Which do you think is better? charging 5-15 bucks a month, or 60-180 for a year?

I think the upfront cost will drive a lot of people away... $5 a month sounds cheaper than $60 a year. But with a monthly commitment, do you charge your customers automatically each month? What if you want to use paypal? do you then have to remind your customers each month to pay?

Sorry I'm just looking for the best way to handle things.

Your best to pay monthly. I seriously recommend it because some hosts can be very sneaky and sort you out a paid yearly deal at a good offer. The host could close down or you may dislike the service and decide to cancel while at the other end the hont will not be entitled to pay back the money you pre-paid for.

You gotta watch out with some hosts.

The best thing to do is gather as much information as possible about the company you are looking at. Use WHT search etc to find out what you can. It may also be an idea to find out how many customers are with the host and maybe even here some views or talk to a few of the customers.

sorry hehe in this case *I* would be the company.... not a client :) but your advice works nonetheless.

I guess I asked this in my other thread, but whats the best way to get them to actually pay monthly?

lol I dunno if theres a way to get them to pay monthly.

Customers are tricky to dal with and there is no way in saying weather they choose to pay monthyl or take the long shot of paying yearly. :rolleyes:

There is on way however, and that is, for instance, charging $10 per month and $200 per year if you get my drift! :emlaugh:

No seriously, you could maybe even tell you customer by paying monthly hosting plan updation is easier, and alot less hassle. You could also promace them extra update addons through the year which can be added each month paying monthly because if you pay yearly, the yearly plans doesn't update every month... blah blah blah something technical along them lines if you know what I mean.

right... sounds good to me. Im not as concerned about customer retention as I am about recurring transaction fees :P

Originally posted by eric650
Which do you think is better? charging 5-15 bucks a month, or 60-180 for a year?

I think the upfront cost will drive a lot of people away... $5 a month sounds cheaper than $60 a year. But with a monthly commitment, do you charge your customers automatically each month? What if you want to use paypal? do you then have to remind your customers each month to pay?

Sorry I'm just looking for the best way to handle things.

If you want to use PayPal, use their subscriptions service.

Most of my customers prefer to pay once a year.

Once a year payments are preffered by carders too :D

We give our customers an option to pay monthly, quarterly, 6 months, and yearly. We give discounts for 6 months and yearly. After awhile of using our services do signup for a year (this is because we give 15% discount) It is also nice for us since we get all of the money upfront.

we charge yearly at the moment and only have one person paying monthly. However we plan to start charging monthly as soon as our new merchant account is sorted

our customers can pay monthly, quarterly and yearly... and abount 80% pre-pay for one year in advance. customers who signed up for monthly plan after about 1-2 months want to pre-pay for one year. I think its better to be charged just one time and don't care abount monthly bill, many customers have to many of them power, phone, isp etc. and don't want another.

thomas

I do monthly, quarterly and half yearly only.

If im out of business in 6 months, I dont want to have too many pissed off clients ;)

low monthly payment will attract spammers, this my real expeiance, customer pay $5 and send few thousands of message before you terminate his account .. and he will be happy

Why not offer both? As long as you clearly define your terms of what is acceptable for reimbursement, IMO it would be wise to give the option to the customer.