The auction for Market Logistics Group’s customer file, listed earlier this week at a Yahoo! auction site, was allegedly pulled by the Internet Service Provider for violating terms of service. The 200,000-name file is now for sale at online auction site eBay.
Yahoo! Offered little explanation for taking down the auction on Tuesday, according to Michael Danbro, president of Market Logistics, a Winter Park, FL-based financial services marketer. Danbro said he initiated the auction on Monday to clear out inventory from 1993 through 1999, and to raise funds. The company still maintains its file of current-year respondents. As of press time, no bids had been placed.
Officials at Yahoo! could not be reached for comment.
The file, including names and addresses, has been segmented into 10 categories based on date of response to the company’s direct mail publication and then further divided based on telephone number. Opening prices range from $272 for 1,800 fourth-quarter 1999 names without telephone numbers, to $5,675 for 113,511 names with telephone numbers. The auction at Ebay can be found by searching keyword, “investor database.” No bids had been placed by press time.
Danbro said that the sale is in full compliance with the company’s privacy policy that states that names and contact information will be shared only with other providers of investment information, services and related products. He said he will sell the file only to such buyers. “I’m not deceiving anybody,” he said. “There was never anything stated or implied that I wouldn’t do this.”
He added that he does not believe the sale will ignite the kind of backlash experienced recently by online toy retailer Toysmart after it put its customer file up for sale. Toysmart filed for bankruptcy protection and offered its file for sale in an advertisement placed in the Wall Street Journal.
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