Pleasantly surprised. Nice job, Kagi! This is consumer-friendly and to be commended.
Fair Pricing
61–70 of 512 posts
Re: Fair Pricing
#62No good. Not fair. I put money into the account, you bill me per search - pre-paid usage based billing is the only way this can ever be "fair".
Their search API is in beta right now.You can apply for access or wait for it to be released. I guess then making a front end to call it is simple eg an llm could make it.
Re: Fair Pricing
#63Kudos for adopting a user friendly billing policy. I would love to see the FTC mandate a policy that prohibits automatic renewal billing if the service hasn’t been used for some time.
You're assuming there is no cost to the business when the service isn't actively being used. Thats not always the case.
Re: Fair Pricing
#64Would be great if every company was forced by law to do this. Pay only for what you use.
Re: Fair Pricing
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
European countries like the UK have consumer protection laws and they get enforced all the time. There’s a few ways: - Act on customer complaints (or consumer protection organisation complaints) - Proactively investigate and check - Require businesses to submit proof that they follow the regulations e.g. test results I’m sure there’s other ways and you can do one or more of these things to ensure compliance. It’s rea…
Also helps to scare with huge fines set up for the likes of Google and Facebook which any normal company can‘t pay in their wildest dreams.
Yes, however fines don’t mean anything without enforcement. An interesting example is, on the subject about DEI at the FAA on the front page today, where the FAA was messing around with FOIA responses because they knew an individual couldn’t afford to sue over every single one. However a good regulatory body with teeth absolutely could do this.
Re: Fair Pricing
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
European countries like the UK have consumer protection laws and they get enforced all the time. There’s a few ways: - Act on customer complaints (or consumer protection organisation complaints) - Proactively investigate and check - Require businesses to submit proof that they follow the regulations e.g. test results I’m sure there’s other ways and you can do one or more of these things to ensure compliance. It’s rea…
Also helps to scare with huge fines set up for the likes of Google and Facebook which any normal company can‘t pay in their wildest dreams.
Common sense should tell you that the amount a company like Google or Meta are fined is a lot higher than a "normal company"
Re: Fair Pricing
#67Just recently i was actually thinking about this pricing approach for netflix, apple arcade or whatever else. Basically i use it so rarely that i could just subscribe when i want to watch anything, and unsubscribe immediately. This will enable subscription till end of billing period (one month). Then when i want o watch anything again then i will repeat again. And now kagi has implemented exactly this but automated f…
5 years ago, Netflix started proactively cancelling inactive accounts. They lose ~$10M/yr from this, but it's the ethical thing to do. (That said, I'd like them to use an even shorter window than 1 year of no activity.)
https://entertainment.ie/on-demand/on-demand-news/netflix-ac...
Re: Fair Pricing
#68Just recently i was actually thinking about this pricing approach for netflix, apple arcade or whatever else. Basically i use it so rarely that i could just subscribe when i want to watch anything, and unsubscribe immediately. This will enable subscription till end of billing period (one month). Then when i want o watch anything again then i will repeat again. And now kagi has implemented exactly this but automated f…
Not just free money. I'm pretty sure the lions' share of any streaming service's income is from users that are subscribed but don't consume everything for that month. Their business model relies on this.
I think this is a vast overestimation. The majority of people notice every payment they make every month, a Netflix subscription is a choice that they would not continue to make if they were not using Netflix. Those of us who can afford to pay Netflix whether we watch it or not are the minority of wealthy people. I think you would be surprised to learn how many normal people juggle different subscriptions by cancelling/subscribing each month.
Re: Fair Pricing
#69Just recently i was actually thinking about this pricing approach for netflix, apple arcade or whatever else. Basically i use it so rarely that i could just subscribe when i want to watch anything, and unsubscribe immediately. This will enable subscription till end of billing period (one month). Then when i want o watch anything again then i will repeat again. And now kagi has implemented exactly this but automated f…
> Hopes that netflix or any other provider will implement this are small though. Because it's free money when someone pays for service and does not use it.
Right. This is the sort of pro-consumer practice that is obviously morally right, but will not be widely adopted without consumer protection laws. Outside of small, niche businesses like Kagi, there is no pressure to treat customers with respect.
Re: Fair Pricing
#70Why not directly pay what you use? Similar to how LLM Apis are billed these days.