How do you profit from your applications?

frothpoker wrote:
> I work in this particular field and the one thing that is always
> missing from E-commerce applications is a good back office function.
>
> Stock control, despatch management and returns processing are all much
> more time consuming than the creation of the shop and the processing of
> the received orders. If you want to steal a march on OScommerce,
> E-shop, Get Trolleyed etc. then concentrate on the back end.
>
> If you want to get paid, I would suggest some sort of token system
> where people buy say 1000 orders from you and get an encripted password
> which they have to enter into their system. You can then keep count of
> the number of orders processed and when they have reached their 1000
> orders they need to order another encrypted key.
>
> If people are paying for your software and are running their business
> on it then you will need to provide some pretty comprehensive support
> facilities which don't come cheap.
>
> Obiron
>
>
> axlq wrote:
>
>>In article <1161635253.794040.7980@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.c om>,
>>Moot <mootmail-googlegroups@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>>If you have it in your head that one day you will charge for features,
>>>then you owe it to your users to be up front with them and charge for
>>>those features from day 1. Suddenly springing costs on the users will
>>>bring you nothing but complaints.
>>
>>Agreed. However, it is still sensible to charge for expanded features.
>>That is, offer a basic free version (not crippleware) but charge a fee
>>for extensions. And of course any customizations would involve a fee.
>>
>>-A
>
>

I'd be willing to pay for a decent system - but no way would I pay for
something based on the number of orders I process.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

> I've been working on an E-Commerce application like OSCommerce, except
> mine is object-oriented, with a much better architecture, and a lot of
> AJAX. I originally intended to release it as Open Source, and I still
> may, but, recently I've been wondering how I could profit off the
> script.

Release it for free, this will allow the world to beta test your code
=-)

Then look for jobs on RentACoder.com or ifreelance.com (or similar
sites) & adapt you code to fit thier needs.

-#2pencil-

stryfedll wrote:

> I've been working on an E-Commerce application like OSCommerce, except
> mine is object-oriented, with a much better architecture, and a lot of
> AJAX. I originally intended to release it as Open Source, and I still
> may, but, recently I've been wondering how I could profit off the
> script.
>
> Selling the script doesn't seem to be a viable option, since if I sell
> the application in full it can easily be duped. My best idea has been
> to release the script, but make an off-site file old all of the primary
> functions of the application. In those functions would be a script for
> displaying the results of a product search, where I could place ads
> every 10 or so entries down.
>
> Does anyone have any thoughts on how to profit from your applications?

The primary source of profit from a useful program will be your own
customers: the program will make your products attractive, bringing in
sales, and if they are truly useful, allow you to complete work quickly and
have reduced support costs. This is the main goal of our own GPL'd
product.

From there, you can release the product for two main reasons. First is to
give back to the community, second is shameless self-promotion, to be known
as the source of good stuff, which also brings in more sales.

However, you use the word "script" to define what you've done, suggesting it
may not be a large comprehensive system. In this case, you may want to
make it a practice to release a lot of scripts, because not many people can
profit from providing a single script to the programming public, it just
doesn't go to critical mass.

--
Kenneth Downs
Secure Data Software, Inc.
(Ken)nneth@(Sec)ure(Dat)a(.com)

stryfedll wrote:
> I believe I will get some of the most important functions and bundle
> them into a .php file, use Zend Guard on it and put it on my own
> server. Then, the application on their end can call the file using
> require()

And when your server goess down or you lose your connection to the
internet, suddenly none of your client's shops work!

This sounds VERY DANGEROUS.