As of the 15th February, simpleContact Pro is available to buy from CodeCanyon. CodeCanyon is one of the popular Envato marketplaces and joining is a move to help increase exposure.
Approval process
Submitting to an Envato marketplace is somewhat like adding a product to Apple’s app store. You have to go through an approval process before your product is made available to buy. They also receive a percentage of sales which varies depending on whether you are selling exclusively through them (I’m not). I don’t mind admitting that my original submission, about two weeks ago, was rejected. It wasn’t without good reason though: I had provided the application exactly as it is found on this website and that proved to be a useful lesson about context.
On this – its own website – you can see visual information about what the UI of the application is like – screengrabs, colours etc. It is also clear from the Pro page that there is online documentation. Outside that context though, these clues are absent. The reviewer rightly thought that the application was insufficiently documented and didn’t get a good sense of what the UI is like from the supplied screengrabs and live demo. So they rejected it.
I spent the time since improving those supporting materials. I re-made my live demo, created new screengrabs (which I may put in place of the existing ones) and made local HTML versions of the support documents, which I included in a special version of the application download for CodeCanyon. I may add those to the regular download, but I think it’s best to keep documentation online so unless there’s significant demand I’ll leave it as-is. In response to these changes, the application was accepted.
Pricing
Pricing is a big part of this marketplace experiment. Again like the app store, a developer must accept that you will make less money per-sale with the aim of making more sales to compensate for that. Many developers, particularly those with Mac products that pre-date the Mac app store and continue to be sold outside it, actually charge less in the app store than they do on their own website. Money by Jumsoft is one example.
I should point out at this point: the pricing of simpleContact Pro on CodeCanyon is not under my control. Envato set the price, and adjust it over time. I will periodically review whether or not it is appropriate to continue to sell there. I don’t wish to upset existing customers.
The price of the developer license (they call it the “extended license”) on CodeCanyon is almost the same, at $55 (vs $60 here). The single domain license though is considerably less at $11 (vs $25 here). In both cases the price increases by $2 if you have not bought pre-paid credits in the marketplace. It’s up to you to decide which is more convenient for you – to pay by credit card on CodeCanyon or directly to me by PayPal here. I promise to support all customers equally.
I’d appreciate any feedback you have.