Something like Kagi, but...

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Sean McBride - 28 Nov 2004 23:27 GMT

Hi all,

I know this has been discussed before, but...

I'm looking at using a service like Kagi to sell a small shareware
program, and wondered if anyone would like to share their
opinions/experiences.

I would particularly be interested in something that does not use US
dollars. Kagi for example can take many currencies from customers, but
only pays the developer in US$, which is not convenient for me.

I've also considered PalPal, eSellerate, eGold, etc.

Any advice?

Thanks!

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Michael Ash - 29 Nov 2004 16:30 GMT

> Hi all,
>
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>
> I've also considered PalPal, eSellerate, eGold, etc.

I personally use eSellerate, and I'm pretty happy with them. Once, they
pulled a fairly evil stunt, but I don't think it will happen again. They
added a "download service" which guarantees to the customer that they can
re-download your software again at any time within a year of purchase, all
for the "low low price" of $5. The evil part was that they added this to
every order by default unless the seller went and explicitly deactivated
it.

Other than this one problem, they're quite reasonable. Their fees are
about as low as you can find for what they offer, especially if you are
selling less than $15,000 per year, and the service is decent.

I don't know a lot about the others, although I would highly recommend
against using PayPal as your sole payment processor. PayPal's reputation
is horrible in many circles, and I think you could lose a significant
number of sales if you don't offer an alternative.

Remember that you can always use multiple payment processors if you so
choose. eSellerate costs nothing beyond the percentage they take, and I
assume the others are the same.

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Tom Harrington - 29 Nov 2004 19:01 GMT

> I personally use eSellerate, and I'm pretty happy with them. Once, they
> pulled a fairly evil stunt, but I don't think it will happen again. They
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> every order by default unless the seller went and explicitly deactivated
> it.

This was changed in part because of people like me getting loudly upset
about it over in their newsgroups, and in support emails. Nobody gets
everything right, and eSellerate was at least responsive on this.

> Other than this one problem, they're quite reasonable. Their fees are
> about as low as you can find for what they offer, especially if you are
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> is horrible in many circles, and I think you could lose a significant
> number of sales if you don't offer an alternative.

I had sort of the reverse-- at first I used only eSellerate, but soon
added PayPal after numerous requests.

> Remember that you can always use multiple payment processors if you so
> choose. eSellerate costs nothing beyond the percentage they take, and I
> assume the others are the same.

That's certainly true, although you probably don't want to integrate
multiple processor SDKs into a single codebase.

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Tom "Tom" Harrington
Macaroni, Automated System Maintenance for Mac OS X.
Version 2.0: Delocalize, Repair Permissions, lots more.
See http://www.atomicbird.com/

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Miro Jurisic - 29 Nov 2004 21:05 GMT

> > I don't know a lot about the others, although I would highly recommend
> > against using PayPal as your sole payment processor. PayPal's reputation
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> I had sort of the reverse-- at first I used only eSellerate, but soon
> added PayPal after numerous requests.

Generally, my experience is that the more clue someone has the more likely they
are to be avoiding PayPal. (I am not saying they are right, just that that's how
it seems to me.) I don't want to go into any particular PayPal rant here, but I
will say that if a product forces me to use PayPal to buy it, I will not buy it
as long as there's a reasonable competitor that doesn't.

meeroh

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Tom Harrington - 29 Nov 2004 23:17 GMT

> > > I don't know a lot about the others, although I would highly recommend
> > > against using PayPal as your sole payment processor. PayPal's reputation
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> forces me to use PayPal to buy it, I will not buy it as long as
> there's a reasonable competitor that doesn't.

I wouldn't recommend _forcing_ anyone to use PayPal to buy a product,
I'd recommend allowing it as an option for those who prefer it.

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Tom "Tom" Harrington
Macaroni, Automated System Maintenance for Mac OS X.
Version 2.0: Delocalize, Repair Permissions, lots more.
See http://www.atomicbird.com/

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Michael Ash - 29 Nov 2004 21:24 GMT

>> I personally use eSellerate, and I'm pretty happy with them. Once, they
>> pulled a fairly evil stunt, but I don't think it will happen again. They
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> about it over in their newsgroups, and in support emails. Nobody gets
> everything right, and eSellerate was at least responsive on this.

Yeah, I complained by e-mail as well. This is my only real complaint with
them.

>> Other than this one problem, they're quite reasonable. Their fees are
>> about as low as you can find for what they offer, especially if you are
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> I had sort of the reverse-- at first I used only eSellerate, but soon
> added PayPal after numerous requests.

I never officially accepted PayPal, my statement is based on my personal
opinions and my impression of what people think. I have had some requests,
which I gladly accepted, although I still don't accept them in any sort of
official manner.

>> Remember that you can always use multiple payment processors if you so
>> choose. eSellerate costs nothing beyond the percentage they take, and I
>> assume the others are the same.
>
> That's certainly true, although you probably don't want to integrate
> multiple processor SDKs into a single codebase.

I agree. Particularly if you're planning on using somebody's serial number
code, rather than writing your own, it's probably a good idea to choose
one processor as your primary.

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Sean McBride - 29 Nov 2004 19:06 GMT

I saw that stunt while buying something... glad they got rid of it.

> I don't know a lot about the others, although I would highly recommend
> against using PayPal as your sole payment processor. PayPal's reputation
> is horrible in many circles, and I think you could lose a significant
> number of sales if you don't offer an alternative.

I agree. I for one never use PayPal.

> Remember that you can always use multiple payment processors if you so
> choose. eSellerate costs nothing beyond the percentage they take, and I
> assume the others are the same.

I assume. I know Kagi is like that too. Maybe I'll go with both Kagi
and eSellerate. The problem is that they both pay me in US$, and I'll
incur additional costs converting to my currency.

Thanks for your reply,

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David Dunham - 30 Nov 2004 04:14 GMT

I just went through most of a purchase, and didn't see any evidence of
this (I use only integrated eSellers -- this sounds like something
they'd do with the web store).

I've been pretty happy with eSellerate as well.

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David Dunham A Sharp, LLC
http://www.a-sharp.com/
"I say we should listen to the customers and give them what they want."
"What they want is better products for free." --Scott Adams

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Doc O'Leary - 29 Nov 2004 20:36 GMT

> I'm looking at using a service like Kagi to sell a small shareware
> program, and wondered if anyone would like to share their
> opinions/experiences.

If it's just shareware, use PayPal. If it's something else, you'll have
to be specific on what you want from a distributor (besides them taking
a large percentage of your money for doing very little).

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Mac Forum / Programming / Mac Programming / November 2004

Something like Kagi, but...