This is going to be very personal opinion but I’ve bought many digital products when I’m either not thinking too much about the price or find that it has a much cheaper Indian version. Many times, have I done it just so I could help out another founder.
The most recent one I remember was some tool (Show HN) that searches the Mac with a local AI. I’m yet to start using it. I like the idea, and I might use it someday. It was beta-discounted
Appreciate the honest perspective! As a founder from India myself, I’ve definitely bought tools just to support the maker. I’ve set the PPP price to ₹999 to make it a 'no-brainer' for folks here. Glad to know I'm on the right track.
Optionally perpetual or subscription, niche software, B2B, more expensive than mass market / commodity software. Nonstop lying / scamming behavior.
You get funny things that happen like when a rep from a company will call you and warn you not to do a deal with another rep from the same company, then 2 hours later we get a call from the other rep.
I’m eventually going to go subscription only, people from Asia tend to really hate that and refuse to pay for subscriptions but we make so little money from them that it’s not worth catering to them, we’re better off dropping that entire region.
SaaS software is not generally zero marginal cost since you run the infra, have support, etc, but maybe in your situation is close to zero since its very simple.
If you have no sales, but your costs are very low, you should try it.
The main reason not to would be costs or cannibalizing your higher value customers (which you don't have).
You are right! My costs are negligible and I just shipped the parity pricing feature hoping to do more sales as currently the count is less from these regions.
Thanks for the heads up on the code reselling risk. That was my biggest worry with generic coupon codes too.
To solve this, I decided against just using a 'coupon' on the main checkout. Instead, I set up a completely separate payment flow (Topmate) specifically for India that requires local UPI payment methods.
My theory is that the requirement to use a local Indian payment method acts as a 'natural geoblock' against arbitrage. Interesting to hear that India didn't convert well for you even with PPP—I'll keep my expectations in check.
I sell a niche educational tool for technical leads($19 one-time access).
I get decent traffic from India/Southeast Asia, but 0 sales.
I’ve read conflicting advice:
The "SaaS" View: Don't lower prices; filter for high-value customers.
The "Game/Ebook" View: Lower prices significantly (60%+) to match local purchasing power, because zero marginal cost = free money.
Since my product has no server upkeep (it's just a Next.js app), I just enabled aggressive PPP.
Has anyone here successfully monetized a one-time purchase dev tool in India? Or is the "Free or Nothing" culture too strong?
This is going to be very personal opinion but I’ve bought many digital products when I’m either not thinking too much about the price or find that it has a much cheaper Indian version. Many times, have I done it just so I could help out another founder.
The most recent one I remember was some tool (Show HN) that searches the Mac with a local AI. I’m yet to start using it. I like the idea, and I might use it someday. It was beta-discounted
I’m from India.
Appreciate the honest perspective! As a founder from India myself, I’ve definitely bought tools just to support the maker. I’ve set the PPP price to ₹999 to make it a 'no-brainer' for folks here. Glad to know I'm on the right track.
I have had numerous enquirers from India but no sales, it was such a waste of time that I geoblocked the whole region.
Oh, was it subscription and high ticket value?
Optionally perpetual or subscription, niche software, B2B, more expensive than mass market / commodity software. Nonstop lying / scamming behavior.
You get funny things that happen like when a rep from a company will call you and warn you not to do a deal with another rep from the same company, then 2 hours later we get a call from the other rep.
I’m eventually going to go subscription only, people from Asia tend to really hate that and refuse to pay for subscriptions but we make so little money from them that it’s not worth catering to them, we’re better off dropping that entire region.
That sounds very draining.
Since I'm selling a low-ticket ($19) self-serve product with zero sales calls, I'm hoping i don't face this.
But I hear you loud and clear - if I ever move upmarket to enterprise contracts, I'll consider this!
SaaS software is not generally zero marginal cost since you run the infra, have support, etc, but maybe in your situation is close to zero since its very simple.
If you have no sales, but your costs are very low, you should try it.
The main reason not to would be costs or cannibalizing your higher value customers (which you don't have).
You are right! My costs are negligible and I just shipped the parity pricing feature hoping to do more sales as currently the count is less from these regions.
We do PPP for Caido in India and Brazil but for subscription. Brazil definitely worth it, India not so much.
For our voucher system we decided to not do PPP otherwise you need some kind of geoblock ala Steam to avoid code reselling.
Thanks for the heads up on the code reselling risk. That was my biggest worry with generic coupon codes too.
To solve this, I decided against just using a 'coupon' on the main checkout. Instead, I set up a completely separate payment flow (Topmate) specifically for India that requires local UPI payment methods.
My theory is that the requirement to use a local Indian payment method acts as a 'natural geoblock' against arbitrage. Interesting to hear that India didn't convert well for you even with PPP—I'll keep my expectations in check.