Ask HN: economics of online faxing services? (Why do they suck)

#1

Post by petervandijck » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 4:10 PM UTC

I had to receive a fax today, so I set out to get a temporary number. I noticed again the economics of it (buying adwords) seem to favor crap services that charge you repeatedly without you noticing, for as long as they can.

Is it impossible to create an online fax service that works well and doesn't charge you ongoing fees, just a one-time fee? I am thinking that the recurring fee services have more money to spend on adwords, and hence push the one-time-fee services out of the market.

I'd love to build a good service with a good user experience and a one-time charge. Thoughts?

Re: Ask HN: economics of online faxing services? (Why do they suck)

#2

Post by petervandijck » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 4:12 PM UTC

I checked, cost per click for relevant keywords seems to be from 3 to 10$. Not sure what the conversion rate would be, perhaps quite high, say 20%? That's a cost of 15 to 50$ per user there, impossible to recoup with a one-time fee.

Re: Ask HN: economics of online faxing services? (Why do they suck)

#3

Post by guiseppecalzone » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 4:45 PM UTC

petervandijck wrote: post #2

I checked, cost per click for relevant keywords seems to be from 3 to 10$. Not sure what the conversion rate would be, perhaps quite high, say 20%? That's a cost of 15 to 50$ per user there, impossible to recoup with a one-time fee.

I'm working on startup called http://www.hellofax.com, so we've researched this a lot.

Peter is right. The cost per click on faxing keywords is super high. It will be tough to compete there as 1 click costs more than 1 conversion. So, we need alternative ways to find users. We have some ideas. But, if you can think of ways we can cheaply find people like you, you should ping me.

In the meantime, you can do some one-time faxes for free. All accounts come with 3 pages. But, if you run out, email me at joseph (at) hellofax dot com and I'll refill it for free.

Re: Ask HN: economics of online faxing services? (Why do they suck)

#4

Post by mateo999 » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 4:50 PM UTC

I've used interfax.net for years - to send faxes, I don't receive them. I wouldn't be surprised if you can receive faxes too, though.

It's always been a great service, and no ongoing fees - I just pay a few cents every time I send a fax.

Pretty old-school site, but it has a SOAP API that works. Hope that helps.

Re: Ask HN: economics of online faxing services? (Why do they suck)

#5

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 4:52 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: economics of online faxing services? (Why do they suck)

#6

Post by mateo999 » Fri, Nov 05, 2010, 4:52 PM UTC

mateo999 wrote: post #4

I've used interfax.net for years - to send faxes, I don't receive them. I wouldn't be surprised if you can receive faxes too, though. It's always been a great service, and no ongoing fees - I just pay a few cents every time I send a fax. Pretty old-school site, but it has a SOAP API that works. Hope that helps.

Ah, no - it seems to have a monthly subscription if you want an inbound number, about $15.