Home → Star Bill of Lading → Registration/Purchasing → Why did the price of the Support Maintenance increase?

12.6. Why did the price of the Support Maintenance increase?

I understand your concern on the new Support Maintenance pricing. Hopefully this will serve as an explanation of the adjustments we had to make.
Originally the purchase price of the software was $184.00 (SE)/$284.00 (NE) in 2011 (v7.xx). With that purchase, the cost of the Yearly Support Maintenance license cost was $59.95/$99.95 ($69.95/$109.95 shipped on CD). Since then, we have had a couple of price increases with the new versions that have been released (v8.xx, and v9.xx). Since there is so much more value that has been added over the years, we have had to increase the software pricing to cover the increased costs of development, advertising, expenses, etc. As most companies have had to do over a period of time. We have tried to keep the cost of the Support/Upgrades/Updates to a minimum, which is around 35% of the price of the software. When the price increase for version 8 came along, we actually did not raise the Support/Upgrades/Updates fee to coincide with the new software pricing, which if you ask, I really don't have the answer to why it did not increase. Set forth with the release of v9.xx, the adjustment had to be made to pricing, thus the increase which is about 35% of the price of the software. Hopefully that explains the reason for the increase. Also, if using the Network Edition, there is much more Support requirements from our Customers to keep them up and running on multiple workstations and without issues. 

As far as other options, of course you can stop paying for the Support, which would stop any Upgrades/Updates that are made to the software at no extra cost. It would also switch you to a Hourly Support Fee if you run across any issues that need to be fixed, or assistance needed. That hourly rate is $175.00 per hour per incident. Also, if you would need to upgrade/update based on changes handed down from DOT, you would be basically be required to re-purchase the software (with a minimal discount) at a price of $180.00/$380.00. So, as you can see the value is definitely there to keep with the yearly Support/Upgrades/Updates license, as you know it would not cost any more than the $89.95/$179.95 for the year depending on the version.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.