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To clarify... AppSumo sold people a WordPress plugin for $49 for one site or $149 for unlimited WordPress sites on Black Friday which offers unlimited giveaways

To clarify... AppSumo sold people a WordPress plugin for $49 for one site or $149 for unlimited WordPress sites on Black Friday which offers unlimited giveaways and mailing list integration. AppSumo still offers the standalone WordPress plugin but has also launched a SaaS app that integrates with WordPress as well as other systems. This SaaS app is offered for $0/mo for unlimited giveaways and mailing list integration. They also offer a pro version for $8/mo which adds in the ability to custom brand your offers. This ability to custom brand was not a part of the product you purchased on Black Friday. The publisher is giving one year of access ($96) to this new pro offering to people who had purchased the WordPress plugin. I'm unclear what the issue is. If you'd like to use the current plugin on WordPress because you like the integration, you can do so. If you'd like to use the new SaaS product on WordPress or any other site, you can do so for free. If you'd like to custom brand, a new offering from this publisher, you get a year of it for free and you can pay to do so after that. Were you expecting the publisher to give you their new offering with a new feature you weren't promised and didn't pay for for free forever?

johny115 9y ago
yes, same as with every other deal on AppSumo ... I wasn't promised Zapier integration from Mailshake, but have it ... I wasn't promised image templates from Missinglettr, but have them .... etc. this is how AppSumo deals just are ... because they promise lifetime licence When you go to McDonalds anywhere in the world, you expect a similar cheeseburger because of the brand/platform ... when you get used to the same cheeseburgers and then suddenly you get something awful ... you would be surprised too .. and outraged at McDonalds Did you even look at the facebook thread in the link? There are now dozens of other disappointed people, you can't have that unless you set a wrong expectation. There are countless other AppSumo lifetime deals that don't have any problems like this, because they do upgrade us on features as expected. If you can't deliver on it, then don't sell it right?
- pluma 9y ago
  No offense, but you are a great example for the rule that giving people privileges for free is a bad idea because they will take them for granted and be upset when you no longer give them those privileges for free. If you go to a take-away and always get extra napkins for free, you feel entitled to those extra napkins for free, so when they no longer do that you feel like you've been wronged although the extra napkins were never part of what you paid for. AppSumo didn't take anything from you. They just didn't go above and beyond their duty this time for whatever reason and now you feel like you've been cheated because you justified the expense for yourself based on the expectation that they'd do it again.
  - johny115 9y ago
    "AppSumo didn't take anything from you. They just didn't go above and beyond their duty this time for whatever reason and now you feel like you've been cheated because you justified the expense for yourself based on the expectation that they'd do it again." well yes, although not super precise ... the "above and beyond" tends to be specified as free updates for life ... it's just that it's not exactly specified as what that means, since nobody is a fortune teller and the product owners don't even know themselves what feature they will add three years later ... but I guarantee you, that the moment when all appsumo deals stop promising future updates ... half of the people will stop buying ... this is not a stolen napkin, not something extra ... this is an important feature of the appsumo deals ... we buy those deals ... and many (if not most) of us don't even use the products much, knowing we can use them 3 years later when we need them and they will be up to date ... in the fb thread, none of us have even used KingSumo yet .. it would be pointless to stack up on apps that won't work as best as they can later
    - pluma 9y ago
      > in the fb thread, none of us have even used KingSumo yet So you're complaining about something you bought that you don't even have any intention of using right now? > knowing we can use them 3 years later when we need them and they will be up to date Nothing on that site says it won't be maintained for 3 years, just that it likely won't get any new features (unless they port them over from the new SaaS). > it would be pointless to stack up on apps So you've been bargain hunting, hoping to snipe great plugins for cheap early on so you won't have to pay the full price when you need them later (or when they get features that make them actually useful to you). Sounds like we've at least found the reason why AppSumo doesn't consider the "pay once" model sustainable anymore and is moving to a SaaS model instead. It costs money to develop these plugins. You paid a fraction of the regular price. You got more than your money's worth already. You just didn't luck out and pay for something that'll turn out to be incredibly useful to you later on.

johny115 9y ago

yes, same as with every other deal on AppSumo ... I wasn't promised Zapier integration from Mailshake, but have it ... I wasn't promised image templates from Missinglettr, but have them .... etc. this is how AppSumo deals just are ... because they promise lifetime licence When you go to McDonalds anywhere in the world, you expect a similar cheeseburger because of the brand/platform ... when you get used to the same cheeseburgers and then suddenly you get something awful ... you would be surprised too .. and outraged at McDonalds Did you even look at the facebook thread in the link? There are now dozens of other disappointed people, you can't have that unless you set a wrong expectation. There are countless other AppSumo lifetime deals that don't have any problems like this, because they do upgrade us on features as expected. If you can't deliver on it, then don't sell it right?

pluma 9y ago
No offense, but you are a great example for the rule that giving people privileges for free is a bad idea because they will take them for granted and be upset when you no longer give them those privileges for free. If you go to a take-away and always get extra napkins for free, you feel entitled to those extra napkins for free, so when they no longer do that you feel like you've been wronged although the extra napkins were never part of what you paid for. AppSumo didn't take anything from you. They just didn't go above and beyond their duty this time for whatever reason and now you feel like you've been cheated because you justified the expense for yourself based on the expectation that they'd do it again.
- johny115 9y ago
  "AppSumo didn't take anything from you. They just didn't go above and beyond their duty this time for whatever reason and now you feel like you've been cheated because you justified the expense for yourself based on the expectation that they'd do it again." well yes, although not super precise ... the "above and beyond" tends to be specified as free updates for life ... it's just that it's not exactly specified as what that means, since nobody is a fortune teller and the product owners don't even know themselves what feature they will add three years later ... but I guarantee you, that the moment when all appsumo deals stop promising future updates ... half of the people will stop buying ... this is not a stolen napkin, not something extra ... this is an important feature of the appsumo deals ... we buy those deals ... and many (if not most) of us don't even use the products much, knowing we can use them 3 years later when we need them and they will be up to date ... in the fb thread, none of us have even used KingSumo yet .. it would be pointless to stack up on apps that won't work as best as they can later
  - pluma 9y ago
    > in the fb thread, none of us have even used KingSumo yet So you're complaining about something you bought that you don't even have any intention of using right now? > knowing we can use them 3 years later when we need them and they will be up to date Nothing on that site says it won't be maintained for 3 years, just that it likely won't get any new features (unless they port them over from the new SaaS). > it would be pointless to stack up on apps So you've been bargain hunting, hoping to snipe great plugins for cheap early on so you won't have to pay the full price when you need them later (or when they get features that make them actually useful to you). Sounds like we've at least found the reason why AppSumo doesn't consider the "pay once" model sustainable anymore and is moving to a SaaS model instead. It costs money to develop these plugins. You paid a fraction of the regular price. You got more than your money's worth already. You just didn't luck out and pay for something that'll turn out to be incredibly useful to you later on.