Company charges customers who use IE7 a 6.8% fee

[Jeremy]

http://www.smartcompany.com.au/reta...ternet-explorer-7-browser-with-a-6-8-tax.html

Online retailer Kogan has implemented the world's first Internet Explorer 7 "tax" today, charging customers who use the browser more for their online technology purchases.

The new 6.8% charge comes into effect today on all products purchased from Kogan for any Australian shoppers still using IE7.

For every month since IE7 was released, Kogan is going to apply a 0.1% charge ? right now, it is at 6.8%.

Smart Company asked founder and chief executive Ruslan Kogan if he was being serious about the tax and he assures us he is.

"It is activated on the site and it is working", says Kogan.

"Based on what Kogan stands for with efficiency it just didn't seem right, we should not be punishing our savvy customers who are using a proper browser."

The IE7 tax has drummed up some more publicity for Kogan, an area the man and the company excels in, with previous campaigns including a long-running dispute with JB Hi-Fi and challenging Harvey Norman to a debate on live television.

"It is early days yet, but we have had a lot of tweets and emails from people in the IT and web community praising us for what we have done," says Kogan.

"Anyone who is involved with the internet and web technology would know the amount of time that is wasted to support all these antiquated browsers. You have to make all these work-arounds all the time to make sure the site works properly on it."

Kogan says he does not know the extent of the extra costs incurred by his company in working around IE7, but he believes they are significant.

"We have not done the exact maths, but it is a significant amount. The front end of every screen has to get redeveloped every time in order to render properly in IE7.

"It's not only costing us a huge amount, it's affecting any business with an online presence, and costing the internet economy millions of dollars."

But Kogan says customers who enter the site using IE7 can avoid the impost by downloading an up-to-date browser such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera or even a more recent version of Internet Explorer.

Kogan has included a pop-up on the site which encourages customers to avoid the charge by upgrading their browser.

"As internet citizens, we all have a responsibility to make the internet a better place. By taking these measures, we are doing our bit," says Kogan.

 

[Justin]

Saw this earlier... do I sense someone else on /r/web_design?

Anyway, this is logical. If they can get people to move away from IE7 then they can save time and resources working on IE7 compatibility. Maybe more will follow.

 

[JKDOS]

As a programmer and web designer myself, I can say this is very interesting...

"Anyone who is involved with the internet and web technology would know the amount of time that is wasted to support all these antiquated browsers. You have to make all these work-arounds all the time to make sure the site works properly on it."

It's true. To many hours are spent making sites work cross-browser alone, adding support for older browsers just takes even more time and energy. And if this is taking time away from the company then a tax when help compensate for this time.

Time is Money!

 

[Jake]

what the actual ****

 

[Justin]

what the actual ****

Care to clarify?

 

[Jake]

It's the stupidest thing I've ever read

 

[Jas0n]

It's the stupidest thing I've ever read

Why? It's amazing! IE, let alone older versions of IE, is the most HORRIFIC thing to design for and I'm glad someone is making a stand. As they said, time is money and if they're having to dish out extra cash to pay for a designer to create a whole separate CSS stylesheet for IE browsers, then they users of IE should be charged more.

 

[Jake]

Why? It's amazing! IE, let alone older versions of IE, is the most HORRIFIC thing to design for and I'm glad someone is making a stand. As they said, time is money and if they're having to dish out extra cash to pay for a designer to create a whole separate CSS stylesheet for IE browsers, then they users of IE should be charged more.

I understand this

I just think it's stupid

 

[Jas0n]

I understand this

I just think it's stupid

I think you're stupid, and I don't understand you....

 

[Jake]

I think you're stupid, and I don't understand you....

i'm okay with that

 

[jvgsjeff]

Even though I don't like IE, I don't like the idea of a company charging people more because of the browser they use. Some people may prefer it, or maybe they have an older computer that can't handle the newer versions. Some people only use the internet rarely/casually and don't see a need to upgrade. Or maybe they don't know how. There are any number of reasons they may use IE7. Frankly, I wouldn't want to do business with a company that has such a policy in the first place. The company may have the right to charge that fee, but their potential customers also have the right to do their shopping elsewhere--and hopefully that's exactly what they'll do. If the company doesn't want to support IE7, then don't. But it seems very unprofessional of them to whine about having to support it.

 

[Serk102]

IE9 actually isn't that bad. Same goes with IE10.

 

[Mino]

Even though I don't like IE, I don't like the idea of a company charging people more because of the browser they use. Some people may prefer it, or maybe they have an older computer that can't handle the newer versions. Some people only use the internet rarely/casually and don't see a need to upgrade. Or maybe they don't know how. There are any number of reasons they may use IE7. Frankly, I wouldn't want to do business with a company that has such a policy in the first place. The company may have the right to charge that fee, but their potential customers also have the right to do their shopping elsewhere--and hopefully that's exactly what they'll do. If the company doesn't want to support IE7, then don't. But it seems very unprofessional of them to whine about having to support it.

The age of the computer is very unlikely to be a factor (XP is still supported on IE8), and I can assure you no one simply "prefers" IE7. I think it comes down to either laziness or ignorance. Accordingly, I think website creators have a right to complain and take measures to try and rectify the situation. You're right that they may lose some customers, but what they lose there they may gain by not having to develop multiple front-ends for their website. We're talking about a maximum of 5% of visitors, probably lower in their case. Furthermore, they even provide information on how to upgrade or get a different browser. Even my mom was able to install Firefox.

 

[JKDOS]

Why? It's amazing! IE, let alone older versions of IE, is the most HORRIFIC thing to design for and I'm glad someone is making a stand. As they said, time is money and if they're having to dish out extra cash to pay for a designer to create a whole separate CSS stylesheet for IE browsers, then they users of IE should be charged more.

Yes, finally, some one who knows what they are talking about.

By the way IE10 is amazing, but it 's not support for Windows XP, so, yeah.

 

[Megamannt125]

Good.