Price Increases for 2024: Fee-based new features, inserting ads on streaming … in reality just a sneaky price increase!

Price Increases for 2024: Happy New Year 2024 and it seems the gift to consumers is what I’m calling a “sneaky price increase.” Several companies – genealogy-related as well as other types – are finding new ways to raise prices WITHOUT raising prices.  Confused? You’re not the only one.

Price Increases for 2024: Ancestry® Pro Tools

Recently Ancestry rolled out its new product Ancestry® Pro Tools for $10 USD per month.  After months of asking users via surveys and social media what new features they’d like to see when using Ancestry to find out more about their family history, Ancestry touted its new “tools” …. for a fee, of course.

According to Ancestry, Ancestry® Pro Tools allows users to:

Review, sort, and display the people in your tree like never before. These advanced tools not only double-check your work in the background, but they also allow you to see your expansive family history in a different light.

So what do you get by paying an ADDITIONAL FEE on top of your already pricey Ancestry membership?

• Tree Checker: Catch potential duplicates and errors in your tree.
• Charts and Reports: Create and share detailed family histories.
• Advanced Filters: Search, group, and sort people using key details.
• Map Views: See where they all lived in relation to one another.

And don’t forget the important disclaimer!

Pro Tools requires an active Ancestry family history membership. Your Pro Tools subscription will automatically renew at list price every month until you cancel or until your Ancestry family history membership ends. If you don’t want to renew, cancel at least two days before your renewal date by visiting your Account Settings or by contacting us. 

Frankly, as an Ancestry member I’d be pretty miffed with this offer, especially since other genealogy sites, especially MyHeritage, offer the same features WITHOUT the upsell. While I haven’t seen any user backlash as of yet, it would be interesting to find out how this new “feature” actually sells in 2024.

For more information, visit https://genealogybargains.com/ancestry-protools.

Price Increases for 2024: Amazon Prime Video Ad Free

Besides genealogy, here’s another example of a sneaky price increase: Amazon Prime Video instead of raising its pricing, opted to insert advertisements when viewing their videos. Starting January 29th, Amazon will roll out Prime Video Ad Free which allows users to bypass advertisements which will be content-relevant and inserted to all streaming programs.

As Amazon states:

This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time. We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.

The price to REMOVE these ads is a hefty $3 USD per month. So basically if you want Amazon Prime Video as it is now, you’re paying an extra $36 USD per year. Way to go Amazon!

Price Increases for 2024: FREE CHEAT SHEET – 10 Ways to Save Money on Genealogy!

Researching your family history can be fun, but like many hobbies, it can turn into an expensive obsession. There are many ways to save money while you pursue the “hunt” for your roots: some are common sense while others are, quite frankly, ingenious. Remember that it doesn’t pay to be so focused on “frugal” that in the long run you either lose money or that genealogy is no longer “fun.”

Price Increases for 2024: Conclusion

As always with any company, including those in the genealogy industry, it is BUYER BEWARE! Make sure you thoroughly check out any changes in service to your membership. And if you disagree with something “new” make sure you give the company your feedback via email or social media!

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