Subscription service: Difference between revisions

A '''subscription service''' is an ongoing transaction agreement between the customer and the company; where a user usually pays on a week, month or yearly basis to use the services provided by a company. In many cases this model is used where a company has a sustained cost of doing business some of which include cloud storage, VPN's and many other SaaS products.

== How it works ==

When a(n) individual wishes to use a service like a VPN (Virtual Private Network) like Mulvad VPN a ongoing payment agreement (subscription) is established so that the business can continue to be sustainable and profitable. Prices may increase or decrease depending on various factors and or promotions that a company may offer to draw in more customers to experience their service.

== Why it is a problem ==

===Subscription based economy trend===

Subscription service revenue was estimated at "$3 trillion in 2024, up from estimates of around $2 trillion in 2023"<ref>[https://whop.com/blog/subscription-statistics/#:~:text=metrics%2C%20and%20more.-,Subscription%20Economy%20Statistics,%242%20trillion%20in%2020231. "100+ Subscription Statistics for 2025"] - whop.com - accessed 2025-01-23</ref> subscription services are becoming more prevalent. The replacement of permanent ownership with subscription services has some negative impacts that can harm consumer rights.

=== Redefinition of ownership ===

Instances of companies using the terms "ownership" and "own" when referring to subscription products and services have become prevalent. These instances are at the bare minimum misnomers: consumers do not own something if they have to pay a subscription to use it. The redefinition of language could be seen as a malicious attempt by companies to lessen the severity of the loss of ownership that consumers are now facing.

=== OTA subscription paywall updates ===

Companies like BMW paywall specific features on their cars that were once available without a subscription and advertised as apart of the original product that was purchased to get more money out of customers that may have bought the product for its feature lineup

=== Making subscriptions hard to cancel ===

Memberships signups like gyms which offer a service make it very easy to sign up online; and then in term make it very hard to cancel. Specific gyms may even require you to certify mail them just so that you can cancel your service you signed up for online. Additionally some services like Adobe will even penalize you for canceling early instead of waiting for the subscription to expire and choosing not to renew. This practice is mainly done to make consumers feel like it's not worth their time and effort to stop the subscription.

=== Licenses as subscriptions ===

A [[license]] grants rights to use a product or service.<ref>[https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/licence "license"] - oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com - accessed 2025-01-23</ref> Licenses differ from subscriptions in that permanent licenses exist while no subscription is ever permanent, in addition many companies choose to make temporary "licenses" last longer than subscriptions as [[Adobe]] does.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250123232818/https://www.adobe.com/howtobuy/buying-programs.html "Adobe Buying Programs"] - archive.org - archived 2025-01-23 </ref> Licenses also may apply to large groups of people, I.E. a student license granted to students for free. The concern here is that [[License euthanasia|permanent licenses are being phased out]] using the [[retroactively amended purchase]] strategy as [[Adobe Lightroom: Perpetual to Subscription Transition|Adobe has done]] possibly because subscriptions are more profitable. The term "license" is likely vulnerable to redefinition as ownership is.

=== Subscription inflation ===

Subscription inflation occurs when companies increase subscription prices, often arbitrarily. This practice has been seen with Netflix subscriptions where in 2025 "the standard monthly subscription without advertisements will climb from $15.49 to $17.99, and a standard monthly subscription with ads will increase one dollar to $7.99, Netflix said".<ref name=":0">[https://abcnews.go.com/Business/netflix-raises-prices-us-plans/story?id=117971949 "Netflix raises prices for all US plans. Here's what to know."] - abcnews.go.com - accessed 2025-01-23</ref> Subscription inflation need not be done to recoup lost revenue as this Netflix subscription price increase actually occurred after a year of "a stellar earnings report",<ref name=":0" /> meaning that Netflix has the resources to improve their service without raising prices. Subscription inflation has and will be used solely to raise company profits by forcing consumers to pay more for what may be an unimproved service.

<blockquote>Further reading: [[Game Pass]]</blockquote>Game Pass, also known as Xbox Game Pass or [[Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac|Microsoft]] Game Pass, is a subscription service maintained by [[Microsoft]] where for a fee, consumers have open (but temporary) access to games on both Xbox and PC.  

<blockquote>Further reading: [[Nintendo Switch Online]] </blockquote>Nintendo Switch Online is a subscription service that offers features that were either initially offered for free on previous [[Nintendo]] platforms, such as online play, or subscription-gates content that used to be one-time purchases, such as their emulation library. Additionally, all DLC freely obtained via the service is only accessible so long as the consumer continues to pay for the service.<ref>https://www.nintendo.com/us/switch/online/nintendo-switch-online/expansion-pack/#dlc</ref>