Have you ever clicked (and bought) something from a spam email?

[rfung]

...shame on you!

While cleaning my yahoo spam box it occured to ask me if savvy webmasters actually fall for spam and actually click through and maybe buy something on the destination site.

[incrediBILL]

I have had affiliate spammers send a few interesting things my way.

I copy the URL less the spammers affiliate ID and paste it into the browser.

The spammer gets no credit if I ever purchased anything, which I don't think I have, nor do they get credit for the click :)

[eurotrash]

I had a colleague who asked where to get Viagra online. I walked him through a Google search for it.

He ended up buying - I think he is still alive!

[idoc]

Never had or will. They are right up there with the folks who put flyers on windshields and stick mlm cards on atm machines. I take the spam emails that get through my ip bans and filters and open them with an editor and reverse engineer why they got through to begin with. I then add rules or amend existing rules for the more annoying of them.

[incrediBILL]

sorry for 302 hijacking the thread, blame it on google...

They are right up there with the folks who put flyers on windshields

Have some fun with those flyers - I always call them and ask for the manager.

Then aribrarily start screaming about who's going to pay for either the a) damaged winshield wiper or b) fixing the scratch in the paint job. When they start back peddling and making excuses threaten to file a complaint for tampering with private property, LITTERING, or tresspassing or d) ALL OF THE ABOVE like I did when they put them under the windshields of cars at our condo :)

[europeforvisitors]

Nope. Never.

I wish I knew how those spammers could spy on me. Today I got a spam e-mail with the message header, "You're going out with a married babe tonight." How did they know?

[diddlydazz]

I wish I knew how those spammers could spy on me. Today I got a spam e-mail with the message header, "You're going out with a married babe tonight." How did they know?

lol - i am presuming she is married to you? ;o)

if anything interests me, especially if they are competition ;o) i usually do the same as incrediBILL (remove aff id, etc).

Dazz

<edit>clarity..i hope</edit>

[edited by: diddlydazz at 5:33 pm (utc) on Mar. 10, 2005]

[walkman]

yeah. How else do think I enlarged...oh never mind :)

[decaff]

"I had a colleague who asked where to get Viagra online."

Yeah...but if he is still using that .. then part of him is living a very different life from the rest of him....nasty bit of vascular manipulation going on there..

I do the same thing that incrediBILL does...
if I see something that I may be interested in...
I copy and paste the url... then back pedal to the root domain and check it out...sorry...affiliate/regular email spammers...you won't get a referral or purchase from me..

[incrediBILL]

Mostly all the affiliate spammers have done sending me their junk email was point out other high paying affiliate programs that I didn't know about.

Thanks Spammers :-)

[RammsteinNicCage]

Whether webmasters do or don't, it doesn't matter. SOMEONE obviously is buying this stuff or else the money wouldn't be spent sending the emails out.

Jennifer