If you’re on our list, here’s how you can fix it.

1. Understand that you didn’t get on this list maliciously or capriciously. We added you because you misled us about the purpose of your mailing list, or you were less than transparent about what you intended to do with that list (and our trust).

In other words, intentionally or not, you led us to believe that we were subscribing to receive information from you relating directly to a specific product we had purchased from you. Information like new releases, updates, download links or instructions, new developments, alerts, etc. No mention or allusion to sending us unrequested information about other products you sell, either your own products or as an affiliate for other peoples’ products or services.

You did not end up on this list based on an accusation by a third party.

2. When you chose to send us email messages unrelated to the specific product we purchased from you, you breached an agreement, explicit or implicit, and betrayed our trust and consent. This conduct is unacceptable and carries consequences.

3. You were contacted by us with the following request and failed to respond within seven (7) days:

Dear ———————,

Here’s my problem, in principle:

1. I buy a product related to local business or mobile marketing. (Usually a WSO.)

2. I subscribe to the vendor’s “product updates” list in order to be notified of updates, download links, etc related to that specific product.

 Before long, most of the emails I get from the vendor have NOTHING to do with that product or service for which I subscribed… they’re just endless sales pitches for the vendor’s new WSOs or for their affiliate offers.

4. Multiply this kind of “bait and switch” subscription strategy across multiple vendors, all of them pitching the same affiliate offers every day, and my in-box quickly becomes unworkable.

Here’s my dilemma:

How do I unsubscribe from all the unwanted pitches I get from YOU (which I did NOT knowingly request — I was led to believe I was  signing up for specific product update messages) without missing out on any genuinely useful — and wanted — notifications of updates, etc for purchases I made from you in good faith?

Here’s my request to you:

If you can offer a solution to this dilemma, please let me know within the next 7 days so I can take the appropriate action (in other words, receive requested product update info, but NOT receive sales pitches for DIFFERENT products or services).

Here’s Plan B:

If you’re unwilling or unable to do this, I’ll assume that you have no intention of acting with integrity and prefer to practice “ambush” marketing. On arrival of the next pitch email from you (after 7 days from this message), I will unsubscribe from this list and notify my own lists, blog followers, etc of my action — and why. You’ll also be added to the list of “Ambush” Sellers on display at http://suckerbait.info/warnings/ambush-sellers/

3. Contact us at our Help Desk and request resolution. You will need to provide tangible evidence of the following:

• Links to ALL of your subscription forms for the list in question.
• Full disclosure on those forms of what subscribers will receive from you — including advertising and promotional messages for products or services from you or from others that have NO direct connection with the purpose of the list in question.
• Separate links for subscribing to your promotional list, clearly identified, and your product update list.

In other words, you have to undertake some fundamental changes in the way you obtain subscriptions so that people are not misled or deceived, exploited or abused. And they have to be permanent changes: revert back to “ambush” selling or subscribing and your place on our list is guaranteed, permanently.

(If you’re thinking of threatening legal action, think again. We’re based in Australia, so any action would need to be taken here, under Australian laws, which are amongst the toughest when it comes to deceptive conduct. You could find yourself facing regulatory scrutiny from several sources, and stiff penalties.)