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Jeremy Howard · 25 Mar 2002, 11:46 AM

As most of you know, our prices are set such that we cover the costs of free users by adding a profit margin to Full and Enhanced subscriptions, and memberships are designed to basically cover their own costs, plus enough margin to cover development costs if we reach certain growth targets.

This has been working fine to date. However the recent influx of Yahoo users have been much less likely to take paid accounts than previous users. This means that for the numbers to add up we may have to increase the membership fee to $13.95 or $14.95, which of course is still a one-off fee and is a very good deal compared to what the competition is offering.

This won't affect existing members if we decide to implement this pricing change of course. However I know that some people here are holding off upgrading for various reasons so I wanted to give you warning to let you beat the potential price rise.

We haven't yet made a final decision on this--Rob and I will be doing so in the next 12 hours or so. However I wanted to flag the possibility here so that those of you looking at becoming a member shortly can ensure that you get in at the lower price.

This potential change in price for member accounts would not affect full or enhanced subscribers at all. Because membership is a one-off cost, we will change the price from time to time as business conditions change. However full and enhanced subscriptions have ongoing charges, so we plan to keep these price points constant.

25 Mar 2002, 11:46 AM	#1
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	Possible membership fee increase As most of you know, our prices are set such that we cover the costs of free users by adding a profit margin to Full and Enhanced subscriptions, and memberships are designed to basically cover their own costs, plus enough margin to cover development costs if we reach certain growth targets. This has been working fine to date. However the recent influx of Yahoo users have been much less likely to take paid accounts than previous users. This means that for the numbers to add up we may have to increase the membership fee to $13.95 or $14.95, which of course is still a one-off fee and is a very good deal compared to what the competition is offering. This won't affect existing members if we decide to implement this pricing change of course. However I know that some people here are holding off upgrading for various reasons so I wanted to give you warning to let you beat the potential price rise. We haven't yet made a final decision on this--Rob and I will be doing so in the next 12 hours or so. However I wanted to flag the possibility here so that those of you looking at becoming a member shortly can ensure that you get in at the lower price. This potential change in price for member accounts would not affect full or enhanced subscribers at all. Because membership is a one-off cost, we will change the price from time to time as business conditions change. However full and enhanced subscriptions have ongoing charges, so we plan to keep these price points constant.