Marketing Information Network (MIN), an online data research tool for the list brokerage community, pulled Wednesday a list of magazine subscribers from its system after receiving numerous complaints that the file was not legitimate.

The new file, the Magazine Subscribers File of America (MSA), offers 1.6 million subscription buyers, selectable by magazine title, for $90 per thousand names. It is comprised of buyers who have purchased one or more magazine subscriptions.

Over the last few weeks MIN received an “overwhelming” number of complaints from publishers and list managers who said that MSA was not an authorized subscription agent and had no right to market the data and requested that the file be removed, said Scott Cathey, COO and CFO of MIN in Oklahoma City.

“We have not had one publisher or owner that contacted us to support this file,” he said. “Every contact we had was for removal.”

Dan Davis, the president of MSA, a magazine subscription agent based in Washington state, said earlier this month that the file is comprised of subscribers to more than 900 magazines that his 17 year-old firm has sold through direct mail and telemarketing. A number of segments of subscribers have already been marketed by MSA and this list represents a compilation of all subscribers. He said he has the right to market the names.

Davis could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The move to remove the file by MIN was praised by at least one list management firm.

Ryan Lake, the CEO OF Lake Group Media Inc., Rye, NY, circulated an email yesterday that read in part: “I was informed this morning that as of the end of business yesterday (July 17), that MIN has pulled the data card completely from their system. This is good news, as it makes it much more difficult for mailers and brokers to find and rent the file.”

Complaints about the list have swirled about the industry since it was first advertised last month. Davis said he has also received a number of complaints from publishers and the list community.

MIN maintains a database of over 80,000 files, 44,000 active files, and 40,000 inactive files.

Marketing Information Network (MIN), an online data research tool for the list brokerage community, pulled Wednesday a list of magazine subscribers from its system after receiving numerous complaints that the file was not legitimate.

The new file, the Magazine Subscribers File of America (MSA), offers 1.6 million subscription buyers, selectable by magazine title, for $90 per thousand names. It is comprised of buyers who have purchased one or more magazine subscriptions.

Over the last few weeks MIN received an “overwhelming” number of complaints from publishers and list managers who said that MSA was not an authorized subscription agent and had no right to market the data and requested that the file be removed, said Scott Cathey, COO and CFO of MIN in Oklahoma City.

“We have not had one publisher or owner that contacted us to support this file,” he said. “Every contact we had was for removal.”

Dan Davis, the president of MSA, a magazine subscription agent based in Washington state, said he had not been contacted by MIN and was unaware that the list had been taken off the system.

Davis said earlier this month that the file is comprised of subscribers to more than 900 magazines that his 17 year-old firm has sold the subscriptions through direct mail and telemarketing. A number of segments of subscribers have already been marketed by MSA and this list represents a compilation of all subscribers.

He said he has the right to market the names and that he continues to market the file through e-mail and direct mail.

The move to remove the file by MIN was praised by at least one list management firm.

Ryan Lake, the CEO OF Lake Group Media Inc., Rye, NY, circulated an e-mail yesterday that read in part: “I was informed this morning that as of the end of business yesterday (July 17), that MIN has pulled the datacard completely from their system. This is good news, as it makes it much more difficult for mailers and brokers to find and rent the file.”

Davis said he had been contacted by Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS) about marketing his list on their system, but it had yet to be posted.

Complaints about the list have swirled about the industry since it was first advertised last month. Davis said he has also received a number of complaints from publishers and the list community.