Execcive App Price Increases of over 300%. I have a store on Shopify, Like all other shopify store owners I spent a lot of time building my store. I sell personalized products and I subscribed to an app to help customers do that. I spent hundreds of hours setting this up for my hundreds of products. After about a year one of the apps sent me a notification that they would be raising the subscription price by OVER 300%. Yes you read that correctly, OVER 300%. App builders are business owners just like you and I. I know that our costs rise each year and App Builders are not exempt from cost increases. However I want to float an idea to make it fair for all of us. My proposal is that Shopify step in and put into place some safeguards for it’s customers (store owners). My proposal would be to limit App subscrtiption price increases to no more than 10% year over year. 10% increases are and will be huge and far more than normal inflation but it will help customers who buy into an app to not get excessively screwed and held hostage by the app company after investing hundreds of hours to set up the app with your store and products. I am left with the choices of doing it all over again with a different app (hundreds of hours) or not agreeing to the massive increase and have the app stop working shutting me down. Right now Any app can bait you in with a low price and then crank up the prices putting you in a bind without some help from shopify. I am looking for feedback from anyone. App developers work hard and some make some very impressive apps and they should be paid for it. But shopify canand should install protections for it’s customers , 10% year over year is excessive, but fair?
As an app developer I don’t think that’s a healthy idea. 300% is crazy a lot though and I would never get nuts like that. However, imposing limits on app price increases is problematic for a number of reasons.
Thank you for your input. Can you name some reasons? Do you have any suggestions on how to prevent the app developers from holding us and our site hostage to their excessive increases. I mean, I pay the monthly fee but that was such a low part of my investment. How do I protect my investment against preditory developer price increases.We are shopify’s customers, shouldn’t Shopify offer us some “Reasonable” protections?
Don’t get me wrong, I totally see your point. However, yeah, I think this is a slippery slope. I add features all day. The app I build improves dramatically over very short spans which means in two short months it almost has a completely new and additional set of features that it didn’t have two months ago. That’s added value any way you look at it. So, my initial thought is, should I not be compensated for that if the value two months ago corresponded to the feature set two months ago? (this is all hypothetical to show a point - I’m not changing my prices - but I’m constantly adding value).
If you impose a rule like, “Cannot increase prices more than 10% / year” then you are hamstringing app developers that continually add value. It forces them into a model that says, “if you want this new feature then you’re going to have to buy it separately” and Shopify’s app system simply does not allow an easy path for that. Sure you can make “one-time” purchases, but that’s essentially an entirely new subscription. I would say doing this is more of a negative for everybody because it stunts growth of the ecosystem.
So what’s the solution? I think this is more of a moral choice than anything. You should be grandfathered. This is a choice the app developer decided NOT to do and to me that’s the wrong way about it. BUT… there’s nothing wrong with it. Maybe a better move is to go find another app? Let’s say you can’t - ok, then maybe that developer has enough value in their product that the increase is justified? Why is there NOT another app? I think that’s worth investigating too as this feels like the app was maybe underpriced to begin with.
For the record, you should be paid for your work. Absolutely no questions. There are other apps I can choose from. Changing apps will cost me dearly in time and labor costs. My investment was more than just the monthly app subscription. And they can do it again anytime they want to. THERE IS NO REASON TO THINK THAT THEY WON’T DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN BECAUSE THEY HAVE ALREADY SHOWN THAT THEY WILL. I guess what I am saying is for Shopify to sell stores, they need to add some protections for you and me. We are all here to make a living and pay the bills. Shop owners beware, you are not in control of your own shop.
I build Shopify apps so I can share the other side of this.
300% is wild. I won’t defend that. But a flat 10% cap would have some unintended consequences. A lot of indie developers launch apps underpriced to get initial traction, then adjust to something sustainable once they understand their costs. A hard cap would push developers to price high from day one instead, which is worse for everyone.
DougInOr makes a good point about grandfathering. That’s what I’d focus on if Shopify wanted to address this. Instead of capping increases, require developers to grandfather existing subscribers at their original price tier for at least 12 months after a price change. New merchants pay the new price, existing ones keep what they signed up for.
The practical thing you can do right now: before committing hundreds of hours to any app, check if there’s a cheaper alternative with similar features. Also look at the developer’s pricing history in the App Store reviews. Merchants usually call out big price hikes in their reviews, so that’s a useful signal before you invest the setup time.
What app was it, if you don’t mind sharing? Might help others avoid the same situation.
Let the market decide. If people want to pay for the increase, they should be able to. If not, then they will find someone else to provide their needed services. I’m not a fan at all of forcing or limiting someone else’s profits just because you don’t like it.
If it’s worth the money, then suck it up and fork it over. If not, move on and give another developer a chance. You have to weigh it out yourself. Is what you get out of it worth paying ____? Like others have saud, it was probably underpriced.
Or make it yourself. Shopify has already provided you the tools if you so choose.
Again I have no problem with app developers getting paid. Obviously I thought it was worth it because I subscribed. After subscribing and agreeing to pay the fees, I then spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to make the app work with my products. Happy to do it. Obviously. Then as sales grew the app developer who can see my sales tripled my costs. And tomorrow if they choose they can do it again, in any amount they want. No limits forcing me to pay up, invest hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars doing the same work to set up my products all over again just hoping that the new app’s developer doesn’t do the same thing. Now, I do not want to name the app. If they will triple your costs, they certainly can retaliate. I think ethics is out the door. I have to say they did give me a grace period before the new billing starts and I appreciate that. I do. I guess I am still in shock that someone else is in control of my business and my income. I just didn’t see this as a possibility when moving my store(s) to Shopify. To be honest I feel very vulnerable right now. And boy I dread having to do all that work over again. Maybe if Shopify were to triple their take from the app developers overnight, the developers may see things differently. Maybe not. Thanks for the input though, I sincerely appreciate it.
I will say… I don’t think anyone disagrees with you. But as I said, controls like you have suggested are a slippery slope.
Looks like it’s Teeinblue Product Personalizer?
Is $49/month a price after raise?
I’d say it’s excessive for your use case, but it can be that app dev has indeed added a bunch of functions which do not add value for you.
Frankly, I believe for your case it can be re-done as a custom section/block for a price of just several months of app usage. Then it’s completely yours.
Oh Tim, why? This was not about who is doing it, it is about the vulnerability of store owners, who are Shopify’s customers, who I think deserve some sort of protections from preditory pricing from developers. And what I mean about preditory, an app dev. can monitor your sales and jack up your prices as much as they want if they decide they want more of your sales. Any app developer can do it.
TIB did change their pricing from $59 a month for up to 350 orders to $49 a month for up to 100 orders per month. Then fees apply per order after the included amount of orders.
“Frankly, I believe for your case it can be re-done as a custom section/block for a price of just several months of app usage. Then it’s completely yours.”
tim_1 Tell me more please