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Newcastle, OntarioOMG - that is truly unbelievable! Jacqui, I'm sorry your customers were targeted by this unscrupulous person. It's taken me five years to build a customer base and like you, I carefully protect it with individual emails for auctions. Whoever this artist is, if she doesn't see anything wrong with it, she won't be affected by what she reads here. I hope she finds out that most customers will be adversely affected by her emails. I would absolutely NEVER buy from an artist who approached me this way! What she is doing is basically theft!
hugs,
Brenda
I assume here what is happening is that somehow people are seeing your emails that you send out( I have not sold on EBAY- so not sure about buyers seeing your contacts there)
Normal emails that are sent- can only be seen by the person you are sending to- unless they hack into your computer and get your mailing list.(This is what I understand)
So what is being said is that Artist A is contacting your customer Mrs B and saying to her- I also sell bears and I can sell a bear to you for $1.00
In business "Mr Nice Man" does not exist- this is why you get your bears copied, design stolen, including any customers- it is sad, as the "bear world" normally is made up of "nice" trusting people.
I have found from my own experience in business that it is a rat race out there,and everyone looks after themselves first, if you do not, no one else will.
Lynette
WienJacqui,
took me quite a while to understand what had been happening, I´m sorry that you had to join MI5 to find out how it happened!
How twisted must somebody´s mind be to figure out such methods?
For me it not only proofs, that people would do anything, to make money, but also, that there is something deffinitely wrong and immoral with ebay!
I know, that your adorable teddies are still going to sell, they are so unique, that I cannot imagine, that somebody who wants one of yours would be tempted to buy any body elses.
Gaby 
Real Deal BearsI am soooo very shocked that this sort of thing is going on, I had no idea. 
I am even more shocked that it could be a member of TT.
But, I think that this sort of person would also be trying to gain information at other sites as well.
Jacqui, I do hope you reported her to ebay as well, as it is a breach of ebay rules to silicate sales from ebay in this manner and trying to avoid Ebay fees. Ebay looks harshly at this sort of behavior.
Jac-Q-LynHi Everyone
I don't feel its right OUTING this lady - she know's who she is and she has tried to justify her actions to me, but I am sorry I don't not agree with her selling tactics - lifting email addresses of Guestbooks is just taking liberties and not as she says "Free Game", I have contacted ebay as she states she does not contact bidders direct but ebay do it for her on her behalf, they select people who are bidders and are matching criteria to her and send them a newsletter on her behalf, I don't get this as I have a store and I have to have people subscribe to my Ebay Newsletter first. I have asked them to explain this to me, also she states she goes onto ebay and sends out a message to members via ask member a question, which you can get from the feedback page if they are a buyer and emails them asking them to join her Teddy Bear Group for newsletters, when they sign up she has there email address and then contacts them directly as the copy of the email she sent to the lady I know about does not mention directing you to ebay but to her website with a list of bears available and there prices. I would like to point out to TT members that if you have a bravenet guestbook you have to register it to the Hall Of Fame to gain a list of all the bravent guestbooks, funnily enough I never registered mine so its not in their listing, so can only guess she has gone onto my website found my Bravenet Guestbook and lifted my vistors and customers email addresses. She is a TT member and as previously mentioned I cannot pressume I am the only one she has targeted, if she has gone to all the trouble of wading through bravenet guestbooks like she has admitted then whats to stop her coming onto here checking out every artists website (she has said its very time consuming and hard work but well worth it) to see if they have a bravenet guestbook. I can't say anymore on this subject I am just so glad I was informed by my customer about this and now take measures to minimize this breach of privacy for my collectors.
Good Luck to You All and Thank you for your support and Personal messages.
Hugs
Jacqui
WienJacqui,
I just had a giggle:
she has said its very time consuming and hard work
...guess her time was better spent by improving her bears
I wish you good luck, your bears are selling without sneaky undercover actions! :hug:
Gaby
PS. does the MI5 have a forum or chat room, where one can learn twisted thinking?? :crackup:
I do have to agree with Lynette..I guess no-one goes into business expecting that the opposition will not try to compete for business. I don't think that anyone would assume we all all little islands where we trade untouched by others. I am paranoid about having too many links for example. A person who is extremely succesful in business once said 'why would you have links to other artists websites on your website...it would be like Marks and Spencer having a sign saying ' Selfridges this way' over their door..once you encourage people to leave your website by having links on there then they might not come back' I think it's true so I don't have many...
But I do think wholeheartedly that while we compete with eachother for business which is obvious, we can equally respect our competitors and play fair. I see nothing wrong in making my bears stand out in the face of competition ..I do everything I can to make customers see my work . But this kind of blatant plundering of the things that we all work hard to achieve, like reputation, design, uniqueness, customer base and successful trading is just not fair play.
I suspect those that do this kind of thing wouldn't have to do it if they spent more time working on their bears instead of Googling mailing lists...
Matilda Huggington-beareI find the whole thing outragous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To the person who did this or those that have been thinking about it!!!!! DONT! DONT! DONT!
You are damaging a fellow bear makers reputation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are destroying all their HARD WORK in gaining a dedicated following.
Go out there are work your own butt off 
Ya lazy beggas !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wazza Bears AustraliaThis is so sad and RUDE. OMG.
Get your own email list!!!!!!!
I just come back to making bears and have had to start my email list again I think I have about 15. But each auction I do it grows.
I thought everyone on TT were frienedly and here to support each other not rip each other off.
Sorry just to have my 2 cents
Posts: 3,540:clap: Jacqui, good on you for NOT outting this person. I know that sounds backwards and weird, but by doing so, we're focusing more on the problem, and how to better protect our customers, and our customers emails. THAT's the important part... THAT'S the focus. Not whether or not this person's ethics need help.
