Market Logistics Group, Winter Park, FL, has failed in its attempt last week to market its customer file through two popular online auction sites.
Citing violations of privacy policies and privacy concerns, the auction, posted on both Yahoo and eBay at different times, was pulled Friday by eBay. Yahoo had stopped the auction on Tuesday.
No bids had been received.
Kevin Pursglove, a spokesman at eBay, said the company does not allow mailing lists to be sold at its site.
Michael Dambro, president of financial services firm Market Logistics Group, had listed segments of the company’s file of 200,000–including names, addresses and phone numbers–for sale for prices ranging from $272 to $5,675. Dambro said the decision to pull the auction was frustrating. “The general public and the main stream press, shouting warnings [about privacy] to the public, are creating this buzz with a significant lack of understanding about how target marketing fuels our economy and benefits the consumer,” he said.
Dambro also said that he had read both Yahoo’s and eBay’s policies carefully before initiating the sale and believes that neither had such a policy prior to the auction. “It appears as though they have just created these rules specifically for me and anybody that may decide to follow after me,” he said.
Rich Godwin, brand manager for Yahoo Auctions called the sale a “spam auction,” and said the sale was in violation of Yahoo’s privacy policy. In addition, Godwin said the sale was not a true auction since Dambro had solicited buyers to contact and buy from him directly, and that Dambro had released a press release about the sale using the Yahoo name without permission.
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