This chain letter was submitted to the
Cagey Consumer,
and is published here for educational purposes only.
It is not a solicitation to participate in the chain letter.
Participants in chain letters may be subject to prosecution.
From: "Clements, Debby" <Debby.Clements@delta-air.com>
To: "'mantel@hotmail.com'" <mantel@hotmail.com>
Subject: FW: re: your web page
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 15:58:49 -0400
[This letter is intended to be sent in response to a chain letter]
Hi,
I received your email about the marketing reports. Let me caution you
about a few things.
First, this is a copy of the Edward Greene Marketing Letter that I first
saw (and participated in) back in 1989. It was done through US mail back
then. There were four reports, and each was one or two pages of pure
"fluff". I still have this letter and those reports.
These were just an attempt to "legalize" a chain letter.
I made about $700 on this before I got some nasty letters from the Post
Master General (PMG) threatening legal action if I continued, so I quit
the program. I continued to fill existing orders, but, I enclosed a copy
of the last PMG letter I received and I quit advertising and mailing the
chain.
Now, according to the PMG, these are some of the problems with this
letter:
The letter had a formal guarantee of wealth/profit, which was
impossible to guarantee. You have no way of guaranteeing their success
and you actually open yourself up to a $50,000 (or whatever amount you are
claiming people can make) breach of contract lawsuit by making promises
you can't ensure. (The letter had no disclaimer that the profits
guaranteed were only possible if the matrix shown was filled and that the
sender could not be held responsible for any failed attempts. )
The product you are offering must be worth what you are asking for it.
Since these were useless reports that really didn't say anything but
double talk, they were considered worthless. This constitutes mail fraud
( a federal offense).
Also, If you are providing a service (like, here's $1, put me on your
mailing list) - you must be able to PROVE that you have indeed fulfilled
that service.
And, to send only cash in a pyramid format is considered illegal in
most states in this country. (Personally, I don't know why. I think
it's up to an individual about whether he wants to gamble or not. Gambling
IS legal in some states. )
So- I started thinking. What if I redid that letter?
Took the "promises and guarantees" out.
Added real honest to goodness products instead of meaningless reports.
Gave a real money back guarantee on the products. ?
Keep the letter short so people won't get bored and lose interest in
reading it.
The format is a good one and can reach alot of people in a
short amount of time.
And, this is what I came up with.
I welcome any comments you have.
(you can send an email to
shareit@myreply.com
to get an electronic copy of this letter.
Hello, Fellow Internet Marketer,
I am looking for a minimum of 30 people who get all excited and who
can't sit
still when they receive an offer that is so outstanding that almost
everyone
who hears about it will want a piece of it.
Let me tell you, in the past I have received all sorts of offers and
opportunities to receive reports and other miscellaneous items, and with
all I
was extremely disappointed. Any grade school kid could have written
those
reports with just a little time spent gathering information from any
trade
magazine. The only reason for offering any kind of a report at all was
to
create a semblance of staying legal in the eyes of the law. Anyone that
was
able to glean any usable information that they could put into practice
already
knew a lot about the industry of MLM.
The SHAREWARE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY that I am presenting to you is,
to put it mildly, FANTASTIC! No other offer that you have ever
received, or
likely to receive again for a long time, gives you such detailed,
ready-to-use
information and code to run any Internet business that you want.
I am so sure that you will be completely delighted with the total
package of
four plus products, that I will return the $5 you send to me if you for
any
reason feel that you have been mislead and Product #1 does not live up
to your
expectations.
We are SHAREWARING products and services which can be
purchased on the Internet. But, we are sharewaring them at a vastly
reduced cost (only $5.00 each) and Everybody loves a bargain! At
first glance this may look like a chain letter. Relax, it's not. We
are marketing valid products and services worth far more than the
$5.00 we are asking for them. The Web book alone retails for
$97.00 - you get it for $5.00!
There is a great 144 page book on the Secrets of the
Search Engines, over 125 great Web Page Animations, Access to 16
great Web Power tools and a 40 page report on using Banners,
Netcontact Email Address Extractor Program , and many
great How to books and reports , and access to some great Web scripts.
And, you get Adobe Acrobat Reader for free. (A more detailed
description of the products follows.)
OKAY - HERE'S YOUR INSTRUCTIONS:
Order all 4 products shown on the list below ( you can't resell
them if you don't order them). Each one costs $5.00. You will receive
each product via email and also the re-sell rights to each of them.
For each product , send $5.00 CASH, the NAME & NUMBER OF PRODUCT
YOU ARE ORDERING, YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS, and YOUR NAME or company
name & RETURN ADDRESS (in case of a problem) to the person
whose name appears on the list next to the product. Make sure your
return address is on your envelope in case of any mail problems.
IMPORTANT-- DO NOT alter the names of the people who are listed next
to
each report, or their sequence on the list, in any way other than is
instructed below in steps "a" through "f" below or you will lose out on
the
majority of your profits.
Look below for the listing of reports.
After you've ordered the reports, take this advertisement and remove
the name and address under PRODUCT #4.
This person has made it through the cycle and is no doubt counting
their money!
Move the name and address under PRODUCT #3 down to PRODUCT #4.
Move the name and address under PRODUCT #2 down to PRODUCT #3.
Move the name and address under PRODUCT #1 down to PRODUCT #2.
Insert your name/address in the PRODUCT #1 position.
Take this entire letter, including the modified list of names, and
save it to your computer.
Make NO changes to the instruction portion of this letter.
For every $5.00 you receive, all you must do is e-mail them the product
they ordered. THAT'S IT!
ALWAYS PROVIDE SAME-DAY SERVICE ON ALL ORDERS!
This will guarantee that the e-mail THEY send out, with YOUR name
and address on it, will be prompt because they can't advertise until
they receive the product !
*** Order Each PRODUCT by NUMBER and NAME ***
Notes:
ALWAYS SEND $5 CASH (U.S. CURRENCY) FOR EACH PRODUCT CHECKS ARE NOT ACCEPTED
Always send your order via first class mail
Make sure the cash is concealed by wrapping it in at least two
sheets of paper
On one of those sheets of paper, include: (a) the number & name of
the PRODUCT you are ordering, (b) your e-mail address, and (c) your name
& postal address.
PRODUCT #1 "Secrets"
A 144 Page Book: New Search Engine Secrets Manual Reveals Search
Engine Secrets For Top Positioning, including: "How To Really Use
Internet Search Engines And Directories To 'Sky Rocket' Your Web Site
Traffic... Absolutely Free"
PLUS - Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.1
ORDER PRODUCT #1 FROM:
Internet Secrets
101 Parsons Place
Peachtree City, Ga. 30269
PRODUCT #2 "Animations"
128 Great Web page Animations .
128 Cool and royalty free animations customized for use on personal
and commercial Web pages.
Free Animated Greeting and Note Cards you can personalize and send
to your friends.
ORDER PRODUCT #2 FROM:
Animations
6740 Waterbury Way
Cumming, Ga. 30040
PRODUCT #3 "Banner Report and Tools:
A 40 page report on using Free Banner Advertising to Boost Web Site
Traffic and Sales.
16 Great Web Tools - 16 free web based power tools you can use to
pump-up your web site traffic.
These power tools allow even the most inexperienced
person to use these strategies... all you have to do is fill in a few
online forms and you will be sent position optimized plug-in HTML code
customized for your pages in only a few minutes.
NetContact Email Address Extractor.
ORDER PRODUCT #3 FROM:
Jenine Eason
4905 Cinnabar Dr.
Alpharetta, Ga. 30022
PRODUCT #4 "More Great Reports, Books and Scripts "
Download The Addresses Of Thousands Of Weekly Newspapers From Every
State In America! (file)
4 Steps to get 300+ Quality Prospects to Email you weekly (report)
THE WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY presents... Thousand of Dollars Worth of
Advertising FOR FREE! (report and file )
HOW TO GET FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS TO OVER 60 MAGAZINES (report and
file)
Perl CGI Scripts , C++ Scripts and Programs , Sniplets, Guestbooks
, Free
for all links, WWW boards, Text Counters, Graphic Counters, Form Mail,
Random Image Displayers, Text Clock, Count Down, Credit Card Verifier -
plus, over 1,000 examples of scripts .
ORDER PRODUCT #4 FROM:
Web Marketing Tools
103 Lake Forest Drive
Peachtree City, Ga. 30269
Send for the four products IMMEDIATELY so you will have them when
the orders start coming in because: When you receive a $5 order, you
MUST
email back the requested product.
ALWAYS PROVIDE SAME-DAY SERVICE ON THE ORDERS YOU RECEIVE.
If you don't receive 20 orders for PRODUCT #1 within two weeks, continue
advertising or sending e-mails until you do.
Then, a couple of weeks later
you should receive at least 100 orders for PRODUCT #2.
If you don't, continue advertising or sending e-mails until you do.
Every time your name is moved down on the list, you are placed in front
of a
DIFFERENT PRODUCT. You can KEEP TRACK of your PROGRESS by
watching which product people are ordering from you. If you want to
generate
more income, send another batch of e-mails or continue placing ads and
start
the whole process again!
The information you receive in all four products is worth much more than
the
$20 you initially invested. Just using a fraction of this information
will
enhance any other business you may also be operating.