I had the most amazing response to my newsletter, and I have a question posted below, but first here is a quick update from Southern Bulb:
Last night, the final e-mail I saw before going to bed was that our fall product pages had gone a little haywire (a.k.a. there was no way a customer could place an order or make sense of our site–a little stressful). I think that is why I awoke with the headache I had this morning and into the afternoon. After about 8 hours, Michael and crew had it fixed, and our fall product pages are back up and looking great. You can now sort our products by tulips, daffodils/narcissus, paperwhites, and ….drumroll…by our bulbs that are included in the Southern Living Plant Collection I linked to our bulbs, but if you want to know more about the SLPC, you can click here.
We are going to have a healthy crop of Chinese Sacred Lilies (Narcissus tazetta orientalis) this fall, and that makes me feel good. OK Gulf Coast residents, this is your chance for a January blooming, sweet smelling treasure.
Chinese Sacred Lily
OK….now my question for all of you. This person has signed up for my newsletter e-mail list, but every time I send them the newsletter, I get this response. What do you think I should do? Send this person the e-mail anyways? I don’t want to be out $500.
I am now using a automated program to reduce the amount of SPAM I receive.
The message you sent (attached below) requires confirmation before it can
be delivered. To confirm that you sent the message below, just hit the
REPLY button and the SEND button to send this message back. Do not make
any changes to the reply or put any message in the reply as it will be
processed by the computer and not read. Once you have sent a confirmation,
your name will be added to my approved sender list and you will not need
to do this again.
If your message is an advertisement and you elect to return your message
to me, in consideration of your use of my computer resources and my time,
you agree to pay me, within 30 days of your return of this message, a fee
of $500 (U.S. Dollars). This agreement shall be governed by and construed
in accordance with the laws of the state of New York without regard to, or
application of, any conflict of law provisions. The parties agree that
any suit, action or arbitration proceeding arising out of or relating to
this agreement shall be brought in New York County, New York, and the
parties expressly consent to the personal jurisdiction over them of any
state or federal court in New York County, New York. If you fail to pay
the agreed upon fee within 30 days of your return of this message, you
will be in breach of this agreement, and I shall be entitled to recover
all expenses of whatever form or nature, costs and attorneys fees
reasonably incurred to enforce the terms of the Agreement, whether or not
suit is filed, including such costs or fees as may be awarded in
arbitration or by a court at trial or on appeal. In addition, in the
event you become a debtor subject to the United States Bankruptcy Code, I
shall be entitled to recover any expenses, costs and fees, including
attorneys fees,incurred in connection with enforcing my rights against the
debtor party, whether those rights arise under this contract or involve
matters arising solely under the Bankruptcy Code.
Your return of this message to me constitutes your acceptance of the above
terms. If you wish to keep a copy of this contract for your records, you
may do so by printing this message now.
Chris Wiesinger, the Bulb Hunter, founded The Southern Bulb Company to share his finds with the world. 
I just intended to answer one blog last week. I don’t know why my name if forever here. But, hello again to you both! As for the message today: Where did you get that person’s name and email address? If I were you, I wouldn’t take a chance on it. Cultivate some more customers (no pun intended).
I’ll be glad when you two get back home.
Love,
bevske
Chris,
I would delete the email address from your mailing list. If you are using a opt-in program, then the subscribers you currently have expressed a desire to receive your emails. I’ve never seen a message like that.
I’ve gotten that same message before, but since I wasn’t advertising I guess it didn’t matter, and I didn’t notice the $500 fee. It was a friend who had just started this spam protection thingy. I would just email the person a personal email and ask if they still want to be on the list. (if that wouldn’t also be considered advertisement–ugh.) Also, that seems like too easy a way to make 500 bucks. I wonder if it’s really true… but also could be an easy way to LOSE $500, so maybe not….
Delete ‘em.
Not worth your time and trouble. I’m sure you have more important things to worry about.
Thanks for your advice everybody. I’ll probably just remove their name from the list. Beverly, it was great to see you today. I should have fixed things now so your entire life story is not displayed!