posted on September 17, 2000 06:52:12 AM
Let's see now.
Joe Seller is not a member. He goes about his life, minding his business, and one day out of the blue he gets an unexpected email from Paypal inviting him to become a member.
Unless I'm mistaken, this is:
1. Unsolicited
2. Commercial
and (drumroll...)
3. Email
Add it up and whaddaya get? "UCE". AKA "SPAM".
Now, rumor has it that they are adamant in pursuing this business model, and refuse to cease and desist.
Unless I'm missing something, this would make them an *ideal* candidate for nomination to the RBL.
posted on September 17, 2000 12:16:33 PM
You are DELUSIONAL! But it certainly has a faint pink tint to it ... Joe Seller has NEVER requested anything, yet, at the behest of a third party, PayPal sends an ad for their services and tells them to visit the site and join.
Who benefits? The third party is usually hoping for a referral fee, PayPal gets another member or at least use of the unclaimed funds for a while, and the [s]victim[/s} recipient either is coerced to join or has the hassle of telling the sender "NO" and arranging a diferent payment method.
It's more like those danged "refer a friend" things, except that PayPal could pop up a "not registered with PayPal, please check your typing and make sure the recipient is willing to join PayPal to retrieve their money" message as easily as they pop up the "not a verified user" scare message. But they don't.
