Registration fee increased to $19.95

June 16, 1998.

It has always been my policy to charge the lowest price possible for registration of my software. I base this policy on the principle that it's most beneficial to both myself and the end users to have as many people registered and using my software as possible. However, recent increases in my costs have forced me to increase the registration fee.

Theses costs include:

• Web Hosting. My web provider, Simplenet, who has always offered unlimited storage and traffic for $25/mo has just introduced a new policy where they will charge the top 5% of their customers an extra $200/month because their sites are popular. My site is in that list.
• Credit Card Processing. Credit card processing costs continue to rise. My processor has recently added an additional $40/month charge. Credit card processing is an expensive venture, especially for small businesses like my own.

Unfortunately, when faced with these rising costs, I have no choice but to pass on the expense to the end-user.

All other aspects of the registration policy remain the same:

• Your registration is good for life and you will never need to re-register for any reason. All future versions and all past versions are covered by the one-time registration fee. Even if I am forced to raise the price again sometime in the future, your current registration will still be good. No matter what the future holds, I will always be there to support you.
• The one-time registration fee applies to all of my shareware products -- SBNews, SBJV, SBImage Explorer, SBWeather, etc. I am continually adding new products to this list as I come up with new ideas. One registration buys them all!

I've thought long and hard about this decision, and this does constitute the first time in my history as a shareware programmer that I have ever had to raise prices. I made sure to give everyone a minimum two weeks notice (I posted a note on May 28) to make sure nobody was left in the dark who absolutely had to register at the old price.

If you have any comments, please email them to me at smbaker@sb-software.com. I do value your opinions. Many people tell me my software is worth much more than $19.95/registration, and I hope that no one is offended by this increase.

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