How to game the new Matterport Pricing9290
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 WGAN ForumFounder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| [This question was originally posted in this related WGAN Forum discussion] Quote: Originally Posted by @3dshowcaseuk @3dshowcaseuk Actually, since you had a Matterport account as of Wednesday, 8 May 2019, you have a choice: ✓ keep your existing "old" Matterport pricing ✓ switch to the new Matterport pricing (which includes all your existing models and then, as you suggest archive a ton of models so that they are not active. (active models "count" for billing). I could also imagine that some Matterport Service Providers that have hundreds of Matterport 3D Tours in all "old" account will keep the account and get a new account. This way, they can have hundreds of active Spaces and use the new account for processing and then transfer the model from the new account to the old account. This scenario probably applies if you have: ✓ hundreds of Matterport spaces in an "old" account (original pricing grandfathered in) ✓ prolific at shooting and processing Your thoughts? Dan |
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Morristown, New Jersey |
foxwrth13 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Did we know this was coming? I would have upgraded to a higher classic account before hand.is it too late now? | ||
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 WGAN StandardMember Las Vegas |
VTLV private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I would assume that when old models exceed the maximum allowable limit, there's an overage fee of $20 or $29 per model billed against the old account depending on the "old" grandfathered agreement from month ago of scans in a model over 100 scans or 200+ models (nothing free here). Confused yet ???? | ||
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TakedaSan private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by foxwrth13 Hi @foxwrth13 . It's too late. https://support.matterport.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021581334 I’m a CURRENT Matterport customer. Can I switch between the classic plans? Existing customers on classic plans can only keep your current classic plan or upgrade to one of the new plans. For example, if you are on Basic (Classic) then you can stay on that plan (but not change to another classic plan). Or, you can upgrade to a new plan like Professional. Once you upgrade, you cannot go back to your old classic plan. Contact customer support if you have a specific issue related to your account. |
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Morristown, New Jersey |
foxwrth13 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| That really sucks | ||
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WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @TakedaSan Thanks for finding that Support notice on this issue. Great find ... @foxwrth13 Please write Matterport Support and make the ask and see what they say (and please let us know). Dan |
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Morristown, New Jersey |
foxwrth13 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Will do. Question Dan. Is it possible to have more than one account? One classic and one of the new ones for example? | ||
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WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by @foxwrth13 @foxwrth13 Quote: Originally Posted by DanSmigrod Thanks, Dan |
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MeshImages private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Oh yes, Matterport is doing us a great favour! I have tried to caculate the value of my "grandfathered" account and its more than cost me the two cameras  |
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WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by @Queen_City_3D |
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 WGAN FanClub Member Queensland, Australia |
Wingman private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I started year ago with their basic plan hopping that once I get more orders for Matterport I would upgrade to their next tier plan. But with their new plans there is nothing for me to upgrade to. And it is not because of how much they ask now, it is their stupid "Active model" scheme. My current client alone will have at least 10 models active, possibly for years. Not sure what to do apart for looking for alternatives. I would consider GEOCV but then I cannot do property tours as they are not accepted by two majors property listings websites in Australia. The same reason I cannot do custom tours with Pano2VR. All I can say for now is "Thank you" Matterport for screwing me. That's the price any small business would pay eventually for following someone much much bigger. I would understand if there were some benefits for Matterport to do these new plans but I cannot get where there is any in that strange behaviour. It is like eBay all over again for me when they pushed 1000s if not 10000s of small businesses away just to bring KMart, Target or any other big chain retailer to their platform. And I guess they did it all because Amazon was coming to Australia. |
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WGAN Fan Club Member Queensland, Australia |
Wingman private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I am gaming it now. I have subscribed to a new $69 plan while still keeping my old Basic $49 plan. It saves me a lot of money on one single client as most of their spaces are more than 100 scans. Plus it saves me my 3 spaces credit on the old plan. So I push them for processing under the new plan paying 0 for processing no matter of their size. After they are going to be approved to go on Google by my client I will transfer them to the old plan, publish from there to GSV, clean them from all excessive scanning done for Google only and they will stay hosted on the old plan. It does create a need to keep and pay for both accounts every month but at least I can play with free processing on the new plan and keep them hosted on the old one without being limited by their new active model count on the new plans. |
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WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Wingman I noticed your post in this WGAN Forum discussion: ✓ How does the "Transfer Space" work? Quote: Originally Posted by Wingman I'm glad that's working out for you. Best, Dan |
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WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Hi All, A WGAN Member is saving about $3,000 monthly by "gaming the Matterport cloud pricing system" above, s/he let me know last night (4 May 2020). Matterport executives acknowledge that this is okay in this WGAN-TV Live at 5 Town Hall: ✓ Transcript: WGAN-TV Live at 5 Town Hall: Matterport New Pricing 16 May 2019 Specifically: Dan Smigrod: Let me just run some, in fact I'll go ahead and ask a question. I'm a classic member. I have classic pricing, what we've heard is that we can add an additional professional account, process the models in professional, transfer them back to the classic plan. Is that correct? Chris Bell: Checking in with Damien on that one. Damien Leostic: Rephrase that for me Dane, make sure I understand. Dan Smigrod: Me personally, I'm at 300 models. Let's say my processing is costing me more than $69 a month. At $69 it would make sense to get a $69 professional account. Then process models with my new account and using the transfer feature, transfer those models back to my classic plan. Let's say I was under the... no, I'm at 300 and then I pay an extra $19 to have another 50 models a month in my account. Is that correct? Damien Leostic: Right. Dan Smigrod: Good. I hear we'll get at least a year's notice in terms of a change related to classic pricing. If that was to change, would that also be the case with transfer meaning we presently can transfer models for free. Can we count on at least the year that we'll be able to transfer models for free? Damien Leostic: That's good. So, first of, thanks for highlighting your use case. I've seen that on your forum. I've seen the [inaudible 01:25:08] that you had on- Dan Smigrod: I'm trying to look for a way, Damien, that perhaps those of us that are on a classic plan can be happy with classic. What I'm suggesting is, "Okay, I'm on a classic plan, forever at least I can activate for $19 get up to another 50 models." If I'm paying for processing more than $69 a month, then it would make sense to open up at least have a second account, process my models, transfer them from my new account back to my existing account. Dan Smigrod: As long as transfer is free, then I am still at the, I want to say at $2 per additional model for hosting. Right now at 300 models in a $1,500 a year account, I'm paying $5 a year for hosting under the new plan that's going to be $29 or even as high as 48, depending on how you count going back to Leon's explanation. If you don't fill up the the account overnight and therefore you don't get the benefit of it. What I'm trying to ask is can I transfer my models pay for the $19 for another 50 models and still have the benefit of that lower original price for hosting? Damien Leostic: I completely understand the use case. Sort of what you're saying is like, "Look, I see the benefits of the new plan and I'm going to go sign up for a new plan because I realize those benefits." It's a first step towards adoption and realizing the value of what you bring. Now the paradigm that you explained is value today. Yes, you can sign up two to plans. Oh sorry, sign up to the new plan and keeping your classic plan. You can transfer the models. --- How much money could you save? Dan |
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Houston |
briangreul private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Once upon a time there was a herd of wild pigs in the forest and a farmer. The farmer saw that he could make an amazing amount of money if he could take the pigs to slaughter. The pigs however would have none of it and were very wary. One day the farmer dumped a sack of grain in the field and left. The pigs waited and then promptly enjoyed the feast. The next day the farmer repeated the process. The pigs began to realize that they could get a free meal in the field. After about a week the farmer added a single solitary fence post. The pigs were suspicious, but what could one fence post do? So they kept enjoying the handout. Slowly the farmer added extra fence posts until the feeding spot was encircled. By now the pigs knew that the fence posts posed no threat, so they just ignored them. The farmer added a gate one day. The pigs laughed, a gate on a post with no fence? What harm could it do? Hmm the corn was good! Slowly the farmer added fencing, one panel at a time, to the posts. The pigs continued, the fence had never posed a threat, so why would today be any different? Finally one day, the farmer slammed the gate shut while the herd was enjoying the corn. The true cost of the free meal was apparent to the pigs and the farmer made alot of money. ****----- MP allowing classic to have a modern plan is simply creating a bridge for most customers. At some point they will either: - Tarriff transfers (very likely - say $5) - Sunset classic plans - Introduce a bulk hosting model for Modern plans. This is a sore spot for the high volume clients and something they likely have overcome for the MCS clients. I don't see enterprise customers paying $2-3/mo for hosting. I also don't see MP charging $15 for a floorplan and it working for enterprise accounts. This is all going to come down to revenue.... they are struggling to grow revenue and made a horrible fremium mistake with the iPhone and free plan. It's like Yugo offering their premium car with a heated rear glass (to keep your hands warm while pushing it) but saying they are going to remove one wheel. So now you have 3 wheeled car that isn't worth a sh*t to start with. That's essentially what scanning with a handheld device on a free plan is. A bad idea with bad data. Price focused customers (who want something for nothing) are never profitable. The yield curve will be very low out of that population, and it devalues the product for those of us trying to make money with it. |
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WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @briangreul Well told! I could imagine that Matterport is working on a rotator to pair with the "handheld" Capture app. I could imagine that the rotator will be $99 or $149 with the option of free rotator with pre-paid annual plan. I could also imagine that Matterport will integrate the anticipated LiDAR in the next generation iPhone that this expected later this year (2020). If one or both of these scenarios happens, how does this affect your thinking? As GeoCV has previously demonstrated, a rotator + depth sensor can take better images than a Matterport Pro2 3D Camera and turn the photography into a 3D experience. Best, Dan |
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Houston |
briangreul private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @DanSmigrod - I don't see a rotator solving the issue of capturing 18 images to feed the app engine. That's what the Pro2 does. I also think there are likely patent issues there. A quick search shows several patents related to this concept. Matterport might get a dose of their bitter nasty patent medicine back. On a more serious note, it could be that MP is going to exit the hardware business. Building boutique hardware is an expensive game. Matterport has to see itself as primarily a software company with a walled garden hardware offering. Now, I could see Apple or Microsoft buying them... please not Microsoft though. They screw up all of their acquisitions. Apple has a strong hardware and manufacturing background and could work wonders with the technology. It would actually make sense given Apple's strong interest in Augmented reality. But alas, if I had a crystal ball, I think it would tell us that MP has to right the revenue model. For whatever reason they have decided that a freemium model can do this. So roll out the app to iOS devices, cripple a few features and see if you can tease money out of the masses. The problem is that it cheapens the product and it's value (3D Models with high quality cameras). Someone is likely to see alignment issues in their iPhone version and think that's all there is to it. I still think their average revenue per customer will go down. This is generally not what you want to see in a technology company. They need rising recurring revenue to make the VC's happy. Devaluing the software asset isn't how you get there in my opinion. The only time this works is if you can massively expand the customer base such that profit climbs while minimizing expenses (support / processing) then it's workable. Free scans on hardware you didn't sell with no hosting costs is a loss leader. |
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JonPaul private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I see MP going out of business. They cant control the technology of the camera competition and they can't control the competition of people making stitching software to put it all together. Their attempt at controlling the content is what will drive people away from them. | ||
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WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
  Matterport eBlast received 8:36 am EST Tuesday, 8 December 2020 Hi All, Game over for gaming Matterport Cloud Pricing by early adopter Matterporters ... From a Matterport eBlast sent Tuesday, 8 December 2020: 1. “Classic” plans aren’t going anywhere. Our community would not be where it is without the early bets placed by the charter members of our community who subscribed to our “Classic” plans. We will therefore continue to support these plans fully. If you are happy with your “Classic” plan, rest assured we are not taking them away. We are happy for you to keep using those plans, with one caveat, which we are spelling out below: 2. The ability to transfer spaces from “New” to “Classic” plans for free will be removed, effective 1/31/21. Our new plan subscribers represent the majority of Matterport customers. As such it is important we keep parity of features between both sets of plans but that we also maintain fairness across our customer base. While the ability for “Classic” plan holders to transfer over spaces from “New” accounts for free has technically existed for a while, it created an unintended exploitation of our commercial terms that undermined the value offered to the majority of our customers. As such, we will remove this ability for all “Classic” plan holders, effective January 31st, 2021. Your thoughts? Dan |
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