Pricing is often a tricky topic to navigate. We want to find a price point that feels fair and creates a true win-win situation for our users. Here’s the logic behind our $29/year pricing model.
The Value of Peace of Mind
As of this writing, 1 oz of silver is trading around $50.
Let's imagine you’re looking to buy coins from sources other than your local trusted dealer—perhaps online marketplaces, estate sales, or private sellers. Naturally, there's a slightly higher risk of encountering a counterfeit. For our calculations, we estimate that risk at 0.5% (1 in 200 coins) 1.
If we assume a typical coin value of roughly $55 (spot price plus premium), the math looks like this:
- 99.5% of the time, you get a genuine coin worth the full value.
- 0.5% of the time, you risk losing your $55 investment on a fake.
Statistically, the "expected loss" or cost of this risk per coin is:
0.005 × $55 = $0.275
This means that for any tool that can eliminate that risk, it's worth paying up to $0.275 per coin to ensure you aren't losing money in the long run.
The Monthly Breakdown
If you test just 10 coins per month (the amount of free verdicts you get per month), the value of that risk protection is:
10 × $0.275 = $2.75 per month
And the charge for that is $0.
In the monthly tier you get 100 verdicts per month, so the calculation looks like this:
100 × $0.275 = $27.5 per month
And the charge for that is $3 per month.
In the yearly tier you get 1200 verdicts per year, so the calculation looks like this:
1200 × $0.275 = $330 per year
And the charge for that is $29 per year.
Here's an overview of the pricing:
| Plan | Price | Verdicts | Value vs. Charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10/mo | $2.75 vs. $0 |
| Monthly | $3/mo | 100/mo | $27.5 vs. $3 |
| Yearly | $29/year | 1200/yr | $330 vs. $29 |
| Yearly (Android, time-limited) | $29/yr | ∞ | $330–∞ vs. $29 |
| Lifetime | $99 | ∞ | $330–∞ vs. $99 |
So, even with a low counterfeit risk of 0.5% and moderate usage of 10+ tests per month, paying $29/year makes it a positive ROI investment ($33+ value vs $29 cost).
This doesn't even account for gold coins, which (although more difficult to counterfeit) have higher price points and therefore higher expected value.
This also doesn't account for the opportunity value of being able to shop for lower-premium deals with confidence, knowing you can verify them yourself.
It Gets Better: You Only Pay for Success
We wanted to make the deal even sweeter. With Pingcoin, we only charge you for "Pass" verdicts.
- Counterfeit detected? No charge.
- Bad recording or mistake? No charge.
You only pay when we confirm you have the real deal. This aligns our incentives with yours: we want you to find authentic coins, and you don't pay for the bad news.
Comments?
We are open to feedback on our pricing and the underlying math. Ultimately we want to be rewarded for our work while offering good value for our users. Let us know what you think at [email protected].
Footnotes
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The estimation of 0.5% is our estimate. It's more of a pragmatic estimate than a factual one. It's based on the fact that people in the silver market are obviously concerned about counterfeits, so the odds are non zero. ↩