- Joined
- Apr 17, 2018
- Messages
- 22,601
I just got word that Above All Offers in shutting down. While some of you may have never heard of them, they've been in the industry a long time and I consider Eli a friend.
Sad to see. Hope their employees land on their feet.
Full quote from the page above in case it's taken down:
Alas, all good things must come to an end. The last eight and a half years that Above All Offers has had the honor of serving the affiliate marketing community have definitely been the best years of our lives. After discussing the model and our future as a company, as a team we decided it's time to close our affiliate network. We in the AAO family wanted to let you know how much we appreciate each and every one of you, and all you've done for us. Just because we are closing our doors does not mean AAO, thanks to you, wasn't a huge success. Not only were we all very successful in our mission to create the greatest affiliate network in the industry but there will be more successes coming in yours and ours future as well. From all of us in the AAO family, thank you everyone so much. We are very happy to not only call you clients but lifelong friends and family. Stay in contact and we look forward to doing more business with you in the future under new, more evolved, business endeavours.
I'm sure you have plenty of questions so I'd like to answer as many as I can. I also plan on keeping my skype forever, so feel free to hit me up on there if you have any other questions at anytime (skype: Eli_AboveAllOffers).
Should I stop traffic now?
Yes, please, if you haven't already! Any conversions after 5pm PST Wednesday June 26th will not be paid on. I am told we need to put a firm deadline on it as we can't keep sending individual under threshold wires forever.
Why are you abandoning the affiliate network model?
It's simple, while most of our advertisers are amazing people and companies to work with, and have been our partners for years without ever an issue; there are unfortunately always a small percentage of advertisers who ditch out on their affiliate bills leaving the affiliate networks high and dry. This is very common in our industry, unfortunately, and always has been.The rate of collections dropped has eclipsed our margins for about a year and a half now. It hasn't gotten better and doesn't appear to be improving. We believe firmly in affiliate networks paying their affiliates no matter what happens with the advertisers; but there's only so long you can keep that up before taking a good hard look at whether or not it's going to improve, or keep at the rate it is. AAO also firmly believes in not resorting to unethical steps to bridge the margin/loss gap such as grabbing back margins or shaving. So this was a necessary step for us as it doesn't align with our original ethical vision of the company.
Are you going to stiff all your affiliates before you go like other networks have in the past?
NOPE NEVER! As you may have noticed, two weeks ago we took proactive steps to start winding down campaigns one by one. Frankly, we wound down offers and campaigns mostly in order of advertiser pay terms. This was necessary as often times advertisers will stop paying all together if they hear an affiliate network is closing exacerbating the problems. As with all 8+ years of AAO we kept up on affiliate payments, and with the exception of less than 10 accounts with minimal balances (who I've reached out to personally to help resolve whatever issue is holding them up) everyone has already been paid. We also put a pause on approving new campaigns as to keep the final close out payments to a minimum.
I have old earnings that's under threshold, on a payment hold, or current period earnings. When will I get paid?
As good of a job as we've attempted to do at getting payment info and forms in on time, I expect a few of these to come in. If myself or accounting hasn't spoken to you yet, please send all questions and requests of this nature to [email protected] (I receive these emails as well), so we can keep them organized and work through them in order. We expect all last period payments to go out this week individually in order. Then we will try to get a finishing final batch out June 29th. Any new payment info/paperwork after June 27th will not be accepted.
What is the AAO staff's career plans after this?
I have great news here! We all plan on staying in the industry and of course staying friends. We've been a very tight close company for many years now. Most of the staff have been with AAO for 5+ years and some even since we opened. While we love our jobs, clients and the people we work with, it's natural to want to try new things and push ourselves to new skill sets. After we decided to close, I had a one on one meeting with each employee and asked them about their plans and what they would like to do. We've been reaching out and working together to find good selective homes in the industry for them. Everyone at AAO is so talented, loyal and well known for having unmatched passion for their jobs and clients. It's been super easy to find many amazing job offers for coworkers who have never needed any management to come in every day and hustle their hearts out. But if you'd like to speak to any individually about working with you, feel free to reach out to them individually or to me. I'd be happy to send you a personal letter of recommendation for them and put you in contact.
As for me, I haven't taken any time to think about it. I know I want to keep working but running a business for as long as I have and the many sleepless nights making sure everyone else is okay, hasn't given me an opportunity to take any introspective time to figure out what's next. So I may take that time for myself and see if I manage to go a week without getting too bored. As they say, the world is my oyster.
When is the official last day for AAO?
For all things online June 29th. However we will have some vacuuming to do and I'm sure it'll take us at least two days to safely pack up all of our sentimental treasured Christmas/Birthday cards and client gifts we've received over the years to take home. Yes we keep them all! So June 30th will be our official close-by date.
THANK YOU EVERYONE AND WE WILL SEE YOU AGAIN SOON WITH BIG HUGS AT THE INDUSTRY CONFERENCES
LOVE,
-ELI ALOISI (8+ happy years serving you)
-Jacki Clason (8+ happy years serving you)
-Tom Gautney (8+ happy years serving you)
-CJ Montgomery (6+ happy years serving you)
-Jeremy Wilson (6+ happy years serving you)
-Tracie Jones (6+ happy years serving you)
-Katrina Urmson (4+ happy years serving you)
-Dane Vanden Heuvel (3+ happy years serving you)
-Richard Jones (1+ happy years serving you)
Sad to see. Hope their employees land on their feet.
Full quote from the page above in case it's taken down:
Alas, all good things must come to an end. The last eight and a half years that Above All Offers has had the honor of serving the affiliate marketing community have definitely been the best years of our lives. After discussing the model and our future as a company, as a team we decided it's time to close our affiliate network. We in the AAO family wanted to let you know how much we appreciate each and every one of you, and all you've done for us. Just because we are closing our doors does not mean AAO, thanks to you, wasn't a huge success. Not only were we all very successful in our mission to create the greatest affiliate network in the industry but there will be more successes coming in yours and ours future as well. From all of us in the AAO family, thank you everyone so much. We are very happy to not only call you clients but lifelong friends and family. Stay in contact and we look forward to doing more business with you in the future under new, more evolved, business endeavours.
I'm sure you have plenty of questions so I'd like to answer as many as I can. I also plan on keeping my skype forever, so feel free to hit me up on there if you have any other questions at anytime (skype: Eli_AboveAllOffers).
Should I stop traffic now?
Yes, please, if you haven't already! Any conversions after 5pm PST Wednesday June 26th will not be paid on. I am told we need to put a firm deadline on it as we can't keep sending individual under threshold wires forever.
Why are you abandoning the affiliate network model?
It's simple, while most of our advertisers are amazing people and companies to work with, and have been our partners for years without ever an issue; there are unfortunately always a small percentage of advertisers who ditch out on their affiliate bills leaving the affiliate networks high and dry. This is very common in our industry, unfortunately, and always has been.The rate of collections dropped has eclipsed our margins for about a year and a half now. It hasn't gotten better and doesn't appear to be improving. We believe firmly in affiliate networks paying their affiliates no matter what happens with the advertisers; but there's only so long you can keep that up before taking a good hard look at whether or not it's going to improve, or keep at the rate it is. AAO also firmly believes in not resorting to unethical steps to bridge the margin/loss gap such as grabbing back margins or shaving. So this was a necessary step for us as it doesn't align with our original ethical vision of the company.
Are you going to stiff all your affiliates before you go like other networks have in the past?
NOPE NEVER! As you may have noticed, two weeks ago we took proactive steps to start winding down campaigns one by one. Frankly, we wound down offers and campaigns mostly in order of advertiser pay terms. This was necessary as often times advertisers will stop paying all together if they hear an affiliate network is closing exacerbating the problems. As with all 8+ years of AAO we kept up on affiliate payments, and with the exception of less than 10 accounts with minimal balances (who I've reached out to personally to help resolve whatever issue is holding them up) everyone has already been paid. We also put a pause on approving new campaigns as to keep the final close out payments to a minimum.
I have old earnings that's under threshold, on a payment hold, or current period earnings. When will I get paid?
As good of a job as we've attempted to do at getting payment info and forms in on time, I expect a few of these to come in. If myself or accounting hasn't spoken to you yet, please send all questions and requests of this nature to [email protected] (I receive these emails as well), so we can keep them organized and work through them in order. We expect all last period payments to go out this week individually in order. Then we will try to get a finishing final batch out June 29th. Any new payment info/paperwork after June 27th will not be accepted.
What is the AAO staff's career plans after this?
I have great news here! We all plan on staying in the industry and of course staying friends. We've been a very tight close company for many years now. Most of the staff have been with AAO for 5+ years and some even since we opened. While we love our jobs, clients and the people we work with, it's natural to want to try new things and push ourselves to new skill sets. After we decided to close, I had a one on one meeting with each employee and asked them about their plans and what they would like to do. We've been reaching out and working together to find good selective homes in the industry for them. Everyone at AAO is so talented, loyal and well known for having unmatched passion for their jobs and clients. It's been super easy to find many amazing job offers for coworkers who have never needed any management to come in every day and hustle their hearts out. But if you'd like to speak to any individually about working with you, feel free to reach out to them individually or to me. I'd be happy to send you a personal letter of recommendation for them and put you in contact.
As for me, I haven't taken any time to think about it. I know I want to keep working but running a business for as long as I have and the many sleepless nights making sure everyone else is okay, hasn't given me an opportunity to take any introspective time to figure out what's next. So I may take that time for myself and see if I manage to go a week without getting too bored. As they say, the world is my oyster.
When is the official last day for AAO?
For all things online June 29th. However we will have some vacuuming to do and I'm sure it'll take us at least two days to safely pack up all of our sentimental treasured Christmas/Birthday cards and client gifts we've received over the years to take home. Yes we keep them all! So June 30th will be our official close-by date.
THANK YOU EVERYONE AND WE WILL SEE YOU AGAIN SOON WITH BIG HUGS AT THE INDUSTRY CONFERENCES
LOVE,
-ELI ALOISI (8+ happy years serving you)
-Jacki Clason (8+ happy years serving you)
-Tom Gautney (8+ happy years serving you)
-CJ Montgomery (6+ happy years serving you)
-Jeremy Wilson (6+ happy years serving you)
-Tracie Jones (6+ happy years serving you)
-Katrina Urmson (4+ happy years serving you)
-Dane Vanden Heuvel (3+ happy years serving you)
-Richard Jones (1+ happy years serving you)
