How does one switch to a paid site model?

I've got a new site in the works but I can't figure out how I should go about this, maybe I could have some advice?

The site will collect information from users about the price of used instruments that they've bought and sold in the past, along with the item condition, age and any accessories in the sale. The point of this is to organize this information in a way that it can be used to determine the fair market value of their horn which is sometimes hard to figure out. This info is very valuable for insurance and estate planning purposes. It's also important if you're about to buy or sell, you'll know what to expect. The concept is modeled on the kelly blue book of car values.

Now I have two problems. 1: I need the data and 2: I need to make money, here's my plan does it sound ok?

1. I have a user registration system in place. Visitors will log in, drill down to the appropriate category and submit data. For every two entries they submit (cmon, anyone can remember the information on their past two car sales or purchases), they will recieve a "ticket" worth a free lookup from the database.

2. There will be users who don't have data to submit or just want it fast, they will be able to do a lookup for a fairly nominal fee, maybe $3.50?

Here's the hitch: I need data before I can have anything to charge for...do I make the site totally free, advertise hard and hope I break even with adsense and THEN switch to a paid model in a year or so. Or, do I reward the submitters with free quotes to encourage data and charge from the beginning for the people who will have to pay?

I'm worried that regular users who can use the site for free in exchange for their submissions will be put off by the concept that I will be charging in the future...has anyone converted from a free to paid site and how did it work out?

 

you can find quite a few sites out there that started off free and then went to a paid membership. Now, the only ones i can think of right off hand are some dating sites and that is a little different.

Think about it.... Would you pay.... Is the service worth money.... is the information available free else were.

You definitely need to offer it free for a while. When you database and user base builds, then you could implement a small fee and over time raise it in very small amounts.

 

Raising it incrementally is a GOOD idea thank you! Maybe I could be 100% free for the first 6 months or so then raise it to a dollar, something low. In the meantime while it's free, I can give submitters them a "ticket" worth a free lookup in the future. People who really get into the site (and believe me there are people who can submit 30 entries) will be able to use it free and i'm totally FINE with that.

 

A thought on getting the data. People who play instruments know others who play. Offer incentives for people who refer a friend. Free look-up if a friend registers AND enters data.

 

That's a nice idea too! If someone refers a friend and they register and submit they both get a lookup. There are plenty of forums I can advertise on, but if I had fun ways like that to give out plenty of free "tickets" then if I went paid the people who were paying attention wouldn't mind because they'd have a few lookups stored up. I was also thinking about making these coupons tradable so I could get some free advertising out of it. "Hey does anyone have a brass blue book ticket I can have?" I installed Chitika on the test site today and the ads are VERY relevant, looking forward to see how the mini malls convert. If people are using it for free it doesn't mean they wont click onthe ads, there's not much else for them to do on the site if they're not doing an actual lookup. I also plan to have a thorough FAQ about buying and selling instruments and possibly a forum for question/answers about instrument value.