The following paragraph is taken from the Andale Web site. It describes how its auction-management software can help you keep track of your customers:

"A bidder who wins your auction becomes your customer - and the end of the sale doesn't have to mean the end of your business relationship. Andalé makes it easy to make new sales to old customers. When you register, Andalé gathers the user IDs and email addresses of your customers and organizes them into a database. Search this database for likely buyers of new items, or use it to keep track of repeat customers who deserve special attention."

Sounds reasonable. If someone has purchased an item from you, they might be interested in knowing about similar items you have in the future. But where do you draw the line between helpful email alerts and spam?

After reading a recent article in Salon (http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/04/19/state_spam/index.html), I suggest you take the matter seriously. Did you know that some states in the U.S. have enacted legislation that imposes stiff penalties on spam? I just became aware of an antiques-related site that sent some "well-intentioned bulk e-mail" and had their servers shut down for a week by their host provider. "It turns out, that sending blind, uninvited e-mails in or to the state of Virginia is illegal. I suppose we were lucky not to have to do jail time, and were satisfied with a simple fine, and the promise not to do it again. We apologize to our visitors about the outage, and promise not to let it happen again."

In addition, unsolicted email can be just plain annoying. In the next article, Hartriono Sastrowardoyo describes his reaction to getting some well-intentioned, but unsolicited, email. So, be careful before you hit the send button!