Spent 4 months recording a Python course. Priced it at $49 on Udemy. They put it on sale for $9.99. Permanently.

📚 Education & Studyby udemy_trap · 5w ago

▸ What I did

I'm a data engineer and created a comprehensive Python for Data Science course on Udemy. 60 lessons, 12 hours of content, real-world datasets, coding exercises, quizzes. Production quality was solid — good mic, clean screen recordings, structured curriculum. Priced at $49.99 which I thought was fair for 4 months of work.

▸ What I expected

Udemy has 50+ million students. Even capturing 0.001% = 500 sales. At $49.99 with Udemy's 37% instructor cut, that's $9,250. Not amazing but decent side income. Expected steady long-tail sales over time.

▸ What actually happened

Udemy put my course on a "sale" within 2 weeks of launch. $9.99. And it basically never went back to full price because Udemy runs "sales" 90% of the time. My $49.99 course is permanently $9.99. At the 37% instructor revenue share, I make $3.70 per sale. 4 months of work, 87 sales in 3 months = $321.90 total. That's about $0.80/hour for the time I put in. And the worst part: potential students see the crossed-out "$49.99" and think "this is clearly a $9.99 course that they're pretending is worth $49.99." The permanent sale devalues everything.

▸ What I've tried so far

Tried Udemy's "promotions" feature to drive traffic. Tried their "instructor coupon" system — sent coupons to my email list but people said "I'll just wait for the next sale." Tried adding more content to justify the price (added 8 more lessons). Doesn't matter when it's always $9.99. Looking into moving to Teachable or self-hosting but I'd lose Udemy's built-in audience.

Progress Updates (1)

Spent the week comparing alternatives: Teachable ($39/month), Podia ($33/month), Gumroad (10% per sale), or just a simple landing page with Stripe. The problem with all of them: zero built-in audience. Udemy gives me eyeballs (crappy revenue per eyeball, but eyeballs). Self-hosting means I need to drive ALL my own traffic. I have 1,200 email subscribers from my data engineering blog. If even 10% buy at $49, that's $5,880 minus platform fees. Way better than Udemy's $321. But "if 10% buy" is a big if. Currently building a pre-launch page to test demand before I commit.

0 / 3000

2 Replies

course_dropout · 2w ago✓ the fix

Udemy's business model is built on devaluing your work. The permanent "$9.99 sale" isn't a bug — it's literally their strategy. They want cheap courses to maximize volume. Every serious course creator I know has moved off Udemy. Here's the playbook: keep your Udemy course as a free/cheap lead magnet. Put a card at the end of every lesson saying "Want the advanced version with 1-on-1 support? Visit my site." Udemy becomes your funnel, not your business. Your real revenue comes from your own platform.

content_grinder · 2w ago

1,200 email subscribers from a data engineering blog is actually a great starting point. Those people already trust your expertise. Don't just launch a course — launch a COHORT. "Live Python for Data Science — 4 weeks, 20 seats, $199." You cap the seats to create scarcity, you add live interaction (which Udemy can't do), and $199 for a live experience feels completely different than $199 for recorded videos. 20 seats x $199 = $3,980 from one cohort. Run it quarterly.

Status

⏳ figuring

Stats

Me too0

Replies2

Following0