

    So now your email is out there, and can be sold again and again by marketers who don't care if it's ethical or not.

    Another thing that happens is list owners sell "ad space" in their emails for Solo Ads. This is something that will cause you to get a ton of promotional type emails trying to sell you stuff.

    It could be these promotional type of emails that make you think they are coming from someone else, but it could be from the original list you signed up for.

    Just a quick question, how do you know it is different people or different lists? when you look at who the email is from, is it different pretty much all the time?
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  • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
    1stly, appreciate all the replies.

    Just to clarify.

    1st scenario is like this :
    I subscribe to "A", when i unsub from "A" i still receive emails similar to "A" product. But by "B" and "C", and it goes on. Unsubscribing from them is no use.
    I just keep getting new "senders"

    2nd scenario is like this :
    I sub to "A", then i receive emails from "a"
    Its still the same person, but from a different list.
    Something like i subscribe to his list on dog training, then i receive cat training materials and its from another of his list that i didnt subscribe to.
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    • Profile picture of the author NewRiseDigital
      Originally Posted by Newbieee View Post

      1stly, appreciate all the replies.

      Just to clarify.

      1st scenario is like this :
      I subscribe to "A", when i unsub from "A" i still receive emails similar to "A" product. But by "B" and "C", and it goes on. Unsubscribing from them is no use.
      I just keep getting new "senders"
      This is definitely spam, sounds like they've passed your email on to other people. Mark them as spam via your mail client's spam filter if they are bothering you.

      Originally Posted by Newbieee View Post

      2nd scenario is like this :
      I sub to "A", then i receive emails from "a"
      Its still the same person, but from a different list.
      Something like i subscribe to his list on dog training, then i receive cat training materials and its from another of his list that i didnt subscribe to.
      As long as you remain subscribed, this second scenario is very legitimate. You've subscribed to the company email list and advised them that you wish to hear from them with new updates. It would make no sense commercially to get an optin every time a new product was launched, and this scenario seems perfectly within the CANN SPAM guidelines. Reading the privacy policy on any website is always a good idea if you are concerned (usually in the footer). If a website doesn't have a privacy policy then it's likely they haven't thought about their customer very much, so caveat emptor.
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    • Profile picture of the author shane_k
      Originally Posted by Newbieee View Post

      1stly, appreciate all the replies.

      Just to clarify.

      1st scenario is like this :
      I subscribe to "A", when i unsub from "A" i still receive emails similar to "A" product. But by "B" and "C", and it goes on. Unsubscribing from them is no use.
      I just keep getting new "senders"
      Now that you have explained it more clearly, I can say that this has happened to me also.

      I have wondered that some of the "unsubscribe" links send us to a page where we check a box that says "unsubscribe" or click a button to unsubscribe, but what is actually happening is it subscribes us to another list.

      It would be easy to do this, where the text says one thing, but the HTML and coding behind the page does something else.

      I do think people do have unsubscribe pages like this that make you think you are unsubscribing but you are actually subscribing to another list.

      2nd scenario is like this :
      I sub to "A", then i receive emails from "a"
      Its still the same person, but from a different list.
      Something like i subscribe to his list on dog training, then i receive cat training materials and its from another of his list that i didnt subscribe to.


      It is really hard to say in this situation. It could be spam, but it might not be.


      You have to look at where the email is coming from and see if it is different to know if it is coming from a different list.

      Another thing that could be happening is after you bought something you were put onto a "buyers" list.
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  • Profile picture of the author evilgenius142
    same thing happened to me, I believe that people who offer seo content, always assist visitor to subscribe to their email when they do so they get their email and name, and then i think they use it for their other business or sell them out.
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  • Profile picture of the author DarioMontesdeOca
    Just keep unsubscribing and replying with "DO NOT CONTACT" or "STOP" and you should be good (at least for a while)
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    • Profile picture of the author Ian Jackson
      IMHO you'll just have to keep going throught the unsubscribe process.

      Unless there is somewhere on the original opt-in form that you willingly "signed", wording to the effect of "I will not pass on your details....", you are technically "giving" permission for the list owner to pass on your details to whomsoever they wish, i.e. you are not telling them they cannot.

      So IMHO, the absence of such wording is I'm afraid their freedom to do whatever they like with your details.

      hth
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