[bcjordan]

This is a space ripe for disruption.

I ordered a bouquet from ProFlowers 5 years ago using a throwaway email (spamgourmet). Fast forward a few months and I'm getting unsolicited spam from businesses completely unaffiliated with ProFlowers at that one-time-use address. I called customer support to ask how to be removed from the list and got put on hold and hung up on. Not an uncommon experience:

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/ProFlowers

New startup formula:

1. Find "(Expertsexchange|ProFlowers) of X"

2. Build "(StackOverflow|Uber|Yelp) of X", don't sell your entire customer base down the river

3. Profit

[chadlpowell]

Thanks for your comment. You nailed it re: spam. They play a similar game with CPC ads - cornering the real estate with resellers and effectively bidding up the CPC on themselves. Speaking of which, I love the ads for the same companies underneath the horrible consumer ratings in the link you posted!