USA Paysite owners re: US dollar

[Jicky Jack]

I have noticed in the last 6 months a large increase in Foriegn signups. And an even larger increase [30%] the last 2 months. I'm assuming this is due to the the sad condition of the US dollar.

Have other program owners seen a similar trend?

J

[Beaver Bob]

for sure. A few weeks ago CCBill started using GEOIP targeted join forms and I think that has also had a positive effect on European traffic.

Something I'm thinking about is setting up special higher pricing options for non-American traffic. I'm thinking those memberships could stand to go up a few dollars.

[papagmp]

I have to agree that the exchange rate has a lot to do with it. My maintsteam business benefits form this big-time - sales to Europe are up almost 50% from last year. The low dollar helps the GNP because it makes our products cheaper for foreign buyers. It's also got to hurts the Euro porn sites that have very high (relative) prices for American consumers.

[BluePlayer]

EVen thought America sales will be up the cost of living in the US will continue to rise so even though turnover will be up your actually end disposable income will be down.

[BluePlayer]

IF America was a self sufficient country then a falling dollar wouldnt be that bad, but America isnt. Gas prices will continue to rise and so will the majority of goods you buy in stores as they are either manufactured abroad or have parts that were purchased abroad.

[virgohippy]

Originally Posted by BluePlayer

IF America was a self sufficient country then a falling dollar wouldnt be that bad, but America isnt. Gas prices will continue to rise and so will the majority of goods you buy in stores as they are either manufactured abroad or have parts that were purchased abroad.

You forgot to mention that all of a sudden our goods from China seem to be made out of lead, so we're paying more for poison now too.

Shit, man, it sucks to be in the US now, doesn't it.

[Jel]

Originally Posted by Beaver Bob

for sure. A few weeks ago CCBill started using GEOIP targeted join forms and I think that has also had a positive effect on European traffic.

Something I'm thinking about is setting up special higher pricing options for non-American traffic. I'm thinking those memberships could stand to go up a few dollars.

For sure, but ccbill don't have that option

[Beaver Bob]

Originally Posted by Jel

For sure, but ccbill don't have that option

with a geo ip database and some programming it could be done.. all it would need to do is check what country the surfer is coming from and then have it choose the appropiate pricing options on the page before the ccbill join page.

[aj]

Originally Posted by Beaver Bob

A few weeks ago CCBill started using GEOIP targeted join forms and I think that has also had a positive effect on European traffic.

Something I'm thinking about is setting up special higher pricing options for non-American traffic. I'm thinking those memberships could stand to go up a few dollars.

Are you also thinking about setting up special services for your non-American traffic? Sure, everybody is willing to profit from customers paying in Euro. BUT one must understand that "Euroland" is a joint-venture of 18 (!) European countries sharing one currency. About 12 different languages are spoken in these 18 countries.

Most of my fellow German citizens are just to dumb to understand the words "join here". Get what I mean? If one really wants to profit from high Euro a lot of work needs to be done.

So, if you're in need of someone translating your sites into German, just hit me up

By the way: Just refered a PPS at sexmoney which earns me 24,98 Euro - how much is that in dollar again?

[tickler]

Originally Posted by aj

So, if you're in need of someone translating your sites into German, just hit me up

Most of my translating is done by trying to run the text off of foreign language banners/sites through babelfish to try and make text links.

Originally Posted by aj

By the way: Just refered a PPS at sexmoney which earns me 24,98 Euro - how much is that in dollar again?

Gotta love some of those Euro signups. I have about a dozen sponsors billing in €€€ or £££, and they seem to do much better converting foreign traffic. Also a lot of niches are sorta European based, so finding the right sponsors that can actually handle the traffic is a win-win.

[aj]

Originally Posted by tickler

through babelfish

wählen sie hier bitte ihre gewünschte zahlungsart aus
=
select they their desired payment means please here

babelFISHY *lol*
<°((((((><|

[Jel]

Originally Posted by Beaver Bob

with a geo ip database and some programming it could be done.. all it would need to do is check what country the surfer is coming from and then have it choose the appropiate pricing options on the page before the ccbill join page.

Problem is, you can only choose your price point(s) in USD - ccbill then auto-converts at the current exchange rate to the other currencies. So when the surfer (after being geo located) hits the ccbill page, he will still only be charged the same amount of USD as the US surfers.

The only way as far as I can tell is set different prices for the same monthly membership, so 29.95USD, 34.95USD etc, but then still, the surfer gets the drop-down menu in the currency of their location and obviously will choose the lowest.

*edited to add:

I'd love to see someone come up with a solution (for ccbill) though

[papagmp]

Originally Posted by aj

wählen sie hier bitte ihre gewünschte zahlungsart aus
=
select they their desired payment means please here

babelFISHY *lol*
<°((((((><|

Hell AJ, I about laughed my ass of at that one....(go ahead - use an online translation service to translate that)

But it's so simple to "choose your desired payment method here".

And - what is einwanfrie in English?

then sthulgang must be the chair walk.

Es ist alles einfach upgefucked.

Richie.

[tickler]

Originally Posted by Jel

I'd love to see someone come up with a solution (for ccbill) though

I don't know the inner workings of ccBills paysite admin.

Is it possible to setup different sub-accounts(North America, European, etc.) for the same site using different price points, and then geo-ip route the surfer to the appropiate sub-account?|confused|

[shunga]

Without doubt we're all losing out through CCBill not having the option to round up prices to recognisable price points. You could sell EU21.95 just as well as EU21.45, for example. But how long did it take CCBill to implement Geo targetting? CCBill are a little like a supertanker when it comes to opportunities like these; it takes a while to change course.

[Beaver Bob]

Originally Posted by Jel

Problem is, you can only choose your price point(s) in USD - ccbill then auto-converts at the current exchange rate to the other currencies. So when the surfer (after being geo located) hits the ccbill page, he will still only be charged the same amount of USD as the US surfers.

The only way as far as I can tell is set different prices for the same monthly membership, so 29.95USD, 34.95USD etc, but then still, the surfer gets the drop-down menu in the currency of their location and obviously will choose the lowest.

*edited to add:

I'd love to see someone come up with a solution (for ccbill) though

you just have to specify the allowedTypes variable to include only the pricing options you want to use. so you'd just have to populate that with the pricing options you want to use for X country. it should look something like this in your code.

PHP Code:

<input type="hidden" name="allowedTypes" value="0000014114:840,0000041253:840,0000041254:840,0000037618:840"> 


[papagmp]

Why not create separate tours for geo locations and send those tours to a separate CCBill group with different pricing?

[Beaver Bob]

Originally Posted by papagmp

Why not create separate tours for geo locations and send those tours to a separate CCBill group with different pricing?

because theres no need for all the extra subaccounts/tours. you just need to put in the right pricing values in allowedTypes. could be done easily in PHP, provided you have a geoip database from a place like maxmind.

[papagmp]

Originally Posted by Beaver Bob

because theres no need for all the extra subaccounts/tours. you just need to put in the right pricing values in allowedTypes. could be done easily in PHP, provided you have a geoip database from a place like maxmind.

OK - I think I understand the sub-accounts but I'd have the extra tours anyway. If geoip is Germany, why not have a German language tour?

[ecchi]

If you set up different prices for non-US surfers, you will simply not make any non-US sales. Those that never even find out that you charge more outside the US will still simply go to your competitors who are cheaper. And non US customers who find out that you do charge them more will feel they are being ripped off.

What is worse the bitching and whining from these people will probably loose you US sales too, when they start complaining on chat boards that you ripped them off (eg "I paid $49.99 for a sub to XXX.com, then I find that the real price is $29.99, they have been ripping me off for $20 every month, bastards"). Think about it, if you hear a lot of people calling a company a rip-off merchant will you bother to spend time finding out why, or will you just go elsewhere?

[Beaver Bob]

Originally Posted by ecchi

If you set up different prices for non-US surfers, you will simply not make any non-US sales. Those that never even find out that you charge more outside the US will still simply go to your competitors who are cheaper. And non US customers who find out that you do charge them more will feel they are being ripped off.

What is worse the bitching and whining from these people will probably loose you US sales too, when they start complaining on chat boards that you ripped them off (eg "I paid $49.99 for a sub to XXX.com, then I find that the real price is $29.99, they have been ripping me off for $20 every month, bastards"). Think about it, if you hear a lot of people calling a company a rip-off merchant will you bother to spend time finding out why, or will you just go elsewhere?

I'm just talking about increasing it a few dollars for European memberships, nothing to huge. I can see your point tho.

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Beaver Bob

I'm just talking about increasing it a few dollars for European memberships, nothing to huge. I can see your point tho.

Its not the amount, it is the fact that you do it. For years the dollar has been worth around 70p, now it is worth less than 50p, so if you increase a $40 sub to $45 for Europeans, although it is going up by £2.50 for us Brits, in real terms it is still £5.50 cheaper than it used to be. However people don't see that, they see that you are charging them more that Americans, so simply assume you are a dishonest con merchant, and will not buy. And the worst part is that if they talk about you on the web they will simply call you a rip-off artist without explaining that it makes no difference to Americans, so you will loose US custom too.

[Beaver Bob]

Originally Posted by ecchi

Its not the amount, it is the fact that you do it. For years the dollar has been worth around 70p, now it is worth less than 50p, so if you increase a $40 sub to $45 for Europeans, although it is going up by £2.50 for us Brits, in real terms it is still £5.50 cheaper than it used to be. However people don't see that, they see that you are charging them more that Americans, so simply assume you are a dishonest con merchant, and will not buy. And the worst part is that if they talk about you on the web they will simply call you a rip-off artist without explaining that it makes no difference to Americans, so you will loose US custom too.

I think 98% would not even notice.. I haven't tried anything yet but I've worked out how to do it and its something I may do in 2008.

I don't think its all that different then how some programs offer big review sites (Rabbits, TBP) special pricing discounts for their traffic.

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Beaver Bob

I think 98% would not even notice.

I disagree, however neither of us can be certain we are correct.

The bottom line is that you are gambolling your entire business to make a few extra dollars. Is it worth the risk?