As someone who runs a SaaS (Software/Subscription as a Service) company, I have two pretty huge pieces of advice here for every reader of this thread, both providers and clients alike. They’re a little complicated but this is me 💯% swearing the return on investment is here and anyone who buys stuff online should be doing this already. If not, take time out of your schedule and reorganize over the next few weeks:
First: Always, always, always pay for an entire year up front for sites and software you have already determined you like and already see good value in the service.
Sure, trial them for a month or two but pay for it yearly after you see the value the site brings. Almost every single one typically offers at least a two month discount (e.g, $99/year vs. $9.99/month) which comes out to a 17% to 20% discount at minimum (sometimes more!) and let’s be honest… prices never ever decrease. They only increase so you’re locked in for the remainder at an even better discount when that happens. This applies to everything from Netflix to Hulu to Amazon Prime to every site that has monthly subscriptions. You always come out ahead, and the company backing the site itself loves the extra revenue their finance folks can recognize on their balance sheet. Total win-win all around.
Second: Almost every major bank and credit card company allows this now, so leverage online banking tools from your bank or payment method’s site to create separate “virtual cards” unique to every merchant or website. Don’t pay with bank debits ever. Don’t use your main VISA/MC/AMEX card number that’s physically in your pocket either. At your financial institution site, in 2023, you can typically issue a new private card number and set a spend limit for each individual site you want to subscribe.
For example, you can say a company is only allowed to charge $10/month to this virtual card. Sure, it requires a little bit more effort during the initial sign-up but once you’re in the habit, the benefits far, far outweigh the small inconvenience at the time and will make your finances exponentially easier to manage long after the fact. Anytime a site changes terms like Rent.men without notification, their charge is declined. Rent.men goes from $9.95 to $19.95 per change? Automatically declined. I personally probably have 60-90 virtual cards in regular use for everything at any given time. Pro tip: Label them well and using consistent naming conventions
Benefit #1: Doing this protects you when your physical card is compromised or lost, something we all know happens regularly these days and can be a royal pain in the ass. With this model in place, you don’t need to re-enter your card everywhere when it happens. Not only software sites and streaming services, but little league fees for your kids, accounts at bookstores or libraries in town, saved payment methods at PayPal or Airline websites or Amazon or GNC.com or 5,000 other eCommerce sites. Trust me here, generating separate virtual cards for all your online activities —IS— a proven lifesaver not only with time but as a budget control stop gap measure.
Benefit #2: It prevents sites from charging more without notice. It reverses the roles and puts you in control of the money and debits and you can easily shut off a virtual card where the site doesn’t make it easy to cancel.
“Hold the fuck up! You want me to wait on the phone to call to cancel and listen to someone for ten minutes trying to convince me otherwise??” — in this separate card for each site model, you login to your bank and toggle that specific card tied to that site to the off position and never speak to them again. They automatically close your account after 30 days of declined payments. Win-win all around.
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That’s all for now typing from my phone at 3:15 AM. I have a half dozen other tips in these scenarios as this type of model is at the core at what my corporation does, but the ones above are mutually beneficial all around.
Well, except shutting off virtual cards for individual sites that don’t offer an easy method to cancel recurring charges (think gyms and health/fitness clubs). But that’s on the company for making it harder to cancel. SaaS platforms should be able to flick on and off each month just a light ditch. That’s simply good business in 2023 where you do t have a 12 month or longer contract.
This stuff is kind of my wheelhouse, so if anybody has any questions on the intricacies of how any of this works, feel free to post. My only goal is to educate and help everyone here not only with Rent.men, but the other 20-30 sites we all pay monthly for these days. It also helps you set overall budgets (and stick with them!) on sites like OnlyFans so they don’t get out of hand. 👀😳🤣😎
I hope this post was helpful to many others in the forum Upvotes or reactions are very much appreciated to show thanks and let me know if contributing like this is something I should do more.
Anyway hope ya’ll got laid this past weekend. multiple times. 😳🍆