News
 Telemarketers
Hit with Another Fee
Telemarketers might feel a sharp pinch. The Federal
Trade Commission recently proposed a 10.7 percent
increase in fees charged to telemarketers who want
to access the National Do-Not-Call Registry.
Under the proposed new fee structure, the annual fee
for each area code of data accessed would be $62,
and the maximum amount charged to entities accessing
280 area codes or more would become $17,050. So far,
the fees to access the DNC registry went from $56 to
$62.
The DNC has been in effect since October 2003 and
has empowered consumers with the ability to express
their preferences about receiving telephone
solicitations. To date, consumers have placed about
122.6 million telephone numbers on the registry.
The proposed new fee structure would still allow
telemarketers to access the first five area codes of
data for free. Telemarketers are still required to
renew their subscriptions to the DNC once a year and
must scrub their call lists once every 31 days.
The FTC is requesting comments and feedback on
whether telemarketers should still be allowed to
access a certain number of area codes for free. The
rate hike could take effect on Sept. 1.
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) says
marketers will feel the “sting” from rising DNC
fees. The DMA continues to call for federal
preemption of the DNC and other regulations
governing telephone and fax marketing. The
organization also has expressed concerns about the
large percentage of unnecessary numbers on the DNC
registry, which are making that list more difficult
and expensive to maintain. The registry governs
business-to-consumer calls to land-based telephone
numbers. But the DMA estimates that about half of
the 122 million numbers on the list are for
business, fax or cellular phones.
|
|
|
Melissa Data
|
 |
| Enhance your
website, software or database with
easy-to-integrate data quality programming tools
and web services. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Save money on postage using leading
mail preparation software and other
direct marketing products. |
|
|
|
|
 |
Update & standardize addresses and
find out more about contacts in your
database.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Find new customers perfect for your
business with our online and
specialty mailing lists.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Locate the business information you
need such as ZIP Codes, address
verification, maps.
|
|
|
|
|
