Craziest marketing email I have ever received

[ben]

I got an email from PayPal today. Someone had sent me $0.02. Weird. I opened the email, the note on it was a marketing message lol.

 

[username]

At least they're paying for it. I would allow people to send me messages for money.

 

[rob]

I have had four of those over the last 12 days - so I am almost rich !

It did make me look the first time... now it is just annoying

 

[baldidiot]

Oh god, please don't let this become a thing.

It is clever though. And surprisingly cost effective if the messages are targeted enough.

 

[ben]

Oh god, please don't let this become a thing.

It is clever though. And surprisingly cost effective if the messages are targeted enough.

It's a copy-cat tactic of Gary Halberts "Dollar Bill Letter". Of course, a dollar is considerably more than 2 cents, but I would imagine old Gary would have been quite tactical about where he posted them.

 

[Marek]

yeah and he was sending out a dollar decades ago. 2 cents in 2025 just feels like dirty spam - if someone Paypal's me £2 or more I'll read it. Otherwise they're going on the spam block list. I've got email addresses, contact forms set up for a reason. I don't want people sidestepping that to spam me.

 

[ben]

yeah and he was sending out a dollar decades ago. 2 cents in 2025 just feels like dirty spam - if someone Paypal's me £2 or more I'll read it. Otherwise they're going on the spam block list. I've got email addresses, contact forms set up for a reason. I don't want people sidestepping that to spam me.

I just wonder how they knew I had PayPal (which I don’t even use)

 

[baldidiot]

It's a copy-cat tactic of Gary Halberts "Dollar Bill Letter". Of course, a dollar is considerably more than 2 cents, but I would imagine old Gary would have been quite tactical about where he posted them.

Crazy to think that kind of long form message ever worked. Perhaps it's just that we're so used to spam, but I basically stopped reading after the first paragraph.

 

[baldidiot]

I just wonder how they knew I had PayPal (which I don’t even use)

If you enter someones email in paypal as a recipient I think it confirms if they have it because it gives you their name. Or it used to at least.

It's probably to make sure you're sending it to the right person, but could also be use to figure out if someone uses that address in paypal.

 

[ben]

If you enter someones email in paypal as a recipient I think it confirms if they have it because it gives you their name. Or it used to at least.

It's probably to make sure you're sending it to the right person, but could also be use to figure out if someone uses that address in paypal.

Seems like a privacy breach

 

[baldidiot]

Seems like a privacy breach

Probably a throw back to before people cared as much about it and they had too many people complaining that they'd lost money by sending to incorrect accounts (typos etc..).

If they still do it, it's probably covered in the terms though (ie: by registering an email with paypal you allow people to locate you using the email). I can't imagine they're just doing it willy nilly.

Edit, yeah it is. Also see: https://www.paypal.com/us/cshelp/article/search-privacy-settings-help1077

There are 3 new settings now available (these will go into effect on September 5, 2023):

• Personal profile info lets people within the PayPal network search for you by name, email, phone, or username when sending you money.
• PayPal.Me link lets anyone outside of the PayPal network send you money using your unique link.
• Payment requests let people search for you by name, email, phone, or username when they want to request money from you.

Looks like you can opt out though.

 

[ben]

Probably a throw back to before people cared as much about it and they had too many people complaining that they'd lost money by sending to incorrect accounts (typos etc..).

If they still do it, it's probably covered in the terms though (ie: by registering an email with paypal you allow people to locate you using the email). I can't imagine they're just doing it willy nilly.

Edit, yeah it is. Also see: https://www.paypal.com/us/cshelp/article/search-privacy-settings-help1077



Looks like you can opt out though.

Ahh, thanks for that! They do a similar thing with GoDaddy, if you register a domain with GoDaddy, they put a link in the lookup record which when emailed, is forwarded to you. I always get indian web designers sending their long sales pitches, pretty stupid feature if you ask me.

 

[Marek]

You can send money to people with no Paypal acc and they get an email encouraging them to sign up to claim it.