Online sales and registration.

Post by **Dare2** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 6:31 am

Has anyone tackled this with any reasonable success?

1: Have a product online.
2:Provide a downloadable trial version.
3:Allow user to order by taking option in trial version.
4:When user purchases/registers, Key is delivered via email
5:Product is unlocked by entering key

I am interested in all aspects (including a safe and reliable service like SWreg), but right now specifically in the unlock process. Something (or preferably more than one thing) that can be done to convert a trial to a real product.

Also, any ideas of how a product can reasonably assume it is registered to to the person using it, (registry and external to registry)

Everything can be hacked, but there must be some decent ways to do this that improve chances of protecting code.

Brice Manuel · Post by **Brice Manuel** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 3:31 pm

Everything can be hacked, but there must be some decent ways to do this that improve chances of protecting code.

I use Armadillo ( http://www.siliconrealms.com ) exclusively.

There are a lot of cracks released that are supposed to work on Armadillo protected programs, but I have never found a crack that actually works, and I try every one I can find. It is the ONLY product I can say this for . All the other such products are too easy to remove/bypass the protection (products like Softwrap, etc are a joke). I once had a guy try and track an Armadillo protected program and he gave up after 45 minutes of trying, trying to save face claiming it "could be done" given enough time (duh).

I have used Armadillo since its inception and it has never let me down. I have never had a product posted on warez boards, or serial/crack boards. It is very reliable and stable and they always manage to stay two steps above the bad guys. The additional nanomite protection is easy to use with PureBasic and they also provide custom builds of Armadillo to registered users.

The only product I like better than Armadillo is Thinstall ( http://www.thinstall.com ), but Armadillo is more affordable. Just my advice, but the advice has 25 years of programming experience behind it, so hopefully the advice is worth something :roll:

ricardo · Post by **ricardo** » Sat Apr 24, 2004 7:02 pm

As you said, you will never stop crackes, BUT its a good idea to have a trial version because it makes that people from some countries (USA, Canada, etc) but your software to get the Key.

I use regnow, shareit, and regnow

All have the feature to run a cgi in my server (dont use the same server that you use for your product!) and generate a key automatically for my customers.

I use my own algo for the key and change it every week, BTW i update weekly my app to stay on top of the software sites (CNET is the king).

I use swmirror.con for hosting my downloadble files, are cheap, fast and secure, with nice stats and let me ban sites that offers cracks, at least i dont pay bandwith for crackes.

Keep in mind the real customers, make you buying process frendly for them.

Karbon · Post by **Karbon** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 3:55 pm

I've used Thinstall for my software (got a good price on it after trading some work!) and haven't looked back - it's incredible. Armadillo is an excellent product as well, I hear people talk about it often..

For payments I'm using swreg -www.swreg.org and eSellerate - www.esellerate.net

Check out the site in my sig for a downloadable demo and online store setup if you're curious..

thefool · Post by **thefool** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 4:42 pm

how much does thinstall add to your program's size

ricardo · Post by **ricardo** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 5:23 pm

Thinstall was something like U$799, too high!
If want to give us an idea of the % of disscount from U$799

Once you buy it, can you use it in many projects or just in one?

Karbon · Post by **Karbon** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 6:22 pm

You can use it for as many projects as you want after you license it.. He has raised the price since I bought it though - email and ask if there is any discount he might be able to give you.. I know he allowed me to pay over time (a small monthly fee), he might allow you to do the same.

Thinstall decreases the size of the executable as it uses variable levels of compression in addition to it's protection features. It also offers a whole virtual machine that allows you to bundle files with your EXE and access them just as if they were on the user's computer. There is a lot more to thinstall than just protection - check it out and see if it's worth the investment for you guys..

thefool · Post by **thefool** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 6:28 pm

damnit! the website wouldnt allow me to download the trial because i use a public email (the one i got from my provider.)

Karbon · Post by **Karbon** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 8:12 pm

PM me the email you'd like to use and I'll set you up a forward through purebasic.org if you'd like...

Same goes for any other registered PB user BTW

Post by **Dare2** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 12:20 am

Thanks for all the hints and tips. Will be busy for a while following up on these.

Karbon · Post by **Karbon** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 12:28 am

Oh, one more thing... If you are doing shareware - a listing on download.com is well worth the $99/month if you expect to sell any copies.... Virtually all my sales have been directly from there..

ricardo · Post by **ricardo** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 2:49 am

Karbon wrote:Oh, one more thing... If you are doing shareware - a listing on download.com is well worth the $99/month if you expect to sell any copies.... Virtually all my sales have been directly from there..

Agree.

I have more than 4,500 customers now (3 years selling apps)... 99% comes from CNET.

Post by **Dare2** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 3:43 am

Hi ricardo.

That is pretty impressive. Is that one product, or several? (Hope you don't mind me asking)

ricardo · Post by **ricardo** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 5:24 am

Dare2 wrote:Hi ricardo.

That is pretty impressive. Is that one product, or several? (Hope you don't mind me asking)

Mostly from one product (+350,000 downloads in CNET).

Ive paid U$3,500 in 3 years for 350,000 dls = 0.01 per download.

If i sell 1 pgm per each 100 downloads = U$1.00 per sell = good business!

Sometimes i hate CNET, but i need it. Once my app was off because a mistake my sales comes down to U$0.00

LarsG · Post by **LarsG** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 8:27 am

This is interresting...

@Karbon: this 99$/month you're speaking of.. I reckon this is per app?
It seemed a bit steep for me when I read it.. it's a lot of money to part woth (even before you've had a sale)..
How much do you reckon it brings back in hard cash? I'm thinking of how much does it cost "per app"?? Saleswise..