December 2019 Announcement! Sale + Free Trials

Bunpro
#28

In the FAQ I read that the monthly and yearly subscriptions are discounted at 40%, because 40% of the content is still missing. Why is the regular price of lifetime not included in that discount ($90 instead of $150)?

Buying into lifetime currently comes with a risk, namely that the remaining content isn’t finished soon, or even finished at all. So if you’re paying full-price, you’re paying $90 euros for content that already exists, plus $60 for the promise of future content.

What’s the reasoning behind this inconsistency in pricing?

6 Likes
#29

There is no inconsistency.

The pricing of the monthly & yearly plans are tied to the stages of development and will eventually go up to $5 mo. / $50 yr.

The current $120 price of the Lifetime subscription is a holiday or end of year sale.

2 Likes
#30

Yes, and my question is why only the monthly and yearly plans are tied to the stage of development, but not the lifetime plan. That seems inconsistent to me.

I also saw that when the switch to the paid model was made, the prices originally were 3, 30 and 90 dollars. So I’m curious to know why the lifetime price has gone up since then, but not the other prices.

Another inconsistency that I see is that with the original and eventual pricing, lifetime will be three times the cost of yearly (3x30=90 and 3x50=150). With the current pricing, lifetime is five times the cost of yearly (5x30=150). In other words, one would need to get five years of use out of Bunpro for lifetime to be worth it.

Here again the risk-factor I mentioned before comes into play. Websites get shut down all the time. It’s quite a difference, taking a gamble on a website staying online for three more years or it staying online for five more years. So I am wondering why the decision was made to temporarily increase this risk factor by (prematurely) increasing the price of lifetime from $90 to $150 dollars.

3 Likes
#31

@Melanthe Thank you for your question. When we decided to include a lifetime option, we wanted a way to show early supporters our appreciation. We thought that a good way to do this was to match the discount that we applied to the monthly and yearly subscriptions (40% off original price). By making the Lifetime Membership a limited-time offer, only early adopters/supporters would be able to take advantage of it.

The Lifetime Membership was announced in April, 2018 and was released with the discounted price on May 10, 2018. The discount lasted until June 10, 2018.

We realize that the way that we presented this information was not clear and we apologize. Cheers.

7 Likes
#32

Thank you for explaining your reasoning behind removing the 40% discount from lifetime.

I am still curious about your opinion on the risk factors I have described. I enjoy using Bunpro and would love to subscribe, but I am also a bit wary. I’ve been burned before, paying for future services that were ultimately not rendered because the project was abandoned. So, considering the current price of lifetime equals four years of yearly subscriptions, could you elaborate a bit on your expectations for the next four years?

  • Roughly when do you expect to finish N2 and N1 content?
  • Do you have a (public) roadmap for the next four years?
  • Is Bunpro currently operating at a loss?
  • If so, do you expect that to change in the coming years?
4 Likes
#33

@Melanthe

As far as content goes, all of the N2 material that we had planned to add has been added. We hope to have most of N1 done by the end of 2020. That being said, we are always hesitant to say that anything is “done,” because that implies that we will no longer be updating it. There are still many grammar points (even in N5, N4, and N3) that require some tweaking. This could be anything from adding more breakdowns, context information, nuance notes, alternative answers or audio, to splitting up grammar points into multiple parts, adding entirely new grammar points or simply polishing current material further.

We do not have a public roadmap. We do have a pretty clear idea of where we want to go and what we want to get finished, but thanks to the great community of support we have, we often add features and make changes based on the suggestions and feedback we receive which quickly alters the state of the road map at that point in time.

We have been very frugal with the revenue Bunpro has earned, using it to offset development costs and saving what we can. Like all websites, we do have ongoing and increasing expenses related to server upkeep and we also have a lot of one-time development costs like content and audio for sentences. That being said we have been sure to squirrel away what we can and even if we were to start operating at a loss, shutting down the site is far from the first thing we would think to do and something we would be very, very hesitant to even consider.

We hope that we continue to see the slow and steady growth we have had for the past two and a half years.

For what it is worth, we can say with absolute certainty that Bunpro will still be around in five years and we are confident it will be here in 10, but that might not be reassuring to you.

We do know that if we were just looking for a quick cash grab we definitely wouldn’t still be working on improving the site and adding more grammar to it. We think the strength of our record of commitment to the community and the site speaks loudly enough.

Naturally, there is some risk involved with any service you choose to purchase, so one should not only weigh the risks against the benefits but also take into consideration the person or group they are betting on. Cheers.

17 Likes
#34

Thanks, this is precisely the sort of comprehensive response I was hoping for. You’ve put my mind at rest, I’ll be getting lifetime :partying_face:

4 Likes
#35

Thanks for the free month + holiday sale.

It is a good opportunity to give Bunpro another chance. I’m more than likely subscribing this time around now that Tobira path is completed. :slight_smile:

4 Likes
#36

Welcome to the community! Feel free stay around as much as you like - explore around here if you need help with Bunpro, I’m sure there’s always someone here willing to answer your questions :smile_cat:.

3 Likes
#37

I also wanted to say thanks @Pushindawood for the detailed answers in this thread. It’s good to see that the people running this website are so thoughtful and dedicated about it :slight_smile:

I’ve also become a lifetime member now because this website has been super helpful to me and I can’t wait to learn the rest of the grammar :smile:

6 Likes
#38

@Melanthe Thank you for your interest in becoming a Lifetime Member! Please let us know if you have any further questions, concerns or suggestions. Cheers!

@mztik

Thank you for giving Bunpro another chance! Let us know if there is anything that we can do to improve your experience. Cheers!

@Lunanya Thank you for your kind words and for becoming a Lifetime Member! We are glad to hear that you have found Bunpro helpful so far. Please do not hesitate to let us know if you have any suggestions or feedback. Cheers!

5 Likes
#39

Thank you and the other devs involved. I ended up subscribing and also subscribed my lovely japanese learning wife as well. :smiley:

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#40

hi,

so i bought a yearly one, couldn’t afford liftetime rn but at my subscription page it says will end at 15/01/20 (was my free trial time). it will activated after that period, right? i don’t know how this system works that’s why i’m asking.

thank you in advance!

edit: naaah, got an email explaining things :neutral_face:

4 Likes
#41

Well, just bought lifetime! Best of luck in 2020 to all the site devs and everyone studying!

5 Likes
#42

Thanks for the free month… I tried Bunpro long ago when the website was brand new and it sort of failed to get my attention back then. Being faced with not making much grammar progress in the last few years, I knew I needed to do something different - JLPT N3 was kind of a wake up call back in December - there’s not a chance I passed it even with significant time after passing N4.

I wanted to see if I could maintain a study streak since re-starting the second time. Bunpro is really helping to find the numerous cracks in my knowledge base, so I expect to become a subscriber when my trial runs out on the 4th.

4 Likes
#43

Hi guys,

Impressed with the direction of the site and the community responsiveness during the couple weeks of my trial. Before I go ahead and take the plunge, however, I would like to ask for a bit more information about the make up of the company.

It’s clear that you have some talented coders working on the team - the site itself is very slick, and as you say, Bunpro has a good record of responding to errors quickly over the past 2 years it’s been up.

My only concern is that there are quite a lot of snazzy apps and websites being developed for language learners, and the companies behind them don’t always hire as many qualified linguists/educational professionals as they do programmers. So it would be helpful to know who is handling this side of things, and how.

For instance, are you developing all the content for the lessons internally, or recycling it from other sources? If so, what are these other sources? What are the qualifications of the people who write/check lesson content? Are they native speakers, teachers, university professors, professional linguists, or what?

Sorry if any of this sounds overly interrogatory - but ultimately the way I look at it is: Bunpro is trying to replace the function of a school, and before paying fees at a school, I would absolutely want to run at least a basic check of who was running it, and what their credentials were.

Want to stress that there’s nothing I’ve seen so far on the site that causes me any alarm in this regard, but I’m also aware that once I push up into N2 and beyond, I’ll be hitting grammar that I don’t know so well, and I’ll be completely reliant on the site to get it absolutely right, 100% of the time.

6 Likes
#44

@mztik Thank you so much for becoming a subscriber and bringing your wife along for the ride! I think that it will be a lot of fun to study * cough * compete * cough * with someone that close to you. Cheers!

@mert Thank you so much for becoming a subscriber! Please let us know if you have any further questions. Cheers!

@quadban Thank you so much for becoming a Lifetime Member! Happy studying! :bunprogold: :heart: :bunprogold:

@lsh3rd Welcome back! We are so glad to hear that you are enjoying Bunpro. Please let us know if you have any questions, feedback or suggestions. Cheers!

@ulurujamman Thank you for your kind words and your questions. All of Bunpro’s example sentences are original, written in house and checked by native Japanese speakers. When adding new grammar points, we cross-reference multiple sources (both online and off) when determining where to place a grammar point, what information to include on the grammar point’s main page and what kinds of alternative answers should be accepted or caught in the hints system before we even start writing. Cheers!

11 Likes
#45

The trial I got when signing up a month ago just expired. If I understood the opening post right, I should be able to start a second free trial now, but when I open my subscription page, I see nothing of that sort. Is it somewhere else? Am I misunderstanding something?

2 Likes
#46

Hi! I am a long term member(on and off because of life’s ups and downs! :slight_smile:). Just signed up for a year in October and it’s been wonderful.

Right now I’m trying to buy a lifetime subscription because I love y’alls service so much. When I try to check out with a card that works at other merchants I’m getting a “Your card is not supported.” error. It’s a Discover card. I’ve talked to my CC company and still can’t seem to resolve. I’v been trying for a few days now.

The sale is almost over. Would it be possible to honor my discount and pay via an alternate method given context? PM/email/anything is a fine way to contact me.

Thanks for all your hard work!

Happy new year,
トラフィ

2 Likes
#47

@Traffiko - Discover also does not work for me. I had to use a different card.

2 Likes