PureBasic Forums - English

Hi All,

Two years ago I made a progam in rapidq basic (I didn't know Purebasic back then) and I sold about 4 copies per year in a very specialized market, at 150 US$ per copy. That's a nice little extra for something that I made as a hobby-project!
Now some company wants to buy my source code. I expect them to be able to make good improvements on my code, plus I expect them to have better much better marketing possibilities.
I'm looking for suggestions on what a reasonable price could be for this (about 1500 lines) of basic-soucecode?

What exactly does the program do? Does it do a very unique job? Is it rare to find it or to find someone else who can write the same? If yes then you could probably push it up.

The program gives a graphical representation with search options for files that are used in assembly of printed circuit boards. Most software in this market is highly professional, costing tenthousands of dollars. My software targets the smaller assembly companies that cannot afford these expensive programs. Plus the simplicity is a benefit.
I'm sure somebody else can write something similar, but it will take many hours.

Grumble wrote:The program gives a graphical representation with search options for files that are used in assembly of printed circuit boards. Most software in this market is highly professional, costing tenthousands of dollars. My software targets the smaller assembly companies that cannot afford these expensive programs. Plus the simplicity is a benefit.
I'm sure somebody else can write something similar, but it will take many hours.

I think, in your situation, I'd ask for a one-time payment - around 1000 tp 1500 USD seems fair to me - and a small percentage of each copy they sell in future (thinking of when Bill Gates bought his first stuff for little money and the guys who sold him bitting in their butts).

> software in this market is highly professional, costing tenthousands of dollars

Don't sell your code for cheap, then. That's what they're hoping for! Quite
frankly, if a finished product is worth $10,000, which they cannot alter, then
a source code for it, which they can change to suit their needs whenever they
want, would be worth much, much more (IMO). Remember: once they have
your code, they don't need you anymore... so do a deal where they can't get
by without you.

They have 2 alternatives. Buy you're source code or get somebody to write it from scratch. If they are rational they should choose the cheapest option.

What you need to do is maximise you're own profit, so try to charge the most you can while remaining the preferred option.

How many hours would it take for somebody to rewrite the code from scratch? What would they pay per hour for that?

You should be able to aim somewhere between 50% - 75% to remain the preferred option.

Unfortunately, they may not be entirely rational. They may only be interested in getting you're code 'on the cheap', and will walk if it is anything but a rip off.

Alternatively, they may have an annoying nephew who insists he could write it in a weekend. Obviously he won't, but if they believe him...

Its unknowns like this that make negotiaitions interesting

actually, this is my line of business i do write some converter stuff for this kind of work...

i hope you're not referring to gerber converters, stuff like eagle, proboard, ultiboard, pick'n'place lists, etc.?

my advice: sell it, define your price by looking at your potential revenue, if it's 4 copies a year, next 5 years, at $150, you're talking about a revenue max of $3000

they key issue is NOT how much money THEY make on it, but how much money YOU would make on it if you would NOT sell it to them

so, take your max profit for the next 4..5 years, double it, and that's your selling price

250% of your actual yearly profit for this code and the 10% of the sales profit, because they will need you to keep improving the code.