I bought IPBoard about 6 month ago for $150 and now I see it jump to $175? Is there a reason for this for the price jump?

As explained here:

We introduced the IP.Board Standard and Business licenses toward the end of 2006 and have not adjusted the prices since then. That was over 5 years ago and as with everything else in the world, the cost of doing business for IPS has increased.

In addition to costs, we offer more free services included with the licenses (spam monitoring service, IP.Chat 5, IP.Tracker, Marketplace, free installs/upgrades, etc.) than we certainly could have dreamed up 5 years ago. Therefore, we are changing the price of the IP.Board Standard license to $175 and the IP.Board Business license to $400. The renewal pricing for these two licenses remains unchanged for all existing clients.

It's worth noting that this only affects new license purchases; the renewal pricing is unchanged. Since you bought your license before the price increase, there's no difference to you at all.

Is there a reason for this for the price jump?

No serious competition?

I have to say that it is confusing because I wonder why the justification. I also noticed that "Marketplace" was listed as one of the reasons as to the increase. That's hilarious considering that "Marketplace" has been a feature of the IPS services brand since I started using IPS services back in 2004/2005.

I have to say that it is confusing because I wonder why the justification. I also noticed that "Marketplace" was listed as one of the reasons as to the increase. That's hilarious considering that "Marketplace" has been a feature of the IPS services brand since I started using IPS services back in 2004/2005.

Not in its present form. That was only introduced a bit over a year ago:

I have to say that it is confusing because I wonder why the justification. I also noticed that "Marketplace" was listed as one of the reasons as to the increase. That's hilarious considering that "Marketplace" has been a feature of the IPS services brand since I started using IPS services back in 2004/2005.

The marketplace is only available to licensed customers, and yes there are costs associated with it (bandwidth is not free, for instance, and you might be surprised how many downloads there are here).

The reasons for the price increase has been described in the blog entry linked to previously. If you have any further questions or concerns I recommend contacting our customer support team through your client area so that your concerns can be addressed directly. Thanks! :)