>>"As much as I'd love to sell domains at$6.00 per year and make $5.00 profit per sale..."
I'd have to disagree with your margin statement. To me that sounds analogous to saying Tucows can't tack on $4 per year over GoDaddy and be viable. Perhaps it depends on who you target and your access to customers - many, many customers are not all that sensitive to price (such that $2 or $3/ year is significant) - many value knowing stuff will work in a Mission Critical kind of way. I also secretly suspect that sellers that jump on the 'price-war' bandwagon end up TEACHING this price-sensitivity behavior to consumers by endlessly pointing out the high prices of their competitors. Shooting the Golden Goose in the foot. Tsk Tsk. I would certainly be happy to boost my margins a wee bit more. In most business models a 40% gross margin is hideously thin. 80-90% is preferred. I suspect (just a hunch) we sometimes project on to our customers assumptions about what does and does not elicit the "buy" decision. This may or may not be the case in your particular situation, but I think it is worth consideration. Scott "Margin is My Friend" Schiller Best, Scott Schiller GIA Web Services, Inc. 10575 NE 4th Bellevue, WA 98004 US PHN: +1.206.914.4755 FAX: +1.425.454.7458 EML: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --Get your @ together!-- http://domainalchemy.com http://weregisternames.com > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Spy OpenSRS Mail > Sent: Friday, December 14, 2001 2:36 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: GoDaddy vrs RSP's > > > Gents, Ladies. > > I personally got a lot out of this string. I know it is > important to understand the competition, and undoubtedly > GoDaddy will become our bane in the months and years to come. > > Thanks to just about everyone that offered some facts. I'd > like to add my 2 cents to this. > > 1. A GoDaddy partner is an indentured servant. You don't own > the customer, they do. 2. A GoDaddy partner has no control. > 3. Although they pay you a bounty, it is fixed. You don't > dictate what your time is worth. 4. They gain the > relationship with the customer. 5. They use the Microsoft > mentality. From controlling your cc rates to becoming > intimate with your customer, you set yourself up to be cut > off if you work with them. > > If you want peace and love these days, you have to pay for > it. Everything comes at a price. As much as I'd love to sell > domains at $6.00 per year and make $5.00 profit per sale, > that is just not realistic. > > Collectively we need to hold the line and build on our > relationship with our customers. I'll state the obvious, > teach your customers. The more they understand why they > should pay $11 to $25 per domain with an RSP, the sooner > GoDaddy will find out they can't survive long term. They can > sell off to AT&T or some other bozo conglomerate that pays > too much for its acquisition and die off too, (Excite @Home > for example). And I was thinking about a bowling lane in my > office too... > > My whole point is justify your price. Bend but don't break. > If you throw in with GoDaddy you are putting a gun to your > head. Maybe not today but sooner or later the trigger will > pull. I tease here a lot but I'm not joking now. > > Perhaps this is just a good conversation and no one is > actually concerned about GoDaddy. Despite GoDaddy's claims, > we (Spy) have seen in increase of domain registrations of > about 30% in the past two months and hosting is way way up. > People just want solid value for a buck. > > PS: Didn't anyone get Kai Sch�tzl's note that this topic > should be on Biz Ops? :) Luv ya Kai. ;) > > And I didn't say "blow me" I said "that's below me". <laugh> > > Regards, > Lars Hindsley > SpyProductions >
