Lifetime Membership Snag

by kjdavis

Posted: 11 years ago 17 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

I run a fitness membership site with a couple of colleagues and we recently launched a hugely successful lifetime membership deal. Basically members can access their workout content for as long as they wish and also use our forums.

I was flagged by my credit card processing company because they say lifetime memberships open us up to potential fraud and charge backs on the future. What he says makes total sense and I'm glad he brought it up.

He requested that I put a time limit on the content offered and state so clearly on the site. So now my predicament is what do I tell the dozens of members who already made a purchase?

Our idea was to create package after X amount of months and send them the content in their email. But if I go and change the wording on my sales page now, I have all of these members who made the purchase already.

Hindsight...

Thanks for your comments.

#lifetime #membership #snag

stoltingmediagroup 11 years ago

1. You could change your offer on your site as per requested by your credit card processor and simply don't offer anymore lifetime memberships. You have the right to do that, and companies change their terms and offers all the time. However, those who already signed up would expect to continue receiving what they paid for, thus you should continue serving your lifetime members.

Did you processor give you any advice as to what to do with your current members?

2. You could use a membership script and payment processor that supports offering lifetime memberships.
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- brentb 11 years ago
  
  Just put in your terms and conditions that lifetime means as long as the site is up and running and guarnatees no longer than 1 year from time of purchase. or something to that effect. That really is the best way to do it. This will be enough proof if chargebacks come in that you kept your obligations and you should win.
  
  *BTW I didn't spend much time writing the best wording, just general idea of it. So really think about it or get an attorney to come up with the lingo for you.
  
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  wordwizard 11 years ago
  
  Lifetime membership always is a matter of WHOSE lifetime? Obviously, it would have to be the lifetime of the site (or site owners).
  
  While you should reword it in a more limited way, no one would hold you to it if you provided services for a longer period of time. There are benefits to having lifetime members, so it could work out great for you if you provided services on an ongoing basis...
  
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Gengis 11 years ago

Wow sorry about the situation.. If they didn't give you a time limit, just no lifetime membership maybe you can change it to 120 months or something that's long enough where you won't seem like you're the bad person now to your existing members.

Good luck!

Gengis
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pewpewpewmonkeys 11 years ago

Just put in your terms and conditions that lifetime means as long as the site is up and running and guarnatees no longer than 1 year from time of purchase.

Then that would be a 1 year membership, not a lifetime membership.
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- Gengis 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by pewpewpewmonkeys
  
  Then that would be a 1 year membership, not a lifetime membership.
  
  Exactly what I was thinking when I read this lol..
  
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- brentb 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by pewpewpewmonkeys
  
  Then that would be a 1 year membership, not a lifetime membership.
  
  No, when you sell a lifetime membership it CANNOT be the users lifetime, it needs to revolve around the lifetime of the site or service.
  
  This should be in your terms, not advertised all over the page. You obviously fully intend to give them service for as long as possible but the terms text will cover you in terms of chargebacks. This will not stop people from buying. For example sites terms receive less than a 0.5% of page views so even though its kind of strict in terms of if you cancelled out your site, the effect on purchases will be negligible.
  
  If you offer a membership without upsells or future periods in packages you are missing out on free money. A dollar today is worth more than a dollar next year, its Time value of money. So it is FARRRRR better for someone to purchase a lifetime membership than pay monthly, or pay yearly over quarterly.
  
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NewParadigm 11 years ago

maybe hit them w/ they are paying for the 1st year or first 2 yrs whatever.....then free renewals after that. same thing but may satisfy your CC merch
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Jack Gordon 11 years ago

Yeah, this is not a real problem, it is a positioning opportunity.

Charge $xx/month for a year or two, then anyone who is still with you gets to stay free for life.

Problem solved. No merchant processor will object to that.
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pewpewpewmonkeys 11 years ago

Charge /month for a year or two, then anyone who is still with you gets to stay free for life.
Problem solved.

More like problem-created. Then you're advertising a monthly membership with this lofty idea of making it into a year membership in the back end - which is a completely different product to the consumer - who feels they are buying a monthly membership, not a lifetime membership.

OP, look at the warriorforum War Room pricing wordage ... It's "Only A One Time Fee - Not Monthly" and then when you order you're officially ordering a 20 year membership. Not "lifetime", but also far far into the future.
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Some cause-oriented hackers recently hacked one of my websites. So I researched what they're about and then donated a large sum of money to the entity they hate the most.

The next time they hack one of my websites I'm going to donate DOUBLE.
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Jack Gordon 11 years ago

Not at all.

Lifetime membership is the goal. Merchant companies like defined, short- term commitments. Lifetime is not short-term or easily definable.

The defined terms are (for example) $xx/month for up to two years, cancellable at any time. As a bonus for those who stick with it, at the end of two years you get a lifetime membership for free.

Two programs, independently presented. One leads to the other, at the option of the customer.
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pewpewpewmonkeys

11 years ago

The defined terms are (for example) /month for up to two years, cancellable at any time. As a bonus for those who stick with it, at the end of two years you get a lifetime membership for free.

And most consumers reading this will think "WTF" and be turned off by all the weird hoops.

Two programs, independently presented.

If the membership lengths are "independently presented" then you are not meeting the original goal - which was to offer the consumer a "lifetime" (or very long) membership plan. You have now changed the offer.
Example:
If I offer you 2 watermelons for $10 and then after you pay me I give you 8 more watermelons - this is not the same as if I had originally offered 10 watermelons for $10. It might mathematically add up to be the same in the end, but it is not the same to the consumer who is the one making the judgement call on whether or nor to purchase.

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Mike Hill 11 years ago

You could change your policy as per your CC processors instructions and go from Lifetime access to 5 years access and then just $1 to secure for another 5 years... Not a huge issue really. Use some wordsmithing in there to make it sound like an even better deal than Lifetime access.

You can even blame the Credit Card companies for forcing you to put a limit on your membership access due to the popularity of the product which is true. And go on to further explain that they will get 5 years access and then $1 for another 5 years continued access.

The 5 years is access in which they paid for with your guarantee... NOT a guarantee or your money back anytime within 5 years.

You could also further strengthen your end against charge backs by shipping them a DVD that is a bonus but if they want their money back they have to send the DVD back. This solidifies the fact they received something... etc.
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Jack Gordon 11 years ago

Pew, you are over-complicating it.

Mike, merchant processors won't like 5 years any more than they like lifetime. They like month-to-month.
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pewpewpewmonkeys 11 years ago

Pew, you are over-complicating it.

You got our posts mixed up.

Mike, merchant processors won't like 5 years any more than they like lifetime. They like month-to-month.

Which is why the War Room membership is set at 20 years.
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Some cause-oriented hackers recently hacked one of my websites. So I researched what they're about and then donated a large sum of money to the entity they hate the most.

The next time they hack one of my websites I'm going to donate DOUBLE.
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pewpewpewmonkeys

11 years ago

No, when you sell a lifetime membership it CANNOT be the users lifetime, it needs to revolve around the lifetime of the site or service.

Which has absolutely nothing to do with your original comment about "lifetime means ... no longer than 1 year from time of purchase."

1 year =/= lifetime

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brentb

11 years ago

Originally Posted by pewpewpewmonkeys

Which has absolutely nothing to do with your original comment about "lifetime means ... no longer than 1 year from time of purchase."

1 year =/= lifetime

You just edited my quote like a crooked politician would! LOL

Originally Posted by brentb

...guarnatees no longer than 1 year from time of purchase.

Please tell me I don't need to give an English lesson here...

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Lifetime Membership Snag

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