Affiliate Edge GPWA Sponsorship Temporarily Suspended

[MichaelCorfman]

Over the last couple of days I have exchanged ten email messages with Stuart Ferster, one of the three brothers that together own Interactive Technology Corporation Limited, the company that operates Affiliate Edge and the online gaming sites it represents. Stuart and his brother, Warren, are currently managing the business. Jonathan, their younger brother, who used to run the business, is no longer involved in its day-to-day operation, but continues to have a 1/3rd ownership interest in the business (the three brothers are equal shareholders).

My discussion with Stuart covered a variety of topics, including the very serious issues that have been raised in these forums and elsewhere. Stuart has indicated to me that he and his brother Warren take the business and their relationships with affiliates seriously, and that they will operate the business in an ethical fashion. Good words, but words that need to be demonstrated through actions.

I discussed with Stuart that there are a variety of areas to be addressed, and that until the affiliate community holds the view that they are being properly addressed, and until there is a liaison appointed to work with the GPWA to ensure both the current and any future ssues are addressed in a timely fashion, being a GPWA sponsor program is inappropriate. Stuart agreed, and the decision that Affiliate Edge should not be a GPWA sponsor at the present time was one that was mutually made. Stuart indicated both that a liaison would be appointed soon, and that he would work to ensure the issues that have been raised are properly addressed.

Accordingly, I make this announcement of the temporary suspension of Affiliate Edge as a GPWA sponsor while they demonstrate through their actions whether the suspension will indeed be temporary, or whether it will be made permanent based on a failure to properly address the issues that have been raised.

Because they have indicated they will be working on addressing current issues, and to facilitate communication with affiliates, we will keep their forum operational at this time. Other sponsor benefits, such as being listed as a sponsor program, displaying the GPWA sponsor program seal on their site, and having banners for their program displayed on the GPWA website will be suspended.

Specific issues should continue to be raised and discussed in the forums, and hopefully soon there will be an Affiliate Edge representative that will respond to them in the forums.

Michael

[Cash Bonus]

Thank you very kindly Michael Corfman!

I'm sure that things will pick up very soon my friend...

Do they have any email addresses that they can be reached on please?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MichaelCorfman]

Do they have any email addresses that they can be reached on please?

I have been contacting them using the management@affiliateedge.com email address used to send the recent email many affiliates received. At least in my case I have received responses to email messages sent to that email address in a timely fashion, although it is always possible the emails that have my from address will be routed differently than those received from others, since they are currently directly handled by Stuart Ferster.

On the Affiliate Edge website, you will also find the email address managers@affiliateedge.com given as the contact email address for affiliate-related matters on the terms page, and there is also a form on the Affiliate Edge website provided on the contact page that can be used to contact them.

I would anticipate, that for the time being with the current backlog of complaints, it will be hard for them to keep current on new complaints the way we would all like.

Michael

[Cash Bonus]

Hi Michael,

I sent them an email to management@affiliateedge.com as well as sending an email to managers@affiliateedge.com and I'm still waiting for a response.

I hope they respond very soon to my email.

I appreciate all of your help.

Thanks again mate.

[dfiocch]

No mention about the "strange individuals" (external consultants? Affpower?) rumored (I hate this word) in recent days?

[MichaelCorfman]

No mention about the "strange individuals" (external consultants? Affpower?) rumored (I hate this word) in recent days?

Yes, AffPower was most definitely a topic area we discussed. I actually didn't have to ask directly before details were offered. I was told, for example, that they share a payment processor (not that surprising since there are a limited number of payment processors that work with US-facing brands), and there are other matters as well. We also discussed the consultants that did work for them. Everything I know on that front, and on others, will be disclosed in the relatively near future as I have time. For today I wanted to focus on the announcement I made in this thread.

My goal is pretty simple at the present time. Since the new Affiliate Edge is not currently a GPWA sponsor, I don't need to focus on whether they should or should not be one. Instead I can focus primarily on dong what I can for affiliates, and see how matters evolve. Perhaps they will evolve in a more positive fashion. Perhaps they won't. The only thing I know for sure is that time will tell and that I will provide feedback and encouragement to Stuart and his brother to take actions necessary to put their organization in a better place.

I will state here that I will be posting in a separate thread on the topic of the hacker, and that I will be forwarding information to Stuart Ferster on that front. The way that information is handled will be one of many factors that informs my view of the new Affiliate Edge.

Michael

[Pokerface]

Thanks for you valuable update. Very informative. Looking forward to reading more updates over the following weeks as things progress with Affiliate Edge. Very unfortunate it has come to this point.

[celena]

Thank you Michael. But if Affpower is behind this, I would be surprised to see webmasters putting up banners and links.

[Roulette Zeitung]

"temporarily" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I will be posting in a separate thread on the topic of the hacker"

Yes, the audience should not miss this recent criminal activity from Affiliate Edge 2.0:

===> https://www.gpwa.org/forum/heavily-involved-hackers-223649/p5.html#post840916

Leopold

[IGT Partners]

Interesting to follow the evolving of this story...

[Webzcas]

Over the last couple of days I have exchanged ten email messages with Stuart Ferster, one of the three brothers that together own Interactive Technology Corporation Limited, the company that operates Affiliate Edge and the online gaming sites it represents. Stuart and his brother, Warren, are currently managing the business. Jonathan, their younger brother, who used to run the business, is no longer involved in its day-to-day operation, but continues to have a 1/3rd ownership interest in the business (the three brothers are equal shareholders).

My discussion with Stuart covered a variety of topics, including the very serious issues that have been raised in these forums and elsewhere. Stuart has indicated to me that he and his brother Warren take the business and their relationships with affiliates seriously, and that they will operate the business in an ethical fashion. Good words, but words that need to be demonstrated through actions.

I discussed with Stuart that there are a variety of areas to be addressed, and that until the affiliate community holds the view that they are being properly addressed, and until there is a liaison appointed to work with the GPWA to ensure both the current and any future ssues are addressed in a timely fashion, being a GPWA sponsor program is inappropriate. Stuart agreed, and the decision that Affiliate Edge should not be a GPWA sponsor at the present time was one that was mutually made. Stuart indicated both that a liaison would be appointed soon, and that he would work to ensure the issues that have been raised are properly addressed.

Accordingly, I make this announcement of the temporary suspension of Affiliate Edge as a GPWA sponsor while they demonstrate through their actions whether the suspension will indeed be temporary, or whether it will be made permanent based on a failure to properly address the issues that have been raised.

Because they have indicated they will be working on addressing current issues, and to facilitate communication with affiliates, we will keep their forum operational at this time. Other sponsor benefits, such as being listed as a sponsor program, displaying the GPWA sponsor program seal on their site, and having banners for their program displayed on the GPWA website will be suspended.

Specific issues should continue to be raised and discussed in the forums, and hopefully soon there will be an Affiliate Edge representative that will respond to them in the forums.

Michael

Suspension is all well and good Michael, but let me flesh this out a bit. I also have been in contact with 'Management' at Affiliate Edge, who stated to me the following:

You are conversing with the owners, The Aff Power group do not control of own any part of this company. They were not personally involved, staff members of their parent company happened to help us recover money so we could pay players and affiliates, however they run their companies is not our concern.

This is very telling. As Stuart and Warren Ferster obviously don't give a hoot what Affpower get up to. Yet utilise their services. When Affiliate Edge had staff such as Karolina who could have assisted in resolving processor issues, the new operators of Affiliate Edge instead turn to AffPower, who have been caught with their pants down ripping off games from companies such as NetEnt.

Furthermore, countless of affiliates, not just here on the GPWA, but also on AGD and Meister have stated they have seen a massive drop in earnings - But this is explained away by Management of Affiliate Edge as a 'Tech Issue'. You, like me Michael come from an IT background, as do many members of the GPWA. I find this explanation laughable. As I am sure you and everyone else does.

But then again, perhaps they ( Affiliate Edge ) are going to right the wrong when it comes to the payment run this month.

Another point. Bryan doesn't rogue just any group on a mere whim. Perhaps you may want to discuss with him direct as to why Affiliate Edge have ended up in the pit at CM. As they also have at AGD.

All of us who promoted Affiliate Edge are likely to lose a lot of money as a result of the actions of the new owners, not just GPWA and Casino City.

The trust is gone and therefore you should kick them to the kerb and forget about them. Suspension is not good enough. If you want to discuss this in private I am also happy to fill you in with what I know.

[MichaelCorfman]

Suspension is all well and good Michael, but let me flesh this out a bit....

The trust is gone and therefore you should kick them to the kerb and forget about them. Suspension is not good enough. If you want to discuss this in private I am also happy to fill you in with what I know.

Dave, I will follow-up with you to find out what you know. However, I would like to be clear about the position the GPWA has taken.

The GPWA itself has never marked a program as being rogue. Our response to rogue programs has always been to suspend their sponsorship and to announce that we have done so, and for the posts where webmasters expose the issues to remain visible for all to see. We have done that with Affiliate Edge.

What we have also done historically, in terms of marking programs rogue, and continue to do, is mark affiliate program listings with their status on Affiliate Guard Dog when they are marked as rogue there. That is part of a long-standing cooperation we have had with Andy at Affiliate Guard Dog. Affiliate Edge is not listed as a sponsor on the GPWA website anymore, so there is no longer any listing on the GPWA site where you can see Affiliate Edge marked as rogue. However, we do run another heavily trafficked site, iGamingAffiliatePrograms.com. If you take a look at Affiliate Edge's listing on that site, you will see that we have very clearly shown it is marked rogue by Affiliate Guard Dog.

iGamingAffiliatePrograms.com listing for Affiliate Edge

Now I understand the fact that the suspension is currently termed a temporary suspension might be confusing. The reason the sponsorship suspension of Affiliate Edged is termed temporary at the present time is that Affiliate Edge agreed that we should suspend their sponsorship and promised the existing issues would all be fixed and in exchange we agreed that we would provide feedback regarding the issues reported by affiliates and conduct a more thorough investigation of the situation, and also allow enough time to pass before deciding if the suspension would be permanent to see how they behaved with respect to some of the various issues that have been noted by others, and which we are discussing with them.

I agree that it would require a modern-day miracle for affiliate community views to evolve to a place where there was mutual agreement they should be a sponsor here. What I am interested in seeing is whether or not their behavior going forward will paint them as ethical at heart but having been involved in some very bad mistakes in the management transition, or paint them as unethical scoundrels.

I know a very large group of affiliates would argue that the likelihood that the current situation is cause only by some bad mistakes that will be corrected, and not due to unethical behavior, is laughably small. If that is the case we will all see that soon enough. In the meantime I am intent on seeing if Jonathan's older brothers do fix things as I have been promised they will.

Michael

[Roulette Zeitung]

"I know a very large group of affiliates would argue that the likelihood that the current situation is cause only by some bad mistakes that will be corrected, and not due to unethical behavior, is laughably small."

No, no, no!
I am highly confident, Martyn's public testimony, that he is "not agreeing with the new management style/techniques", that there is a "huge rise in complaints" and that also his "own personal/business ethics" were reasons to resign from office was apparently only given in the hope of stopping the waterboarding.

The truth is, the likelihood is astonishing high, as high as this amusing example of historic precise prediction, a prediction that describes the current likelihood very well:



Leopold

[Cash Bonus]

Dave, I will follow-up with you to find out what you know. However, I would like to be clear about the position the GPWA has taken.

The GPWA itself has never marked a program as being rogue. Our response to rogue programs has always been to suspend their sponsorship and to announce that we have done so, and for the posts where webmasters expose the issues to remain visible for all to see. We have done that with Affiliate Edge.

What we have also done historically, in terms of marking programs rogue, and continue to do, is mark affiliate program listings with their status on Affiliate Guard Dog when they are marked as rogue there. That is part of a long-standing cooperation we have had with Andy at Affiliate Guard Dog. Affiliate Edge is not listed as a sponsor on the GPWA website anymore, so there is no longer any listing on the GPWA site where you can see Affiliate Edge marked as rogue. However, we do run another heavily trafficked site, iGamingAffiliatePrograms.com. If you take a look at Affiliate Edge's listing on that site, you will see that we have very clearly shown it is marked rogue by Affiliate Guard Dog.

iGamingAffiliatePrograms.com listing for Affiliate Edge

Now I understand the fact that the suspension is currently termed a temporary suspension might be confusing. The reason the sponsorship suspension of Affiliate Edged is termed temporary at the present time is that Affiliate Edge agreed that we should suspend their sponsorship and promised the existing issues would all be fixed and in exchange we agreed that we would provide feedback regarding the issues reported by affiliates and conduct a more thorough investigation of the situation, and also allow enough time to pass before deciding if the suspension would be permanent to see how they behaved with respect to some of the various issues that have been noted by others, and which we are discussing with them.

I agree that it would require a modern-day miracle for affiliate community views to evolve to a place where there was mutual agreement they should be a sponsor here. What I am interested in seeing is whether or not their behavior going forward will paint them as ethical at heart but having been involved in some very bad mistakes in the management transition, or paint them as unethical scoundrels.

I know a very large group of affiliates would argue that the likelihood that the current situation is cause only by some bad mistakes that will be corrected, and not due to unethical behavior, is laughably small. If that is the case we will all see that soon enough. In the meantime I am intent on seeing if Jonathan's older brothers do fix things as I have been promised they will.

Michael

I'm very certain that they will fix things and are still fixing things. I can now see that my players are starting to pick up from this week! I am very happy to see this and it definitely is promising to see.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Roulette Zeitung]

"I can now see that my players are starting to pick up from this week!"

One more evidence for prior mass reported manipulations!
Now "they" obviously applied the emergency brake and let the statistics run well again until the furor died down.

Leopold

[Cash Bonus]

I'm completely sure they will sort themselves out without any doubts.

[GCG]

I think the GPWA and some members here live in fairy tale land

so here you go :

AE commission page : Affiliates who send 5 FTD's or less over a 2 calendar month period collectively will be marked as 'non active' and will be reduced to 10% default commission.

and now go back to sleep ok ?!

Jeeeeeeeezzzzz people falling for the trash and scum, the big fat liars on the internet, looks like they take zips from the wrong beverage.

So first they steal your players then implement the wrong commission % and then introduce a bi-monthly 5 FTD quota ; why not completely remove the affiliate program as there will be nothing left anyway LOL

[FictionNet]

AE commission page : Affiliates who send 5 FTD's or less over a 2 calendar month period collectively will be marked as 'non active' and will be reduced to 10% default commission.

Is this new?

I'm still waiting for Jan/Feb's payment but I know Martyn was working on it recently. I haven't seen the APCW vid yet. Still following with interest.

[celena]

"I can now see that my players are starting to pick up from this week!"

One more evidence for prior mass reported manipulations!
Now "they" obviously applied the emergency brake and let the statistics run well again until the furor died down.

Leopold

I agree with you. If Marty is gone, there is a big problem.

[Webzcas]

I think the GPWA and some members here live in fairy tale land

so here you go :

AE commission page : Affiliates who send 5 FTD's or less over a 2 calendar month period collectively will be marked as 'non active' and will be reduced to 10% default commission.

and now go back to sleep ok ?!

Jeeeeeeeezzzzz people falling for the trash and scum, the big fat liars on the internet, looks like they take zips from the wrong beverage.

So first they steal your players then implement the wrong commission % and then introduce a bi-monthly 5 FTD quota ; why not completely remove the affiliate program as there will be nothing left anyway LOL

When the hell did they bring this in?