Ouch that’s not a nice way to start the weekend is it?

Here’s the story:

I started promoting a clickbank product in february solely via ppc marketing. I made more sales than anticipated and the sales kept rising. I contacted the merchant to get more tips on how to promote the site (banners, emails, basically a little more help..)
I never got an answer. A month later a sent another email stating that i started building a list and was close to 130 people on my list.
This time i got an answer after about a week’s time.
The merchant apologized about the wait and let me know she was updating the site to help out her affiliates.

I replied telling her i got a little annoyed about the fact that i didn’t get an answer the first time. Then i told her exactly how i was promoting her product. I created a squeeze page and populated the autoresponder with her own emails. I just replaced her links with my affiliate id. Then i asked her if she would agree to an interview.
My mistake here is using her emails, they are copy written and i had no rights to use them.  But i did thinking it wouldn’t really be a big deal as long as i’m redirecting the traffic to her site.

Moments later i get a call from aweber because she had filed a complaint on me. I was stealing her business model and that i had no rights to do so. I got shocked and explained that i was basically redirecting traffic to her site and made a commission from that effort. I also stated that i was disappointed that the merchant didn’t  contact me first and went straight to aweber.

I got an email from the merchant stating that i violated her copyright rules and that she wanted me to stop using her name and stop promoting her book.

The Aftermath:
I’ve erased all emails, I sent a letter of apology to the merchant.
I lost one source of income and i’m left with a site, some subscribers and nothing to promote to them.

Don’t be like me. Do not copy the emails of the merchant even when they don’t reply to your emails. Always ask for permission first.
Make sure you communicate well with the merchant before you buy your own website. Also being sincere about your marketing methods is not always a good thing.