I'm wondering who else out there just got dicked over by AEBN's revamped affiliate program.

I'm a long-time affiliate of AEBN's. And by long-time I mean I've been working with them since 2001. I have earned mid-six figures in affiliate payouts over the years by sending them over a million dollars worth of business during that time. As part of their affiliate program, affiliates like me were specifically promised a significant share (30%? 50%? Would have to look it up) of the lifetime purchases of any account created via our affiliate links.

That lifetime ended January 31, 2015. Or at least they broke their promise of a significant share of those lifetime accounts. On February 1st they dropped that share to a mere 3%. Basically a token offering on what has been an immensely valuable set of accounts I sent them over the years. Some of the money they're saving is being redirected at other affiliates. Some of it is being kept by AEBN.

My business is not as large as it once was, but I still send them new business and my payouts still measure about $20,000/year. Thanks to their new system my AEBN revenue just plummeted more than 75%. I estimate I'm losing over $15,000/year thanks to their new affiliate system.

I sent a letter asking them to explain the issue, to which I received a letter from a sales executive boasting about how great their new affiliate program is.

That's all. No "sorry we just dicked you over". And no "Yeah, our program really sucks for long-time affiliates like you. But hey, thanks for all the fish!"

At this point I'm assuming there's not a damn thing I can do about it. But I'm extremely pissed. Enough that I won't write back to AEBN until my mood calms down, nor will I make any decisions in this state. But I wanted to suggest that any other long-term affiliates go check how much you made in February. And to... well, I don't even know what else I'm suggesting. I'm just plain pissed off and fucked over at this point.

--Aaron Lawrence