STAY AWAY FROM THIS PRODUCT
These contests are being hacked and thousands of false entries are being flooded into them.
This in turn will fill up your bulk email program (like Sendfox) and while support will sympathize with you, the team has not fixed the problem. This has been happening over since at least January 2024 (I am writing this on April 30th 2024) and Appsumo has not not fixed the bug that allows the contests to be hacked.
There are other bugs, like broken links to social media accounts, but that is minor compared to the contests being hacked. There are basic features missing, like for example, there seems to be no way to even change your password.
I have no confidence in this product and it makes me question whether I will ever use another Appsumo original product.
David_AppSumoOriginals
Jun 25, 2024Hey, joe10 — thanks for your feedback here. We've talked about this over email, but I want to share more publicly so other people can see .
As mentioned, the "hacked" false entries you received were highly unusual. They were not listed in any spam database, and had different IPs. The giveaway definitely didn't appear hacked to us.
Similar to other giveaway tools, we use multiple spam/bot reduction policies. In many cases, we actually have more advanced protections than other solutions out there. Specifically, we use rule sets in AWS, have reCAPTCHA v3 (the latest version) enabled for all giveaways by default), have backend IP throttling and IP detection mechanisms for abuse, and also have additional policies in place.
For a $49 lifetime product, this is what was realistic for us to do — and it's better than many competitors that charge $49+ per MONTH.
With that said, it's not perfect and for those that need advanced, enterprise-level detection mechanisms, there may be better solutions out there that are a much higher budget/cost but worth it for some larger businesses and use cases. We're focused on simplicity and affordability for solopreneurs, and that's what we'll keep aiming for.
Thanks again for your feedback.