

Ask HN: Has any SaaS company successfully used a 'name your price' pricing plan? - keade

As much as fixed pricing plans make sense, has any company successfully used a pricing option similar to how insurance companies and travel sites use "name your price" features?<p>My initial thought is that it may lead to many customers with a $1 payment, but some may pay derive more value, therefore paying above your fixed pricing tiers.<p>Thoughts?
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hopeless
Why would you want to do this? What's the motivation?

If it's "this is a great marketing strategy" well, um, maybe but hopefully you
have better ways getting your customers to hear of you.

If it's "this would be a fair way of matching value provided to cost", well,
um, maybe but I think you're still better off naming a few different price
points to cover your intended customer segments.

If it's "I don't know what this is worth, you decide", well, no, just no. Man
up, make a decision and name a fair price. You don't get to cop out of making
the hard decisions if you want to have any hope of making money. Also, if you
don't know what the service is worth then I strongly suspect your customers
won't either and perhaps you don't have a viable business.

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keade
Was more of a curious inquisition into if this model had been attempted, not a
"should I do this".

In the examples in description, insurance and travel, there is a demand
seeking a supply and the supplier gets to choose if the price is right to fill
their void.

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ActVen
I would think about how this pricing model might compare to that of bands that
offer a name your own price donation for an album. Wikipedia is another
possible example i.e. software/information for a donation. Those aren't direct
examples...but they might provide some insight.

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keade
Is Wikipedia's donation data open? Would be interesting to see statistics on
donation amount vs. usage / contribution to the knowledge base.

Good thought on the band's album donations.

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manidoraisamy
Google AdWords and bidding systems might fit this bill

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manidoraisamy
I guess it works when customers are competing for limited resources. Could you
create a supply limit in SaaS that customers would compete to buy?

