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Bit.ly's shady business model

ozkatz.github.io

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Re: Bit.ly's shady business model

#41

Post by ozkatz »

eduardordm wrote: post #11

If you click on "pricing" you will see this: "STARTING AT $995/month". I think that's pretty clear. Maybe the service changed and they started to charge and they didn't notify you. Link: https://bitly.com/a/pricing And a quote: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" - Robert J. Hanlon. --- Edit (please read this) Oz Kats said: "as of april last year when we signed up for bit.ly th…

as of april last year when we signed up for bit.ly that page was nowhere to be found

Re: Bit.ly's shady business model

#43

Post by jasode »

ozkatz wrote: post #35
pduszak wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But... why can't they just give me free things? I don't see a problem with building my business atop the back of another and sharing 0% of the profit. /s

I've also updated the post to reflect this: I don't mind paying. Its the policy of not leaving me a choice to do so by not allowing me to export my data and go elsewhere that bothers me.

How would they realistically "allow" you to export your data?

Would it require extra programmer effort and cost to develop such export functionality? If they didn't invest the money to build that capability, why would they want to? What's the ROI for them to do it?

It took several years for GMail to have mailbox export capabilities. Some team somewhere has to write and test all that code.

Re: Bit.ly's shady business model

#44

Post by stronglikedan »

ozkatz wrote: post #35
pduszak wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But... why can't they just give me free things? I don't see a problem with building my business atop the back of another and sharing 0% of the profit. /s

I've also updated the post to reflect this: I don't mind paying. Its the policy of not leaving me a choice to do so by not allowing me to export my data and go elsewhere that bothers me.

You have already used paid-tier resources, and they are simply asking you to reimburse them for that.

Re: Bit.ly's shady business model

#45

Post by andrewvc »

ozkatz wrote: post #35
pduszak wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But... why can't they just give me free things? I don't see a problem with building my business atop the back of another and sharing 0% of the profit. /s

I've also updated the post to reflect this: I don't mind paying. Its the policy of not leaving me a choice to do so by not allowing me to export my data and go elsewhere that bothers me.

And that is why you vet free services extensively. There's a reason they're free. Often times lock in is the way they do things.

Sure it sounds unfair when you say "they won't let ME export MY data", but it sounds different when you say "we'll provide a FREE service for you, up to a point, but when it gets reasonably large or commercial you promise to give us your business."

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Re: Bit.ly's shady business model

#46

Post by JabavuAdams »

This piece would come off a lot better with a "Hey startups did you know that ..." spin, rather than implying that there's anything shady about Bitly.

This is absolutely useful information, and thanks for sharing.

That said, calling the model "shady" or "not cool", etc. isn't really defused by the writer's repeated mea culpas.

Re: Bit.ly's shady business model

#47

Post by JabavuAdams »

ozkatz wrote: post #35
pduszak wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But... why can't they just give me free things? I don't see a problem with building my business atop the back of another and sharing 0% of the profit. /s

I've also updated the post to reflect this: I don't mind paying. Its the policy of not leaving me a choice to do so by not allowing me to export my data and go elsewhere that bothers me.

That's a step in the right direction, but the piece still reads as though you're trying to shift the blame for your mistake.

Removing any "shady" or "not cool" accusations (and implicitly leaving them to the reader), and just adopting a neutral "Hey devs, make sure you read the ToS, 'cause I didn't and look what happened..." tone would make your piece basically unassailable.

Re: Bit.ly's shady business model

#48

Post by eduardordm »

ozkatz wrote: post #41
eduardordm wrote: post #11

If you click on "pricing" you will see this: "STARTING AT $995/month". I think that's pretty clear. Maybe the service changed and they started to charge and they didn't notify you. Link: https://bitly.com/a/pricing And a quote: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" - Robert J. Hanlon. --- Edit (please read this) Oz Kats said: "as of april last year when we signed up for bit.ly th…

as of april last year when we signed up for bit.ly that page was nowhere to be found

That actually changes everything.

As I understand, they are not retaining your data, but will pull the plug on a service you now depend and are not offering migration options, am I correct? This is certainly an awful business practice it could be illegal, but there is a problem.

At the time they failed to communicate the pricing so you started using their service, judging it would be free. If they started to charge, you could just pay or move to another provider, but the very model of their tool makes it impossible for you to truly "migrate" to another provider since the links are widespread, this isn't exactly their fault (nor yours).

If they are charging you 995$ just because they know you are out of options you might have a case, but that's so time/money consuming I would advise you to just do your best to migrate the widespread links.

Best of luck

Re: Bit.ly's shady business model

#49

Post by diwo »

ozkatz wrote: post #41
eduardordm wrote: post #11

If you click on "pricing" you will see this: "STARTING AT $995/month". I think that's pretty clear. Maybe the service changed and they started to charge and they didn't notify you. Link: https://bitly.com/a/pricing And a quote: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" - Robert J. Hanlon. --- Edit (please read this) Oz Kats said: "as of april last year when we signed up for bit.ly th…

as of april last year when we signed up for bit.ly that page was nowhere to be found

Let's see what Internet Archive says about this. In April 2013 the Bitly homepage looked like this:

http://web.archive.org/web/20130401021533/https://bitly.com/

It had the new brand in use, and it had a "You Business?" link to Enterprise site:

http://web.archive.org/web/20130404123817/http://www.enterpr...

The enterprise site advices you to contact them for pricing.

Re: Bit.ly's shady business model

#50

Post by jplur »

jasode wrote: post #43
ozkatz wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also updated the post to reflect this: I don't mind paying. Its the policy of not leaving me a choice to do so by not allowing me to export my data and go elsewhere that bothers me.

How would they realistically "allow" you to export your data? Would it require extra programmer effort and cost to develop such export functionality? If they didn't invest the money to build that capability, why would they want to? What's the ROI for them to do it? It took several years for GMail to have mailbox export capabilities. Some team somewhere has to write and test all that code.

Is there even data to export? It appears to me the OP would need the bit.ly domain to preserve the links, otherwise he could just scrape all the URLs and find a way to redirect them.
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