One of my favorite affiliate networks in the world has changed hands again.
Two years ago AOL acquired Buy.at for some £75 million ($150 million), making it into a separate unit within Advertising.com [source]. See also AOL’s official press release here.
Today, it has been reported that “Digital Window, the holding company for UK affiliate network Affiliate Window, has acquired the Buy.at” and “this acquisition makes the two companies the largest affiliate network in the U.K.” [source | bold font mine], giving Affiliate Window additional U.S. and Scandinavian presence as well.
To me it’s a very surprising move by AOL, but, of course, much depends on both AOL’s current situation, and the exact amount of the deal (which remains undisclosed).
Buy.at — which “has annual sales of more than 40 million euros and about 70 employees” [source] — is a strong UK affiliate network (servicing nearly every major highstreet brand in the UK). In the USA Buy.at-based affiliate programs include such brands as Calvin Klein, Fathead, Ghirardelli, New York Times Store, Speedo, Swarovski, TicketMaster, and other famous brands [more here].
The CEO of Digital Window, Kevin Brown, has already christened this acquisition “a milestone” for the industry. He said:
“This transaction forms a group that offers the best and most comprehensive affiliate marketing services in the UK. Combining the two most forward thinking networks allows us to develop market defining technology. With innovations like ShopWindow, Offer Central, Darwin and EventEngine combined under one network, our partners receive a distinct technology advantage that we will continue to evolve over time.” [source]
18 staff members in Buy.at’s London-based office will start their move to Digital Window’s London office tomorrow, 42 Newcastle-based staff members “will stay in place” [source], while the destiny of the Baltimore-based US employees of buy.at is yet to be known.
The amount of the deal is known now. The Washington Post wrote:
“AOL acquired Buy.at for a rumored $125 million two years ago. Today, AOL filed a 10-K report that revealed that AOL only sold Buy.at for $17 million, taking a hit of a whopping $108 million.” [bold font and italics mine]
To all readers stay away from buy.at if you are actually making money with this guys and PAY you then good for you. as i’ve been promoting this guys since 2008 generated a few sales and still generating upto this time and never got a single payment from them. and their support is really bad.
all this emails no longer works
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
and i tried calling this number
New York Office
Tel: 212-652-6400
it’s actually AOL and nobody seems to know this guys.
goodluck!
Jeffrey, this is very surprising to me, as this is the first time I hear anything like this about buy.at. Have you tried contacting Charles Calabrese or Kim Salvino? Their phone numbers are listed on this page.
Also, the email for affiliate support seems to be [email protected]
Thank you for the info Geno i will try to get a hold of them first thing tomorrow. i talked to a AOL account representative and he see’s my account and saying that im am right and they haven’t sent me any payments from my previous commissions. the problem is they don’t seem to know buy.at he ask me for a name of a person that works at buy.at and i dont know anyone. i’ll keep you posted on this one
the affiliate support email no longer works
“This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.
Delivery to the following recipients failed.
[email protected]
Final-Recipient: rfc822;[email protected]
Action: failed
Status: 5.1.1″
i will try the phone numbers
Hi Jeffrey –
Apologies for any difficulties with our email address – thanks for bringing that to our attention and we’re looking into resolving the error ASAP.
In the meantime, you can reach the team on our new toll free number, which will be posted on the site soon -(888) 791-0341. Alternatively, please email Charlie Calabrese directly and he’ll be happy to answer your questions. You can reach him at Charles.Calabrese[at]buy.at.
If you have any other questions, please let us know!
-Amy Ely (amy.ely[at]buy.at)
Marketing Manager, buy.at US
Thanks for this swift reaction, Amy.
Sure thing! We’re going through a bit of a transition period in moving from AOL to Digital Window, so we’ve run into a few bumps along the way (such as the email address issue that Jeffrey pointed out). That said, customer service is a top priority at buy.at, and we’re working to resolve any errors as quickly as possible.
If you notice any other issues, please don’t hesitate to post them here or email me directly. I’ll personally see to it that they’re addressed.
Thanks again,
Amy
That’s the buy.at I’ve always known. Hence, my original surprise about Jeffrey’s experience.
Thank you very much Amy for the contact updates and solving the problem. there is also fault on my side having the wrong info on my bank account name and all is resolved and thanks to Geno and to this blog.
My pleasure, Jeffrey, and glad to be of help.
BTW, wanna swing by and cast your vote on this poll? I’d appreciate it.