Pricing Strategy

Status: Active Last Updated: 2025-11-02 Related Docs: Cost Model, Product Reference, Architecture

EPGOAT's pricing strategy balances accessibility, sustainability, and value differentiation.

Core Principles

1. Fair & Transparent: No hidden fees, clear value per tier
2. Grandfathered Pricing: Lock in early adopters at their original price
3. Lifetime Options: True lifetime licenses with clear scope
4. Recurring Discounts: Reward loyalty with 10% off renewals
5. Trial-First: Low-friction trials with watermarked logos

Product SKUs

Provider Packs

Pre-built EPG feeds for specific IPTV providers (e.g., Trex, Strong8k).

Tiers:

Notes: - Annual = ~2 months free vs monthly - Lifetime = ~2-3 years at monthly rate - Trial: 7 days free with watermarked logos

BYO Builder (Bring Your Own)

Custom EPG generation for user-uploaded M3U playlists.

Tiers:

Notes: - Standard perfect for single-user setups - Premium for power users with multiple providers - Family for household sharing - Trial: 14 days free with watermarked logos

Add-Ons

Logo Packs

• Price: $1.99/month or $19.99/year
• Includes: Channel logos, network bugs, sport league badges
• Trial: Included in base trial but watermarked

Premium Metadata

• Price: +$2/month on any tier
• Includes: Rich XMLTV tags (cast, ratings, episode numbers, artwork URLs)
• Bundled: Included in Pro/Premium/Family tiers

Alerts & Notifications

• Free: Email alerts for upcoming events
• Paid: +$1.99/month for SMS, Discord DM, Telegram alerts
• Limits: Free tier = 10 alerts/month, Paid = unlimited

Community Sponsorships

• Price: Free (random draw)
• Includes: 1-3 months of logo pack add-on
• Eligibility: Active subscribers, cooldown after gifting
• Transparency: Public metrics on draw fairness

Pricing Policies

Grandfathered Pricing

• Policy: Active subscribers keep original price forever
• Grace Period: 30 days to re-subscribe at old rate after lapse
• Documentation: Clearly stated in ToS and account dashboard

Lifetime License Scope

• Coverage: Lifetime of EPGOAT consumer service
• Includes: Core features at time of purchase
• Excludes: Future premium add-ons (unless explicitly stated)
• Sunset Procedure: If service discontinues:
• 90-day advance notice
• Pro-rated refund option for annual subscribers
• Lifetime holders: full year of continued access OR 50% refund

Recurring Discount

• Rate: 10% off all renewals
• Applies To: Monthly and annual renewals
• Implementation: Stripe coupon auto-applied on renewal
• Lifetime: N/A (no renewals)

Trial Policies

• Duration:
• Provider Packs: 7 days
• BYO Builder: 14 days
• Limits:
• One trial per email
• Watermarked logos during trial
• Full feature access otherwise
• Conversion: No auto-charge; requires explicit opt-in

Refund Policy

• Within 7 days: Full refund, no questions asked
• After 7 days: Case-by-case (service outages, billing errors)
• Lifetime: 30-day money-back guarantee
• Annual: Pro-rated refund within first 30 days

Promotional Strategies

Seasonal Campaigns

Black Friday / Cyber Monday: - 18-month pricing (pay for 12, get 18) - Lifetime licenses at 25% off - Limited-time only - Loyalty badge for participants

New Year / January: - "New Year, New Guide" campaign - First month at 50% off monthly plans - Encourage annual conversions

Sports Seasons: - UFC PPV season kick-off discounts - NFL season pass promo (Sept-Oct) - Boxing PPV bundles

Referral Program

• Referrer: 1 month free for each conversion
• Referee: First month at 50% off
• Cap: Max 3 free months per year via referrals

Affiliate Program

• Commission: 20% recurring for first 12 months
• Who: IPTV bloggers, YouTubers, Discord server admins
• Tracking: UTM codes + affiliate IDs
• Payout: Monthly via PayPal/Stripe Connect

Community Sponsorships

• Frequency: Monthly draw
• Prize: 1-3 months of logo pack add-on (random)
• Weighted Draw: Favor never-sponsored and longest-since-sponsored
• Disqualifiers: Active gift or sponsorship within past 3 months
• Transparency: Publish monthly draw results

Competitive Positioning

vs. Free EPG Sources

• Them: Generic, unreliable, missing sports events
• Us: Sports-focused, accurate, auto-updating

vs. Provider-Bundled EPG

• Them: Often broken, no customization, provider-locked
• Us: Cross-provider, custom feeds, reliable

vs. Premium EPG Services

• Them: $10-20/month, enterprise-focused
• Us: $3-7/month, consumer-friendly, lifetime options

Revenue Projections

Year 1 Targets (Conservative)

Assumptions: - 500 paying users by month 12 - 60% Provider Packs, 40% BYO Builder - 70% monthly, 25% annual, 5% lifetime - 20% attach rate on add-ons

MRR Projection: - Provider Packs: 300 users × $4.50 avg = $1,350/mo - BYO Builder: 200 users × $7.50 avg = $1,500/mo - Add-ons: 100 users × $2 avg = $200/mo - Total MRR: ~$3,050/mo

Annual Revenue (conservative): - Recurring: $3,050 × 12 = $36,600 - Annual/Lifetime upfront: ~$10,000 - Year 1 Total: ~$46,000

Cost Structure (Year 1)

• Infrastructure: $50-200/mo (scales with users)
• External APIs: $50-150/mo (SportsDB, SportsData)
• Stripe fees: ~3% of revenue (~$115/mo at target)
• Domain/email/misc: $50/mo
• Total Costs: ~$300-500/mo = $3,600-6,000/year

Net Profit: ~$40,000-42,000 in Year 1 (if targets met)

Pricing Experiments

A/B Tests to Run

1. Trial Duration: 7 days vs 14 days (conversion rate impact)
2. Watermark Visibility: Subtle vs prominent (trial-to-paid conversion)
3. Lifetime Price Points: $99 vs $149 vs $199 (uptake rate)
4. Annual Discount: 2 months free vs 3 months free (annual adoption)
5. Add-On Bundling: Separate vs bundled into Premium tier

Price Anchoring

• Show annual savings: "Save $30/year!"
• Lifetime badge: "Best Value - Pay Once, Use Forever"
• Compare to competition: "50% less than competitors"

Urgency Tactics

• Limited-time seasonal promos
• "Early adopter" pricing for first 1000 users
• Countdown timers on promo pages

Fair Use & Abuse Prevention

Device Limits

• Basic/Standard: 3-5 devices
• Plus/Premium: 5-10 devices
• Pro/Family: 10-15 devices

Enforcement: Soft caps initially, hard caps if sharing detected

Rate Limiting

• Per IP: 100 EPG fetches/day (reasonable for auto-refresh)
• Per Account: 500 fetches/day across all devices
• Abuse Threshold: Flag if >1000 fetches/day

Actions on Abuse: 1. Warning email 2. Temporary throttle (slower response times) 3. CAPTCHA requirement 4. Account suspension + manual review

Sharing Detection

• Multiple IPs accessing same token simultaneously (>5 IPs/hour)
• Abnormal fetch patterns (different time zones, user agents)
• Residential proxy fingerprinting

Response: - Token rotation (invalidate old URLs) - Account review - Upgrade prompt ("Need more devices? Try Family plan!")

Stripe Implementation

Products & Prices

• Create Stripe Product per SKU
• Create Prices for monthly/annual/lifetime
• Use coupons for recurring discount (10% renewal)

Subscription Logic

• Monthly: auto-renew with 10% coupon on 2nd+ billing
• Annual: auto-renew with 10% coupon on 2nd+ year
• Lifetime: one-time charge, no renewal

Webhooks

• invoice.payment_succeeded: Provision access
• customer.subscription.deleted: Revoke access (after grace period)
• invoice.payment_failed: Dunning sequence (retry, then downgrade)

Grandfathering

• Store original price in customer metadata
• On renewal, override with original price instead of current price
• Enforce via webhook logic

Public Pricing Page

Messaging

Headline: "Accurate EPG for Live Sports — No More Guessing"

Subheadline: "Get reliable program guides for UFC, boxing, NFL, and more. Works with your existing IPTV player."

Social Proof: - "Join 500+ sports fans who never miss a fight" - Testimonials from beta users - Trust badges (Secure, Privacy-Focused, etc.)

FAQ: - What if my provider isn't supported? (BYO Builder!) - Can I try before buying? (Yes, 7-14 day trial) - What if prices increase later? (Grandfathered!) - Is this legal? (Yes, we generate metadata only)

Related Documentation

• Cost Model - Infrastructure costs
• Fair Use Policy - Usage limits (TODO)
• ADR: Pricing & Access v0 - Formal pricing decisions
• Product Features - Feature-to-tier mapping