# How do these people make money? (e-mailers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 7, 2007, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135 "2007-12-07T07:32:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/1 "2007-12-07T07:32:42Z")
Actual e-mail with links removed: [QUOTE=e-mail idiot] Makee eveyrone rsepect yoour perosn with Suepr / i a g r / [/QUOTE] What the hell, do people actually respond to this crap? If not, why does it exist? I know people actually respond to the Nigerian scam, I actually met one, but this is several of orders of magnitude stupider… ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/2 "2007-12-07T07:36:39Z")
People are several orders of magnitude stupid. It’s basically free to send out a million emails. Even if only one in a million people responds, they’re still turning a profit. I have a question of my own. How does craigslist make money? ---
**Author:** ![WoodenTaco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/45deac/32.png) [@WoodenTaco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WoodenTaco)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/3 "2007-12-07T07:40:18Z")
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger] How does craigslist make money? [/QUOTE] See [craigslist | about | help | posting fees](http://www.craigslist.org/about/help/posting_fees). That’s the entire extent of it, amazingly. ---
**Author:** ![Testy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@Testy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Testy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/4 "2007-12-07T07:41:53Z")
I’ve often wondered the same thing. Who would want to buy pharmaceuticals from someone that can’t spell? Actually, I think that the poor/weird spelling is just a simple trick to get the stuff through your spam filter and into your in-box although some of the foreign spammers may actually have problems with written English. As far as whether people buy stuff, yes they do. If even .01% actually buy something then the company is ahead as it costs so little to spam millions of people. The Internet seems to have become like any other commons where people abuse it to make a fast buck. Regards Testy ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/5 "2007-12-07T08:37:26Z")
[QUOTE=WoodenTaco] See [craigslist | about | help | posting fees](http://www.craigslist.org/about/help/posting_fees). That’s the entire extent of it, amazingly. [/QUOTE] So why the heck do they -just- charge in those cities, yet support all the other cities? Just to get and keep their name out there? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/6 "2007-12-07T14:16:29Z")
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger] So why the heck do they -just- charge in those cities, yet support all the other cities? Just to get and keep their name out there? [/QUOTE] (Slight hijack for Craigslist) Craigslist uses a relatively simple script and database; much simpler than vBulletin. Also, with no graphics, there’s very little bandwidth consumed, relatively speaking. CL traffic in hip, trendy, tech-savvy cities tends to be several orders of magnitude higher than traffic in more mundane but equally-populated locales. Based on other listings I’ve seen such as furniture, apartment rentals, personals and so on, CL Seattle probably has about ten to twenty times the traffic as CL Cleveland, even though the regions have a similar population. Some medium-sized metros, such as El Paso, have very little CL activity, even compared to much smaller but trendier metros such as Eugene. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/7 "2007-12-07T15:17:12Z")
[QUOTE=Testy] I’ve often wondered the same thing. Who would want to buy pharmaceuticals from someone that can’t spell? [/quote] People who can’t spell themselves. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/8 "2007-12-07T15:19:17Z")
Maybe we should start advertising a pill that helps you spell 🙂 ! ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/9 "2007-12-07T15:23:39Z")
[QUOTE=askeptic] What the hell, do people actually respond to this crap? [/QUOTE] One has to assume that they do get replies and purchasers for their “crap.” Look at the junk and nearly worthless gadgets that are avertised on tv. Prices are unrealistically high and then they overcharge the shipping by a factor of 2 to 4 times actual cost! SHEEESH! ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/10 "2007-12-07T16:42:09Z")
They are hoping you’ll respond to the “remove from mailing list” link. That way they know that your email is active, and that you read spam. Then they can sell your email to other spammers. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/11 "2007-12-07T16:46:52Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] They are hoping you’ll respond to the “remove from mailing list” link. That way they know that your email is active, and that you read spam. Then they can sell your email to other spammers. [/QUOTE] I think this is a urban legend. Spam is free to send, so it doesn’t matter whether the email address is active or not. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/12 "2007-12-07T17:30:16Z")
I have heard, although I have no cite and am hopefully not perpetuating an urban legend, that spam also makes money through “click-farming.” Links in spam go to sites that are paying for advertising based on visitors to the site. So spammers can gain some micro-revenue from those who click through just to check the price of /1Agra, even if no one buys. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/13 "2007-12-07T17:46:38Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] I think this is a urban legend. Spam is free to send, so it doesn’t matter whether the email address is active or not. [/QUOTE] It does matter. You want to know that your messages are actually getting through. ---
**Author:** ![Testy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@Testy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Testy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/14 "2007-12-07T18:00:53Z")
I believe that the target acknowledging that they’ve read the spam DOES matter. I’ve seen lists of _verified_ addresses for sale. I think the _verified_ bit comes from having the target acknowledge receipt by clicking on something. Regards Testy ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/15 "2007-12-07T18:38:24Z")
[QUOTE=Testy] I believe that the target acknowledging that they’ve read the spam DOES matter. I’ve seen lists of _verified_ addresses for sale. I think the _verified_ bit comes from having the target acknowledge receipt by clicking on something. Regards Testy [/QUOTE] They are lying about the list being verified. ---
**Author:** ![Testy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@Testy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Testy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/16 "2007-12-07T19:35:40Z")
[QUOTE=gazpacho] They are lying about the list being verified. [/QUOTE] **gazpacho** Could be, I certainly wouldn’t put it past the. Regards Testy ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-these-people-make-money-e-mailers/429135/17 "2007-12-07T20:55:30Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] Maybe we should start advertising a pill that helps you spell 🙂 ! [/QUOTE] Too late – that’s already being done! There are frequent SPAM messages about various vitamins, food ‘supplements’, seaweed extract, etc., etc. that will boost your intelligence. Which could presumably count towards better spelling skills. (If they worked.)