The Deals Program is an absolute joke

[Andy Walsh]

My course is available elsewhere for $12. The lowest I can set the price for Udemy is $20. I have sold over a hundred downloads from just a couple of courses and I was hoping that Udemy would reach a wider audience. I opted into the Deals program because at least some of the time it would reduce the price.

After the long process of getting my course approved, and after having to manually request a profile url (vs having it available in the settings like every single other web site) I have zero sales. I then visit my profile only to find that the price of my course is £60! which is about $80, so several times what I'm charging on other sites. 

I then learn that this is because I opted into the 'deals' program, which really only talks about discounts. I never would have imagined that some kind of 'data' would suggest that for me to make the most sales, I should take my course and 4-6x the price compared to many other tutorials of similar content, thus resulting in zero sales!

What planet are you guys on??

[RandyMinder]

Hi @Andy Walsh - Why is any of this catching you by surprise? Didn't you do at least a little bit of research on how Udemy works before creating and publishing your course? Udemy pricing, as absurd as it may be at times, is clearly spelled out.

Also, you should understand that the price set for a course really has little or no meaning because most students will never pay full price for a course. They will simply wait a few days until the next sale and then purchase the course for somewhere between $9.95 and $12.95. I have created close to 40 courses since August 2019, with 20K paid students and I don't think there have been more than a 15-20 times any of those students paid full price for one of my courses. Therefore, the actual price on a course has little meaning. What matters is when the next Udemy sale occurs and hoping your course is good enough to get in the Udemy Business offerings.

[Andy Walsh]

Well, no it's not clearly spelled out. What you said above is clearly spelled out and if they worded it that way, then I wouldn't feel blind-sided. Now, I'll paste what they told me when I reached out asking why the price I set wasn't corresponding to the list price, and you tell me if it's spelled out:

"The price of the course shows different because you opted-in to the Udemy Deals Program. When opted into the Deals Program, our pricing system generates course-specific floors and sale price ranges according to each course’s actual sale data. If your course’s revenue is maximized at a higher price point (balancing conversion rate and paid price), over time, the system will move it toward that higher point. If the data suggests your revenue is better maximized at a lower point, then it will sell for a lower price.
 
You’ll see a variety of price points for your different courses depending on their performance, the particular market, and the particular sale. "

That to me suggests that my course price has been set to some arbitrary amount based on abstract data and unless I opt out, It'll always be a random price, until I've sold enough courses to start seeing data pertinent to me.