Strange email from Ebid!

[OldPostcards]

I am wondering why I received an email from Ebid, quoting the name of one of the sellers here, saying that she is my 'friend' and is inviting me to join Ebid - pointing out that this 'friend' (who I have never heard of but does appear in the sellers' lists) will receive buddy points if I join Ebid by clicking the link in the email.

To compound my puzzlement the email was sent to an address that I have never used on Ebid - is this a spam email with a dodgy link therein, if so I thought I had better flag it up. If not, what's it all about and how did you get my other email address?

Puzzling. Anyone else had them?

(PS Don't be confused by my name and store name being different, I have sold vintage postcards here up until a month or so ago and still need to change my user name to reflect the one store that I have left here).

[bykimbo]

This other person has got your email address from outside ebid (a forum probably) and is using the "my buddy" section here to spam their "friends" to get people to join.

[2Bookworms]

I have never had an email like this, so i can't say..sorry.

[OldPostcards]

I wondered if it was some kind of spamming exercise. Thanks. Maybe I shall write back to the lady in question and copy it to Gazza!

[BAGHAG999]

Mostly i get requests to leave sites rather than join them.

[stitchysyl]

My first thought was that it was someone using Facebook...

[stitchysyl]

Mostly i get requests to leave sites rather than join them.

Shows how tolerant we are on this forum...

[bykimbo]

For anybody else who wasn't aware of this facility. Your "my buddy" section offers this:

Email Your Buddies
Get your buddies and friends to sign up with eBid as a bidder or seller and we will reward you with Buddy Points. Enter the email addresses of your friends in the box on the right, one per line and click "Send". They will be emailed an invitation to join eBid. Alternatively, you can use your own Buddy Link URL and add this to your email signatures, forum signatures, your own website, blogs etc. Each person who clicks on the link and joins eBid will earn you Buddy Points.

There is a box to put email addresses in. This sort of "tell your friends" promotion exists in one form or another on many commercial sites - and it's always going to be open to abuse, I'm afraid.

Of course, in this case, it might be that the person sending the mails really is a buddy from another place, and their ID is too different here to be recognised!

[OldPostcards]

No, it gives her real name and she is not known to me at all. Thanks for the explanations - it does seem that this person is just picking email addresses from somewhere and spamming them. I will drop her a line! She will be amazed that I am already a member of Ebid, LOL.

[CrazyJay]

No, it gives her real name and she is not known to me at all. Thanks for the explanations - it does seem that this person is just picking email addresses from somewhere and spamming them. I will drop her a line! She will be amazed that I am already a member of Ebid, LOL.

I had one like that too - Can't remember the ladies name, but it was not a name I knew. I have to confess I deleted it, as I'm already an Ebid member.