Paid Upgrades
How to sell a paid v2 upgrade without breaking v1
When to give an update away and when to charge for it, the workarounds sellers use today, and how to sell a v2 upgrade while earlier buyers keep v1.
Quick takeaways
- Fixes and compatibility updates are usually free; a v2 with substantial new scope can fairly be a paid upgrade.
- Common workarounds (a separate product plus a discount code, or reassigning buyers by hand) work, but they are easy to get wrong.
- Earlier buyers should keep the version they paid for, see what is new, and be able to upgrade from where they already go for their files.
Charging for v2 is fair, if you do it cleanly
A v2 that took you three months is a new piece of work. Charging existing buyers something for it is normal: software has worked this way for decades. What buyers resent is not paying for new work. It is losing access to what they already bought, or being asked to pay full price again for a small change.
So a paid upgrade has two jobs: make the new version easy to buy, and leave the old version exactly where it was.
Free update or paid upgrade?
A simple rule of thumb works for most template, plugin, and digital download sellers:
- Free: bug fixes, typos, broken formulas or links, and compatibility updates that keep the product working as promised.
- Free: small additions you hinted at in the original listing.
- Paid: a rebuild, a new major feature set, or a new volume that took real time to make.
- Always: honor whatever update promise was on the listing when the buyer purchased.
The workarounds sellers use today
On platforms without built-in upgrades, sellers usually create v2 as a separate product and email past buyers a discount code. It works, but the discount code leaks, buyers end up with two library entries, and you have to remember who already upgraded.
The other common option is giving v2 away to everyone and selling the new parts as an add-on. That keeps things simple, but it means your biggest piece of new work earns nothing from the buyers who know you best.
What earlier buyers need to see
When a buyer comes back, the upgrade should answer their questions before they ask them.
- Which version they own, and that it stays theirs.
- What changed in the new version, in plain language.
- What the upgrade costs and what it includes, such as future updates or support.
- Where to buy it: ideally the same place they already download their files.
How paid upgrades work in Go!BrightCart
When you publish a release, you can mark it as a paid upgrade. Earlier buyers keep the version they bought, and their Buyer Locker shows that a newer release exists, what changed, and how to upgrade. New buyers simply get the current version.
You can preview and send a targeted announcement to earlier buyers when the paid upgrade is ready, with opt-outs respected.