Ah, yes…
The infamous lifetime deal.
Miraculously cheap, you think… if you could use it for the rest of your lifetime.
But wait…
How many companies will last your entire lifetime besides Walmart? Not many.
Quite a few will last 10 years, though.
So, if you pay $40 for that one lifetime VPN or web hosting package?
Well… that’s basically $4 per year with that math!
Who could argue there if it’s a decent service?
Here’s the problem:
If you pay a provider one time for a service, their bills don’t stop coming in every month. The only way to sustain your service is by charging more people for lifetime services.
Which sure, can work for a while…
But it’s not something you’ll see being done by the same business 11 years from now. In other words, it’s bad for both parties.
The customer has to deal with a poorer quality service because the provider often has to cut corners, cram, and oversell the offer to sustain it. The business has bills that keep coming in, so, of course they have to keep selling the offer!
However, in an ideal business all the work you’re doing grows the valuation of the business so you can later sell the accounts and assets.
It doesn’t work that way with lifetime offers. In fact, it devalues the business and is a huge red flag for any potential buyouts. It’s not a win/win situation, it’s a lose/lose situation.
Customers are more than happy paying a fair sum in return for a valuable service. But it’s misleading all around to offer a lifetime service.
For businesses, they’re misleading themselves if they think they can sustain it. It’s not going to be worth taking lifetime payments to fund your business.
You’re either operating with the wrong business model that’s not cash flow friendly or should try a different approach or market if your offers require unsustainable practices.
For consumers, they’re usually misled if they think a lifetime offer is genuinely worth it.
The majority of the time that lifetime offer you’re eyeballing isn’t going to be worth the headache.
Especially when you go to login to your service and find out they forgot to renew the domain never to be back again. At the very least, if you’re buying a lifetime service do proper vetting.
You’d be surprised how many poor-quality products are sold around the internet and especially on lifetime friendly sites like AppSumo and StackSocial.
But, hey… there are good lifetime products I’ve bought.
Life’s short, every once in a while, you have to take a calculated gamble, especially on offers like the ones we post over here (you know I had to do it).
What’s the best and worst lifetime offer you’ve ever bought?
Let me know in the comments.
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Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the symbolism with the picture? A young nuclear reactor-glowing kid’s side-eye is so intense that it’s Chernobyl chic?
Best lifetime I have purchased are mxroute.com and myw.pt.
They are both excellent.
I will think about buying a Lifetime Deal after reading this one
A new perspective, it helps me to have a clearer view.