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“In response to your article on January 22, 2008, Please allow me an opportunity to set the record straight with respect to our application for Sender Score Certification from Return Path. Based on the information presented in the article, I believe some of your readers may have gotten the impression that I lied about our application status. I can assure you this is not the case. There are some additional details that you may not have been aware of at the time.

“As you know, BargainDepot Enterprises, an e360-affiliated company, applied for certification a few months ago. After a comprehensive review of our mailing practices and complaint rates, spam trap hits, and various other metrics, we were approved for conditional certification as long as we made some changes to our infrastructure.

“As we were implementing the required changes, we were in the middle of a massive relocation to an improved and upgraded data center. Combined with the holidays and scheduled downtime, we did not send our e-mail newsletter for a little over a month, causing our account to become inactive due to insufficient mailing history. In other words, our application expired because we were not sending email messages frequently enough. At this time, we have rectified the situation and we will be reapply for certification at our next opportunity.

“Overall, ReturnPath has been fair and reasonable with us. In spite of some of the rumors flying around in usenet groups, Return Path was willing to review our application on its merits. This fact alone puts Return Path way ahead of their competition.

“Unlike some popular email blacklists, Return Path employs a robust, objective, data-driven process for certifying legitimate email marketers. With Return Path, legitimate marketers have a chance. In my opinion, our industry would be much better off by doing more with Return Path. With a fair system in place, there is no need for unsubstantiated email blacklisters who are unwilling to provide transparency and due process.

“In the end, we believe the results of our application will demonstrate that e360 is a responsible email marketing company. Our mailing practices are consistent with industry best practices. We have always provided consumers with notice, choice and control as it pertains to sending email marketing messages. From its inception, e360 has never had any interest in sending email to anyone who does not want to receive it. Further, we understand that spam is a serious industry problem. We applaud those who help consumers gain control of their inboxes without destroying legitimate businesses in the process.”