void — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 13:29:49 +0000

Yea I agree with what other guys have mentioned above and you don’t have to worry much about these kinds of customers as they are a part and parcel in any business so just handle them tactfully.
No person can say any **** to you about your prices as it’s your own personal business which you are looking after and it’s not some ‘fixed-price’ thing by which you are bonded. You are the owner of the business so you’ll decide the price of your service and not the customer, you can tell her that it was the best package you could make available to all your customers and come on guys we all want to be filthy rich, okay so let us just do it,,,right??

Greg K — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 05:33:02 +0000

It is called free choice. They didn't sign up and agree to pay you a certain profit, they agreed to pay a certain price. If your costs change, that is completely up to you if you adjust those prices. And just as it is your choice to change the prices, it is their choice to switch to another provider.

Kinda reminds me of Matthew 20:1-15, don't complain what you agree to...

-Greg

Dudester — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 04:24:38 +0000

Hi Frank,

Our domain prices were based on a markup of just $1 around 18 months ago and in that time span the registrars prices have plumeted and there are still many other operators charging well above us. The Australian .com.au market has only just started becoming competitive.

Your second point is the annoying thing, as we offer many other features and value added services which we dont charge for, this site was even going to be a freebie. (WAS!)

Thanks for your comments....

FrankR — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 03:36:54 +0000

If you can get away with a 300% markup on domain registrations with your customers then you are doing a fantastic marketing job! You should be firm and polite with your disgruntled customer, but be careful.

If after politely explaining the whole package you offer, if the customer is still angry you might consider offering to give her a partial refund and help her move to another provider of her choosing. A happy ex-customer may tell nobody about her problems, but an unhappy one will tell many people how bad you are.

Remember to negotiate on packages and not just price. Your offerings must balance price, features, and service level. All of these components all interconnected and must remain balanced.

Frank

Dudester — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 02:25:48 +0000

Thanks for your response and your support.

Its the first irrate customer I have had out of the 60 or so I have in my Reseller Acc now. Took me a little by surprise as most clients rave over how low priced we are !!
And what tops it off is I was actually building her 1 page site free this time too !!

Cant win them all I guess.....
(Next time I wont be offerring freebies)

andy206uk — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 01:25:09 +0000

Firstly your client is an idiot - how exactly does he expect you to stay in business if you don't mark up the prices you pay? Businesses need profit to survive. End of.

If he continues to argue, ask him if he would supply his customers with his service without marking up his cost price. He wouldn't... and he shouldn't expect you to do the same. If he says yes, then he's probably struggling to stay afloat which is why he's quibbling a few dollars here and there.

Tell him that the mark up on the base price covers your time and effort to handle the registration process and renewals for him - if he doesn't like it, transfer the domains to his own account and leave him to it. Client's like that really aren't worth the hassle.

(these are the same type of customers who expect cheap websites because their next door neighbours 13 year old nephew will build him a site for free!)

Ok... rant over.