Why do CS re-subscriptions cost double?

[Elephant]

A CS subscription is $3/month ... unless you had one before, then it's $6/month. Why is there such a punitive price difference between the two? If anything, I would think you'd want to encourage lapsed CS accounts to resubscribe with a discount.

 

[MichaelSomething]

This is the measure Morrus selected to discourage people from subscribing for one month, downloading all the CSS content, and then stopping their subscriptions.

 

[Morrus]

If anything, I would think you'd want to encourage lapsed CS accounts to resubscribe with a discount.

A discount for a lapsed CS account encourages people to sign up, cancel, then resubscribe at a lower price. Very, very bad idea!

Basically, we had a problem with people signing up for $3, downloading everything, and then cancelling the sub the next day. Which was bound to happen, but I'm trying to discourage people from doing it and take the deal in the spirit it's intended - a subscription, not a bargain bucket sale!

If they still want to sign up, download everything, and then cancel, they can. But they lose what is, essentially, a great "first time" deal.

I wish there were a better way of doing it, but we're technologically limited in that we only have the subscription methods provided by PayPal. Installing our own credit card processor and setting up a merchant bank account, etc., would cost a fortune - and expose me to liability because I'd be storing CC details, which I don't want to do.

It appears to be working, too. Next-day cancellations have dropped by about 75%.

 

[Elephant]

A discount for a lapsed CS account encourages people to sign up, cancel, then resubscribe at a lower price. Very, very bad idea!

I was thinking more along the lines of someone who had a CS account a year ago. Then again, I suppose such people could easily just post and ask for the "normal" rate.

 

[Morrus]

I was thinking more along the lines of someone who had a CS account a year ago. Then again, I suppose such people could easily just post and ask for the "normal" rate.

Yeah, it's not like I can't make exceptions, and I'm easily findable!