Would you pay for info on the web?

Ok a bit of market research here, mainly aimed people doing A2s and thinking about going to uni.

Would you ever pay for information relating to applying for uni?

What information would you be willing to pay for (personal statments, guides, specific questions answered)?

For the above, would you rather pay a subscription, or for each thing you access, or access for a limited time?

For the above, how much would you be willing to pay?

What methods can you use to pay online (debit cards/ paypay/ nochex/ text msg billing)?

Would you ever donate money to a site which helped you?

Anyone not in the position of applying to uni please feel free to answer the questions, or just add your thoughts on the subject of paying for information from the net.

Thanks guys

Tom

Reply 1

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

I never pay for any information over the internet without having a free trial period first...otherwise how do you know what you're getting. Obviously this is difficult because there will be a minority of peole who look around and decide the info isn't of use to them...but it will also encourage the people like me who like to see we're getting what we're paying for.

Oh and I'm always much more encouraged by sites which have some basic info for free where you just pay for the more detailed/specific/archive stuff (eg http://www.thes.co.uk (hope that's the right address))

Reply 2

Golz

3

no i dont pay for imformation off the web and never do i plant to start

Reply 3

MattG

1

no i dont pay for anything on the net, however when i do buy cds/books etc i use my solo card or paypal.

i dont think many people would take up on the idea of payng for uni guide stuff.

Reply 4

Bhaal85

9

NOCHEX, paypal, or direct bank transfer. I dont think many would pay for such a site, when they can just get it soooooooooooo easily free on the web. like the ucas site, uk learning :biggrin:

,etc. Why pay for something, when you can get real advice off other students.

Reply 5

not1

15

i never pay for anything off the internet (documents, software, music etc.) the whole point of the internet is the free flow of information; anythings out there if you look hard enough. making people pay for information just spoils its efficiency as an information distribution system.

Reply 6

loftx

OP

7

edders

i never pay for anything off the internet (documents, software, music etc.) the whole point of the internet is the free flow of information; anythings out there if you look hard enough. making people pay for information just spoils its efficiency as an information distribution system.

You seem to be ignoring the fact that it costs money to get the information there in the first place. Even if the person is prepared to provide the information for free they must still pay the hosting and bandwidth costs, which can be extremely expensive for high traffic sites.

Ok one more question - would you be prepared to pay to have banner adverts or other types of advertising removed? and put up with them on a free version? How much would you pay for a site to be ad free?

Reply 7

not1

15

loftx

You seem to be ignoring the fact that it costs money to get the information there in the first place. Even if the person is prepared to provide the information for free they must still pay the hosting and bandwidth costs, which can be extremely expensive for high traffic sites.

Ok one more question - would you be prepared to pay to have banner adverts or other types of advertising removed? and put up with them on a free version? How much would you pay for a site to be ad free?

of course it costs money to transfer the information. im paying it to my ISP, and the people providing the information do it because they take pride in sharing their info/make money from ads.

Reply 8

Brown Patrick Bateman

10

For information on the net, I never have and never will pay, because you can find it for free if you know the right places (i.e. Google!)

i.e. You can find a service which will charge £50 to go through your UCAS statement. Or you can post it here for free to get it scrutinised by people with relevant experience.

Reply 9

loftx

OP

7

Jools

For information on the net, I never have and never will pay, because you can find it for free if you know the right places (i.e. Google!)

i.e. You can find a service which will charge £50 to go through your UCAS statement. Or you can post it here for free to get it scrutinised by people with relevant experience.

You might pay for convenice though - ie hand over £4 to personal statements.info rather than trawl through google.

And also you don't always have to pay - you might still want to make a donation.

Reply 10

Lurker

4

No, I wouldn't pay for information like that. I had a look at the sample pages on personalstatement.info and even though it would've been handy to see some example statements, didn't think it was worth paying them money. UCAS and school gave me a fair idea of what was needed anyway.

However, if a website was very useful and had a donation service, I'd probably donate something.

Reply 11

Unregistered

i would reckon, make the site free, but provide oodles of ads, etc. And say like make the ads appilcable to the site, ie education book sites etc. So that would be alright

Reply 12

Bhaal85

9

loftx

You might pay for convenice though - ie hand over £4 to personal statements.info rather than trawl through google.

And also you don't always have to pay - you might still want to make a donation.

No I most definitely would not pay.
Its like saying, why pay a prostitute for a BJ, when you can get it free.......no that's not quite right.

Whaat I am saying is that society these days want everything for free, the only way I can think of it where you could earn money would be donations, and ads.

Reply 13

Unregistered

yeah, but the guy needs money for his isp. So make the site free, but get money from ads.

Reply 14

loftx

OP

7

Unregistered

yeah, but the guy needs money for his isp. So make the site free, but get money from ads.

I just thought people might pay small amounts if it was easy enough.

For example - if a site helped you would you pay £1 by texting a number and having the amount taken off you bill.

Or howabout to access an article you have to text a number for 50p and then you are texted a passcode back to use.

Either of these options are not expensive or difficult - is eveyone too selfish to pay (bare in mind you guys are spending hours on the forum giving out free advice and could easily earn more doing somthing more productive)?

Reply 15

Unregistered

yeah, but like i reckon if u make the site popular, get a sponsor or sumething or make like an amazon account so like people but books, but get a share for u. Think about it, if pricy=no people go to ur site.

Reply 16

TK0

8

no chance, i pay for nothing, find a new idea no1s gonna go for that one!

Reply 17

loftx

OP

7

TK0

no chance, i pay for nothing, find a new idea no1s gonna go for that one!

That's where your wrong - someone has already donated money.

Reply 18

Bhaal85

9

loftx

That's where your wrong - someone has already donated money.

Hmm........is this thread leading somewhere.....wait.......uniguide is down ehh?..............hmmmm......intresting......just hope there aint gonna be any porn banners popping up or anything.....................lol

Reply 19

BABOON

How m,uch has he donated, prolly 1p

Would you pay for info on the web?

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you