Affiliates and fans of adult affiliate program InsiteAdult.com found a chilling note posted on its homepage late last week: InsiteAdult had closed down its electronic gateway.
“All Insite Adult Webmaster programs are closed and the company is ceasing operations. All further communication will be conducted through our legal counsel,” the note said. “Affiliates can get detailed contact information by logging in to the Webmaster area.”
The parent company of Insite Adult – which once offered free content, Webmaster referrals, and bi-monthly payouts – will be filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy, according to XBiz.com. The company, registered by the Georgia Secretary of State office as being owned by John Epp of New Jersey, began in 1996.
Epp’s attorney, Ian Fallone of Marietta, Ga., confirmed that the umbrella company which owns Insite Adult, Insite Investments, will be filing Chapter 7, and is seeking to liquidate the company.
“We’ve been retained for that purpose,” Fallone told XBiz, who did not immediately disclose the company’s creditors or assets.
AVN.com was unable to reach Insite Investments and Ian Fallone for further comment before this story went to press. But an adult Internet insider who asked not to be identified suggested Insite might have focused so heavily on 4free material that they were paying out more than their affiliate pay sites were converting.
“It’s possible that the profit margins of 4free-type programs are strongly based in the follow-up marketing and upsells to pay sites or other sponsor programs,” this insider told AVN.com. “Combined with billing issues from last year including the 1 percent chargeback rate, it’s possible that simply too many barriers were stacking against them, forcing closure
“It is unfortunate such a long-running program and outstanding staff have had to cease operations,” the insider continued. “I didn’t know their infrastructure that well. But they stopped doing big booths and parties about two years ago. And they’ve been winding down ever since.”
Insite Investments was formed in 1993 as a real estate and stock investment firm, but by 1996 found success as an online adult affiliate program.
