the price of pie

We set the price at $3 a long time ago when we added the pie feature to permies.  And it is being pointed out to me that the price of pie should be higher.  $5 was suggested.  And $10 was suggested.

So this is a spot to talk about the price and vote (poor man's poll) for what you think is good.

To learn more about PIE, or to get PIE:


         https://permies.com/pie

click on the thumbs up for this post if you think $5 is best.

click on the thumbs up for this post if you think $8 is best.

click on the thumbs up for this post if you think $10 is best.

click on the thumbs up for this post if you think $12 is best.

click on the thumbs up for this post if you think $15 is best.

$6

$9

Maybe in a week or two, the price will go up.  All existing subscriptions will continue at the current rate.  In other words, if a person is signed up for $3 per month for pie, they will continue to get a piece of pie for $3 per month as long as that subscription continues.

I imagine you'll need to move this post, I was not sure where to put it.

When I go here: https://permies.com/w/pie I see the benefits of pie.

Has the price of providing these benefits gone up or why would the price increase? You only mention that someone mentioned it should go up.

***Edited to be clear that I support the increase  if it meets some need for providing the forum or benefits to pie holder or something. Currently in this post, the increase sounds purely arbitrary***

Why?  

   - In the last few years, my monthly server costs have gone up about 3x.

   - we started at $3, making it freaky cheap for testing purposes

   - so few people buy pie, that changing the price will do little

   - when i give people pie, or offer extra goodies with pie, people believe that all they get is a picture of pie.  They think this because the price of pie is so very low


I could talk about inflation, but that doesn't really apply here.  We made it too cheap to begin with, and inflation just made it worse.

Currently, I am leaning toward $10, although the idea of $12 seems good too.

Well I hope you know that regardless of the new PIE price, many will continue to support you.

(as long as it is not a zillion dollars per !!)

Peace

paul wheaton wrote:Why?  

   - so few people buy pie, that changing the price will do little

So...why would you quadruple the price?

Any added features?

Maybe use as a tool to mention it help keeps the forum running or start a separate thing for that.

When you say it will do little, are you thinking that all the pie people will pay 4x or hope you'll keep 25% and have the same revenue from them or?

It sound like you are saying very little pie is purchased but we still want to 4x it. I am not sure I understand.

Josh Hoffman wrote:So...why would you quadruple the price?

I thought I spelled it out pretty clearly. It appears that most people see it priced so low, that they think all it does is give them a picture of a piece of pie.

If I raise the price to, say, $10, then those same people will begin to understand that there is a lot more to it.  

If we have 10x people buying pie combined with the price of pie being 3x, then that could put a real dent in the server bill.

Yesterday I learned, many of the people who regularly buy pie, didn't know it includes features that make permies dramatically easier to uee.  Under edit profile, pie settings.  

Several thought pie was just a nifty pixel thing only, as it's priced the same as one on FB or other social media.

in a few days, i might send this out on the dailyish

PIE is now 10 years old.  We set it up with a low price for testing and never got around to raising the price.  Most people think that all you get is an image on your permies.com account.  But you also get lots of extra features, extra videos, advance views of videos and podcasts ...  lots of stuff.

And, my favorite part, you can give PIE to other people.  Helpful people.  Good people doing good things.


For 10 years, PIE has been $3 per slice.  In 72 hours, the price will be $10 per slice.  BUT!  All those people that have the PIE subscription stuff, will continue at the old price.


If you want to talk about the change:

https://permies.com/t/281884/price-pie


To get PIE at the lower price for the next 72 hours ...

https://permies.com/pie

you got me 😏

I've loved the idea of a subscription but dislike paypal...this conversation got me in gear to go ahead and face my fear of a paypal account and get in on pie at the lower rate as $10 a slice per month is not doable for us...all signed up now.

I love the perks that come along with it, especially the 'green line' in long threads to show where I left off....and some cider press fun🙃

...and knowing it's helping the site in some small way.

I am addicted to the green line.

r ranson wrote:Yesterday I learned, many of the people who regularly buy pie, didn't know it includes features that make permies dramatically easier to uee.  Under edit profile, pie settings.  

Several thought pie was just a nifty pixel thing only, as it's priced the same as one on FB or other social media.

Was that before the nice page was made or are there other ways to buy pie where you do not end up on this page? https://permies.com/w/pie

That page is very descriptive/comprehensive on what the benefits are.

paul wheaton wrote:

Josh Hoffman wrote:So...why would you quadruple the price?

I thought I spelled it out pretty clearly. It appears that most people see it priced so low, that they think all it does is give them a picture of a piece of pie.

If I raise the price to, say, $10, then those same people will begin to understand that there is a lot more to it.  

If we have 10x people buying pie combined with the price of pie being 3x, then that could put a real dent in the server bill.

Maybe the things you are saying about the server bill and other admin related things should be mentioned on the pie page so folks know that the purchase of pie not only benefits their account but also helps support the forum. https://permies.com/w/pie  

paul wheaton wrote:I am addicted to the green line.

I find the green line extremely helpful. I think I was without pie for about a week and missed it so much that I signed up for monthly pie to make sure I was never without the green line again.

Agreed
The green line is the best.

And the little icon keeping track of which threads have new posts without me needing email notifications.

The current prices:

  1 slice                            $3

  full pie (12 slices)         $30

  12 pies (144 slices)      $250

The new prices:

  1 slice                            $10

  full pie (12 slices)         $100

  12 pies (144 slices)      $1000


   

Shazam, can't wait to try some "new" PIE.  I may need to buy ice cream again to go with the PIE !  Paul I have a small package for you, I'll try to get a ride to the post office to mail it, I'll also put some coins in the box for the PIE.

Peace

I think this pie repricing is smart, because now I am considering buying pie to lock in the low subscription price. Even though I was not even considering buying pie at all before.

Just getting clear -- existing PIE subscriptions stay at $3 indefinitely?

Because while I am happy to keep my existing subscription going at $3 to support the site, $10 a month is too much of a stretch for us.

Jane Mulberry wrote:Just getting clear -- existing PIE subscriptions stay at $3 indefinitely?

yes.

Paul, I think there is indeed a specific psychological phenomenon where people assume a lower-priced thing is less valuable than a higher-priced thing, within certain parameters. (Typically this applies to customer beliefs about the quality of physical goods, but it probably could apply to services as well.) I don't know if I'd assume, necessarily, that that's what's going on with PIE being only $3 vs. $10. Like, to the average person who has no idea how running an interactive website really works, $3 might look cheap or it might look expensive, $10 might still look like a bargain or it might look like a total ripoff. There's not much to judge it against; other forums have very different systems and typically just say "donate as much or as little as you want, or nothing at all".

If the PIE thing has been working for ten years, then I'd say it's proven itself and that's at least one good reason to keep at it and adjust prices as needed.

Just be aware, raising prices might hint at higher value and attract more PIE buyers--or it might price more people away from buying PIE. Which outcome is more likely is a judgment call you'd have to make based on the demographics and psychology of Permie's website users, which maybe you either know well or have privileged ways of finding out.

I'll just say anecdotally, for me, I found "PIE" very confusing. Right off the bat, it's rendered in all caps, which makes it look like it's an acronym for something (this impression is easy to get on a site laden with esoteric acronyms--SKIP, PEP, GAMCOD, etc. etc.--to newcomers these acronyms act like a pile of shibboleths), implying a more complicated concept rather than simply "donations you can make to help offset server costs". In fact I am still not sure whether it is or isn't an acronym, but "donations you can make to help offset server costs" is so simple and familiar to web users in general I think it would be unwise to muddle it more than necessary.

But also, the benefits of PIE are rather complicated and unusual also, especially once you get into transferring it to other users, and the fact that it unlocks usability features that on any other forum would be standard. Like, as an experiment I wonder if you'd actually get more donations-to-help-offset-server-costs if you simply had a button that said "Donate a few bucks to help keep the site running", and donating unlocked just one or two simple but valuable features, instead of trying to motivate us with sticks (bad usability, limited content/features) and carrots (good usability, little icons, additional content/features, etc.). For all I know you've tried this already and found it doesn't work as well as the current system, but it's just an idea I had. I dunno. Just trying to be helpful.

added a year - thanks for building community

There's a big Donate to the Empire button in the first post here. There are additional ways of helping the Empire in that post. Feel free to donate your contribution there. Me? I've got a monthly subscription. I don't wanna loose that green line. And PIE? is an acronym. Permaculture Inner-circle Elite (PIE) Happy donating everyone!

I'm pretty sure this is happening, so I would advise everyone who likes the pie features get in now and subscribe at $3/month. I used to buy piles of pie, but I've just subscribed.

Is there a way, or am I just too dumb to figure it out, of how to set the day that the pie purchase goes through? I try to donate my pie before it expires to some worthy post. But then that leaves me without pie for a week or so And I can’t remember to try to buy more pie like two weeks later so I always have some pie so I’m not locked out of stuff if I wanna reply.

You could do a one time pie purchase of a lot of pie, then give it out whenever you feel like.  

If you buy 12 pieces, it will take a year for it to disappear.

Rob Griffin wrote:Is there a way, or am I just too dumb to figure it out, of how to set the day that the pie purchase goes through? I try to donate my pie before it expires to some worthy post. But then that leaves me without pie for a week or so And I can’t remember to try to buy more pie like two weeks later so I always have some pie so I’m not locked out of stuff if I wanna reply.

I get an email reminder that says `Your PIE is about to expire` or something like that ...