Davyc

I dont think devs need a free license as such, they should pay the initial fee for the licenses but I do think you can work some magic for renewals.
I know you wont be able to move fast on this as it will require thought but I did suggest a few approaches earlier in this thread.
You could get dev's apply for reduced renewals based on the agreement the install wont be used to run a non-related purpose. They can have a public site but its for marketing/demo the addons, testing and direct support, that would mean even though they are selling lots of addons its adding value to your platform and allowing them to continue.
In addition (or as a different approach) to this you could tier the commission for sales, they get a big discount on renewals but they have a higher tier of sales commissions for addons sold. Then if they hit a certain sales point they can pony up full renewal but reduce the commission they are charged by yourselves. This approach would allow people who make a lot of free addons to continue and feel hopefully more valued and it would make the whole product stronger.
I dont expect a big in depth reply to this, I am more throwing suggestions to you so that it can be discussed behind the scenes as losing developers is one of the huge concerns I have and is a major issue for us. Its very conerning when some of the best devs on here have voiced concerns and also said they will be removing ipb addons from their package removing the ability for them to develop and expand those addons.
I am considering releasing a few addons I have made privately but they would be free and our license would be used for a full separate site so I would not be eligible for the discount above which I would have no issue with.
Man this is sad to read, I love your work and to see you doing math about its future.
IPB try harder to help developers, they may not be your bread and butter with commission profits but they are so so important to the platform. They should get a very generous discount to continue to make addons
 
Also I still think you could have done the price increase, kept everyone's next period 6 months (aka yearly switch happens 7 months from this date, 7 months to allow people to find out) and kept email support while steering people to the forum more. The price increase + losing direct email support is a big deal.

After a quick and dirty calculation, you even win if you lose 30% of your customers. So, from a financially viewpoint it's a good business decision. And another plus, your support effort will be reduced too Congrats.

Woke up today to find out that we have a 48% rise in the renewal price and no email support, and that is the final straw for us. So, instead of $70 every six months, we will be paying $220 yearly and that starts next January. Sorry, not on guys.
With all the negative changes to the marketplace recently, and now this, means I will be moving away from IPB to one of your competitors instead.

My summary after diving into this some hours ago:
Price change: I can live with that as I run my forum commercially successful. But I know a lot of small communities which would switch software oder stop operation when facing such an increase in costs. Annual payment: Again no big deal for me, but psychologically not a smart move – next payment is about 3 times higher than the last. Support via forum: I'll wait and see if you can convince me. Developer support: This is crucial.  When I switched from vBulletin I had a short list of options, IPBoard one of them. The active developer community and some special add-ons where for me the nudge to switch to Invision. Without it (marketplace) and them (developers like DawPI and Adriano) my decision would have been a different one.
Andreas

I would be more concerned about the clients who are keeping quiet than the ones making a noise.  My mom was a fountain of wisdom right up until her demise at the grand old age of 89 years.  She used to drum this into me:
"It's OK to make mistakes, but always be sure to admit to them, take ownership and make sure that your mistakes never have a negative impact on others and if they do, then do something positive to make amends."
There's also a saying that everyone will be familiar with "Act in haste, repent at leisure"  Hindsight can be an awakening moment, but often it is too late when realisation hits home.
It's not too late to do something positive and resolve this horrible situation, but you need to act now to enforce damage control - I can see your competitors rubbing their hands in glee just waiting for the torrent of new clients heading their way. I cannot get my head around the rationalisation of this move - it really does beggar belief.

I would be more concerned about the clients who are keeping quiet than the ones making a noise.  My mom was a fountain of wisdom right up until her demise at the grand old age of 89 years.  She used to drum this into me:
"It's OK to make mistakes, but always be sure to admit to them, take ownership and make sure that your mistakes never have a negative impact on others and if they do, then do something positive to make amends."
There's also a saying that everyone will be familiar with "Act in haste, repent at leisure"  Hindsight can be an awakening moment, but often it is too late when realisation hits home.
It's not too late to do something positive and resolve this horrible situation, but you need to act now to enforce damage control - I can see your competitors rubbing their hands in glee just waiting for the torrent of new clients heading their way. I cannot get my head around the rationalisation of this move - it really does beggar belief.

I would be more concerned about the clients who are keeping quiet than the ones making a noise.  My mom was a fountain of wisdom right up until her demise at the grand old age of 89 years.  She used to drum this into me:
"It's OK to make mistakes, but always be sure to admit to them, take ownership and make sure that your mistakes never have a negative impact on others and if they do, then do something positive to make amends."
There's also a saying that everyone will be familiar with "Act in haste, repent at leisure"  Hindsight can be an awakening moment, but often it is too late when realisation hits home.
It's not too late to do something positive and resolve this horrible situation, but you need to act now to enforce damage control - I can see your competitors rubbing their hands in glee just waiting for the torrent of new clients heading their way. I cannot get my head around the rationalisation of this move - it really does beggar belief.

Oh but you are forcing me out because in one fell swoop you have taken what was affordable to unaffordable.  Instead of making excuses for the rest of the team (who are noticeable by their absence in this discussion) and just admit you all read the potential outcome wrongly and actually do something positive to mitigate the appalling mess that this huge error has caused (possibly damaging the reputation of IPS irreversibly), instead you are attempting to defend the indefensible.   
When I was running my own website development business (for 20 years until I retired last year) I wanted to be the cheapest so I could gain business from potential competitors, but I never lowered standards and had hundreds of highly satisfied clients over that period of time.  When one of them asked me why I was so cheap compared to the rest my reply was two-fold:
1. I wanted their business so I offered them lower prices than my competitors
2. I wanted to be the best that I could be so that they would be happy with my endeavours and recommend me
I also pointed out that 'something is better than nothing' if I wanted to pay my bills and live a comfortable life. Without that philosophy of giving good value for money I would not have survived for the 20 years I did and I gained clients who would otherwise have moved on and not had what they could afford.
Cheap doesn't always equate to being crap, and expensive doesn't always equate to being great, or even the best.
I often use this tactic when I negotiate with utilities and I ask them "would you rather have something, or nothing". When you're dealing with your clients you have to understand the affordability equation and if you price yourself out of a market that has sustained you throughout the early years, then it's understandable that you will lose them.
You really should consider giving your clients some breathing room and not lumber them with a lump sum they had no time to plan for or even decide whether it was affordable or not.  We all realise that prices rise, but your team decided not to implement yearly rises for a decade, and you survived and grew, but now it's all OK to just make sweeping changes without warning and you expect everything to be rosy and everyone will be happy campers.
IPS made a huge blunder by leaving price increases for ten years or more and then just hit everyone out of the blue with patronising PR babble as a defence.  You need to negotiate with your clients, not dictate.
I've waded through the years of complaints railed against IPS for some blunders made in the past, this is not the first toxic topic, but man it has quickly become the one to beat.
 

I would be more concerned about the clients who are keeping quiet than the ones making a noise.  My mom was a fountain of wisdom right up until her demise at the grand old age of 89 years.  She used to drum this into me:
"It's OK to make mistakes, but always be sure to admit to them, take ownership and make sure that your mistakes never have a negative impact on others and if they do, then do something positive to make amends."
There's also a saying that everyone will be familiar with "Act in haste, repent at leisure"  Hindsight can be an awakening moment, but often it is too late when realisation hits home.
It's not too late to do something positive and resolve this horrible situation, but you need to act now to enforce damage control - I can see your competitors rubbing their hands in glee just waiting for the torrent of new clients heading their way. I cannot get my head around the rationalisation of this move - it really does beggar belief.

@Matt When you break down a large amount into a monthly amount and base it on the lowest denominator, it looks trivial, but we're not talking about a monthly payment.  To just drop this onto everyone without so much as mention is really bad karma. You just need to look at this topic and realise how toxic it is and there is no remorse, just excuses and rubbishy PR talk. Sorry mate, it just doesn't make sense and it doesn't sit well with your clients and that is something you need to address quickly before the floodgates open.  I really don't like have to post these replies and I don't like being forced out of the door after such a long time, but if that is the intent and there is no relenting then out of the door I will go, with great sadness.  The one solace is that there are alternatives out there that are more affordable.

He most likely can but you won't get the positive answer you want.
I've had time to sleep on this and my conclusion is this:
You say you haven't increased prices in a decade. Who's fault is this?  A small annual increase is easier to swallow than a massive increase in one fell swoop.
Such a large increase for your corporate clients will be less than chicken feed and they will most likely offset this against tax. Us hobbyists can't do that and such an increase of these proportions is ridiculous if expect us to buy into it.
In a declining hobbyist market you would be best placed to split your business into two - one catering for corporates who you can charge whatever big bucks they're willing to part with, and one more affordable option for hobbyists; the two are mutually incompatible and you can't expect hobbyists to pay corporate prices.
You need to take a look at what your competition is charging and price yourselves competitively.  You can argue that you have the better product, but when priced way above competitors it doesn't look so attractive from the ground up.
A small number of your clients who are used to being on this (and I say this loosely) community platform have probably voiced the concerns of many and who are now leaving the fold.  How big a number do you have to lose, silently, before you realise you made a huge blunder? A number 'we' will never know.
It's like you have taken a big stick and beaten us with it and then in come the pacifiers with, "well, you know" as though that is some kind of ointment to soothe the pain.
I just bought my second licence this year, that was bought with faith and trust in you as business, which incidentally has grown because of the grassroots support of your hobbyist clients over many years; that has flown the nest with this latest announcement.
So you should be aware that whilst your costs are rising, just the same as ours, your income is about to take a dive.
I am fully aware that prices rise constantly and it's a pain we all have to bear, but imagine if you went into your local grocery store and when you get through the checkout and have to pay the bill, you find that it's 50% more than last year.  How happy would you be with that?
Small increases over a period of time hurt less and it's YOUR fault that you didn't do this over the last decade and now you want us to swallow the sob story - no way.  Am I angry, you bet - I wasted good money buying that second licence and there's no way I'm throwing any more at it. Your loss, my gain.
You may be great at developing software, but you suck as looking after your clients, especially those who have walked this path with you since the beginning.

Oh but you are forcing me out because in one fell swoop you have taken what was affordable to unaffordable.  Instead of making excuses for the rest of the team (who are noticeable by their absence in this discussion) and just admit you all read the potential outcome wrongly and actually do something positive to mitigate the appalling mess that this huge error has caused (possibly damaging the reputation of IPS irreversibly), instead you are attempting to defend the indefensible.   
When I was running my own website development business (for 20 years until I retired last year) I wanted to be the cheapest so I could gain business from potential competitors, but I never lowered standards and had hundreds of highly satisfied clients over that period of time.  When one of them asked me why I was so cheap compared to the rest my reply was two-fold:
1. I wanted their business so I offered them lower prices than my competitors
2. I wanted to be the best that I could be so that they would be happy with my endeavours and recommend me
I also pointed out that 'something is better than nothing' if I wanted to pay my bills and live a comfortable life. Without that philosophy of giving good value for money I would not have survived for the 20 years I did and I gained clients who would otherwise have moved on and not had what they could afford.
Cheap doesn't always equate to being crap, and expensive doesn't always equate to being great, or even the best.
I often use this tactic when I negotiate with utilities and I ask them "would you rather have something, or nothing". When you're dealing with your clients you have to understand the affordability equation and if you price yourself out of a market that has sustained you throughout the early years, then it's understandable that you will lose them.
You really should consider giving your clients some breathing room and not lumber them with a lump sum they had no time to plan for or even decide whether it was affordable or not.  We all realise that prices rise, but your team decided not to implement yearly rises for a decade, and you survived and grew, but now it's all OK to just make sweeping changes without warning and you expect everything to be rosy and everyone will be happy campers.
IPS made a huge blunder by leaving price increases for ten years or more and then just hit everyone out of the blue with patronising PR babble as a defence.  You need to negotiate with your clients, not dictate.
I've waded through the years of complaints railed against IPS for some blunders made in the past, this is not the first toxic topic, but man it has quickly become the one to beat.
 

I've done it - removed my payment method and exploring other options. No one likes price rises, but when people are still recovering from the pandemic this is like a sledgehammer blow.  It's also going to affect devs who supply much needed apps in the marketplace; if people start leaving then their revenue is going to slip and then they may leave too.  It's a slippery slope IPS has ventured into and may be something to regret later. I just bought another license this year for another project, now that's on the bonfire until I find another solution.  Talk about being hit between the eyes!

Oh but you are forcing me out because in one fell swoop you have taken what was affordable to unaffordable.  Instead of making excuses for the rest of the team (who are noticeable by their absence in this discussion) and just admit you all read the potential outcome wrongly and actually do something positive to mitigate the appalling mess that this huge error has caused (possibly damaging the reputation of IPS irreversibly), instead you are attempting to defend the indefensible.   
When I was running my own website development business (for 20 years until I retired last year) I wanted to be the cheapest so I could gain business from potential competitors, but I never lowered standards and had hundreds of highly satisfied clients over that period of time.  When one of them asked me why I was so cheap compared to the rest my reply was two-fold:
1. I wanted their business so I offered them lower prices than my competitors
2. I wanted to be the best that I could be so that they would be happy with my endeavours and recommend me
I also pointed out that 'something is better than nothing' if I wanted to pay my bills and live a comfortable life. Without that philosophy of giving good value for money I would not have survived for the 20 years I did and I gained clients who would otherwise have moved on and not had what they could afford.
Cheap doesn't always equate to being crap, and expensive doesn't always equate to being great, or even the best.
I often use this tactic when I negotiate with utilities and I ask them "would you rather have something, or nothing". When you're dealing with your clients you have to understand the affordability equation and if you price yourself out of a market that has sustained you throughout the early years, then it's understandable that you will lose them.
You really should consider giving your clients some breathing room and not lumber them with a lump sum they had no time to plan for or even decide whether it was affordable or not.  We all realise that prices rise, but your team decided not to implement yearly rises for a decade, and you survived and grew, but now it's all OK to just make sweeping changes without warning and you expect everything to be rosy and everyone will be happy campers.
IPS made a huge blunder by leaving price increases for ten years or more and then just hit everyone out of the blue with patronising PR babble as a defence.  You need to negotiate with your clients, not dictate.
I've waded through the years of complaints railed against IPS for some blunders made in the past, this is not the first toxic topic, but man it has quickly become the one to beat.
 

He most likely can but you won't get the positive answer you want.
I've had time to sleep on this and my conclusion is this:
You say you haven't increased prices in a decade. Who's fault is this?  A small annual increase is easier to swallow than a massive increase in one fell swoop.
Such a large increase for your corporate clients will be less than chicken feed and they will most likely offset this against tax. Us hobbyists can't do that and such an increase of these proportions is ridiculous if expect us to buy into it.
In a declining hobbyist market you would be best placed to split your business into two - one catering for corporates who you can charge whatever big bucks they're willing to part with, and one more affordable option for hobbyists; the two are mutually incompatible and you can't expect hobbyists to pay corporate prices.
You need to take a look at what your competition is charging and price yourselves competitively.  You can argue that you have the better product, but when priced way above competitors it doesn't look so attractive from the ground up.
A small number of your clients who are used to being on this (and I say this loosely) community platform have probably voiced the concerns of many and who are now leaving the fold.  How big a number do you have to lose, silently, before you realise you made a huge blunder? A number 'we' will never know.
It's like you have taken a big stick and beaten us with it and then in come the pacifiers with, "well, you know" as though that is some kind of ointment to soothe the pain.
I just bought my second licence this year, that was bought with faith and trust in you as business, which incidentally has grown because of the grassroots support of your hobbyist clients over many years; that has flown the nest with this latest announcement.
So you should be aware that whilst your costs are rising, just the same as ours, your income is about to take a dive.
I am fully aware that prices rise constantly and it's a pain we all have to bear, but imagine if you went into your local grocery store and when you get through the checkout and have to pay the bill, you find that it's 50% more than last year.  How happy would you be with that?
Small increases over a period of time hurt less and it's YOUR fault that you didn't do this over the last decade and now you want us to swallow the sob story - no way.  Am I angry, you bet - I wasted good money buying that second licence and there's no way I'm throwing any more at it. Your loss, my gain.
You may be great at developing software, but you suck as looking after your clients, especially those who have walked this path with you since the beginning.

Adriano is one of the best developers on the marketplace. Maby The best....
Dont loose him, that's just like kicking out Max Verstappen out of Red Bull F1 racing. These are the people we depend on.

Listen to what he is saying
 

Désolé d’être snippy, mais woltlab semble être devenu meilleur que vous et est beaucoup moins cher, nous envisageons de migrer vers eux.

@Mattwhat would you say if your barber would tell you that your haircut costs now 50% more just before they finish it, but then tell you that it's not a big deal because they didn't want to be the cheapest, just the best? I bet you would be furious and rightfully so.

Oh but you are forcing me out because in one fell swoop you have taken what was affordable to unaffordable.  Instead of making excuses for the rest of the team (who are noticeable by their absence in this discussion) and just admit you all read the potential outcome wrongly and actually do something positive to mitigate the appalling mess that this huge error has caused (possibly damaging the reputation of IPS irreversibly), instead you are attempting to defend the indefensible.   
When I was running my own website development business (for 20 years until I retired last year) I wanted to be the cheapest so I could gain business from potential competitors, but I never lowered standards and had hundreds of highly satisfied clients over that period of time.  When one of them asked me why I was so cheap compared to the rest my reply was two-fold:
1. I wanted their business so I offered them lower prices than my competitors
2. I wanted to be the best that I could be so that they would be happy with my endeavours and recommend me
I also pointed out that 'something is better than nothing' if I wanted to pay my bills and live a comfortable life. Without that philosophy of giving good value for money I would not have survived for the 20 years I did and I gained clients who would otherwise have moved on and not had what they could afford.
Cheap doesn't always equate to being crap, and expensive doesn't always equate to being great, or even the best.
I often use this tactic when I negotiate with utilities and I ask them "would you rather have something, or nothing". When you're dealing with your clients you have to understand the affordability equation and if you price yourself out of a market that has sustained you throughout the early years, then it's understandable that you will lose them.
You really should consider giving your clients some breathing room and not lumber them with a lump sum they had no time to plan for or even decide whether it was affordable or not.  We all realise that prices rise, but your team decided not to implement yearly rises for a decade, and you survived and grew, but now it's all OK to just make sweeping changes without warning and you expect everything to be rosy and everyone will be happy campers.
IPS made a huge blunder by leaving price increases for ten years or more and then just hit everyone out of the blue with patronising PR babble as a defence.  You need to negotiate with your clients, not dictate.
I've waded through the years of complaints railed against IPS for some blunders made in the past, this is not the first toxic topic, but man it has quickly become the one to beat.
 

Oh but you are forcing me out because in one fell swoop you have taken what was affordable to unaffordable.  Instead of making excuses for the rest of the team (who are noticeable by their absence in this discussion) and just admit you all read the potential outcome wrongly and actually do something positive to mitigate the appalling mess that this huge error has caused (possibly damaging the reputation of IPS irreversibly), instead you are attempting to defend the indefensible.   
When I was running my own website development business (for 20 years until I retired last year) I wanted to be the cheapest so I could gain business from potential competitors, but I never lowered standards and had hundreds of highly satisfied clients over that period of time.  When one of them asked me why I was so cheap compared to the rest my reply was two-fold:
1. I wanted their business so I offered them lower prices than my competitors
2. I wanted to be the best that I could be so that they would be happy with my endeavours and recommend me
I also pointed out that 'something is better than nothing' if I wanted to pay my bills and live a comfortable life. Without that philosophy of giving good value for money I would not have survived for the 20 years I did and I gained clients who would otherwise have moved on and not had what they could afford.
Cheap doesn't always equate to being crap, and expensive doesn't always equate to being great, or even the best.
I often use this tactic when I negotiate with utilities and I ask them "would you rather have something, or nothing". When you're dealing with your clients you have to understand the affordability equation and if you price yourself out of a market that has sustained you throughout the early years, then it's understandable that you will lose them.
You really should consider giving your clients some breathing room and not lumber them with a lump sum they had no time to plan for or even decide whether it was affordable or not.  We all realise that prices rise, but your team decided not to implement yearly rises for a decade, and you survived and grew, but now it's all OK to just make sweeping changes without warning and you expect everything to be rosy and everyone will be happy campers.
IPS made a huge blunder by leaving price increases for ten years or more and then just hit everyone out of the blue with patronising PR babble as a defence.  You need to negotiate with your clients, not dictate.
I've waded through the years of complaints railed against IPS for some blunders made in the past, this is not the first toxic topic, but man it has quickly become the one to beat.
 

In your communications, you are referring to "Community Support" - if someone comes on to this site looking for support then they are likely to be looking for 'Community Support' as a result, which will end up with them finding this:
https://invisioncommunity.com/forums/forum/406-community-support/
And has the description:
I'd suggest a rename of that forum to remove that confusion, and maybe a rename of the actual support forum to something like "Official Invision Community Help & Support"
https://invisioncommunity.com/forums/forum/497-help-support/
 

Oh but you are forcing me out because in one fell swoop you have taken what was affordable to unaffordable.  Instead of making excuses for the rest of the team (who are noticeable by their absence in this discussion) and just admit you all read the potential outcome wrongly and actually do something positive to mitigate the appalling mess that this huge error has caused (possibly damaging the reputation of IPS irreversibly), instead you are attempting to defend the indefensible.   
When I was running my own website development business (for 20 years until I retired last year) I wanted to be the cheapest so I could gain business from potential competitors, but I never lowered standards and had hundreds of highly satisfied clients over that period of time.  When one of them asked me why I was so cheap compared to the rest my reply was two-fold:
1. I wanted their business so I offered them lower prices than my competitors
2. I wanted to be the best that I could be so that they would be happy with my endeavours and recommend me
I also pointed out that 'something is better than nothing' if I wanted to pay my bills and live a comfortable life. Without that philosophy of giving good value for money I would not have survived for the 20 years I did and I gained clients who would otherwise have moved on and not had what they could afford.
Cheap doesn't always equate to being crap, and expensive doesn't always equate to being great, or even the best.
I often use this tactic when I negotiate with utilities and I ask them "would you rather have something, or nothing". When you're dealing with your clients you have to understand the affordability equation and if you price yourself out of a market that has sustained you throughout the early years, then it's understandable that you will lose them.
You really should consider giving your clients some breathing room and not lumber them with a lump sum they had no time to plan for or even decide whether it was affordable or not.  We all realise that prices rise, but your team decided not to implement yearly rises for a decade, and you survived and grew, but now it's all OK to just make sweeping changes without warning and you expect everything to be rosy and everyone will be happy campers.
IPS made a huge blunder by leaving price increases for ten years or more and then just hit everyone out of the blue with patronising PR babble as a defence.  You need to negotiate with your clients, not dictate.
I've waded through the years of complaints railed against IPS for some blunders made in the past, this is not the first toxic topic, but man it has quickly become the one to beat.
 

I know I've contributed well enough to this thread, so I'll end on this note. You're very clearly out of touch with your customer base. If you think we're just going to "get over it" while you're mocking us by advertising cloud hosting, you're mistaken.
You're going to lose the majority of clients that kept the marketplace alive, and following that the developers you've repeatedly hurt by your radical changes to the marketplace over the last several months.
I hope it was worth it.
</end rant>

I don't get it. Those of us who are self hosted are self hosted for a reason. We don't need you to "manage the internals." We want to host in our own, secured environment, that we have 100% total control of. Not create an external point of failure subject to downtime and potential for compromises.
Sure, all of the shortcomings of cloud hosting could happen to self hosting, but I'd rather go out in my own terms. 😉
You're advertising to the wrong crowd. If we wanted cloud hosting, we wouldn't have chose IPS.

@Matt Your current stance on support makes absolutely no sense. Speaking for myself, majority of my inquires are private, and not something I want to post publicly. Why do I have to make a thread that says "make me private" only to wait for it to be so; so I can then state my problem.. Where's the logic in that?
No matter how you sugar coat it, you're eliminating basic support. The whole "well, you may get a quicker response if anyone can reply" isn't something people like myself who pay a premium price for premium software wants to hear.
With platforms like Discord making forums irrelevant, this seems like a step in the wrong direction. You should be making the software more accessible, rather than limiting your audience to established communities.
Big tech companies you seem to cater to aren't using the marketplace, it's the hobby websites and small timers that do, which so happens to be the same group you just cut off at the knees.
I feel like you should be focused on the marketplace for residual revenue, instead of squeezing all the expense from your clients. Though, I can't imagine many devs stuck around after the drastic changes made previously.
With the recent and questionable changes to the marketplace, exclusive cloud-only features, and now this.. Seems like an intentional move to coax people into switching to cloud hosting.
Also, where is Zapier support for self hosted?