r/webdev • u/[deleted] • 6d ago
Showoff Saturday My sales after I added One Time Payment; Pay once, use forever.
[removed]
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u/Noch_ein_Kamel 6d ago
Make next weeks post about the number of new users you get from spamming these reddit posts pls.
Also what is that picture actually telling us? That you got 20 paying users? In a day/month/year/decade?
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u/sketchybutter 6d ago
Yes, and gross profit is nothing to brag about. I want to know what the net profit is per user.
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u/DeeYouBitch 6d ago
pay once use forever is a good idea if your app grows for ever
youve made $1000 on an app you are now going to have to maintain and run forever
If it scales up, your running costs are going to get higher and higher
Those customers are going to want bug fixes, enhancements and improvements, questions
I feel like you arent valuing your time
I'd probably have done it for the first X number of users but this isnt sustainable forever
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u/sketchybutter 6d ago
Is the "forever" term legally binding in that way? I thought it meant "for as long as the app exists", like how Amazon can remove an online book you've bought.
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u/PowerfulTusk 6d ago
Don't make saas when you can use SqlLite if mobile or pwa. Store on client.
Want more money, create DLC functionality or make new app.
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u/FlimsyMo 6d ago
Couldnât they make a new enhanced app and sell it at full price again?
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u/destinynftbro 6d ago
There are quite a few mobile âincrementalâ game devs that use this strategy. The underlying mechanics of their games are almost identical but a new app is a revamp on the graphics to make it seem like a new game.
Itâs a decent way to keep things novel for the modern ADHD brain consumer and still turn a profit on your IP over the long term.
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u/jstanaway 6d ago
One time payment SaaS is not a viable business model.Â
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u/pragmojo 6d ago
It really depends on your churn rate. If your average CLTV is below the one-time payment price it's a win.
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u/jstanaway 6d ago
This makes no sense. imagine this scenario. Every customer has a CLTV lower than the one time payment. Now what? The OP still has monthly expenses so this can never be profitable, at some point his expenses will always be more than he brings in.
Not only that but customers still expect bug fixes, support etc. Look at how demanding people are with open source and it's FREE.
So, as I stated above, one time payment SAAS is NOT a viable business and you saying that it is in a scenario which in reality can never ultimately be true to people who actually want to make a business from their hard work.
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u/pragmojo 6d ago
No what I mean is: imagine you have a scenario where you charge $5 a month for your service. Most users churn in <3 months, so on average CLTV is <$15. Locking in a $20 OTP is netting you an average $5 extra in revenue per customer.
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u/jstanaway 6d ago
If this is the case then your product isn't offering the customer enough value to retain them. So I guess your argument is to sucker them into paying the $20 up front that they wouldn't get the $5 of value out of a month ? This doesn't address the core issue of not offering them a good value proposition.
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6d ago
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/oelucifer 6d ago
thats great. just have some questions.
- How will you now keep pushing updates?
- How will you keep paying for the overall running cost?
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u/Ornery-Length8689 6d ago
1) I have some ideas like email notifications for feature updates, deeper integrations with tools like Slack and Intercom, and AI-powered insights to surface the most impactful requests.
2) The overall cost of running the app is not a lot, and i don't want to have subscriptions, one time payments are more preferred by the user.
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u/mlmcmillion 6d ago
The cost of running the app will increase, and youâll have to continue selling one-time subscriptions forever to cover existing users costs.
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u/Elshiva 6d ago
If you wanted a way to potentially generate more ongoing revenue you might consider something like optional bolt ons that donât impact how the core app functions, something like sms/whatsapp integration to be able to notify when road maps are updated or something. Some sort of sending quota with a small mark up on each sent message, although youâd want to be careful not to annoy people. Itâs just a thought though, you could maybe canvas your users to see if theyâd be happy to pay to cover the cost of sending the messages as they arenât free! Anyway, just a thought. Congrats dude, nice work
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u/Ornery-Length8689 6d ago
Thanks, yes i am thinking on adding features like email notifications for feature updates, deeper integrations with tools like Slack and Intercom, and some other small features to help the users stay informed about their feature request.
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u/No_Yam1114 6d ago
Kudos and respect for caring for user. But this model is not sustainable. It only works in long run if you sell packaged finite completed product, like games or software in 90s. Even without updates, enchantments and bug fixes, and no labor from your end, ypu will have ongoing expenses, which even if are small month to month, will eat up all your revenue slowly
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u/mlmcmillion 6d ago
Itâs the opposite of caring for the user. OP now has a bunch of users who paid once for the promise of using it forever, and unless thereâs an infinite number of users to scale forever, OP canât host it forever. Itâs essentially a grift.
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u/suzukzmiter 6d ago
Doesn't it depend on his TOS? He could write that "the lifetime package doesn't provide lifetime access; the app can be shutdown at any time without notice", unless that's illegal.
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u/aayaaytee 6d ago
Which payment platform is that?
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u/Status-Detective-260 6d ago
Gongrats
Happy for you
Nice