Pricing is getting a little ridiculous

Things started out here ok then something happened. Some of these mods are being priced the same as a small car! I understand the work that goes into them but comeon!

I just purchased a skin. It's a nice little black flash skin (not going to name it till I exhaust my attempts to solve the problem) Nowhere on the Market page does it say you can only use it for one domain name. After I purchased it, I find out all I receive is a text file stating I need to send an email address and the domain name I am going to use it on.

I can only assume this is for one reason.

What pisses me off is I did not get the chance to decide if I wanted to buy a product that I could only use on one site before I paid my hard earned cash to buy it.

I have run into this before. Very nice mods that probably took many hours to develop that I wanted but I just couldn't justify the money they were asking for it.

Here's a tip for all you non business geek types out there. Selling 2 or 3 mods for $500 will not garner any success whatsoever, it's been tried before and it always fails. You need to make an attractive ap, then find a price where you can sell the most units for the most return. In other words, Selling the $500 mod for $10 to 500 people will reap you much higher returns.($5000 compared to $1500)

How do you think Pepsi sells a product that probably cost millions to ultimately develop for $.50 a can? I certainly wouldn't buy a $500 can of pop.

Here's a tip for all you non business geek types out there. Selling 2 or 3 mods for $500 will not garner any success whatsoever, it's been tried before and it always fails. You need to make an attractive ap, then find a price where you can sell the most units for the most return. In other words, Selling the $500 mod for $10 to 500 people will reap you much higher returns.($5000 compared to $1500)

How do you think Pepsi sells a product that probably cost millions to ultimately develop for $.50 a can? I certainly wouldn't buy a $500 can of pop.

^^^^^^^^^^^

Well said my friend.

Well, I got my money back. At least there was that. This person knows who he is. I highly recommend you do the honest thing and quit trying to fool everyone. Put a disclaimer on your product that tells everyone they are buying a 1 use skin.

I also don't understand how you can justify hundreds of dollars for a language file, but it's done. I'm glad to hear you got your money back.

WTF $100

That's a rip

You're not missing much.  Those black flash skins aren't really that well done.  I ended up making my own skin for the music player, but it still needs a few tweaks. 

I keep hoping Rayz will show a little ambition and come up with xml skinnable flash apps, but trying to get him to go the extra mile, is like asking someone to donate a lung.

I agree with you SkyForum. Anyone selling goods in the market should have to state all the terms of  the sale and indicate if the work is encrypted or not in the ad.

I bought a mod the other day was encrypted. It's a nice mod but I'm screwed if I ever want to modify it. Had I known this before I bought it,I would probably would not have bought it.

It is a case of supply and demand. Boonex needs to attract more quality developers. That is the only way things can change.

....or institute some basic rules of conduct?

I think all mods should be free, especially the ones I want. 

This is one of the reason I stopped making modules and posting them in market.

You work hard for a couple of days, and it really gives a blank feel when its not sold, not even a few of them :(

The counted modules i have on market are marked at $9 , 15 etc :)

Well, its better to do custom modules then, you atleast get an average--good cost for them.

The first and the last message posters know that well ;)

i agree that some modules are highly overpriced. Common 100-200 usd for a mod is really overpriced. I think fair and sellable prices is upto 100 usd for really large and complex modules but I believe majority of mods should be priced upto 20usd - same as joomla modules. and I bet that also sales raise and developer finally get more money than if mod is selling at high price..

Modules are not overpriced at all. if any of you knew how difficult this code is you would understand. There are many professional php programmers hiring us to do things they just cannot do after months of trying. Also, the higher priced ones come with sometimes weeks of emails on how to setup, I broke it, How do I do that? Even at 100 a mod you can still get a site up for less than a 1000$ and you have about 30,000$ in development out of the gate with endless possibilities. You can't open a brick and mortar store for that and your returns are possibly far greater.

just for you guys I am building some cool toys for about 12 bucks. hows that?

mrpowless: I agree with most of your points but anyway I compare cost of modules to similar extensions made for other scripts like whmcs, joomla, drupal, wordpress. In that sphere modules are priced upto 40 usd for some rerally complex extensions and some really superlarge extensions like jomsocial are around 100usd. Im not saying all modules for d7 are overpriced - some have fair price - for example your country locator is around fair price - personally i think 10 usd form this mod would be fair enough but 12.99 is still okay but if u have a look there are other simple modules with i think invested same development time as u spent on form locator but those modules are priced for 40-50 usd which I really call overpriced. As I said I have no problem pay 100 usd for such complex extension liíke for example jomsocial which in fact is very close to whole d7, I have no problem pay 99 usd for dolphin license, but some of mods here prices are really unreal... 

Shareware is key! :-)

Share your knowledge .. and if you wantto earn a buck or two, dont ask too much. Most mods in the boonex market are too costly.

My opinion? .. if most modules were like $10 .. i would have bought some ... anyway, 1st rule of economics, if you want to gain marketshare, sell quality for a reasonable price . .. $50 is not a reasonable price.

I checked the market, and the thing is ... i have a lot of interest in $10 dollar templates, mods etc etc .. the expensive mods i skip, without even checking what they offer.

so cheaper brings more business.

wannabe: yes I have similar attitude - I automatically skip mods over 100 usd and Im selcting mods in range 0 - 30 usd which I believe is affordable range...

I am drafting a letter to the Chrysler Corporation, because i want this new Dodge 2500 and i think they have priced it too HIGH. i think they should give it away, because after all look at all the maintenance i will have to invest, i mean man i have to pay to change the oil, i have to pay state and local taxes to be able to drive their product down the street. i have to pay for tires to be put on the truck, i have to pay for insurance on the truck, and they are just asking too much for the truck with all that is required for me to pay for.

I think the truck should be shareware, just let me use it to get where i am going, then i will park it and the next person can come get in and drive where they need to go.

then i going to write the owner of Publix, Kroger, Wal-Mart, Food Lion, and let htem know they are charging me too much for groceries. after all, the food actually just goes in the can, so its really just disposable goods, and they shouldnt charge me that much for something that is disposable.

if you think the mods are priced too high, then consider this, maybe you dont need the mod, is it an accessory to the site or a necessity to the site?

if you have a 14' jon boat, but man that 62' yacht really looks nice, do you complain to Hatteras that they should set the price to something you can afford, or do you continue using  your jon boat?

at any rate, dont purchase the mods at the elevated prices and the price will have to come down, rather than complaining about a price point somebody has valued their work at?

Regards,
DosDawg

Dosdawg ...actually its what I did - I bought new Volkswagen transporter van for about 40% cheaper than regular price as I had said in car shop that i dont gonna pay for a brand that much. After 30 minutes of communication they gave me 40% off regular price for a new car with options I wanted so u are right branded cars are expensive and are expensive mainly becasue its brand car - after some communication they can give normal price and cut off to normal price range...so price can be adjusted in many cases so both parties are partially happy... and thats the key ... price negotioation is normal part of business and in many cases price inded can be negoriated and both parties are not extreme happy but at least satisfied,

I applied same model to my sisters car and I agreed with seller also on 40% off for brand new Mazda X7 - true is that it takes me 2 weeks to agree on that price so it wasnt an easy task.

My main point was comparing extension prices to equivalent mods made for different platforms and I think this averager value actually gives sort of price standard how should be this priced ojn all platforms whatever it is for dolphin, joomla, wordpress, magento, whmcs etc.... Its certainly strange that joomla developers consider comprehensive  modules for 30 usd fair while developers in dolphin area have at least triple price for similar kind of work. You can of course say that joomla have much more wide base as it used by much more people. Well Im with joomla from begginning of mambo time and price range of modules was even less. In begginning averagr module for early joomla/mambo was around 10-15 usd and now when much more people is using joomla is average price of extensions in range 10-40 usd for most modules and around and also they are in majority not limited to one domain only as some of mods here. 80-100usd is okay for very compex components like jomsocial and as I said if there will be an mod with same complexity as jomsocial than 100-150 usd is indeed good price for that ...

i know what you guys are talking about, i seen the huge increase come with Dolphin 7 and it started immediately, as mods were release with a 3x price tag than they were with Dolphin 6

i was just messing around. i know that a price is just that, and at most times it is negotiable. however, just as you see how many 'want it free' then how would a developer feed his family? so you spend your days creating and supporting mods, but you cant feed your family, what is the benefit of doing the work, so somebody else can prosper?

DosDawg & mrpowless ,

Keep the prices high and maintain the low revenue from sellings mods ..

Clearly the majority is willing to invest in modules if the prices are lower. All the big companies gained marketshare by aggressive pricing.

learn from them

W//

I think main problem people are too used to overpricing their own work. One of my activity is mobile DJ and my company is very popular here for corporate events, before word crisis hit the word I was also on very overpriced price myself but now I had to go back to normal as I found out that just a few companies can actually afford to pay me money I would ask so programmers used to earn like 100usd/hour or more should simply go down to real world and charge 15-30 usd/hour.

I also have to work much more than I was used to and bring down prices for my service 50% off so I will be able to maintai some of my customers.

How is possible that joomla developer can actually sell same functionality mod for 30 usd while similar mod for d7 cost 130 usd. As I said price with some devs can be bnegotiated while with other not so I take official price as asking price which can be possibly adjusted as in most of other businesses but have even asking price 4x expensive than average is kinda strange. That big price jump on modules from d6 in d7 is kinda strange and I dunno what is behind that ?

Í definitely agree devs are entitled ask a reasonable money for their hard work but price have to be in certian afforgable limits. For example a quiz module for d7 for 200 usd is a realy crazy so Im not agains selling mods as of course devs need some money but guys dont be too money hungry and keep it in limits - most of us working hard and need to feed our families but it doesn mean i will sell my servide or product 4xmore expensive than its real and average value.

In real business if there is product which become highly demanded price drop down as company get higher income and want to spread a product so than it propagates more. Here is different scenario - more popular product= developers raise their prices even more ...its kinda weird business model which maybe worked before word economy crisis but definitely not now

I personally do not price my mods based on similarity of another mod written for another platform.

It's not about the functionally or complexity of the mod. It's the time spent on development. 10 lines vrs 10000 lines of code really makes little difference.

Dolphin is complex. In some cases it can take days alone just trying to make a change that should have been simple.

Sure. Perhaps some of them are over priced. But i believe most are not.

well deano especially you are a sample of good developer. Your prices are reasonable, afordable and you also give out some excellent mods for free. Also your forum activity is really pretty good so I wish more people here get your attitude :-)

People are forgetting the old addage:  You get what you pay for?  Would you expect a Kia to give you the same quality as a BMW?  If they did then the price would be significantly higher. 

Unfortunately this addage is not real anymore. In many industried prices were so squeezed by economy crisis that u really can get super quality for bargain price. For example we are best mobile dj company here and had to cut our price to price of cheap djs with rubbish equipment as people dont care unfortunately about quality anymore and core of everything is low price and some functionality regardless quality. I dont like that but I had to adopt if I want stay on market with my services.

 In matter of quality kia vs bmw - its getting actually very close. In bmw you pay 40 % price because of a brand so cars are in reality in similar price range. My girlfriend have bmw x5 and is servicing her car every 2 months with some serious problems while my neighbour have dacia form 1/3 of bmw price and never had any serious problem so I disagree at that point as there is too many factors to compare - its not that simple...

A lot of talk. There are two main things that should be considered in the development and price of a mod.

• Complexity of design
• Viability of product (can I sell it and to whom?)

These two things need to be considered before the mod is even created as a public offering. How much is it going to cost to create it and how many units will I be able to sell (ie, how popular will it be). The first one is easy, the second one is not and requires substantially more effort before a single stroke on the keyboard is made.

If you cannot determine the viability of your product, you are squirting into the wind. Most developers here tend to come up with an idea, think it's great and create it. Then they are left trying to sell something that others might not have the same opinion of.

Determining product viability.

I copied this somewhere off the net some time ago. (don't remember where and not worried enough about it to find it again)  It's an outline to follow to determine if your product even warrants any more of your time.

1. Compare your offer to a 3-legged stool, which cannot support weight unless all three legs are equal in length and spacing. One leg is the offer itself, which includes price and demand. A top quality offer at a competitive price is still a low fail if the other legs are not balanced. The second leg is the customer list. If you don’t know who wants your product or service, then you have nothing. The third leg is the process, language and messaging used to convey the value of the offer to the list.
2. Determine the mass appeal of your product or service. If only a very select few can benefit from it, then your offer may be too limited to generate enough revenue to justify the investment of taking it into the marketplace. Identifying a specific demographic target is a strategic necessity, but there is a certain volume required to break even and a much larger volume required for long-term profitability.
3. Measure the uniqueness of your offer against all competitors or whoever shares your market niche. The more unique your offer is the more likely it will gain share against your competitors
4. Assess the exclusivity of your offer. If your potential customers can get your product or service somewhere else, then you will be forced to find another factor to differentiate your offer from the competition. If your offer cannot be found anywhere else, will benefit invariably.
5. Test the perceived value of your offer. In order to be successful in business, you must be able to sell your product or service at a price point that is commensurate with what people are willing and able to pay. Ironically, you can under price an offer as well as overprice it.

Now I spend a lot of time in the Market. I have looked at every product available at one time or another. Most (if not all) have done very little to determine if they have an idea  that's even worth creating. Some get lucky, most others do not. The thing that's sad is there is a lot of possibility for talented developers here to ride the shoe strings of Boonex but most are missing it because their lack of business sense destroys any chance of them successfully selling what they create.

Hello Skyforum Nice post. My 2 cents are that everyproduct should be considered in an average pricing as other similar products in same area. If majority of products ism considered by many potential buyers as unadequate expensive, developer should put price down as otherwise it makes no sense to stay with current price if income is minimal. I think joomla developers go more proper way - many of them actually offer their products for free or for minimal price and have paid support. SOme of developers here said they cant have lower prices as they spent many hours with support of their modules. If you price your products rightb way and offer paid support than this problem is gone. If somebody will complain that have problem with component offer him paid help for 15-20usd/hour which is affordable rate for most of people here. Your components with frendly prices will sell much more and those who will need help u actually make much more on support fee.. THe thing is really professional mod, correctly installed should not have any prob. If product now priced 100usd will be priced 25usd with no support - more experienced people will have no problems and newbies can pay you for help. Boonex working similar way - core product is free, license is now ( finally) reasonable priced and if somebody have trouible u can hire agent for paid support so why dont apply similar scheme on mods ?

Nice posting skyForum

There are a lot of articles to be found on how to gain market share ... just check this one http://www.articlesbase.com/outsourcing-articles/how-to-gain-market-share-1002480.html

Anyway ... the only way to get a bigger market share, in a niche .. is to be cheap ... the guys and gals who are programming the mods to sell, they are in a niche market, there are only a 'few' customers. If you are happy with earning 100$ bcs 2 customers bought your module, great!

But i will be a lot happier to sell that same module for 10$ .. and get links to my site, and get 'free' promotion that comes with selling cheap .. in the end, i will be selling a lot more then just to the boonex Niche, i might be selling to my modules to Dell, because they have heard of me .. (word of mouth, email, blog, article .. whatever) .. this is how YOU will earn the big bucks .. not by selling a module 1 or 2 , to all of us facebook wannabe's

Think big .. think out of the box .. imagine

Well said, and I understand. I still stand by my earlier statement of Boonex needs more really good developers. If a developer is basing his livelihood solely on the Market, then he/she may have a tougher time. But I noticed that many of the developers have other streams of income such as customization etc. You must also acknowledge that most users that purchase modules do not necessarily leave behind any feedback, so the forum or Market is not a true indicator of how many of a particular module have been sold.

In any event I have had personal experience where developers have shunned away potential work and in some cases not even bothered to respond favourably to custom requests because they have enough work for now. In one case I almost paid out money to one who was to do some work and never did. He promised several times to deliver it and was working on it, but never did.  Lucky for me that I did not pay him upfront. In this instance an escrow situation would have been perfect. I do not mind putting some money as a deposit, but what happens when the opposite party does not deliver as promised.

I think a few more additional developers will allow some of the users to get custom work done in a more timely and reasonable fashion. Since some of the existing developers are busy they tend to shy away or not care for additional work.Yes perhaps their lack of business acumen does not allow then to be professional in their approach.

More coders would also mean that the existing ones would not keep getting bombarded by so many users so as to drive them crazy. They too are humans and need some breathing room to live and have a life of their own. I am sure I have driven many developers here nuts, because I keep asking them questions constantly, but they should try to understand that some of us are new users and just need help and guidance.

Another options is to let users suggest ideas and have a voting tally to see what is viable financially for the developer. if enough response is met then the module gets developed by a designated developer; who is picked in a rotation basis, so it is fair to all the coders.

My 2cents worth.

I would be supportive of that idea. For a number of reasons.

I do not do custom work for mostly 2 reasons. 1) I normally do not have time. 2) When i do have time i find most of the requests i cannot do.

For a developer to make themselves available for custom work, they must know dolphin inside out and backwords. If they don't then they have no business making themselves available for custom work. Many areas of dolphin are complex. So complex that after 2+ years, i still cannot touch half of the existing dolphin modules for custom work. And those are the most commonly requested ones that most want to change.

Because i cannot make modifications to the more complex dolphin modules such as video, sound and almost all the other multimedia areas of dolphin, and the forum for me is the worst of all. I feel it makes me unqualified for custom work.

But time is the primary reason for me.

So i stick to writing modules to add features to dolphin rather than trying to rewrite the existing ones. Although coming up with replacements for some of the crappy ones like the video, photo and forum sections is something i have considered doing at some point.