5 ms·

Pretty cool product. I have a very similar product but my question is that how did you convinced the users to pay for the product if its already free

yboris 6y ago
It's not "free" in the sense that there's a download button for it. 99.9% of the people wouldn't be readily able to build the app from source. Given I've spent 3 years building it, I feel comfortable selling it for this price. When I first released the app I didn't have the source code available; so it's more like a "commercial product" with the source code available if anyone is interested.
- mraza007 6y ago
  Oh I see, yes I was a little curious that product source code is available and I wonder why people are still paying for the product but you just made it clear with your answer thanks man !!
- echelon 6y ago
  Have you ever thought about charging more?
  - yboris 6y ago
    It's scary. I sell about 120 copies per month. I suspect charging more will drop it down to fewer than 100 copies. I'd rather more people use the app. I will be working on adding facial recognition; I might have a pricier option for facial recognition features perhaps.
    - echelon 6y ago
      I've never had the experience of pricing a product, but my intuition tells me this could be a win. We occasionally see articles on HN that describe how to increase prices without losing your audience. Perhaps there are others here that can offer feedback and advice. Research and experiment. If you do embark on this, a postmortem write-up with your learnings would be a great read. Best of luck with whatever your plans are. It's a cool app!
      - yboris 6y ago
        Thank you! For the reference, until I released version 3.0.0 (last November) the price was $3.50 (and all of it went to charity). The number of sales didn't take a hit - but it coincided with some publicity and major improvements to the app.
        k3nsa1 6y ago
        Great App! Just purchased 2 copies cause I am lazy building it from source & cause charity, why not! Tested the demo about 1 hour ago and I was impressed. Very good UI and fast scanning, although on the icons are a bit on the small size for my taste but excellent otherwise. Keep up the great job :)
        yboris 6y ago
        Thank you! In the settings (scroll to the bottom) there is a "-" and "+" between "reset zoom" button. That will help you adjust icon size and text across the app. Great for a 4K TV.
        galaxyLogic 6y ago
        How do you collect the money?
        yboris 6y ago
        I use https://chec.io/ https://chec.io/ checkout process (a service) which uses PayPal or Stripe for processing payment (it allows more payment types but these are the only two I use).
prionassembly 6y ago
The charity aspect is a strong motivator for many people. Maybe George Costanza's idea -- The Human Fund, Money for People -- needs to be revisited.

yboris 6y ago

It's not "free" in the sense that there's a download button for it. 99.9% of the people wouldn't be readily able to build the app from source. Given I've spent 3 years building it, I feel comfortable selling it for this price. When I first released the app I didn't have the source code available; so it's more like a "commercial product" with the source code available if anyone is interested.

mraza007 6y ago
Oh I see, yes I was a little curious that product source code is available and I wonder why people are still paying for the product but you just made it clear with your answer thanks man !!
echelon 6y ago
Have you ever thought about charging more?
- yboris 6y ago
  It's scary. I sell about 120 copies per month. I suspect charging more will drop it down to fewer than 100 copies. I'd rather more people use the app. I will be working on adding facial recognition; I might have a pricier option for facial recognition features perhaps.
  - echelon 6y ago
    I've never had the experience of pricing a product, but my intuition tells me this could be a win. We occasionally see articles on HN that describe how to increase prices without losing your audience. Perhaps there are others here that can offer feedback and advice. Research and experiment. If you do embark on this, a postmortem write-up with your learnings would be a great read. Best of luck with whatever your plans are. It's a cool app!
    - yboris 6y ago
      Thank you! For the reference, until I released version 3.0.0 (last November) the price was $3.50 (and all of it went to charity). The number of sales didn't take a hit - but it coincided with some publicity and major improvements to the app.
      - k3nsa1 6y ago
        Great App! Just purchased 2 copies cause I am lazy building it from source & cause charity, why not! Tested the demo about 1 hour ago and I was impressed. Very good UI and fast scanning, although on the icons are a bit on the small size for my taste but excellent otherwise. Keep up the great job :)
        yboris 6y ago
        Thank you! In the settings (scroll to the bottom) there is a "-" and "+" between "reset zoom" button. That will help you adjust icon size and text across the app. Great for a 4K TV.
      - galaxyLogic 6y ago
        How do you collect the money?
        yboris 6y ago
        I use https://chec.io/ https://chec.io/ checkout process (a service) which uses PayPal or Stripe for processing payment (it allows more payment types but these are the only two I use).

prionassembly 6y ago

The charity aspect is a strong motivator for many people. Maybe George Costanza's idea -- The Human Fund, Money for People -- needs to be revisited.