I’m considering starting up a monthly subscription where subscribers get everything I make during the month for free – that’s all templates, all code, etc etc. So if I make something cool for a client, subscribers also get a copy of it.
Cost would be £10 per month on a recurring Paypal subscription. For as long as your subscription is active you get ALL the candy I produce each and every month.
I need to ascertain if there is any interest in this idea, so please comment below (or ask questions etc). At this point it is only an idea for exploration, so if you say you are interested you are not actually signing up for anything right now…
Thanks all.
Quick example (going from memory!) of code/templates completed in Janury
– Kripke Template
– Master Slave system rewrite
– Filter category product listings by options/attributes
– Grid or List layout in categories
– Updated new products module
– Updated Specials Page
– Updated Products New Page
– SEO Rewrite (cutting edge, so far unreleased)
– Images for Options (including on the fly image swapping)
– Price change on the fly (for options/attributes)
.. and too much more to list.
So far during February
– check if email is good on account signup
– pre-canned order comments system for 2.3.3.4
– see order status (and update it) without logging in (good for “guest checkout” checkouts)
– allow customers to update their order_status_history per order
– save customer name and email to CSV to blast into Mailchimp
In general I like the idea and I think a £10 monthly subscription is very little money to pay for everything one would get.
In practical terms, would subscribers get a monthly zip package containing all the candy?
However I’d give some more thought to situations like these:
A client pays for some (perhaps expensive?) custom addon or template.
Maybe the client doesn’t want to share it….
Does your client have the right to say “I don’t want this shared”?
Or would everything and anything you code be automatically shared to your £10/month subscribers?
I’m envisaging a situation where a client pays say, £100 for something then others get it for £10….you know what I mean?
Just a thought.
It’s a very good point. In general any code I write is owned by me so no problem with sharing that, same for any graphics and templates. If I make a one-off site design for a client that could not be shared, but the elements of it (eg if I create a “XYZ widget infobox”) that could be shared. Idea is to set up a new site/page controlled by Paypal IPN (so that if one does not continue the subscription they no longer have access to the downloads repository). Imagine a bit like the addons area at osCommerce but only for people who pay monthly to get at good coded stuff…
I think this is a brilliant idea. Sadly, I couldn’t afford to subscribe every month. Personally, I’d be more inclined to pay a few £££’s for a package(s) that I really like the look/sound of or pay the £10 for the lot in that particular month if I thought I needed/wanted anything.
I’m not saying that £10 is a lot or not worth it – it totally is worth it for the amount you would be offering every month. But only if you are going to use what you make. £120 p/a is a lot if you don’t actually use anything you make that year. (as an example)
In theory, I would gladly press the Subscribe button. In practice, you may find it more appealing (to people like myself) if you offer both a subscription and the option to pay for it manually.
I know that sounds like I’m telling you how you should do things but I’m not trying to. Sorry.
I’d certainly be interested
Thanks Graham. Buying bits and pieces individually would work out more expensive…it’s the “buying power” of a group of 20 or 30 subscribers that make it a possibility to share things. Hope that makes sense ?
You can put my name down would certainly be interested to trial for a year been really busy lately putting some great code from you to good use not possible to do everything myself find just keeping up to date with the latest ideas and codes takes a lot of time so maybe a win win for all if the idea comes to fruition.
Regards
Joli
Thanks John. Very little interest in the idea, I guess times are too hard for most people to spend an extra 10 a month 🙁
I never understood why developers of OSC plugins dont put Google adsense in the admin screen of their contribution. No one who is getting something for free is going to bemoan that
Would never end up being clicked, as it is shown only to the shopowner. Ok he/she might click it once = 0.01usd. would take 1000 years to make $100 😉
Gary – I am sure you will be able to get more than 0.01 per click. For example there are many shipping companies out there who would love to have their ad showing on a shipping module.
Same goes for payment gateways, I think they will be paying a damn site more than 0.01 per click!
Contributions dealing with orders. Packing and labeling companies and again shipping companies & payment providers.
Contributions dealing with discount. Your affiliate companies.
SEO modules. SEO services.
The fact the ads only to the shop owner is exactly what advertisers want.
In short I think it has the potential to be an absolute gold mine.
Dont get me wrong, people cant expect to put the code in and make a million. They need to have the best ad format (square boxes) and they need to make their ads targetable for the right categories through adsense. Emailing adwords advertisers telling them about the channel would also be a good idea. (find adsense advertisers by searching for “packing”, “payment gateway”, “courier”, “affiliate program” etc in Google)
They should be willing to give it a shot, they can pull their ads if they think they are getting a bad deal.
All I am saying is it takes 30 seconds to put the adsense code in, it seems a waste that people do not at least try it, at worst they would know how much their contribution is being used.
It wouldn’t work for me. I’d rather be paid for creating code. Depending on clicks is a fools game and I was in that game for some years, best off out of it.
haven’t been here for a while, so a bit late joining the discussion, but I think it is a good idea. I personally would like to have a subscription for a year (possibly at a discount), invoiced just once a year.
I see it more like a maintenance fee, knowing there is someone around to fallback on in case of need with his (or even others) contributions
Thanks Carine. I’d need to get about 20 people interested in order to make it work otherwise it doesn’t break even 🙁
Kevin, I think there is a filter addon at addons.oscommerce.com
if I’ve paid you to create a custom module for my site,I retain the intellectual property rights to that code and I would not want you re-selling the module – if the code you added was a module from the addons site – yes by all means resell what others can get for free but I’d slap a lawsuit against you so quick if I’d paid you for custom module and you resell it!!!!
The one who writes the code owns the IP, unless he/she specifically passes it over to the buyer.
Have you ever bought a custom code ?? Do you know what you are talking about ?? Do you know what we are talking about ?? A lawsuit on this friendly blog man oh man get a life !!
John, “Kayla” is a known osCommerce developer.
That person is not a customer of mine and never will be.