Liquidshop spam

[Southwest Test]

Hi everyone,

I wonder if any of you have any thoughts on the following?

This afternoon I received an unsolicited email in my inbox from a company called Liquidshop - I've taken the liberty of reproducing the body of the text below:


If your website isn't easy to navigate on a mobile device then you're losing sales.

Time to consider a new ecommerce platform?

Liquidshop offers ecommerce with responsive mobile compatibility as standard. This means that whatever device your customers are using, they will see a properly formatted version of your website that's easy to buy from.
Multiple device display

In addition, Liquidshop delivers dozens of real improvements to the functionality of your website, for you as the administrator, and for your customers who are shopping with you. And an ongoing development programme means your website never goes out-of-date.

So, if you're considering upgrading and 'future-proofing' your ecommerce, Liquidshop could be a perfect fit.

Clients who have already changed to Liquidshop from Sellerdeck/Actinic have more than doubled their sales.

If you'd like to do the same, please drop me a line – I can send you some more details; specifications, case studies, etc, or you can let me know a good time to call for a chat.

If you prefer, give me a call on xxxxxxxxxxx or xxxxxxxxxx

If you're really, really not interested, you can opt out of future mailings below.

That would be a shame, as I'd like to stay in touch.

Regards

Dave Lomax

New Business Manager
Liquidshop


There was a link at the foot of the email to 'unsubscribe from this list' - now if there is one thing I really can't stand then it's being signed up to mailing lists from any Tom, Dick or Harry without my explicit consent. It ruffles my usually extremely placid feathers, and then some. I view messages of this nature as nothing less than spam.

After reading the email I immediately sent a reply requesting to know from where my address had been obtained (note that I have removed all references to the company's contact details as I have no intention of promoting their services given their dubious sales techniques)

I received a reply back after a couple of hours informing me that my email address had been found via "the Ts & Cs page on your website"

What I am particularly concerned about is the curious fact that my website in question is currently nothing more than a test bed for trying out new SellerDeck features. It does not host a working shop. There are no payment facilities, no logos, no terms and conditions, no stock items, nothing that would imply a live webshop where one doesn't even exist!

I'm highly sceptical that my email address was located from a manual search of the web. And even if it was, I take exception to anybody who feels they have a right to auto-subscribe me to an unwanted mailing list, and try to lure me away from SellerDeck into the bargain! It's unethical at best and bad business as far as I'm concerned.

Their technique has backfired in this instance, and I'm posting this partly to vent and partly in the hope that it will create some justified negative publicity for the company concerned.

Has anyone else had any unauthorised correspondence from this crowd?

[mje]

We got exactly the same email at 15.24 this afternoon - and I replied asking for it to stop, to my surprise got a reply from David Lomax that simply said ....

Sorry to have bothered you, I have unsubscribed you from future mailings.

Regards
David

I get another one regularly that I did not subscribe to from "Corporate Finances" ... have unsubscribed many times but it's ignored !

[Southwest Test]

Thanks for your input, Mark. I looked back to check the timestamp on my own email... 15:25

I suspect they are bulk mailing Actinic/SellerDeck customers and adding them to a subscribers list without prior permission. I loathe that sort of cold calling

[saucysal]

I don't reply or unsubscribe.

When I receive unsolicited emails from business that I have never ordered from, I do not reply or unsubscribe, as that would tell them that my email address is real and in use. Senders of spam may be trawling the web for email addresses, or obtaining lists, and they want people to reply as that confirms that they have lucked in, and can continue to use or sell on that email address.

Instead, I set up a rule in my inbox that finds those emails and deletes them on arrival, or puts them in a spam box if I may want to check it first. I have a lot of rules in place.

Sarah

[cbarling]

Could somebody post here to say they are doing it and then ask Liquid Shop for the case studies etc and "further details" then forward to SellerDeck please?

We are considering an appropriate legal response or a referral to the Advertising Standards Authority.

I don't mind competition, but I object both to spam and unjustified claims. However, it pays to get all of the facts first.

Chris Barling
Chairman, SellerDeck

[Southwest Test]

Thank you Chris... more power to you... my sentiments exactly.

I will help in any way I can, although I should point out that I have already unsubscribed from the offending email list, so have already showed my hand as it were.

Incidentally, I should also mention that the email was titled as follows:

Your Sellerdeck/Actinic site can't be navigated properly on my smartphone

I can forward the entire email to you if you wish?

I agree that competition is all well and good, but this crosses a line as far as I'm concerned. It's definitely not a business tactic I would employ myself, and I'm not content with a passive response. I'd be happy to see the firm in question penalised. I spend enough time as it is on the black and white lists for my email accounts.

Kind regards,

Paul

[cbarling]

Thanks for the offer. i already had a copy of the spam before this thread started

Anyone else for the follow up materials?

Chris

[guccij]

Just looked at their website.

Scuse my French but feckinell, £395 a month? For the hard of numeracy that's £4740 a YEAR.

And that, my friends, is all you need to know.

[jont]

Clients who have already changed to Liquidshop from Sellerdeck/Actinic have more than doubled their sales.l

Every client has at least doubled their sales? That is one for the ASA to see proof. No mention of the additional cost to run the site compared to Actinic/SellerDeck.

[jont]

And that, my friends, is all you need to know.

hahahaha

[jont]

@southwest test - what is the reply address for the follow up info and I will ask them for it and see what they provide

[Southwest Test]

Good man John... the reply address was dave.lomax@liquidshop.com

Incidentally, I find it mildy satisfying to see that a search for 'Liquidshop' on Google now brings up a reference to this thread at the top of page 2... I wouldn't be surprised if by this time next week it's on page 1.

Serves them right for the underhanded way in which they try to do 'business' - I've no time for any organisation like that which appears to lack scruples and principles.

If anything, they have only increased my loyalty to the SellerDeck product, so their ham-fisted attempt at marketing has scored a resounding own goal.

[jont]

Cheers Paul. Email duly sent - will be interesting to see what comes back!

[jont]

A somewhat generic reply was received including the line :

By applying our full service approach to their business Liquidshop has seen sales more than double for websites coming to us from a number of other platforms and developers, including Actinic.

I requested case study details for the Actinic sites doubling their sales. Days later I am still waiting and I am guessing they are unable to substantiate the claims.

[jont]

No further info back regarding case studies or to follow up the enquiry!

Am I being cynical in thinking that they can not prove they have more than doubled Actinic (SellerDeck) sites turnover by switching? Maybe SellerDeck Towers would like to chase this up requesting proof to avoid possible false advertising @chrisbarling