I'm not buying it...

[ultrarunner]

After comparatively very little Internet solicitations for almost 2 years my inbox has exploded with special offers, coupons, discounts, etc...

My though is where were you all when I did have things to buy?

Maybe I'm just more tight fisted now and have come to appreciate less is often more...

 

[Roadworthy]

I do not get many offers for unwanted stuff. Why? I use Thunderbird, a free Mozilla product to access my email. It has a pretty good junk filter. If I get junk I can flag it as junk and won't receive it again. If something inadvertently goes into the junk folder (it happens from time to time) I can mark it as not junk and that sender can get through to my inbox again.

 

[ultrarunner]

Mostly companies I have ordered from in the past either for work or home…
Harbor Freight, Northern Tool, My Pillow, Zoro, plus many more…

 

[TheMan419]

I noticed an uptick starting a few months ago. I use gmail and it usually did a great job filtering spam. So I spent a good bit of time flagging things as spam. The spam has now slowed down greatly.

 

[Mendonsy]

The spam seems to be very cyclic around here. My wife was getting loads of spam about six weeks ago, then it slowed down after about two weeks. The next week my neighbor stated getting lots of spam which also lasted about two weeks. When hers slowed I started getting a lot of spam. That has lasted about two weeks and is now slowing down.

This spam seems to be all the same stuff repeated several times per day and is easily detected as spam by looking a the sender's email address. Most of it is "you have won a (something)" or "your (vendor) antivirus subscription has expired".

 

[RoyJackson]

I just assign (set rules in Outlook) most to "block Sender" or move directly to the Deleted folder
Problem with the Spam is they change the sender's e-mail address very frequently. As soon as I see Norton or McAfee, I know it's spam

 

[ultrarunner]

I’m sure part is sellers making up for lost time…

Often no where to be found 12 to 18 months ago and appears collectively back in the game…

Maybe over all a good thing as sellers compete…

Couldn’t buy pesticide and paint respirators for love or money… so many now telling me plenty in stock…

 

[bdhsfz6]

Buying anything from an email solicitation is risky. Too many scammers.

 

[RjCorazza]

Buying anything from an email solicitation is risky. Too many scammers.

I totally agree. If I don't already have a relationship with the company, no way I'm dealing with unsolicited offers.

 

[ponytug]

I’m sure part is sellers making up for lost time…

Often no where to be found 12 to 18 months ago and appears collectively back in the game…

Maybe over all a good thing as sellers compete…

Couldn’t buy pesticide and paint respirators for love or money… so many now telling me plenty in stock…

I am not sure what the cause is; I am sure that you're right that when there isn't inventory, there is no point in advertising or offering coupons.

There is another possible reason. Due to tracking shifts by Google and Apple, many (most?) companies are switching to direct targeting of their existing customers and website visitors.

All the best,

Peter