Each time I’m forced to shut down new sipsorcery account sign ups I get a bunch of email requests asking for a new account to be set up. In the past I’ve been able to say just wait a few days and signups will be re-enabled. However this time that’s not going to happen in a hurry as there’s no easy way to milk more capacity out of the existing sipsorcery deployment.
As such I’ve decided to see if an auction process for new accounts will gain any traction. The merits of the approach are that it provides a way to control the rate of new signups and if the accounts get auctioned for more than $0.30 Australian dollars (the eBay fee) then it will also be able to contribute towards the sipsorcery running costs and perhaps at some point even generate enough for an additional server.
To start with I’ve just put a single account up for auction put if it works out I plan to add another 10 or so accounts. After that I’ll make sure the server is handling for a small period of time and if so the auction will be repeated.
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20 comments
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July 28, 2010 at 21:11
Huib
Great idea!
July 29, 2010 at 07:17
Avi Marcus
AUD $15.50 already. I think you’ve had a great idea! Unfortunately, each account is only a one time donation…
July 29, 2010 at 22:48
Will Entriken
Such much overhead going through eBay… please tell me your email address and I will send 15 USD via PayPal for a new account.
Thanks in advance,
WE
August 1, 2010 at 06:31
Seth Wisely
A new kind of credential grab
http://2010.brucon.org/index.php/Training_2
is only a few dozen accounts away
August 1, 2010 at 11:48
sipsorcery
If you do the course I’d be more than happy to peruse any analysis you’d care to do on sipsorcery :).
August 5, 2010 at 00:18
The Chosen One
I don’t really think this is the right way to go. I think that you should perhaps give each account 1 (or no) free registration to an SIP provider. All others should cost money. Perhaps tell them about IPKall to entice them away from registering to another SIP account.
August 5, 2010 at 15:55
VOIP5150
Still waiting to hear back! One an auction 5 days ago.
*patiently waiting*
August 5, 2010 at 22:50
sipsorcery
I haven’t kept anyone waiting that long! Of the three auctions so far I’ve responded within an hour at most and generally quicker. If yours was the buy now purchase I’ve gone ahead and resent the original email response, maybe check your spam folder, the sending address is admin@sipsorcery.com. If you still don’t have anything can you email me at admin@sipsorcery.com.
August 6, 2010 at 14:49
VOIP5150
Spam Filters on gmail, sigh. Sometimes we overlook the simplest things.
Cheers
September 19, 2010 at 01:26
member
As an existing member, I think it is my responsibility to contribute the the share of cost that it takes to keep this wonderful service alive. I am willing to donate a certain amount quarterly basis. How much/quarter do you think will be fair donation? Best Regards.
September 19, 2010 at 11:28
sipsorcery
I haven’t actually worked it out but I think the average donation has been USD20 to 25. If all the existing sipsorcery users contributed that amount and hosting prices stayed the same that would keep the service running for 20 to 25 years :).
September 26, 2010 at 03:15
sean2078
Great technology and excellent service – Keep up the good work. Auctioning idea is sharp and should really take off (I just placed a $65 bid, so I’d say it’s going well so far) – Thanks!
September 26, 2010 at 03:23
sipsorcery
Thanks. If you’re not in a rush you can always wait for the next batch, which will probably be in another few days, if the price gets too high.
October 9, 2010 at 15:12
Sam
As much as I want an account, I don’t think I will be able to pay for one at the moment because of financial difficulties. For the time being, I will just have to hope that free signups get re-enabled soon.
October 10, 2010 at 09:47
sipsorcery
There were a couple of the auctioned account invites that sold for the minimum price so if you are prepared to keep an eye out you maybe able very cheaply.
October 12, 2010 at 02:51
Sam
Well, right now it looks very unlikely, since all the ones from the last batch have sold for much more than that so far.
October 17, 2010 at 15:39
Sam
Couldn’t you just buy any ol’ computer, install Windows Server 2003 or something on it, and run Sip Sorcery from there?
October 20, 2010 at 09:09
sipsorcery
Yeah but while it would work out a little bit cheaper it would be a lot less reliable and for this sort of service it’s pretty useless if it’s not reliable. And I’d probably incur additional costs or a warning from my ISP for running a service on a residential connection.
October 30, 2010 at 03:56
Sam
My financial situation is still a problem and I have not been able to afford any of the accounts on eBay. Could you perhaps walk me through setting up a local server on my home computer? I know this isn’t ideal, but my current situation of dialing with Google Voice on the web and answering with Sipgate is very tedious and annoying, and I am really tired of it. I would be willing to pay you about $10 for your help, but anything much more than that is problematic for me at the moment.
October 30, 2010 at 11:04
sipsorcery
It’s not an easy task to get the latest version of sipsorcery up and running from source. Not to say it’s not doable but really you need to have a bit of programming expertise. There are a few people attempting it with varying degrees of success and I help where I can. You are welcome to ask questions on the dedicated local version of sipsorcery forum to gauge whether you should make an attempt or not.