Paddle

I received an email from Paddle today saying they are a direct replacement for eSellerate. Anyone have any negative or positive experience using it in a Xojo application?

If you take a look what is available at Paddle I wouldn’t care less. Mostly crappy apps imo
Every visitor even has to register to access the small database. Not very user friendly to say the least.
Don’t think they have many daily visitors.

I heard the paddle framework was cracked already, and easy to circumvent.

Okay. Definitely not the solution that I’d like to pursue then. Thanks for the news.

Guys,
I’ve been working with Paddle for a while to bring their framework over to Xojo. There was an earlier version of the framework (which was based upon the casual games mechanism) that I rejected because it was too easy to break.

I have a really good contact at Paddle and we talk frequently about bringing their services to the Xojo community, unlike eSelelrate they really want our business.

I’ve forwarded your comments onto Harrison Rose at Paddle, and asked him to respond.

When I have the time and I’m confident in what they provide, I will be moving our own store over to Paddle.com (especially as I’ve just found a ‘new’ issue with eSellerate sending customers out dated versions of our software).

Well, Paddle is such a low rated app resource with very low daily visitors. Just take a look at whats available - that should give you some indication what Paddle is about. I mean, you even have to register to see something … now thats not what I call user-friendly. Take a visit at https://www.paddle.com and you know what I mean.

On top, I do not like to put Paddle code (even if it is made by code wizard Sam - no offence :wink: in my apps because that would be easy triggered by hackers - they just need to find to crack it ones and all apps bought at Paddle can be cracked easy afterwards.
FWW the Xcode version is already cracked.

I am not sure if it would be a win/win situation to get your app on Paddle.
Of course, if they could manage to pump up the daily visitors to about Macupdate rates, then that would be another story. :slight_smile:

I looked into Paddle a little bit and my thoughts echo Christoph’s.

I’ve been working with a client that uses LimeLM. It doesn’t have the payment processing that eSellerate and Paddle have but I think that’s a relatively easy thing these days. It has offline activation. Activation is machine specific. Allows you to create custom fields for your licenses (think activation of different modules). Built in demo periods. Already Real Studio friendly (have not tried in Xojo yet but I would presume there is zero issues).

Drawbacks: The control panel reporting sucks. An offline activation doesn’t get reported in any report. The pricing for one product and # of activations isn’t so bad but once you get past that your monthly fees start to add up. I think it’s a good problem to have if you have to bump up into the higher bracket but not everyone will see it that way.

I’m thinking about using LimeLM for a new upcoming product. What do I have to lose, eh?

Their store is simply a side effect of using their system to sell your software. The main POS will be your own site.

Non-taken, although I wouldn’t describe myself as a wizard, more like an over caffeinated monkey that just luckily manages to hit the keys in the correct order to make things happen :wink:

[quote=114072:@Christoph De Vocht] in my apps because that would be easy triggered by hackers - they just need to find to crack it ones and all apps bought at Paddle can be cracked easy afterwards.
FWW the Xcode version is already cracked.[/quote]
While not specifically in defense of Paddle, but the App Store mechanism has proven to not be difficult for crackers. However I will admit the App Store does make up for it volume of sales.

I can only hope that one day it does become a win/win situation for all of us. Like I mentioned before I was aware their earlier framework was not secure, however I do admire their customer service and the relationship that I have formed. The big advantage in my mind, is that they have been listening to me and making changes accordingly.

After the last few years with DR/eSellerate, it’s a breath of fresh air.

Ahh… The age old chicken, egg scenario.

Perhaps at the end of this, maybe once Bob has tried LimeLM and I’ve tried Paddle, we can compare notes or do a cross analysis? After all, it’s better to have more than option.

One more thing, I’m looking at going down the route of generating my own serial numbers and handling activation. The reason for this is then it doesn’t matter too much when the products are sold as I have control the serials/activation. With eSellerate I used their system and that’s not only caused headaches, but has helped keep me locked in.

I’ve looked at the Paddle documentation. I can’t even see which countries they support and how the serial numbers are generated. Rather thin. Should I look again at a another payment option it would possibly be Stripe and not Paddle. So far Fastspring has been good. But I need a better checkout page, their reporting sucks and they are rather pricey…

Keep in mind that Stripe does just payment, you’d have to handle all the users yourself.

In my experience there are only two very good options:

  • Paypal:
    You can easily handle your sales online and in-App, easy to understand API for PHP payment handling (serial creation etc…) , monthly reports, good refund options (yes you sometimes need them :slight_smile: ), low cost, very fast transferring money to your personal bank account (whenever you want and free).
    The only drawback I can find is some people don’t like using Paypal but lately thats not very common anymore. (was 2-3 years ago a problem)

  • Fastspring:
    Also easy setting up your account, friendly support, low cost but I have no experience with auto creating serials/handling.

[quote=114565:@Christoph De Vocht]In my experience there are only two very good options:

  • Paypal:
    You can easily handle your sales online and in-App, easy to understand API for PHP payment handling (serial creation etc…) , monthly reports, good refund options (yes you sometimes need them :slight_smile: ), low cost, very fast transferring money to your personal bank account (whenever you want and free).
    The only drawback I can find is some people don’t like using Paypal but lately thats not very common anymore. (was 2-3 years ago a problem)[/quote]
    PP has been known to suspend accounts for things they feel is wrong with zero notice to the holder. And the process to refute their claims/status is hard to find and difficult.

[quote=114565:@Christoph De Vocht]In my experience there are only two very good options:- Fastspring:
Also easy setting up your account, friendly support, low cost but I have no experience with auto creating serials/handling.[/quote] Faststring allows you to do serials in several ways, generate on the fly using their system, calling an API (you generate them on the fly), or upload batch of serials. I have nothing but good things to say about FastSpring.

I use Paypal for almost 6 years now and never got any issues. I know a lot of devs using Paypal without any issues.
It is also known that suspending Paypal accounts without notice/communication/reason is some sort of urban legend.

a fellow developer I know had his account suspended as PP decided he had to many returns/payment cancellations. When you only sell a few items / month, any returns/cancellations becomes a high percentage. It took him month+ to get his account turned back on. And was warned if it was turned off again, it wouldnt be turned back on.

So I dont think it is an urban legend. it might not be as prominent as some might make it out to be.

Um, I believe one of our overseas Xojo developers has had this happen. Might even be part of this conversation. :slight_smile:

[quote=114657:@Christoph De Vocht]I use Paypal for almost 6 years now and never got any issues. I know a lot of devs using Paypal without any issues.
It is also known that suspending Paypal accounts without notice/communication/reason is some sort of urban legend.[/quote]
Not a myth. we used to use PayPal for our business, then one day (when I really needed the money), I withdrew all the money to my bank account. This was unusual, so they closed the account and held on to the money. The only way I got it back was to complain directly to their CEO. Their support staff wouldn’t/couldn’t do anything. I ended up having to borrow money. At that point I said I’d never trust PayPal again. Still use 'em, but only for small transactions. Especially as they have now placed a limit on how much I can withdraw since I don’t have a Social Security number (I set up my account in the US many years ago).

The most frustrating 3 months, knowing you have money but can’t touch it, meanwhile they continue to earn interest on it without paying you anything!

Oh and don’t believe their hype over buyer protection on eBay, nothing we can do!

Thanks, Sam. I remembered you telling this story before didn’t want to mentioned you by name in case my memory was faulty. :slight_smile:

No worries. Just because it happened to me, doesn’t mean it will happen to others, however it’s something that people should be aware. PayPal can and for what ever reason they decide, freeze your account. As I found out the hard way, they are not a regular financial institution like a bank, so they don’t have to follow the same rules and as they’re purely online, there is no ‘branch’ you can walk into to sort out issues.

We also participated in a bundle, where they used PayPal to accept the money. Because they got a lot of transactions quickly, PayPal shut them down and that was the end of the bundle.

It must be me, as I don’t seem to have much luck with online payment services! PayPal, eSellerate…

To setup a Paypal business account here in Belgium you have to provide a lot of proof you have indeed legal business (VAT number, address proof, ID proof, …) This takes some time to verify and took 3-4 weeks. After that I had no issues whatsoever.