Paid vs free mods

[Arantor]

Up until now I've done a variety of free mods - 12 approved, 5 pending approval as at today. Partly that's my way of giving back to the community, partly there were restrictions on me doing it. But some of those have been lifted, and I want to work on bigger things.

There's a mod I've been toying with the idea of doing: something like vBookie for SMF (only better, of course).

The one snag is that I don't see my releasing this one for free; it's a big job so I think it would be only fair to charge a reasonable amount for it.

So, here's what I'm thinking of offering.

Basic package: $25 - gets you the mod for unlimited use, 1 year of support and updates.

Premium package: $40 - gets you the mod for unlimited use, 1 year of support and updates PLUS I install it for you on your site.


What I'm after right now is feedback on whether you think this is reasonable or not - I'd also appreciate the comments of the mod authors who do actually charge for mods, on their experiences of doing this.

If this works out, I am likely to do more mods in a similar vein.

One request: please don't just say "it should be free". I do enough for SMF as it is with support and regular mods, but I do feel this one is a bit bigger than what I've done before. Plus you're getting priority support with this one, such that I feel charging is not inappropriate for it - I want to know if the amounts are reasonable, cheap, expensive or what you'd be prepared to pay for such a mod.

[Adish - (F.L.A.M.E.R)]

If you can give out a demo on the mod or some screenies, we probably would be able to get a hold of how amazing it is.

I think it should be reasonable enough. Go ahead with the big things.

[Arantor]

I haven't started coding yet - I wanted to judge the response before I touched a line of code.

[Adish - (F.L.A.M.E.R)]

Well I think it will be most useful mod in websites who have marketing areas covered. Bidding and buying. Somewhat like ebay as such. I think it should go big. Go ahead with it

[Arantor]

The vBookie mod would be most useful in sports websites for putting "bets" up - it's not a classifieds system (we already have one or two of those)

[Adish - (F.L.A.M.E.R)]

It can be customized with the fields and can be used for it aswell. I ain't into sports betting so i would rather use it something like selling products or so. Its just an alternative.

[Arantor]

The problem is that it is completely different; I don't see how you could use it for that, to be honest. Members put bets on the 2+ outcomes, and receive 'cash' back if they win.

[Adish - (F.L.A.M.E.R)]

The problem is that it is completely different; I don't see how you could use it for that, to be honest. Members put bets on the 2+ outcomes, and receive 'cash' back if they win.

Oh, i actually misunderstood it a bit. But yet, it is a good initiative. It should be a good thing to go ahead with.

[青山 素子]

If it's a big project, I don't see an issue with your charging for your hard work. I wouldn't use it though, so I'm not the best person to respond.

[poolhall]

I actually have a bookie on my boxing forum for a quite a while, 3 years, I think. In the beginning, volunteers did everything manually and it was quite a time-consuming and very tedious job. Last volunteer held out for about a year and had to quit. It was when I picked it up. Since I am not a programmer and don't know PHP, I used my Excel knowledge to automatize as many operations as possible. I had my users to enter their bets in a comma separated format, so that Excel could connect to the database, copy the bets and populate appropriate tables in Excel. Now my bookie does pretty much everything, from generating bbcode to give announcements to saving a rating picture using an external image editor and uploading it via FTP to my hosting. It even support parlays (it is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers and is dependent on all of those wagers winning together). I spent a lot of time on it and still sometimes may change something, from time to time.

So, answering to the topic question, if it was a year ago or more - I would have paid. Though, I would prefer a price model that takes care of all future updates; I don't really like any kinds of subscriptions.

[Arantor]

Interesting view, thanks poolhall.

The problem with supporting ad infinitum updates is that realistically I'd have to make the price higher due to the increased time it would support; I can't support everything indefinitely and continuously give out updates.

Note that I'm not saying it's a subscription model - it's a license to use the mod and free updates for that year but you can use it quite happily after that year is up without any further payment.

All feedback is good though - please keep it coming.

[poolhall]

I agree, the "subscription" was not a right word. I understood you correctly, though.

[Shadowsdream]

I think if anything it's generous Arantor. Access to the mod + 1-year support for $25 seems completely reasonable should the mod do what is needed and the user can justify the cost. To then offer install support for only $15 seems again very generous if anything.

What I'm wondering is how much would you need to manage the deployment and maintenance of such a system? In other words, as you intimate above, will you actually be using up more time than that rate should really allow? Will you need to manage delivery of updates to all purchasers? If so does that rate of $25 fit the model in such a way as you're not actually going to lose money (time = money) in the deal?

You don't need to answer me here, just posting my thoughts for you to mull over.

[busterone]

I have no need of this type of mod myself, but I think the price is very reasonable, possibly a little on the low side, depending on how complicated the code is going to be, and how much time it takes you to finish it. There are several mods that have been offered here for free that I personally would not have objected to a small fee for.  This community offers a fantastic product and tremendous support on a volunteer basis.  The mod coders here go beyond the expectations on development and support of their mods. I do not have a problem at all with the more difficult to code mods being a paid product at all. I paid much more than that for hacks for Vbulletin at one time, and for modifications for a bittorrent tracker that is no longer in operation. Excellent work deserves something in return.

[Arantor]

Having spoken to other people on this matter as well, I can confirm I will be starting this and at the projected price too.

The other issue is how support and updated versions would be delivered.

I'm thinking about using my dev forum for it, maybe using Paid Subscriptions for the 1 year's support deal (by giving access to the board), which would also cover updates on it. I think I'd probably mod the system also to auto-subscribe everyone to the master topic there too.

The real question is not what I want to provide on this - what would you as a potential user of this mod want to see? Bearing in mind I am planning to start doing more mods in this fashion, bigger paid-for ones, so whatever I built here will likely be expanded to cover more than just this one mod.

[babjusi]

This mod will require a lot of work and therefore a lot of time so there is nothing wrong if you charged for it. And the prices and support mentioned above are very fair and profitable. I think that there will be a demand for this mod, at least it has been the case in other forum softwares. Good luck and success with it

[kilerb]

Looking forward to this one!

[Sabre™]

If it is anything like the original, then it may be quite popular, especially for that price.
Not being 100% familiar with the original mod or your version, are you implementing a type of off site notifier for when the "event(s)" are over?
Like an automatic email sent to those engaged in an event, informing them of the result and placings(victors - 1, 2 & 3).
Having the option to switch the notifying emails on & off would make it a little more flexible also.

Cheers

[Arantor]

I hadn't planned that but I can implement that - as an option for users, to either send a notification, or PM, or both.

With respect to your other point elsewhere on code, the $25 would be a lifetime license to use (with 1 year of updates). I don't have a problem with people reading the code, provided the knowledge gained isn't used to actively reverse engineer the mod or spread how that could be achieved.

Expect obfuscation and other things however, I'll be adding measures to try and reduce theft of any paid mods I do - already I see other paid materials being ripped off (Dziner Studio themes spring to mind)

[bbmtalk]

If it's a big project, I don't see an issue with your charging for your hard work. I wouldn't use it though, so I'm not the best person to respond.

That is what I think too. If it is a big project and I have a need for it, I have no problem to pay for it.

$25 and $40 are reasonable, I think. Good luck with your big project if it will come true.