BesZain

Hi Lincoln,

Thanks for the reply. I’m glad the confusion is now gone and that you’re happy with AEC and the new forums. 🙂 Glad to see you there.

Hi Phinx,

Thanks for explaining more. Hmmmm, unless I’m misunderstanding something, I explained everything you are saying in my previous reply. To eliminate any confusion, let me summarize it again more clearly [let me know if I’m misunderstanding or missing anything please]:

1. Current AEC Subscription Members and Equivalent new AEC Licenses: You are not required to pay $200 to get the equivalent license for AEC if you have a previous active AEC license subscription and want to switch over to the equivalent license. Follow step # 3 below to switch over for free, if you didn’t get the switching-over-email already. Only in the future [next year] do you have to pay renewal fees [just like you did before, and they will be less than “$200”, see point 4 below] to get your active license renewed. Which page or email [let me know the link or info] tells you that if you already have an active AEC license you have to pay $200 right now to get the equivalent membership?

   Whoever or whatever gave you that info or impression, that as an active pre-iThemes AEC member you have to pay $200 to get the equivalent membership option at the new AEC this year, is incorrect.

2. Single download AEC users: Whichever version of AEC you have that has no recurring subscription, you can keep using it just like you could before. No AEC member who has the $5 single download option or the old free version is required to pay “$200” or any price to keep using AEC the way they already are/were. You can follow step # 3 to see what your options are to switch over and how to switch over.
3. Switch over to the new AEC: To be a current AEC plan member by switching over, you have to email sales @ ithemes .com to get moved over to the equivalent status membership status. You have to follow this step to be part of the new AEC membership, if you have not gotten the email already. That will give you access to the new forums where you can specify exactly what prices you would like for the future and any other suggestions or comments to direct and help plan the future of AEC.
4. New Pricing Structure: We are experimenting with a new pricing structure as I mentioned before, so that takes [or soon, will take] care of the expensive price question completely. That will bring the price range for NEW or for future [next year] subscription members to probably around the same price levels as before. To participate in that on our forums and let us know exactly what price range and structure you had in mind, follow step # 3 above. Please do that, so that you can directly influence our decisions on the pricing by letting us know the exact price range and any related info.
5. Every plan gets what they paid for: There is absolutely no bad faith in anything, since even with the old pricing of $5, it was part of that licensing structure that the prices could change anytime, and by buying the $5 option, you agreed to get the single version download of the stable release and no future updates. For example: Every single one-time one-use purchase on any item in the world, online or offline, does not guarantee nor imply in any manner that any future purchases of the same item will always have the same price. That is why subscriptions are there, to also ensure the price doesn’t go up or to ensure that more benefits are had. Same was and is the case with AEC.

   One of the main reasons there were subscription plans before was that in the future, if anything changed like AEC being integrated into PluginBuddy, the current subscriptions will carry over without price increases for the current terms of those subscriptions. As I mentioned before, we went way beyond that and in real good faith actually [all our previous and new AEC members on our forums love us for this and are happy, including Lincoln who is satisfied now] gave extra several months to upto a year to everyone by giving everyone 1 full year of their subscription term renewal, from their previous agreement, at no extra cost. That means every current AEC subscription member got 1 year of extra free renewal from the date AEC got integrated. Developer versions got extra plugins for free too.

   That is why anyone who got the subscription plan knew they will be set for the life of their term no matter what happened, and that is also why everyone who went with the more affordable $5 option knew things could change anytime and that they are getting that $5 option. Nothing else was promised or guaranteed. Please share the url or the info where you saw anything to the contrary or where anything got misunderstood or confusing.

6. Cheaper AEC Plans: From your posts, I gather that you are simply dissatisfied that instead of the previous $5 single one-time download [whose price even then was confirmed could change any time, since it was not a subscription plan in any manner] option that you purchased, now if you want to purchase and download any future upgrades, you have to pay the new pricing plan and more than $5. So basically you do not want to pay more than $5. That is a valid concern, and if you follow step # 3 above, you can immediately let us know on our forums what price range you think would be good for any equivalent single download option. We are close to figuring out and setting the price for AEC for new and future AEC subscriptions and plans [again, existing active AEC members get everything for this year for free and additional stuff and months at no extra charge], so your input will help us decide better and make sure that you can afford the new price too since it will most probably still be over $5 for the cheapest plan and way below the misunderstood price of “$200.“
7. Regarding your last comment, “I like AEC but I and many others will not pay $200 for a single WordPress plugin/update. If that is irrelevant to you, so be it.” I’m not sure why you would say that or where that came from. If it was irrelevant to me or iThemes, we would simply be ignoring your post completely or saying “No, we cannot do what you want and we will stick to $200 for everyone.” Your concern that you do not want to pay more than $5 for one-time single AEC download is relevant and very important to us, which is why we want you to work with us on this [via step # 3]. For example, we setup Lincoln with his AEC account too [by working with him to solve his other concerns he was having] and he’s again a happy AEC’er now. We want you to be happy and to be able to afford AEC too.

I hope that clarifies and addresses everything. Follow step # 3 please, as that’s the most important.

Regards,