Scott,
I think I was contacted properly, and was informed of the new program at the
same time I was told the old program was going away. The problem for me
personally is that I will now be "incented" only 1/4 as well, i.e. $9.75 vs.
$9.00 per domain year. There is zero likelihood I can reach the $9.50 level
anytime soon, so naturally I am disappointed.
Others say I'm complaining about a very small amount of money. But multiply
that .75 times, say, 400 domain years per month, and you get a $300 per
month difference in gross profit, regardless of your business model, and
that will pay the lease payment on a halfway decent car.
The message I hear is that I'm not as valuable to OpenSRS as I once was,
that my business is not the kind of business OpenSRS is looking to attract,
and that RSP's with greater volume get a better rate, which conceivably
allows them to reduce prices or advertise more, thereby increasing volume
even more, and putting me at a competitive disadvantage. That's business, I
understand it, and I can take it. But it does have a measurable impact, it
does alter my business plans to some extent, and it does change the value I
get from OpenSRS.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Allan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2001 5:22 PM
Subject: Re: promotional rebate
> Hi all -
>
> Lots of hot issues to pick to address from the list today... :) Keep 'em
> coming!
>
> First of all, I apologize for any confusion over this issue, I will take
> responsibility for it. I will also do my best to honestly let you know
what
> is going on.
>
> We stopped offering the "Promote Tucows" program quite some time ago (for
> new customers). The primary reason for this was that we felt it was not an
> *effective* program for us anymore. Promoting the content site was not as
> important to us as incenting volume, and we felt that if we want to incent
> something, we should align all our programs to reflect these realities.
>
> While we figured out how best to reward/incent volume, we left everyone
who
> was already on the program on the program. Some time ago, we figured out a
> plan for grandfathered "Promote Tucows" resellers, and decided to contact
> them with details. We have discovered that not all the contacting had been
> done as cleanly as we had hoped, for various reasons. Note that if your
> volumes are quite low, it is possible that you will not qualify for an
> incentive. Although difficult, we have decided that in order to best
> position ourselves, we must do our best to reward and incent volume.
>
> Some of you then received a message announcing the termination of the
> program, without having been otherwise contacted. Argh. We are running
down
> everyone who has an issue, and please feel free to drop us a note (to
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]) if you need further information on this. Again I
> apologize for any stress wrt this.
>
> Regards,
>
> sA
>
> At 06:51 AM 9/13/01 +1000, Jim Carey wrote:
> >I haven't seen anyone here annoyed about the recent removal of the
> >promotional rebate.
> >
> >I am a very small reseller - 180 years last month (this month will be
less
> >for various reasons - I had a lot of problems with my credit card gateway
> >:-( ) but growing slowly and steadily. Have just been investing time and
> >effort into an affiliate scheme with appropriate tracking etc and was
> >planning some local level advertising here in Sydney. My margins are
low -
> >but I have always felt that this business is really an introduction into
> >other services. However I have had the view that this business should
> >provide a small profit and felt that the extra $US1 rebate that would
come
> >per domain when I reached 250 years would be a nice addon - pays a large
> >part of a new server for me.
> >
> >The new affiliate scheme I have been working on should tip me over that
> >level in the next short while (if I now bother to do it now).
> >
> >With the loss of the rebate (just as I am getting there) I am really
rather
> >saddened - a lot of work invested that I may now give up on - and a
rather
> >bad taste in my mouth - some feedback saying:
> >
> >"In regards to the Rebate Program, this specific program is too expensive
to
> >run and is using up valuable advertising space for Tucows. As well most
> >people enrolled in the program are not currently hitting 250 domain names
a
> >month. We have a new pricing structure however, if you register 250+
domain
> >names a month the price will go as low as $x.xxUS per domain."
> >
> >- needless to say the x.xx is not $US9.00.
> >
> >sorry OpenSRS - not happy
> >
> >regards
> >
> >Jim Carey
> >www.OZbcoz.com discount domain registration
> >www.iluvoz.com affordable hosting services
>
> Scott Allan
> Director OpenSRS
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
