Too expensive ?

Is there such a thing. At what monthly price do surfers automatically balk at ?

No expert here but id guess it depends on the site as too how worth the price it looks. My theory is that surfers decide they like a site and wanted to join, then decide if the cost is worth it. So if thats true, maybe you should mirror your site, run some traffic to it, and start creeping the price up until ratios drop to the point where your not increasing your earnings.

I guess you need to consider retention aswell though. I would think they are less likely to retain with higher price points but again, i dont run a paysite so im just geussing.

:egg:

a friend of mine has 11 str8 sites and he does fine at $34.95 - on the other hand, each site gets those other 10 sites as bonus sites, so they do have a lot of content and updates in one site or another every day...

the scarcer niches sell fairly well up to $34.95 however unless you have plenty of content and nice long movies, the site will probably see a lot less retention - possibly enough to make each member worth less overall even though he paid more to join.

your best bet is to mirror your tour so you have 3 different prices and run traffic past each one and see how they do. ultimately each webmaster may have very different experiences.

Hi Marc,

Thanks, I think I will try the mirror. Won't ever know until I put it to the test.

Hi Basschick,

I've been seeing some sites trending upwards in their pricing. They are mostly niche sites but they all had great content so that made me wonder how much they could push the price before it worked against them. $34.95 is probably the limit. That does very much raise the expectations of members in terms of updates and original content. In my situation, I'm working on a new design and adding new original stuff so I'm fairly certain I can go for that number when it goes up but not with this version now.

To turn the thread the other way, i think its worth mentioning that low pricing can harm you. As a surfer (even before i built sites), i would be turned off by $14.95 sites because ive allways known that you charge the highest price you can. If your site isnt worth $19.95 a month minimum then im not wasting my money.

I think theres alot of truth in that too. If they had the decent content they pretend on the tour to have, then members would pay more that $14.95 a month for it.

i doubt low prices can hurt you. for every guy who thinks the site must suck, there are two more who are happy to get a deal - and $14.95 seems to rebill very well.

To be fair i dont rebill sites unless their extra special. Thats how i feel but i see your point, for everyone like me there probably are two that will join a low priced site.

I forget which one but i saw a sponsor charging $44.95 a few weeks back for access to their paysites and from what i gather, they werent exactly hurting sales wise, their sites were nothing special either.

Id play it safe and go no higher than 39.99 until a few weeks ago, that was the most id seen charged for 1 months recurring access.

The other thing you need to take in to account is that the more you charge for monthly access, the higher your chances of not being able to rebill the card is when it comes time for the membership to renew.

Most people tend to keep $40-$50 on their credit card balances, i know both Gary and I do.

Regards,

Lee

Hi Lee,

I've now seen 3 sites that offer the 44.95 monthy membership option. They are all very good sites. I have to think that their are alot of wealthy gay men willing to pay that price or at least horny enough to pay it.

One meal usually costs that much if you have company and a couple of drinks. A night on the town cost that much. I guess maybe a month of porn could be worth that much to alot of guys. For me, I don't think I would ever pay that but I do buy alot of aebn time which amounts to about the same amount of money per month.

I think it's smart to keep a lower balance on credit cards like that. I'm hoping that people feel that porn sites are getting much better and worth the price. I feel like they are. I get alot of members that cancel but come back in a week or two.

Wow 44.95 is really high. I always keep prices under 30 bucks.

I think for the pricing point it really depends on your site and updates. I think TopBucks sites still rebill around 39.00.

Mark

MANcheck, and I believe UGAS, also rebill at $39.95.

Michael