The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 4 (of 5)

Voulume

hi

I sell some shareware that I created, sales are small but steady.

yesterday I was approached by a local council about volume licence & maintenance contract. This TOTALLY caught me on the hop!!

They bought 4 to test & want a quote for a site licence. What do i do..? the software sells for $16.00 I guess the coucil will have at least 100 pc's Can someone advise.......

I obviously want to make a bit of money but not kill the interest

Mike Smith UK

Mike Smith
Saturday, May 22, 2004

Personally, I would offer them a volume discount. A "site license" can mean that you'll be out of revenue. You can always offer one for a very high rate, to discourage its purchase.

I'd say at the volume they're talking about, a 50% discount off normal price is not out of the question.

Brad Wilson (dotnetguy.techieswithcats.com)
Saturday, May 22, 2004

Thanks for comment!!

They also want maintenance & possible customisation, upgrades etc...

Maintenance - How do I price this for a $15.99 program The figure £250.00 keeps comming into my head am I in the right ball park..? ie: there is not much maintenace to do.

Other do I supply a single key or 100 or so..?

thanks again!!

Mike Smith
Saturday, May 22, 2004

Be careful to specify that "maintenance" does not include re-writing the program to their specifications at their whim.

Apart from that, JFDI.

Steve Jones (UK)
Saturday, May 22, 2004

IT departments are accustomed to having formal contracts with site licences and maintenance.

Ask them how many will be using the app, then price your licence at that number times half your retail price. Charge them that every year.

Maintenance is usually 20 percent of the annual site licence, but your site licence is too tiny for that. You should specify maintenance as zero plus hourly costs. In other words, if they want anything special, they will pay you to develop it. Apart from that, they receive updates as part of the site licence.

Bean Counter
Saturday, May 22, 2004

Decide beforehand whether the price is negotiable. If it is, then price it higher.

20% is normal maintenance fee as another poster said.

When they say they want a site license, they probably just mean that they will have a budget and can't pay more until next year's budget. So consider giving them a license based on current headcount and telling them that you will charge for any additional headcount starting in one year. In other words it is an unlimited use license, but the price is based on headcount and is set annualy (sp?).

Scot
Saturday, May 22, 2004

Out of interest, what's the app? :)

Thom Lawrence
Saturday, May 22, 2004