I've grown tired of giving software away. So, I want to experiment with recouping some of the costs. I'm wrestling with pricing. I don't want to go too low as I'm concerned people will think it's cheap, and not too high as I want it to be easily affordable by average folks. I see value in micro-payments, but google check-out charges 2.9% + .30 cents a pop. So, I need the range (I think) to be $5.00 to $25.00. I feel both extremes are bad. Any suggestions?
The single best advice I've ever heard for pricing: charge more.<p>Seriously. Whatever number you're thinking of, it is too low. Think of a number that makes you wince. That number is too low, too.<p>Many people here will suggest you charge like $5 or $10. These people are unwilling to buy your application at any price. They are not your customers. Their opinion on your price is irrelevant. (I mean this in the nicest possible way, guys.)<p>Charge for value. It isn't a "little" app or a "simple" app. Your customers are not programmers and do not know how many LOC it was (or, on the other extreme, how much loving care you put into it). They only see the value delivered to them. Price appropriate to the value.<p>People pay more money than you will ask, far more, for things which matter far less to them. Always remember that!<p>Charge more.
A domain name is $10 a year, and hosting at GoDaddy was about $4 a month back when I used it for selling downloadable software. "Recouping the costs" is setting your ambitions way, waaaaaay too low. (Indeed, if you're a professional programmer, the biggest cost <i>by far</i> is the imputed value of your time.)
Have you tried putting it online with a paypal donate button? That's worked wonders for our site and we make more than enough to break even. You'll find that firearms enthusiasts are generally a generous and thankful bunch and if you phrase a request for donation the right way they'll be more than happy to contribute towards your expenses.<p>I know of one who made a similar app for airgun users that is free but has nag screens but most everyone I know on the airgun forums have shot over (excuse the pun) the small fee to get rid of them out of gratitude for the app, which we all have found quite useful.<p><a href="http://www.chairgun.com/offset/chairgun2.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.chairgun.com/offset/chairgun2.htm</a>
I would tend towards the higher price as long as your app is good value. You always have to compete the the "I could write that myself" viewpoint - but make it clear that the $25 will save the customer several hours work and meet their needs and you probably have a sale.<p>Try before you buy is the time honoured way of proving utility and value but that adds the cost of adding security to the app. Perhaps an unconditional money back guarantee?
I was going to say $19.95 (which is a de facto standard for moderately priced installable software), but then I read your description below and I think it just won't sell.<p>Expecting people to pay anything over $5 for a command line tool is unrealistic. And if it is priced at $5, then it won't sell because $5 is just not worth a hassle of paying for the users. Unless, of course, there is a streamlined purchasing mechanism. One click checkout that pre-fills the credit card info and such, but again that's not an option.<p>I would strongly suggest creating a GUI version of the tool and then it may have a chance of selling at $10 to $20 range .. though again .. know thy customers - people who make the ammunition at home typically do so because it cuts their costs. This means that you will need to somehow convince these cheap bastards that your app is worth paying for, and it's not an easy thing to do.
I'd suggest $9.99 with a "trial". Give them a few calculations for free and then shut it down until they register.<p>I'd also suggest setting up a free web version but under a completely different name and domain. Slap on some relevant ads (Adsense, ebay, etc).<p>You're note going to destroy your market either way. You're not making anything right now, so experiment!
Oldie but goodie: <a href="http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CamelsandRubberDuckies.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CamelsandRubberDuckie...</a><p>In my startup one of the mistakes we made early was pricing things too low.