Subscription Price Changes

Hello Everyone,
Let me start by saying that since the launch of the site, it’s been my goal to keep our subscriptions at an affordable cost so that as many fans as possible can enjoy our animations and comics. However, in the nine years since we started our subscriptions, inflation has significantly reduced the value of a five-dollar bill, and our production costs have gradually increased year after year as we’ve expanded and improved our comics and animations. Because of these reasons, the monthly subscription cost will increase to $5.99 USD effective February 1, 2022.

Most Important Note About The Price Change!
Any account which has an active subscription prior to February 1, 2022 will be grandfathered in at the $5.00 per month price for as long as their subscription is active. That means that if you’re a loyal fan who has been here month after month, your subscription price won’t change at all. The price change will only affect new sign ups and people re-subscribing. Please note that should a grandfathered subscription become inactive (such as a cancellation or failed payment), they would have to resubscribe at the new price.

How has inflation affected the $5 price?
If you check any USD inflation calculator online, you’d find that $5 in 2013 would be worth around $5.97 as of the start of 2022. This means the adjusted sub cost will have the same value it did back when we started subscriptions in 2013.

Source: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

 
How have SapphireFoxx Production prices increased?
When the subscriptions began in 2013, there was only one person who worked at SapphireFoxx. I wrote, drew, animated, made comics, handled customer support, and ran the website. Now, eight years later, SapphireFoxx is a team of twelve people. With so many talented people working, our art quality has improved drastically, animations are far better and longer, everything is professionally voice-acted, and so on. While our content has improved, our costs have also risen year after year as we’ve grown. Combine this with the inflation issue, and you can see where the problem lies. As much as I don’t like price increases, I see it as the favorable option compared to downsizing or reducing the amount of content we produce per month.
 

Will the Beyond Subscription’s price change?
There are no plans to change the $15 /month subscription price on the Beyond site. If anything, the Beyond subscriptions have been subsidizing the low cost of the base subscription for years. Were it not for the Beyond site, a price increase here would have come years ago, and it may have been more than a $0.99 increase.
 

What happens to people who pay directly via PayPal or the PO Box?
The new price will affect any direct payments received after February 1. After that date, if we receive a payment from anyone that’s divisible by 5, we’ll credit them for a subscription with a fractional month. As long as mail to the PO Box is postmarked before February, it will still count.
For any direct payments received prior to February 1, we will credit you fully at the current price. For example, a $60 direct payment would lock in a full 12 month subscription.
 

Regarding My Own Income
Unlike my employees, I do not receive a set weekly or monthly income. My personal earnings are directly tied to the business’s profits. That means if SapphireFoxx’s sales equals all the expenses, I will personally earn nothing. Whatever I invest into the business to expand our staff or to improve our content’s quality comes directly out of my pocket.
 

Will there be price changes in the future?
Unfortunately, inflation in a constant, so in all likelihood it will be reassessed several years down the line. Also, it’s very foreseeable that our production costs will gradually increase over time as we grow and improve our creations. As is, I likely waited too long for this price change, especially considering that most fans will keep their grandfathered $5 subscriptions. It’s possible that, a year from now, the majority of subscribers could still be paying $5 per month.
It’s important to note that regardless of what happens with potential future price changes, we will keep the system of grandfathering older subscriptions at their original cost.
 

In Conclusion
I hope my thorough explanation has helped explain my reasoning and answered most questions people might have. If you have any other questions, I will be happy to answer them in the comments below.
Please keep in mind that as long as you remain an active subscriber, there will be no change to your plan or the price you pay.
Thank you so much for your support over the years, as I could not have done any of this without you. I couldn’t be more grateful to all you amazing SapphireFoxx fans out there! With SapphireFoxx’s tenth anniversary coming up in 2022, I have big things planned for the year ahead. I also hope that SapphireFoxx will still be going strong another ten years from now.