forum.vdsworld.com

Serge · Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 9:37 am Post subject: vds and esellerate

hi,

anyone have any experience with using esellerate with their vds programs?

esellerate is an add-on for software developers, an add-on that takes care of registration fees and registration codes, but it seems mostly designed for c++

any feedback would be great Smile

serge

PGWARE · **Web Host** Joined: 29 Dec 2001 Posts: 1566

Esellerate is okay, they contacted me awhile back and set up a free account but I didn't like their fees; plus at the time (I don't know about now) they didnt offer mail orders. Their 'sell within app' idea is really revolutionary but I don't know how well it really works and if it will work with VDS.

Personally I recommend one of the digital river sale channels: RegNet (www.reg.net) or SetSystems (www.setsystems.com). I've used RegNet previously and they were great, I'm now using setSystems and they have really low fees once you start selling higher quantities of product a month (9%), while beginners will shell out a flat 20% per sale. The same people who operate regnet also operate setsystems; both companies are also owned by digital river.

You can also try RegSoft (www.regsoft.com) - I've used them and they allow semi-custom forms and their fees are also decent. They have a really good author reporting system as well as the ability to process refunds directly. Overall this is a good sales channel; the reason I moved from them was because of the lower fees and customized forms at setsystems. Another digital river owned company.

I don't recommend RegNow (www.regnow.com), I once setup an account with them and they wouldnt let me use my own keygeneration script; they insisted that I send them mine which I wasn't willing to do so they could automate sending out serials. I already had the ability to automate sending out serials but they wouldn't negotiate on that; plus the fact when I emailed them before paying to get my accoutn setup they said it was fine that I could generate my own serials and mail them out; then later saying it wasn't fine. Seemed like a bait and switch. Their fees are also very high; and mail orders tack on I think $3 extra for processing. A previously cnet owned company so you can't expect too much when it comes to working with shareware authors - these guys are all about the $. It's now owned by digital river so I would expect things have changed.

FreezingFire · **Admin Team** Joined: 23 Jun 2002 Posts: 3508

I have always used Reg.Net and I have found it to be extremely simple
and actually easy to sell my programs. I use my own keygen and fulfill
the orders manually - it seems to be efficient and they only take a small
fee - US$2 for each of my orders - so I still make a nice amount of cash
for doing whatever I want with it. I don't make programming my job; I'm
more of a hobby developer but I have over 60 or so customers currently
and that number is steadily increasing. Smile

Overall, I found Reg.Net to be very friendly, and easy to deal with, and
I highly recommend it for either the hobby developer or the big-time devs.

Serge · Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 4:32 pm Post subject:

thanks for your replies pg and ff

i have been using regsoft for a few years now and found no problems and the fees i thought were quite good

i only asked about esellerate because i was approached by them about using their service to sell one of my programs and wasn't quite sure whether to or not

turns out that i can't use esellerate because what they offer is mainly for programmers who use c++ or programming languages that can use/access active x controls

i will keep regnet in mind

thanks again

serge

Garrett · Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 6:29 pm Post subject:

I've tried a few Wrapper type registration systems before. And not one
has ever worked with my VDS apps. Corrupts the exe file and won't
work. Sad

Boo · Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 6:44 pm Post subject:

Howdy,

Depending on where you are, you may consider acquiring a merchant account that allows the posting of online payments via .html forms. A good example of this is ECHO:

http://www.echo-inc.com

Using VDS, it would be quite easy to determine an authorized transaction and then process a valid registration (either through an automated e-mail or through FTP for a background registration). ECHO only charges a monthly fee when a transaction is made ($10.00 I believe), and no monthly fee is implemented if there are no transactions for the month. Rates are much better than with RegNet, etc. Using the vdsipp.dll, or even using the VDS Browser Element, it would be quite easy to process a credit card payment and issue a registration automatically (in the background). I am currently playing around with this process to see if it will meet my needs...

Cheers,

- Boo

Boo · Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 6:57 pm Post subject:

Other ideas:

Kagi:

http://www1.kagi.com/KRM/

NorthStar Solutions:

http://www.nstarsolutions.com/credit.htm

PGWARE · **Web Host** Joined: 29 Dec 2001 Posts: 1566

Boo · Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 11:16 pm Post subject:

Yeppers, obviously you would need to implement some kind of encryption scheme. The .html forms supported by ECHO can be implemented using https://.

In a VDS application, you could then read the source for the return page to determine whether or not the transaction was "approved." Everything could be done via the VDS Browser element "in the background."

Boo · Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2004 11:20 pm Post subject:

As far as this goes, one could even set the RegNet form within a VDS application using the VDS Browser element (for example), and upon submission, check for the successful status in the VDS Browser element and issue an instant registration based on the return... Feasible, eh? (All depends on the service used, etc.)

jules · Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 10:28 am Post subject:

No-one has mentioned PayPal. Their fees are lower than any of the shareware registration processors. I don't really see what the value of shareware processors is nowadays. I use ShareIt, as well as PayPal, because PayPal was little known when I started, but I resent the extra fees I pay, as well as the affliliate fee (20%) for every sale made through CNet.

By the way, I wouldn't go for putting the credit card order page in a VDS browser window. I once was emailed by a customer who wouldn't buy because I had the PayPal order page come up within one of my own frames. For buyer confidence, it's better to open the page in its own, normal browser window, so buyers can see the "https://..." and the padlock to confirm they are secure.

Why not just put a link to the purchase page on the dialog that comes up to remind people to register?

Boo · Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2004 3:38 pm Post subject:

Hi Jules,

Why not give the user the opportunity to register within the application AND via a Web site? Leave it up to them. Personally, when registering software, I prefer registration schemes within the application.

Regarding my previous posts (which were examples of me thinking out loud--by the way), I was demonstrating a way for issuing instant registrations via VDS without the need for special DLLs or components (with the exception of the browser element dll).

Wouldn't it be neat for a user to be able to pay via RegNet (for example), then have the program check the source from the return page, and if approved--issue the registration right then and there? No need to wait for registration codes, etc. A unique number could be generated, placed into the registry, and checked each time the application is run. Or the application could even ftp the number to a server and check the number via the server each time the program is run. Deletion of the number from the server would result in the program locking.

As you know, there are so many ways to do this. I have never tried the above, but seems feasible to me. Cool

Cheers,

- Boo

jules · Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:06 am Post subject:

Well of course. I was assuming that the link in the program would be a link to the same page that buyers could visit on your site.

I would strongly advise that you don't try what you're suggesting to try to issue codes on the return from a web page. If you have anything like that in the program, it's just going to be an invitation for someone to try to hack it and obtain a code illegally. It's far more secure for you to issue the code once you've received confirmation of the order from the payment processor. Until you're getting dozens of orders a month, it isn't even worth trying to automate it.[/b]

CodeScript · Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:50 am Post subject:

Boo · Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2004 11:22 am Post subject:

Hi Again,

Nopers, I am not doing this in particular. Per my previous post, I was only "thinking out loud."

However, I am experimenting with a more secure method of automation that entails adequate encryption of data. Still not sure if it is feasible. Will keep playing with it.

Regarding your comments, the method I outlined earlier might be adequate for freeware registration (for example) if you want to obtain e-mail addresses of registered users. Then again, you could simply collect the addresses via a form then return the download link. Cool

Cheers,

- Boo