Is it just me or are resources getting more expensive?

[MapleOne]

Let me start by saying I love Xenforo and it does most things one needs straight out of the box, however the add-ons are really starting to add up.

A few short years ago an addon was 5 or 10 dollars with life time access. Now I see them up to $80 and they are always with 1 year access/updates to the resource.

So let me clarify, I am not saying these add-ons are not worth it, but they are getting to the point where they are no longer affordable. I have been looking for the best bang for the buck, some developers charge a yearly fee for their catalog and I have been faithfully subscribing to those.

I find myself looking more to these developers because the add-ons can add up significantly, especially when you have some of them between $40-$80 yearly.

What have I done to mitigate this costs?

Like I said, I actively seek out the developer with catalog subscriptions but more often than not I find myself uninstalling the add-ons and making board changes to go without the add-ons that have gone up significantly in price.

It's a tough call, I have had to cut some nice add-ons because as a Canadian the exchange rate (with credit card fees) can be up to 37% higher, so a $40 addon becomes $54.80 annually and an $80 addon becomes almost $110 annually. Yes our dollar is worth less but we still spend a dollar in the same way as people from other countries spend theirs.

So just some feedback on the whole addon system and me trying to figure out a way to cap the costs a bit because at the rate of increase I will probably stay with 1-2 subscriptions annually and pass on the rest.

I used to look at all the new resources daily and today I realized I have not checked them in almost two months. Costs have definitely (for me) come to the limit where I now go without, passing on a number of great add-ons.

Purpose of this post: Just me thinking out loud looking at the resources saying to myself they are starting to get out of reach. So just like the other subscriptions in my life the only answer is to cut out the ones I don't use as often.

 

[MapleOne]

Just a footnote...

I wonder if cheaper add-ons that sell in higher numbers can be as profitable as higher priced add-ons. At a certain point (with a few exceptions) the higher priced add-ons are limited in sales to the members that absolutely have to have them. Bringing the costs down and going after a higher install ratio might actually sell more in the end. I mean if that was not the case then we would not have discounters like Walmart and such.

Maybe a developer who has two of the same priced add-ons can experiment and see what actually generates a greater income, sales volume or a higher price. What is the limit before members pass and move on? I can only speak for myself, I now pass on more add-ons than ever before. At lower prices I was more inclined to install and the developer at least made some money whereas I now pass completely.

 

[mrdoitnyce]

It's not even that really, the branding fee's for an already expensive product sometimes cost the same, if not, more.

I think Paid Add-on's above $30-$40 shouldn't include visible branding although I understand why they implement it. However, I think they should create a Lite version and/or free version that includes the visible branding.

Some Dev's are notorious for charging renewal fee's for lets say 3-6 months and their add-on sometimes have minor bugs causing server errors which renders their add-on slightly unusable and they'll push out an update/patch only after your licenses expires causing you to renew for the update.

I don't mind paying for an add-on that one might consider generally expensive if it provides value to your forum or is something that you needed to improve the quality of your forum because development isn't easy or we'd all make our own add-ons, But they've turned it into an UberEats order. Add-on=$35 , Branding fee=$30, Renewal fee 3 months=$15, 6 months=$25, 1 year=$50

 

[philmckrackon]

It's not even that really, the branding fee's for an already expensive product sometimes cost the same, if not, more.

I think Paid Add-on's above $30-$40 shouldn't include visible branding although I understand why they implement it. However, I think they should create a Lite version and/or free version that includes the visible branding.

Some Dev's are notorious for charging renewal fee's for lets say 3-6 months and their add-on sometimes have minor bugs causing server errors which renders their add-on slightly unusable and they'll push out an update/patch only after your licenses expires causing you to renew for the update.

I don't mind paying for an add-on that one might consider generally expensive if it provides value to your forum or is something that you needed to improve the quality of your forum because development isn't easy or we'd all make our own add-ons, But they've turned it into an UberEats order. Add-on=$35 , Branding fee=$30, Renewal fee 3 months=$15, 6 months=$25, 1 year=$50

Crazy post.
Purchase something or do not.
Show support by either buying or not.

 

[Ozzy47]

Some Dev's are notorious for charging renewal fee's for lets say 3-6 months and their add-on sometimes have minor bugs causing server errors which renders their add-on slightly unusable and they'll push out an update/patch only after your licenses expires causing you to renew for the update.

I don't think any reputable developers are doing this, but if thats the case, call them out in their addon thread then report it to XF

 

[digitalpoint]

Vote with your money. If something isn’t worth the money, don’t buy it.

 

[D.O.A.]

There's a few add-ons I've rejected after finding out they want a spot in my footer. Sorry but you'r not worth it, and my users couldn't care less about your add-on store anyway. I pay for a product not your ads.