From: srwhite@ibm.net <srwhite@ibm.net>
Subject: Re: Pay BBS's still make money?
Date: Sunday, May 16, 1999 7:36 PM

In <19990516114810.22838.00001586@ng-fv1.aol.com>, dad2be1@aol.com (Dad2be1) writes:
>Hi,
> 
> I would like to know if any sysops out there who run a BBS that charges for
>full membership are making any money from it? If so, what do you need to offer
>to get people to pay for it? 
> 
> Thanks,
>  Mark

I would have to say that there is no money to be made from charging for
access, however charging for "extended" access may still make a few $$
for the sysop, but I wouldn't say too many people will even pay for that.

What about ancillary services??  There surely can be some $$ to be made there.
Do you have a large filebase?  Offer your callers the option to buy a copy of a
portion of your file database on a CD.  Of course you'll also need a CD-R, but this
could prove a way to bring in some extra $$.

Is your BBS on the web??? Do you have a gateway page for your BBS??  Can
callers access your BBS via their web browser??  Consider selling banner advertising
if you can answer yes to any of these questions.  On the plus side, people are more
likely to put up with the minor annoyance of banner ads (provided you use them
tastefully) than they are to pull out their wallet and pay to access your BBS.  The 
obvious drawback is that you have to have a lot of traffic on the web side of
your bbs.

These are just a couple ideas that I have, use your imagination and you might
think up something that will work for you.  I hope that helps!

Steve White
Shackrat's Hideout BBS
(Under Construction)

