grabbing someones database list

[findtim]

i hope this is the right section for this.

i have found a guy " somewhere in the world" ? that can "scrap" a database and provide you with what you want in an excell doc, most likely and type of file you want !

so i tested him and asked him to gather 1000 listings from 1 of my websites, well the bugger did it ! and it cost me $80 !!!!

he got me an excel doc that has:

business name, addresss, city, state, zip, phone

i didn't give him any passwords he just took it, i gave him specific criteria as i only wanted 1 certain type of service and not the others

so 8 cents a "lead" , can anyone tell me if i got ripped off or i got a bargain please as my research on australian businesses that sell this service is much higher

also if you want his contact details i am happy to give them to you via PM. it was an elance job

tim

 

[helloworld]

Shoot me his details. Could be very useful and sounds pretty cheap. I've looked around for similar in the past.

 

[findtim]

PS; he wasn't able to get email addresses so he is working on how to grab them.

tim

 

[TpD]

Web Data Extraction Software. Extract Web data, screen scraping from webpages using Automation Anywhere.

Never used it and don't know anything other than what you see on their page.

Had it bookmarked from ages ago for a potential project i had in mind.

HTH

 

[Chris.C]

Sounds interesting... but being able to grab email addresses would be REALLY valuable.

 

[findtim]

Sounds interesting... but being able to grab email addresses would be REALLY valuable.

+website of course.

i've got 6 clients wanting this right now and this guy knows that so i just tried him out on 1000 , he can see the benefits when i start giving him jobs to scrap 10K names

i've PM'd you his details, if we all give him some test business it could be great for all of us.

i pay via elance dotcom which has an escrow system, GREAT service

"signup free, create a job, get quotes, pay elance, then when you are happy pay the programmer"

tim

 

[FirstPageResults]

i have found a guy " somewhere in the world" ? that can "scrap" a database and provide you with what you want in an excell doc, most likely and type of file you want !

*scrape

Probably can't get the email addresses as they aren't crawlable, but $80 sounds very reasonable for a custom scraper.

 

[DavidL]

I've used this guy before for a project I had

Gaddas will scrape any data from a website for $5, only on fiverr.com

Did the job exactly as requested for $5

 

[Chris.C]

So what sort of sites are often worth scraping for traditional businesses?

 

[findtim]

So what sort of sites are often worth scraping for traditional businesses?

"traditional business" is a wideeee term.

the easy answer is " your competitors website " !!!!!!!!

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but also:

eg: ( made up BS ) say i have a client that sells widgets to dentists, we could grab all the contact details of dentists from YP, or TrueL, or HotF etc and then target them to sell widgets.

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a localised business that sells "bolts" could gather info from the local CO-OP directory of farmers

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but gathering the data from say YP you could tune in to every "plumber" in sydney if you owned the obvious domain emd

for a few bucks to get 300 contacts it could be good from a domain seller point of view.

tim

 

[findtim]

I've used this guy before for a project I had

Gaddas will scrape any data from a website for $5, only on fiverr.com

Did the job exactly as requested for $5

aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, now thats why you post on dnt and get involved, GOLD

thanks DavidL , well worth $5 to try him out. BUGGER..... i forgot about fiverr

note:

 

[johno69]

I've used Web Data Extraction Software | Data Extraction Software | Visual Web Ripper before. And it works well.

 

[acheeva]

Web Scraping Software

i have found a guy " somewhere in the world" ? that can "scrap" a database and provide you with what you want in an excell doc, most likely and type of file you want !
tim

I bought this type of software about 4 years ago and was amazed out how quick I built databases (email included) that could be easily filtered in Excel

The 1st and last time I used it was just before I studied the Spam Act in a little detail

I panicked on the basis of the potential fines if I had been caught using it

I use it today for phone lead generation; but even then the numbers should be filtered through the DNC register

Greg

 

[Ash]

Is it a bit of a grey area... equivalent to stealing trade secrets?

 

[findtim]

filtering DNC: good advice acheeva, thanks

i thought the spam act was covered ONCE you put an unsubscribe link at the bottom of an email ? "opt in" & " double opt in " systems do not apply once a business places its email address online i thought.

Is it a bit of a grey area... equivalent to stealing trade secrets?

stealing: i disagree, the data is listed on a website so its public knowledge, being quick at gathering it is just good news.

tim

 

[johno69]

i thought the spam act was covered ONCE you put an unsubscribe link at the bottom of an email ? "opt in" & " double opt in " systems do not apply once a business places its email address online i thought.

Nothing worse than getting an email with an unsubscribe link in it that I never subscribed to.

 

[AnthonyP]

Tim, I looked into this once in a previous role and found out the following.

"The supply or use of address harvesting software or harvested email addresses for the purpose of sending spam is prohibited."
ACMA - Address harvesting & cold calling are prohibited

As far as your comment about email addresses found online it does seem that you can infer consent.
ACMA - Gaining legitimate consent

" In certain circumstances, consent to receive a commercial electronic message may be inferred if a person has published their work-related email address or mobile telephone number and:

* it is accessible to the public or a section of the public (for example, it appears on a website, telephone directory or brochure)
* it is not accompanied by a statement that commercial messages are not wanted
* there is a strong link between what you are promoting and the person's role. You cannot infer someone's consent just because you believe your product or service will benefit them.
"

So keep away from scraping software, and make sure you get the email address manually and look for the statements about unwanted commercial messages then you might be alright.

 

[acheeva]

Summed it up nicely Anthony P

 

[DavidL]

There are plenty of legitimate uses for scraping software. Eg I used this particular guy to pull out a bunch of twitter users in a particular niche. Then I used tweetadder to follow them all hoping that X% will follow me back. It worked!

 

[findtim]

Tim, I looked into this once in a previous role and found out the following.

"The supply or use of address harvesting software or harvested email addresses for the purpose of sending spam is prohibited."
ACMA - Address harvesting & cold calling are prohibited

As far as your comment about email addresses found online it does seem that you can infer consent.
ACMA - Gaining legitimate consent

" In certain circumstances, consent to receive a commercial electronic message may be inferred if a person has published their work-related email address or mobile telephone number and:

* it is accessible to the public or a section of the public (for example, it appears on a website, telephone directory or brochure)
* it is not accompanied by a statement that commercial messages are not wanted
* there is a strong link between what you are promoting and the person's role. You cannot infer someone's consent just because you believe your product or service will benefit them.
"

So keep away from scraping software, and make sure you get the email address manually and look for the statements about unwanted commercial messages then you might be alright.

firstly, thankyou for the info AnthonyP, i said that because i wanted to separate you from my post reply,

the above spam act is weak, all i have to do is say " i went onto HOTf and i have now phoned you " there surely is no legal comeback from that?

all i have to do is say " i got your email from your website" !

all i have to say is your info is in the yellow pages book i'm reading, OR the yellowpages listing you have online.

------------

having said all that, and read the info, basically they do not want it automated and i TOTALLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY agree as i am the biggest spam hater anyone will ever come across.

------------

so to clarify, and i now see i didn't explain this better , ....... i want the data to then see the potential clients and then pick the ones i want to approach, i do not do " machine gun tactics" , i am highly focused on the best potential client.I do not want to spam, i want to TARGET.

i can get this info by opening up a YP book, why should the internet be different ?? let alone illegal, just BS policy makers and lawyers making money to create rules.

----------

When someone from the government said in 2003 " we need a spam act" that was a good decision ! but i still get spam form australian businesses EVERYDAY?

then one guy in the gov office went home that day and said " honey... you know that holiday house in byron bay you always wanted ! well we just got it"

tim