Yahoo!, eBay say Market Logistics Groups’ offering violated their privacy policies
FINANCIAL SERVICES firm Market Logistics Group failed in an attempt last month to market its response file on two popular online auction sites.
Citing violation of privacy policies and related concerns, both Yahoo! and eBay pulled the auction only days after it had been posted. No bids had been entered.
Michael Dambro, president of Winter Park, FL-based Market Logistics, had segmented the file of 200,000 respondents, which included their names and addresses, into 10 categories based on the date they replied to a direct mailing soliciting interest in investment opportunities. The list was then further divided based on telephone number. Opening prices ranged from $272 for 1,800 fourth quarter 1999 names without telephone numbers to $5,675 for 113,511 names with phone numbers.
Dambro says the decision to pull the auction was frustrating.
“The mainstream press, shouting warnings [about privacy] to the public, is creating this buzz with a significant lack of understanding about how target marketing fuels our economy and benefits the consumer.”
Market Logistics intended to raise funds by auctioning inventory from 1993 through 1999. The company still maintains its file of current-year respondents.
Dambro says he had read both online companies’ policies carefully and that neither indicated they would ban the sale of response files. After Yahoo! pulled the auction, Dambro put it up on eBay. “It appears as though they’ve created these rules specifically for me and anybody that may decide to follow after me,” he says.
Rich Godwin, brand manager for Yahoo! auctions, calls the sale a “spam auction,” adding that it violates Yahoo!’s privacy policy. He claims this was not a true auction since Dambro had solicited individuals to contact and buy from him directly, and that Dambro issued a press release about the sale using the Yahoo! name without permission.
Kevin Pursglove, an eBay spokesman, notes that his company doesn’t permit the sale of bulk mailing lists at its site.
According to Dambro, the sale was in full compliance with Market Logistics’ privacy policy, which states that names and contact information will be shared only with other providers of investment information, services and related products.
He says he would have sold the file only to such buyers. “I’m not deceiving anybody. There was never anything stated or implied that I couldn’t do this.”
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