Price increases are never great when you are paying for them, however, they are often unavoidable. That being said we at WritersHand Studios have managed to maintain our prices throughout 2020 and 2021, and have also worked together with our partners to offer a stabilised pricing model into most of the 2022 year.
Unfortunately, with the USD/ZAR exchange rate, increased costs of our software licensing price escalations, online platforms and server hardware costs, along with the other challenges affecting South African businesses, we must increase our prices.
But There’s Good News Too…
Thanks to our growing business and improved relationships with many of our partners over the last year, we’ve been able to optimise our new services, as well as tap into additional resources locally and internationally. Some of these resources include more powerful servers, an improved W-Analytics dashboard to monitor your brand’s growth, as well as a wider basket of services. This means that from 15 December 2022 (our last billing cycle for 2022), new resources will be accessible to all clients to improve their service delivery and much more.
Many of you have been asking, and finally, after all the battles we’ve had with SARS this year, we are finally registered for VAT. As of 2 November 2022, all our invoices will reflect South African Tax for all qualifying clients who are subject to tax. This excludes some of our international clients who are not eligible for South African Tax.
Should your business require our VAT information to be updated on your accounting systems and records, kindly reach out to us and we’ll share the necessary information with you. Please email enquiries to [email protected]
When will the new price kick in?
The new pricing and added resources (where applicable) will be implemented with all new sign-ups, immediately. However, all existing customers will only see this price increase reflected in the next billing cycle. We have absorbed the VAT cost for the first effective month (November 2022) so that this does not impact your immediate budget.
Why is the price of my package going up?
WritersHand Studios has experienced substantial increases in our software and hardware, and although we’ve managed to keep our prices steady over the past two years to assist our clients through the negatively impacting lockdowns, we are now at the point where we are forced to increase them. However, where possible we aim to lighten the blow by offering added resources.
How does VAT affect me and my business?
For businesses that are already VAT registered, this may not affect you much as you will now be able to claim back the VAT amount on all our services and qualifying products. International clients are not subject to South African Tax, and will not see this on their invoices. Unfortunately, this does mean that if you are not VAT registered, your price for the service will increase by the legislative amount.
How does VAT affect my ad budget allocated for digital marketing?
VAT charges will not affect your ad budget for Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and Instagram ad campaigns managed by WritersHand Studios. These internet marketing platforms have included VAT in their ad budget thresholds since 1 April 2019, and your allocated ad budget in your package(s) with us has always factored in the cost plus VAT. Therefore, no reduction in impressions, clicks and conversions can be expected due to this.