Howdy Sumo-ling 👋

TL;DR: We hear your frustrations. We are significantly improving partner quality & increasing our response to product closures.

‍When I started AppSumo in 2010, the mission was simple: get an amazing deal on software for you, and help SaaS partners get customers. That’s still the same today!

Your trust in AppSumo is the reason we’ve been able to promote awesome tools to our community for almost 15 years, and will keep doing it for many more to come!

We've recently observed a concerning trend: some of our partners have shut down, in some cases just months after their AppSumo launch. While we understand that some startups fail, these rapid closures are unacceptable. We’re taking this situation very seriously and our team is actively rolling out improvements:

1. 🚦Increased vetting. We’re prioritizing quality & curation. That means we will probably launch less deals. Every partner that launches on AppSumo will verify their identity and undergo a more thorough financial stability check, so we know our customers are in good hands. We are also reviewing our payment terms to help our partners succeed after their campaign.
2. 🔍 More transparency. Sometimes people think we are in cahoots with partners who don’t honor LTDs, but we are just as surprised and upset as you are. If a partner fails you, they fail us too. We’ll keep you in the loop and post updates on the deal page as soon as we find out about a situation with a partner. We’ve also updated our community moderation guidelines and are approving reviews that focus on the support experience of the product.
3. ⚖️ Legal action against bad actors. We ❤️ our partners, and root for them. Our goal isn’t to go after entrepreneurs but unfortunately there are a few bad actors taking advantage of our community. We are going to do everything we can to ensure that our partners are honoring the terms they agreed to and treating our community with respect. We’re beefing up our legal to make sure that those who are acting in bad faith are held accountable.

Sometimes, sh*t happens and we’re often promoting new software which has inherent risk.

Ideally, every partner succeeds and every tool has lasting power. When that’s not the case, you are protected by our 60-day return policy and our We Got Your Back Guarantee - AppSumo guarantees access to any Select tool that you purchase for 12 months of access. If a tool shuts down in that window, we’ll give you store credit to find an alternative.

We’re taking this issue seriously, and want to do right by our community. But we need your help too.