Oh... Man... How long are people going to continue to send me email with "Buy My Junk!" in the subject line? Of course, that's not literally what their subject line says, but it might as well be. My first thought, if I even think about it at all before I delete all the junk that floods my accounts every day is, "Who Are You?" My second thought is, "Why SHOULD I buy your junk? I know absolutely nothing about you... Except for the fact that you're obviously very rude." Who, but a person who is very rude, (or an utter idiot) would walk up to a complete stranger on the street and say, "Psssst... Wanna buy a house? or a car? or a nice dinner at a restaurant?" What would you think if someone you had never seen before walked up to you and asked, "How would you like to make an easy million dollars?" Call the cops... quick!! I have a few words for all the strangers who send me "Buy my Junk" spam every day... you're NEVER going to sell me anything! Ever! I have absolutely no respect for you and think you have no respect for yourself, either. You're desperate to make a sale, and I'm really uncomfortable around desperate people (get me a flack jacket - quick!) Selling anything, whether online or off, requires selling yourself, first. Most products or services can be bought from hundreds or thousands of different places or people, and the thought is always going to go through a prospective buyer's head, consciously or unconsciously, "Why should I buy from you?" No one is comfortable buying from a complete stranger. The buyer wants to trust the person he or she is buying from, and that's completely impossible if the buyer knows nothing about the seller! These Junk Salesmen need to learn this stuff. Perhaps if they read my blog or other articles I've written they'd at LEAST get my name right (it's NOT FIRSTNAME!) Perhaps then they'd address me as Dave, rather than Friend (I'm not their friend!!) Some people who don't know me actually address me as Dearly Beloved!! What rock did they crawl out from under?? Send me a note if you want to, and make sure to call me Dave! I'd enjoy getting to know you. God bless, Dave

Dear Dave,

This is a little note from your online friend, Sarah.

I completely agree with your rant.

I just delete without even thinking about the person that sent it.

Best wishes,

Sarah

ps What gets to me is when I go away for a few days and can't get to an internet connexion.  My inbox gets full up and important emails can't get through to me.

I've actually lost bookings in the gite due to this and that is not nice!

Hi Dave and Sarah,

As a full time internet entrepenuer, running a busy website and running a ton of online advertising, I get a pile of spam daily.

I have found a few uses for my spam.

1. Reply to sender if email looks valid with counter offer, usuallly my counter offer is much more substantial and useful than the spammers offer was.

2. You get some really good ads and headlines for free. Some spammers are good copywriters, if I see a very tempting subject line and ad.....I put it in my ad file and use it to help me write better ads for my business.

Also, I never enter my primary ISP e-mail for advertising sites I join to promote my site. I use a spam email account from yahoo or hotmail.

This keeps a lot of spam out of my inbox.

I just go to the free email site and delete all emails every week.

I used to hit the report spam button for every spam in my isp e-mail account .......but the same spams kept coming day after day so I do not bother reporting the spam anymore.

Hope that helps.

I'm afraid we are stuck with the spammers until the authorities can get every one of them and nail them with a big fine or jail time.

I actually had high hopes when they introduced the anti spam laws but unfortunately, not a whole lot has changed with spam since the laws came in a few years ago.  

 

 

    

Hello Jason,

Yes, I must admit that if I see a title that captures my intrigue, I make a note of it to use for my advertising.

I also tried the reply with my offer angle, but my email analyser wouldn't send them, so I gave up on that one.  I didn't consider it as spamming, btw, as the person had already contacted me.  Is that correct?

Bonjournée,

Sarah P

Hello Dave!

No matter how well they package it, it is still