Recent Marshal poll results show that 29% of Internet users buy products of whose existence they find out via spam. The percentage is incredibly large if we don't take into account the fact that the Marshall survey included only 622 respondents, a sample that can hardly be held as sufficient. Moreover, the question that stood at the base of the poll was "What purchases have you made from spam?", which implies that those who answer it are very likely to have actually bought something using the method.

29% of the respondents confirmed that they had bought at least one product advertised through spam. Usually, people who buy once will buy the second time as well, as proven by the Marshal poll, which concluded that "spam shoppers" become fond of this type of making purchases. The most common products that Internet users acquire through websites advertised by illegal means are items to spice up one's love life and counterfeit luxury goods, like clothing, watches and jewelry.

"Spam has become a mainstream means of advertising for restricted or counterfeit goods due to strong demand from Internet users. Many of us don't consider spam to be a legitimate marketing practice, but the products that people are buying aren't legitimate. There is a huge market for cheap goods that are otherwise expensive or hard difficult to come by via legitimate means," explains Marshal Vice-President of Products, Bradley Anstis, almost as if condoning the illicit advertising method.

The results of the Marshal study may not be valid, given the small number of users who disclosed their online shopping behavior, but the security company offers another example to prove that spam purchases are not that uncommon as believed. Citing a Forester Research survey from 2004, which reckoned 6,000 answers, 20% of Internet users admitted to have bought something from spam. "The poll highlights an inconvenient truth," adds Anstis. "Many of us often question ourselves, why is there so much spam? The answer is, enough people are purchasing products from spam to make it a worthwhile and profitable endeavor for spammers."