Just renewed ($43 USD), it looks like theres a 3,600 searches a year limit. I guess this is to avoid people sharing accounts, or ITB mass usage.
Pretty sure I don’t come close to that usage level. but I don’t recall it being in place last year, or seeing any comment here…
Must be a new thing, don’t remember having that limitation.
Wow, bet I’m pretty close to that…
news to me too - just checked, they do tell you how many searches you have remaining under ‘Your Account’
Odd, I don’t see that. Though I’m up for renewal soon. Must be new.
I did just renew, so it might be a new feature -
My Account —> Your Account Details — Subscription Expires: 29-Oct-2016 or 3,600 searches (3,477 left)
They don’t define searches, though - if I search, and then narrow to the US and search again, or pick a different vintage, does that count as two or three?
With a quick test, yes, it seems if you search, and then pick a different vintage of the wine you searched for, that’s two searches.
well that hardly seems fair. 
They have no real competition for their service so why not try to extract more revenue from their subscribers based on usage.
From their subscription page:
Subscribe to Pro Version
Subscription Details
Amount: $43.00 (USD)
For: 12 Months (or 3,600 searches)
2530 searches left. My account renews in July 2016.
From July-November 5 months I used 1,070 searches. 214 per month- fun facts
I would guess it’s less about revenue and more about restricting automated searches that would stress their systems and allow their database to be extracted. And I suppose it might also be aimed at large retailers, where an account might be shared so that 10 searches a day 365 days a year isn’t implausible. Fair enough if they want to extract more revenue from that class of user.
Every time you click ‘Where to Buy’ in CT it counts as a search too.
This must be in response to their concern that more than one person is using a subscription. A couple of years ago, WS was trying to have subscribers log out and log in each time you used the service. If you didn’t log out on an computer, IIRC, WS was at least threatening not to allow you to log in from a different computer. I don’t remember if they followed through on that. I never logged out on any computer but I used WS on computers in several locations. One day, I received an email from WS implying that I was allowing others to use my subscription because it was logged in on more than one computer. I wasn’t happy and responded quite strongly that no one else used the subscription and that I used the subscription on computers in different locations. That was the end of it. So, this seems to be a reasonable response IMHO to protect WS from misuse by a subscriber allowing others to use the subscription. $43 for 3600 searches…I guess after 3600 searches you pay another $43. That’s almost 10 searches a day.
I just checked my account since I was curious to see how many searches I make. I would have guessed about 100 or so a month but in almost 4 months it has only been 235. Perhaps a good indicator that I am buying much less wine… Also, I think it actually is overstated because I mostly search on my iPad and each time I hit the W-S tab the page it was on (usually my last search) “reloads” which probably counts as a search and so I bet I am under 200.
You balla! 
Just out of curiousity - how much do people think they save by trading up to the WS Pro version from the free level?
Arv, it depends on how much you buy. I used to save a lot during my heavy buying days. There are many retailers that don’t show up on the regular version and it’s not unusual for one or more of them to have lower prices by more than a few dollars.
Don’t care. It’s an awesome service that I would gladly contribute to even if there were no additional benefit. Just like this website or CT.
I am selling my expiring unused searches on Commerce Corner for the big money.