5 ms·

Ask HN: Should I charge the military more to use my SAAS?

• eitally 11y ago
  I don't think you should do this. If you're doing it for moral/ethical reasons, you're just screwing all the taxpayers. If you want to take a stand, just refuse to sell to .gov & .mil domains.
• greenyoda 11y ago
  U.S. Government agencies (of which the military is one) may insist on a "Most Favored Customer" contract, in which they get the best available price. See, for example: http://www.fedmarket.com/contractors/GSA-and-Most-Favored-Customer-Pricing http://www.fedmarket.com/contractors/GSA-and-Most-Favored-Cu... If you deliberately charge the military more than everyone else without having a valid business-related reason to do so, they may just refuse to do business with you.
• bmmayer1 11y ago
  It depends on what your product is. Are military customers receiving 2x the value from your product? Are they 2x more expensive to serve?
  • hoodoof 11y ago
    No, but if they want the product then I want them to pay more.
    • elthran 11y ago
      OK - but /why/?
• akg_67 11y ago
  It is a bad idea if you are advertising pricing on your site. Unless, it cost more to service or offers more value to or offer different feature set to government customers or a particular group, you shouldn't charge different pricing. It is routine for enterprise vendors to charge more to government because of the more involved process in selling and managing product for government and associated costs. But the way it works is enterprise vendors have a list price at which anyone including competitors can buy the product. Then vendor can decide how much discount from list price to offer to different customers. I think there are laws that you will run afoul of when discriminating against a group of customers without any business justification.
  • hoodoof 11y ago
    >> Unless, it cost more to service or offers more value to or offer different feature set to government customers or a particular group, you shouldn't charge different pricing. Why not? I'm free to charge differently if I want to aren't I? >>I think there are laws that you will run afoul of when discriminating against a group of customers without any business justification. Hmmm, doesn't sound right to me. Can you be more specific about which laws you mean?
    • akg_67 11y ago
      Just a little bit of google-fu for laws on pricing gives these sources. Price Discrimination: Robinson-Patman Violations https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/price-discrimination-robinson-patman https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-a... Price Fixing https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/dealings-competitors/price-fixing https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-a... A Guide to Retail Pricing Laws and Regulations http://www.nist.gov/pml/wmd/laws/pricing-laws.cfm http://www.nist.gov/pml/wmd/laws/pricing-laws.cfm Consumer Protection Laws and Your Business http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/consumer-protection-laws-business-29641.html http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/consumer-protection-l...
      • hoodoof 11y ago
• gesman 11y ago
  Large companies selling stuff to enterprises use "Contact us for pricing" forms. What follows is a sales dance with "confidential" pricing discussions. This may or may not work for buyers. I personally staying away from vendors who are using this tactics unless there is no other choice.
• saluki 11y ago
  Most businesses give the military discounts . . . and I expect most citizens would dislike seeing you charge .mil/.gov 2x just because of who they are. So I wouldn't list it like that on your pricing page. What I would do . . . if you have existing military users, I would look at their usage patterns, number of users, data, etc . . . and change your tiers to charge them more based on their typical use of your SaaS. That would be the best way to do it, create a tier pricing that would apply to them but doesn't spell it out in the pricing page. Good luck landing a potentially large user for your SaaS.
• NameNickHN 11y ago
  I sympathize with you and I think you should do it. But you should come up with a "real" reason other than "because I can". For example, I imagine the military requires a different service level agreement than the average company. That would be your price differentiation right there.
• notahacker 11y ago
  What makes you think the military want your SaaS? The standard approach is to advise that they will need to purchase the enhanced security version which will be $whatever, which is also how SaaS vendors deal with large companies and other clients whose custom they're only willing to consider because of their deep pockets
• poof131 11y ago
  I encourage you not to do this. If you want to make a statement, do it through your vote or by volunteering. By charging extra to the military, you actually join the camp with all the corrupt defense contractors who overcharge for everything. Clearly by your statements this isn’t who you want to be aligning yourself with. As a veteran, I hate defense contractors and believe the system is broken. When mercenaries get up-armored humvees before our soldiers do we have a problem, not to mention the fact we are using mercenaries. Don’t join this group through what seems to be good intentions.
• brudgers 11y ago
  Keep it simple, just double your price. http://jacquesmattheij.com/double-your-price-and-no-im-not-kidding http://jacquesmattheij.com/double-your-price-and-no-im-not-k...