Renewing Licence Specifics & Currency Change & Suggestions

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pwnage

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Thanks for bringing this to our attention. License renewals should not cost the same as a new license and we are fixing this. The actual cost of a renewals should be 50% of the cost of a new license.
Fillip H. will post in here to let you know once the fix is live.
This has now been implemented :)

Did you post the specifics somewhere, for how that works?

Is this how it works?
Advanced Post Thanks / Like
3 Months: US $39.95
1 Years: US $54.95
Lifetime: US $84.95

If I brought:
3 Months: US $39.95
& it expiries.
Would I get 50% discount if I wanted to buy the same 3 Months licence? (39.95x0.50 = $19.98)

What if I wanted to buy 1 year or lifetime next time, would I get a 50% discount on that too?

Regarding currency change:
$39.95 = £25.96 according to google today.
£27.45 is what you guys charge. Shouldn't you charge around £26.45?

Suggestions:
If you buy a product, will suggestions be sped up to be implemented?
Example: http://www.dragonbyte-tech.com/f52/...n-notifs-forum-sections-their-choosing-18757/
 
Would I get 50% discount if I wanted to buy the same 3 Months licence?
Yeah :)

What if I wanted to buy 1 year or lifetime next time, would I get a 50% discount on that too?
You would get a 50% discount off the price of a new 1 year / new Lifetime licence. The 50% discount would not apply to the price you paid for the 3 month licence.

$39.95 = £25.96 according to google today.
£27.45 is what you guys charge. Shouldn't you charge around £26.45?
Our prices are rounded to sensible numbers (nearest 2.50 minus 0.05).

If you buy a product, will suggestions be sped up to be implemented?
Example: http://www.dragonbyte-tech.com/f52/...n-notifs-forum-sections-their-choosing-18757/
Suggestions are taken into consideration based on their own merits, and/or how many other people vote for the feature, not who suggested them or whether they have paid for the mod :) We feel this serves to create a better product for everyone involved, as resources are limited.
 
Suggestions are taken into consideration based on their own merits, and/or how many other people vote for the feature, not who suggested them or whether they have paid for the mod :) We feel this serves to create a better product for everyone involved, as resources are limited.
What do you think of my suggestion?
http://www.dragonbyte-tech.com/f52/...orum-sections-their-choosing-18757/#post95437
http://www.dragonbyte-tech.com/f51/...notifications-certain-forums-18708/#post95215

My suggestion involve adding more settings for users to control notifications via userCP and having it easily be enabled/disable via adminCP if the admin wants.
So I don't believe it's a negative for the product at all. Having said that, yes, it will take time/resources to implement.

I've kept the thread up for a pretty long time now, yet I've still received no reply as to whether or not it merits a implementation...
(although I have recently updated it)

If you aren't going to implement it, am I allowed to ask another coder (not form the DB Tech team) to code it into the product just for my forum?
(well I'd probably still buy the PRO for DB Tech thanks, but I wouldn't buy the PRO for user tagging without implementing that feature).

Yeah :)

You would get a 50% discount off the price of a new 1 year / new Lifetime licence. The 50% discount would not apply to the price you paid for the 3 month licence.
Ah okay, thanks :)
 
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I've kept the thread up for a pretty long time now, yet I've still received no reply as to whether or not it merits a implementation...
Feature Requests aren't entered into our system as needing a response, due to the fact that all we'd be doing is leaving a canned response going "We'll take it into consideration for future versions" :p

We don't have the ability to say exactly if and when a suggestion will be implemented into the product, unfortunately :(

If you aren't going to implement it, am I allowed to ask another coder (not form the DB Tech team) to code it into the product just for my forum?
Of course, but do bear in mind that we may ask you to revert to the stock code if you encounter bugs that we cannot replicate locally. Additionally, we do offer custom work services ourselves: http://www.dragonbyte-tech.com/info/customwork/
The features would then be added to the release product, and you'd get the features a lot sooner :)
 
We don't have the ability to say exactly if and when a suggestion will be implemented into the product, unfortunately :(
Who does have the ability to say if a suggestion will be implemented?

Additionally, we do offer custom work services ourselves: http://www.dragonbyte-tech.com/info/customwork/
The features would then be added to the release product, and you'd get the features a lot sooner :)
I see.
About User Tagging PRO:
If I asked your company to do it, you'd have to add it to the LITE version. My suggestions include stuff in the PRO version & more, so I don't think you'd do it for the LITE version.
If I asked you to put it into the PRO version, I'd have to pay for the PRO version & (probably lots more) additional money for the custom work.

Well, unless you guys are willing to do it for around $20 to add onto the pro version. In which case, I'd buy the PRO version too.
Since you can't tell me if it will be implemented (and when, if it was going to be implemented), it would be far cheaper for me to pay another (trusted) coder to add on the features into the LITE version.
 
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You would get a 50% discount off the price of a new 1 year / new Lifetime licence. The 50% discount would not apply to the price you paid for the 3 month licence.
Okay, let me see if I understood correctly.
I'll use the DragonByte SEO as an example.
3 Months: US $69.95
1 Years: US $99.95
Lifetime: US $199.95


If I paid for 3 months.
Then I decided to upgrade to lifetime:
$69.95 + $99.98 ($199.95x0.50) = $169.93 -> Correct?
That's around a 15% discount instead of just paying for lifetime straight away - was this intentional?
If so, it doesn't make sense for anybody to pay for the lifetime product, if they can just do that (assuming they don't/can't wait for a 35% coupon code).


Of course, when you guys do a 35% discount, it's cheaper to just get lifetime straight away instead of getting 3 months with 35% discount & then lifetime with 50% discount (yes I'm aware 50% discount is the cap).
 
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Who does have the ability to say if a suggestion will be implemented?
No one has the ability to say if a suggestion will be implemented in the future.

Cosmic is our Managing Director, he can decide that a suggestion is something he really feels should be added to the product and can ask the developer of the mod to work on it, but he does not make update plans for every single product we have. It wouldn't be feasible to do for 75+ products :)

If I asked your company to do it, you'd have to add it to the LITE version. My suggestions include stuff in the PRO version & more, so I don't think you'd do it for the LITE version.
We would be happy to add a complimentary Pro version to the job in question :)

Well, unless you guys are willing to do it for around $20 to add onto the pro version. In which case, I'd buy the PRO version too.
Our rates start at $35/hr, and we most often only take on jobs if the cost of development is at least $500, otherwise it would simply not be worth our time to work out feature requirements and the inevitable feedback after the fact. $500 works out at roughly 2 days work, so on average we charge $250/day for custom work.

Any coder worth their salt would be charging similar fees, unless they are new to freelancing.

Okay, let me see if I understood correctly.
I'll use the DragonByte SEO as an example.
3 Months: US $69.95
1 Years: US $99.95
Lifetime: US $199.95


If I paid for 3 months.
Then I decided to upgrade to lifetime:
$69.95 + $99.98 ($199.95x0.50) = $169.93 -> Correct?
The exact formula is (baseCost1) + ((cost2) - existingCost3)) * 1.504))) * 0.5

For your DBSEO example (3 Months to Lifetime), the formula would be (69.95 + ((199.95 - 69.95) * 1.50)) * 0.5

Step by step resolution:
  1. (69.95 + (130 * 1.50)) * 0.5
  2. (69.95 + 195) * 0.5
  3. 264.95 * 0.5
  4. 132.475

The rounding works in such a way that this becomes the final price table:

3 Months: US $34.95
1 Years: US $57.45
Lifetime: US $132.45


1) The cost of a 3 Months licence for this product
2) The cost of the licence you wish to upgrade to, before discounts
3) The cost of the licence you already owned, before discounts
4) There's a 50% markup on the difference between the existing licence and the licence you wish to upgrade to, if the upgrade licence is of a higher cost


This formula was correct at the time of writing, and is subject to change. DragonByte Technologies reserves the right to change this formula or its component values at any point in the future.
 
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No one has the ability to say if a suggestion will be implemented in the future.

Cosmic is our Managing Director, he can decide that a suggestion is something he really feels should be added to the product and can ask the developer of the mod to work on it, but he does not make update plans for every single product we have. It wouldn't be feasible to do for 75+ products :)
You seem to have contradicted yourself here.
You state no one has the ability, yet state Cosmic right after. Clearly Cosmic has the ability then.
It makes absolutely no sense for you to say no one...

In either case, I thought it would be like this:
If the coder who designed the product liked somebodys suggestion, they could ask Cosmic whether or not they're allowed to code for it. Hence the coder + Cosmic combined should have the power to decide what features they want added or not. If Cosmic wants to step in, he can ask the coder to add a feature.
Cosmic isn't the one who codes other peoples product, is he? So I'm not really sure why you needed to state that last sentence. I'm not asking you to add in every single feature. The coder who designed the product, if he wants to do a specific suggestion (assuming he isn't occupied doing something else), he can ask Cosmic. It shouldn't be more complicated than that.

I have absolutely no clue how you pay your coders, hence feel free to absolutely ignore this part (in size 1), as it is based entirely on assumptions:
It seems to me your company isn't particularly efficient at implementing suggestions, nor at hiring many html coders.
Most companies I know hire coders and monitor their activity. If the employee slack off not doing anything, they'll get a pay cut or get fired. Sure you don't have the luxury of firing your limited employees, but I do hope you only pay your coders if they're actually doing something.
Due to your custom work prices + reading other threads, I hope you aren't paying them on a hourly/daily basis. They should be getting a paid a percentage depending on the number of products sold. They can get bonuses for implementing suggestions/ doing bug fixes.
That's how I think you should do it, if you aren't already.

We would be happy to add a complimentary Pro version to the job in question :)
You completely misread or ignored what I said...
Would you add it into the LITE version? Yes or No?
Note: I'm not going to be asking for custom work due to the prices anyway, but it would be good to know.

Our rates start at $35/hr, and we most often only take on jobs if the cost of development is at least $500, otherwise it would simply not be worth our time to work out feature requirements and the inevitable feedback after the fact. $500 works out at roughly 2 days work, so on average we charge $250/day for custom work.

Any coder worth their salt would be charging similar fees, unless they are new to freelancing.
$35/hr is extraordinarily expensive. Normal jobs for html coders out of Uni (computer science degree) is around $15 per hour or less. For skilled coders, it's around $25. In any case, I know very few people who would charge such rates, for html coding.
Those prices are absolutely absurd in the context of the matter. Hence nobody should ever ask for custom work, if they just want a few (simple) features added to the product, it's far more feasible just asking somebody else.
If the product itself (PRO) cost $40, why on earth should anybody pay $500 just for a 'simple' feature to get added to the PRO version?

I'm not sure what Coders you've been talking to, but the coders I know (RL friends) do suggestions like mine in a couple of hours. I've never asked them to do DB Tech products because I wasn't sure if they were allowed or not. But now I know, I will be asking them. They will do it for $50 or less, so I'll just ask them to add onto the LITE version.
It doesn't take very long, if the coder knows what you're doing and are efficiently doing their task.
I'm not trying to sound rude, but asking for custom work for simple features to be added on, isn't something you should suggest to your customers without quoting your prices.
Only those who are rich/ have a serious business should ask for custom work.
I know most people complain about your PRO prices, but I personally think they're very good for it's worth (at least, most of them are).

Any coder worth their salt would be charging similar fees, unless they are new to freelancing.
That is extremely rude.
I know people within vbulletin.org who are aren't new to freelancing (been in the community for over 5 years), yet they'd make products for FREE or under $50 making an entire product OR added in all the suggestions the customer asked for.
Why do they do it? They mostly do it because it's a part of their hobby & have the time.
Any coder who has a decent job and isn't reliant on their vbulletin products, are far more flexible and far morè reasonable with their price.

The exact formula is (baseCost1) + ((cost2) - existingCost3)) * 1.504))) * 0.5

For your DBSEO example (3 Months to Lifetime), the formula would be (69.95 + ((199.95 - 69.95) * 1.50)) * 0.5

Step by step resolution:
  1. (69.95 + (130 * 1.50)) * 0.5
  2. (69.95 + 195) * 0.5
  3. 264.95 * 0.5
  4. 132.475

The rounding works in such a way that this becomes the final price table:

3 Months: US $34.95
1 Years: US $57.45
Lifetime: US $132.45


1) The cost of a 3 Months licence for this product
2) The cost of the licence you wish to upgrade to, before discounts
3) The cost of the licence you already owned, before discounts
4) There's a 50% markup on the difference between the existing licence and the licence you wish to upgrade to, if the upgrade licence is of a higher cost


This formula was correct at the time of writing, and is subject to change. DragonByte Technologies reserves the right to change this formula or its component values at any point in the future.
Thanks for that :)
http://www.dragonbyte-tech.com/f10/discounts-dragonbyte-techs-products-addons-4479/
^ You really should update that thread.
 
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You seem to have contradicted yourself here.
With all due respect, it's not a contradiction. Cosmic can ask coders to implement a feature request sooner rather than later, but he doesn't plan feature updates for the future.

In other words, if a feature request isn't given 100% top "right now" priority, no-one can say "we will implement this feature in an update in 3 months".

In either case, I thought it would be like this: [...]
It varies based on each coder how features are implemented as well, due to each coder having limited availability.

Our coders (except for myself) are all sub-contractors, none of them are full-time employees. They are all paid a % of sales of the modifications they are listed as the developer of.

You completely misread or ignored what I said...
Would you add it into the LITE version? Yes or No?
That depends on the feature in question, and is a judgement we would make at the time. I cannot say unequivocally yes or no to that question.

$35/hr is extraordinarily expensive. Normal jobs for html coders out of Uni (computer science degree) is around $15 per hour or less. For skilled coders, it's around $25. In any case, I know very few people who would charge such rates, for html coding.
Honestly, I find this statement a little insulting. If I had any intention of continuing this debate, I would ask you for your sources - £9.75 is barely above minimum wage, and programming (not "html coding") is skilled labour that requires an education (be it via college/university or self-taught over a number of years).

Furthermore, I have 11 years of experience coding for vBulletin. I released my first vBulletin modification August 2004, and I have been coding for vBulletin professionally as a full-time job since 2011. Cosmic has an equal amount of experience designing modifications for vBulletin.

I'll refrain from giving a detailed break-down of how we operate, but suffice it to say we charge what we feel we are worth. Several dozen custom work clients would agree with us. Not everyone agrees, and we can respect that. All we ask is for the same amount of respect in return :)

That is extremely rude.
With all due respect, I disagree that it's rude to claim that people are selling themselves short by making people believe $20 is an adequate price for custom work and one-on-one support with a client. People who are new to freelancing tend to make the mistake that I myself made back in 2004; thinking any money they get from a job is "free money". Time is money, after all.

I know people within vbulletin.org who are aren't new to freelancing (been in the community for over 5 years), yet they'd make products for FREE or under $50 making an entire product OR added in all the suggestions the customer asked for.
Why do they do it? They mostly do it because it's a part of their hobby & have the time.
Which is somewhat different than a company like ours, where the company directors (myself and Cosmic) depend on the business to eat and live, I'd say :)


I'll close this thread since the question in the OP has been answered :)
 
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