www.hellofax.com<p>There are some huge online faxing players, like eFax, but we're trying to emphasize usability in a way that none of the other players are doing.<p>1. If you were making the ideal / online faxing startup, what would you do?<p>2. A different business model?
-The standard model is users pay a monthly X dollars for Y faxes, usually around $10 for 400 faxes. But, these players lose out on lower volume customers who don't want to pay monthly rates
-Skype-style pre-charge with the option of a monthly rate for those who want a unique fax number. 20 cents a page. But, if a user spends $10 in one month, we give him/her a few hundred free pages for that month.
-What do you think?<p>3. What features would it take to get you or people you know to use it?
-We're thinking about different "killer features" we could use to pull people in.<p>If you want to test hellofax, it comes with 3 pages automatically. But, ping me at joseph@hellofax.com and I'll give you more credit.<p>I really, really appreciate feedback. Thanks for reading.
I love this idea. I keep asking friends about a reasonable online fax service, and the only one that keeps coming up is eFax, which seems good for businesses, doesn't seem to serve individuals well.<p>Most of us never need to send faxes, until we need do. When we need to deal with faxing, it's likely related to some event. A job offer, housing paperwork, refinancing, etc.<p>I would love the following two payment options:<p>- $1-$5 to send a fax. This seems totally within reason. Driving to find someplace with a fax, waiting in line, exposing your document to some clerk, etc. The one-time fee gives me the service I want with no commitment.<p>- $10-$20 for bigger faxing 'events'. I should be able to send unlimited faxes (which in reality will be <10 but makes me feel better they are not metered) AND have a temporary incoming fax number that I can receive faxes on, which forward to an email address. This service could be available for 30 calendar days from the moment you buy.<p>Nail those two things and I think you've nailed the modern use cases for faxing.
I'm a fan. I'm from a niche market who need to receive faxes more than I send them. I'd kill for a small, annual plan that just lets me receive without signing up for monthly payments or attaching it to sending credits.<p>A la carte all the way. I'm unsure if competitors offer this.<p>Hope this helps.
Useful startup. I had to send a fax recently to renew my SSL cert - and a lot of your competition are sharks - trying to trick people into paying monthly (and making those subscripts hard to cancel).<p>So, some practical advice:<p>* I would implement Amazon FPS. Your target audience is likely to have an Amazon account - so FPS would make it quick and easy to pay.<p>* I would keep the per-page model.<p>* I couldn't see an email-to-fax feature, but that would be a useful one.
I like it! I've had to use one of the other online faxing services a couple times lately and a per-month fee was way too much for sending a whopping two faxes.
I have been an eFax user for many years. I completely overpay for the service (monthly charge) since I only send a receive faxes occasionally. Neverthless I still need the service for the sending of fax from my computer and the receiving of faxes into my computer. I no longer own a fax machine. I would like to see a side by side chart comparison between your service and eFax to help make a decision to switch.
As far as pricing, you may have to do better.<p>Outgoing: I use greenfax.com for sending 7 cents per page, 5 cents per page after with no setup fees.<p>For receiving, used Packetel for unlimited fax-to-email (PDF) for $3.95/mo, they have since been acquired so now I use:
Popfax $5.49/mo - unlimited incoming<p>I suppose if it's easy to use on a web browser, it may not be too bad.
I use onesuite.com to receive faxes. They charge $1 per month and forward received faxes by email. There is no per fax fee.<p>The thing they are missing is a way to send faxes. I usually go to Kinko's and spend a dollar a page to send. I guess if I used it more I'd think about optimizing.
I love this. I don't usually have to fax stuff but, when the need arises (usually 4-5 times a year), this is how I'll send them.<p>I've used a few of the other online services before but canceling a monthly plan was like pulling teeth. I love the idea of being able pay by the page.
We were joking that we were going to try to pitch a fax-based startup to VCs this year - just to see what their reaction would be.<p>Actually this is kind of cool though :)<p>I think if you keep it simple and convenient, it's nice.
How much is your rates? Can you do a prepaid plan like Onesuite? Onesuite rates is good for both medium and low volume users. Also how about sending international fax?
I use Grasshopper, but they can't send a fax. This looks like a service I was looking for a couple of months ago, but couldn't find.<p>Everything wanted me to sign up for $5 a month or more. Or I could send one fax for $3 dollars. I forget the exact numbers, but I remember being annoyed.<p>You are now bookmarked! Though, you'll be lucking to make $10 per year off me given my limited faxing needs.