Thinking of selling your email list? - think again

I have had an enquiry this week from a business owner who has been approached to sell their email list. Sounds simple doesn't it?

It is simple if you have collected the information in the right way and sought permission to share the information with other companies. If you haven't it can be a costly mistake to make, as Pharmacy2U found out. Pharmacy2U was fined £130,000 for selling its mailing list and other details without having the correct permissions to do so. A sobering and costly exercise.

So how do you know if you can sell your list? Broadly, when you collected the information, did you ask the subscriber whether they would be happy to have their information passed to a third party? If you didn't, then you shouldn't be selling the information. If you did and they agreed to the information being shared, then you can. I would suggest that you get a professional Data Protection Officer to review how the information was collected before you go through with the sale just to be sure that you have the correct permissions. You wouldn't want a request for £130,000 dropping through the letterbox.

If you need to discuss how you are collecting information, please contact me.