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How does TM town make money?
Thread poster: Robin Joensuu
Robin Joensuu
Robin Joensuu  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 18:04
Member
English to Swedish
+ ...
Nov 4, 2015

I am currently attending the free TM town webinar here on Proz, and the person is saying that no translation memories or termbases is shared with anyone. But apparently the people behind TM town want money for all their work. So my question is: How do they get money? Or in other words: What do they sell, and to whom?

Does anyone have a clue?
 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:04
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
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I think TM-town gets a certain percentage of any work commissioned via the site Nov 4, 2015

Hi Robin,

As far as I know, the idea is that they will eventually start making some money if and when clients start commissioning translations from users of the site. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I think TM-Town gets a certain percentage of any work commissioned via the site. However, it is also perfectly possible for clients that find you via the site, to arrange matters in private. In such cases, it would appear that TM-Town wouldn't earn anything on the relevant transacti... See more
Hi Robin,

As far as I know, the idea is that they will eventually start making some money if and when clients start commissioning translations from users of the site. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I think TM-Town gets a certain percentage of any work commissioned via the site. However, it is also perfectly possible for clients that find you via the site, to arrange matters in private. In such cases, it would appear that TM-Town wouldn't earn anything on the relevant transaction. However, you should probably ask Kevin (the developer) about this. I just had a quick look at their FAQ, but couldn't find anything. However, I do remember reading it somewhere.

Michael

[This post was dictated using Dragon Professional 14. Please excuse any typos!] ▲ Collapse
 
Robin Joensuu
Robin Joensuu  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 18:04
Member
English to Swedish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
A paid tier Nov 4, 2015

Hi Micheal,

Kevin, the founder, was actually attending the webinar and he addressed this a bit later (I was a bit quick). It seems like they will introduce a paid tier later on, so some of what is now free would later be restricted for paying member - if I understood it all correctly.

I got a bit suspicious. Nothing is free of charge, especially not when ads for the 'free' products start appearing everywhere.
 
..... (X)
..... (X)
Local time: 01:04
Paid Tiers Nov 4, 2015

Hi Robin,

Thank you for attending the webinar. Within the next month or so we will be introducing paid tiers, while still maintaining a free version. The paid tiers will include things such as the number of segments indexed in search (i.e. the free tier will allow you to index up to xx,xxx segments and terms but other tiers will offer more) and some other innovative features we have planned.

TM-Town also makes money from the TM-Town Terminology Marketplace (we take a 20... See more
Hi Robin,

Thank you for attending the webinar. Within the next month or so we will be introducing paid tiers, while still maintaining a free version. The paid tiers will include things such as the number of segments indexed in search (i.e. the free tier will allow you to index up to xx,xxx segments and terms but other tiers will offer more) and some other innovative features we have planned.

TM-Town also makes money from the TM-Town Terminology Marketplace (we take a 20% commission on sales).

As Michael mentioned in the past we offered a way for clients to purchase translation directly from the site and we took a commission on that while matching them to the best translator; however, we found that many of the clients who are using TM-Town are more sophisticated and have their own systems in place so they prefer to just message translators directly when they have a specific need.

Additionally we offer a white label version of TM-Town that smaller agencies can use to manage their translators and TMs.

So our goal is to continue to develop more services of value to translators and keep growing the community and business from there.

Thanks again for your interest and attending the webinar!

Kevin

[Edited at 2015-11-04 14:48 GMT] ▲ Collapse
 
Robin Joensuu
Robin Joensuu  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 18:04
Member
English to Swedish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Nov 4, 2015

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for the detailed answer (despite the late hours in Japan)! I think TM-Town looks like a promising platform, but I guess I am a bit suspicious by nature. Anyway, now I know.

Good luck with everything!
 


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