How to sell

[Joshann]

I have created a little Access application that I thought I'd try to sell online, but I have never done that before. Can anyone give me some pointers on how to do it? I have no idea as to how to even get started. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[KenHigg]

Stick it on ebay and see what kind of response you get...

Never done it - just a thought...

???
kh

 

[Jonathan Kok]

Thought it was illegal to sell an access database without paying royalties to Microsoft?

 

[ColinEssex]

You'd certainly need to consider what happens if it went wrong

Who fixes it? maintenance agreements and the like.

What about upgrades? additional reports maybe needed etc

Col

 

[Mile-O]

Thought it was illegal to sell an access database without paying royalties to Microsoft?

Not with Access Runtime.

 

[KenHigg]

And not with .mdb's...

kh

 

[ghudson]

Thought it was illegal to sell an access database without paying royalties to Microsoft?

Anybody can sell a *.mdb file. But the file *.mdb will not work if the buyer [user] does not have the correct version of MSAccess.exe installed that can open it. Runtimes are a differnet story. You buy the license to distribute the runtime version of Access when you purchase the developers edition of Office.

 

[Joshann]

You'd certainly need to consider what happens if it went wrong

Who fixes it? maintenance agreements and the like.

What about upgrades? additional reports maybe needed etc

Col

This would be sold like any other software you buy. There are no maintenance agreements. What they buy is what they get, so there would be no additional reports. This brings up a point I wanted to ask though. Don't I need to make a Beta version and have people test it? Where do I get testers?

Anybody can sell a *.mdb file. But the file *.mdb will not work if the buyer [user] does not have the correct version of MSAccess.exe installed that can open it. Runtimes are a differnet story. You buy the license to distribute the runtime version of Access when you purchase the developers edition of Office.

Right. I would package it up and distribute it with the Runtime version of Access.

So assuming I get it properly tested and ready to distribute, does anybody have any ideas, other than eBay, as to how/where I can sell it online?

 

[ghudson]

You are about to enter the world of shareware. You could setup a web site and advertise it (not here of course ;-). You can search for the word shareware and list your application at any sites you can find that post shareware. You would have to add the functionality to disable the application if the user does not register and purchase a license or key from you. I have never done any of that but I have been around the web to know what it looks like. It will be hard to sell your application without give the users a trial version so that they can test drive it. My humble opinion of course.

 

[Joshann]

You are about to enter the world of shareware. You could setup a web site and advertise it (not here of course ;-). You can search for the word shareware and list your application at any sites you can find that post shareware. You would have to add the functionality to disable the application if the user does not register and purchase a license or key from you. I have never done any of that but I have been around the web to know what it looks like. It will be hard to sell your application without give the users a trial version so that they can test drive it. My humble opinion of course.

Thanks! This is just the kind of information I was looking for. I think I can add the functionality to give trial versions. I've seen some posts about that here. What about a Beta version? Do people put Beta versions on shareware sites and give them away for free or something? Or does anybody know how to go about that? I just wouldn't want to put it up there for sale and assume it's going to work perfectly just based on my own testing. My experience is that someone else can always find a way to make your program not work no matter how much you test it yourself.

 

[KenHigg]

Good read
kh

 

[ghudson]

That is a good read KenHigg!

www.NoNags.com is the best freeware site. They screen all files before posting them and they also rate each program.

 

[KenHigg]

NoNags.com - cool. I may upload something just to see what happens...

kh

 

[Joshann]

Thank you KenHigg and ghudson. I really appreciate it!