Unsolicited Approvals

If Kenmore send me any more approvals I will include a formal letter as suggested by wt1. All I did this time was scribble "Please do not send any more approvals" on the return slip.

Hi Bill! What a great idea. "Maybe I should use their own
stamps to return the envelope"

Just a cautionary word that these "stamps on approval" offers are still coming in the mail as of today (January 3, 2012) ... here's one example. In all fairness to the offer, they do clearly mention approvals in the glossy promotional sheet and the return card does indicate that I'd "get the chance to examine additional covers with no obligation to buy":



But I can imagine it would be easy for the novice collector to miss that wording and find themselves in the midst of a stamps-on-approval program.

Thanks wt1. I will make doubly sure I read every single word from now on. Although I have realized rather quickly that the glossy add stamp dealers are expensive. I bought a couple of MNH year sets from Kenmore. I realize now that they were over priced and at least half of the stamps are poorly centered to say the least. From now on I will stick to my local store.

I've been buying some year sets from "invest" on ebay over the last couple months. Great pricing IMO, free shipping and no issues at all. Maybe 10 orders total so far.

I am a new stamp collector. I recently have encountered Stamps on Approval system and I don't know what to do to be sure that they do not send me any more stamps. Could you please help me to come up with any Ideas

nshervsampad....pretty sure a nice note will do the trick.

Although I agree that the first step should be to send a note or letter to the firm requesting they cancel the approval service, I went to the website shown on the previously posted ad and find a few caveats that I haven't seen before as it relates to their "approval service":

First, if you elect to accept their "special offer" of 44 mint US Stamps for $2.00 (about 5-cents per stamp), you MUST automatically subscribe to their approval service. If you don't, their website has an alternate offer that you can acquire the same 44 mint US Stamps WITHOUT APPROVALS for $11.00 (that's about 25-cents a stamp).

Their website (and even their main website page) contains no reference as to how to cancel or what requirements must be met to cancel the approval service.

Unfortunately, such offers can get messy.

As mentioned in the previous post, start with a polite note or letter (and be sure to DATE the letter). If the approvals keep coming thereafter, you will have to get a little more aggressive about it and follow it up with a Certified Letter (Return Receipt Requested) requesting that the approvals be discontinued and refer to your previous note and the date it was sent.

Remember that if you have told them NOT to send further approvals, you do not have to return them. They can come and get them if they want. You cannot sell them of course but space at the back of a drawer is a nice place to keep them.
Usually a polite letter is enough but occasionally a proviso can be included.

Thank you all for your advices. I decided to send them this massage. If you have any further comments to make any differences on the letter I would be happy to hear it.

COPY RETAINED
Kenmore Stamp Company
Dear Sirs,
Thank you for your mail. Please do not send me any further stamp on approvals. Please clear my name and address from your database. Be advised that it will not be possible for me to return any further shipments of stamps on approval after January 21th, 2015. You may uplift any shipments at a time convenient for me.

Regards,

Name
Address
1/18/2015

Full marks for spotting my deliberate mistake




To be honest, I think it might be more business like to omit the "thank you for your mail"

Remember this term: "MAIL ORDER NEGATIVE OPTION RULE." The Federal Trade Commission and the state you live in have rules governing how customers may deal with Mail Order Companies (including Stamp Companies) offer and deal with you as a customer. In many cases, unsolicited merchandise, like "stamp approvals" are subject to the 'MAIL ORDER NEGATIVE OPTION RULE'; based on the state you live in, unsolicited merchandise that has been sent to you may be kept "FREE Of CHARGE." Everything is based on your initial Agreement with a Company and if you have "OPTED OUT". The FTC RULE that protects YOU is shown below:
(by the way… I am a retired a Mail Order Consultant The FTC RULE that protects YOU is shown below:)

The rule.
(a) In connection with the sale, offering for sale, or distribution of goods and merchandise in or affecting commerce, as "commerce" is defined in the Federal Trade Commission Act, it is an unfair or deceptive act or practice, for a seller in connection with the use of any negative option plan to fail to comply with the following requirements:

(1) Promotional material shall clearly and conspicuously disclose the material terms of the plan, including:

(i) That aspect of the plan under which the subscriber must notify the seller, in the manner provided for by the seller, if he does not wish to purchase the selection;

(ii) Any obligation assumed by the subscriber to purchase a minimum quantity of merchandise;

(iii) The right of a contract-complete subscriber to cancel his membership at any time;

(iv) Whether billing charges will include an amount for postage and handling;

(v) A disclosure indicating that the subscriber will be provided with at least ten (10) days in which to mail any form, contained in or accompanying an announcement identifying the selection, to the seller;

(vi) A disclosure that the seller will credit the return of any selections sent to a subscriber, and guarantee to the Postal Service or the subscriber postage to return such selections to the seller when the announcement and form are not received by the subscriber in time to afford him at least ten (10) days in which to mail his form to the seller;

(vii) The frequency with which the announcements and forms will be sent to the subscriber and the maximum number of announcements and forms which will be sent to him during a 12-month period.

(2) Prior to sending any selection, the seller shall mail to its subscribers, within the time specified by paragraph (a)(3) of this section:

(i) An announcement identifying the selection;

(ii) A form, contained in or accompanying the announcement, clearly and conspicuously disclosing that the subscriber will receive the selection identified in the announcement unless he instructs the seller that he does not want the selection, designating a procedure by which the form may be used for the purpose of enabling the subscriber so to instruct the seller, and specifying either the return date or the mailing date.

(3) The seller shall mail the announcement and form either at least twenty (20) days prior to the return date or at least fifteen (15) days prior to the mailing date, or provide a mailing date at least ten (10) days after receipt by the subscriber, provided, however, that whichever system the seller chooses for mailing the announcement and form, such system must provide the subscriber with at least ten (10) days in which to mail his form.

(b) In connection with the sale or distribution of goods and merchandise in or affecting commerce, as "commerce" is defined in the Federal Trade Commission Act, it shall constitute an unfair or deceptive act or practice for a seller in connection with the use of any negative option plan to:

(1) Refuse to credit, for the full invoiced amount thereof, the return of any selection sent to a subscriber, and to guarantee to the Postal Service or the subscriber postage adequate to return such selection to the seller, when:

(i) The selection is sent to a subscriber whose form indicating that he does not want to receive the selection was received by the seller by the return date or was mailed by the subscriber by the mailing date;

(ii) Such form is received by the seller after the return date, but has been mailed by the subscriber and postmarked at least 3 days prior to the return date;

(iii) Prior to the date of shipment of such selection, the seller has received from a contract-complete subscriber, a written notice of cancellation of membership adequately identifying the subscriber; however, this provision is applicable only to the first selection sent to a canceling contract-complete subscriber after the seller has received written notice of cancellation. After the first selection shipment, all selection shipments thereafter are deemed to be unordered merchandise pursuant to section 3009 of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, as adopted by the Federal Trade Commission in its public notice, dated September 11, 1970;

(iv) The announcement and form are not received by the subscriber in time to afford him at least ten (10) days in which to mail his form.

(2) Fail to notify a subscriber known by the seller to be within any of the circumstances set forth in paragraphs (b)(1)(i) through (iv) of this section, that if the subscriber elects, the subscriber may return the selection with return postage guaranteed and receive a credit to his account.

(3) Refuse to ship within 4 weeks after receipt of an order merchandise due subscribers as introductory and bonus merchandise, unless the seller is unable to deliver the merchandise originally offered due to unanticipated circumstances beyond the seller's control and promptly makes a reasonably equivalent alternative offer. However, where the subscriber refuses to accept alternatively offered introductory merchandise, but instead insists upon termination of his membership due to the seller's failure to provide the subscriber with his originally requested introductory merchandise, or any portion thereof, the seller must comply with the subscriber's request for cancellation of membership, provided the subscriber returns to the seller any introductory merchandise which already may have been sent him.

(4) Fail to terminate promptly the membership of a properly identified contract-complete subscriber upon his written request.

(5) Ship, without the express consent of the subscriber, substituted merchandise for that ordered by the subscriber.

(c) For the purposes of this part:

(1) Negative option plan refers to a contractual plan or arrangement under which a seller periodically sends to subscribers an announcement which identifies merchandise (other than annual supplements to previously acquired merchandise) it proposes to send to subscribers to such plan, and the subscribers thereafter receive and are billed for the merchandise identified in each such announcement, unless by a date or within a time specified by the seller with respect to each such announcement the subscribers, in conformity with the provisions of such plan, instruct the seller not to send the identified merchandise.

(2) Subscriber means any person who has agreed to receive the benefits of, and assume the obligations entailed in, membership in any negative option plan and whose membership in such negative option plan has been approved and accepted by the seller.

(3) Contract-complete subscriber refers to a subscriber who has purchased the minimum quantity of merchandise required by the terms of membership in a negative option plan.

(4) Promotional material refers to an advertisement containing or accompanying any device or material which a prospective subscriber sends to the seller to request acceptance or enrollment in a negative option plan.

(5) Selection refers to the merchandise identified by a seller under any negative option plan as the merchandise which the subscriber will receive and be billed for, unless by the date, or within the period specified by the seller, the subscriber instructs the seller not to send such merchandise.

(6) Announcement refers to any material sent by a seller using a negative option plan in which the selection is identified and offered to subscribers.

(7) Form refers to any form which the subscriber returns to the seller to instruct the seller not to send the selection.

(8) Return date refers to a date specified by a seller using a negative option plan as the date by which a form must be received by the seller to prevent shipment of the selection.

(9) Mailing date refers to the time specified by a seller using a negative option plan as the time by or within which a form must be mailed by a subscriber to prevent shipment of the selection.

(38 Stat. 717, as amended; 15 U.S.C. 41-58)

[38 FR 4896; Feb. 22, 1973; 38 FR 6991, Mar. 15, 1973, as amended at 63 FR 44562, Aug. 20, 1998]

Thank you very much for your detailed massage. I believe the company has violated some of these terms [I live in Colorado, BTW]:
1) (iii), There is nothing about cancelation. (iv) No information about billing charges;
2) (i), (ii) I did not receive any mails or notices other than the one and only email containing the stamps + approvals.
It is noteworthy that They do not have any account information of mine. It honestly is hard for me to pay couple of bucks for the postage. I'm just wondering what will they do if I keep these!
I also would like to note that in that part of the ad that I sent to the company and is assumed as the "form", there is nothing indicated other that 44 mint stamps for 2 dollars!

This article is dated nearly three years ago now, but it involves the very same offer from the very same company, so it's worth reading:

http://host.madison.com/news/local/...b2963f4.html

Reading this thread brought to mind a couple typical episodes I had in my approval days. I was about ten and getting approvals from H E Harris, like a lot of other kids. One day I got a ailing from them with the glassines, etc but NO stamps in any of them! I sent back a note explaining what happened- a month later the threats started coming. My mom wrote them a note explaining there were no stamps included, next month my parents got a threatening letter from an attorney- all this over what was probably about a $5 deal. My dad got involved and wrote the guy again explaining what had happened and threatening to sue then back if they pursed things, never heard again. What do you think happened to my stamp hobby? I was never able to order any stamps again until I had my own bank account. I was nearly lost to the hobby. I can think of some rational explanations for what happened but the whole thing really put me off Harris and to this day I still refuse to even own one of their catalogs.

I also have received unsolicited approvals with a return envelope not stamped and too small for what I got. It always has been a plague on the hobby.