From: hackett@gaul.csd.uwo.ca (Mike Hackett)
Subject: Shareware collection agency?
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Univ. of Western Ontario, London, Canada
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 22:29:38 GMT


    Hello all.  I'm finally getting around to doing something about an idea
I've been toying with for some time.  We all know that while there is a lot
of _great_ shareware out there, especially for the GS where most of the
commercial companies aren't very interested, it is not well supported by the
users.  Now, it seems to me that one of the big reasons that people don't
pay for shareware programs is that it is inconvenient.  A sad statement
about the state of the human race maybe, but a lot of people are just too
lazy to even make out a cheque and figure out who to send it to.

    Okay, that's not exactly true, but convenience is an important factor
in our activities today.  Another problem occurs for people outside of the
author's country (commonly the U.S.).  Since it seems that most banks don't
accept cheques from outside the country, we Canadians and others around the
world have to get money orders, for which there is an additional charge - 
and more importantly, an inconvenience.  There have been a number of times
that I've been using a shareware program that I've really liked, and made a
mental note (sometimes even a written note!) to pay for the program.
However, with my lousy memory, I seldom hold onto that thought long enough
to make it to a bank (with the author's name and address in hand, of course).

    I personally think that if there was a convenient way to purchase
shareware programs, such as a phone number or an email address that accepted
credit card orders, more people would take the plunge.  But most shareware
authors don't do much business, and are often just hobbyists, and so don't
justify setting up the facility to accept credit card orders.  So I propose
to centrallize this collection and set up just such a service: allowing
both phone or email registration, as well as a regular mail service that
accepts Canadian or U.S. cheques and credit card orders.  And all payments
are made to a central location so you don't have to send off four cheques
to four different people for four programs that you want to register.

    I'd like to hear both users' and authors' opinions on such a service,
as it will depend upon acceptance by both.  In order to keep program prices
as listed on the products, the authors would have to be willing to accept
a slightly cut fee in exchange for (hopefully) greater numbers of payments -
thus giving greater returns overall.  Of course, that will depend upon users
acceptance of the service.  I know I myself would use it.  It would be so
much easier just to pick up the phone on my desk while I'm using the program
and register right then.  But I'd like to know whether others think it is
a worthwhile project.  Obviously, some agreement would have to be made with
particpating authors, and I was thinking about assigning a code to each
product that the users could use to identify the product they want to
register.  The authors could place the code in the documentation or in
the "About" window (or equivalent) along with the normal credits.  Also,
I could put out a list for already existing products that the authors don't
want to update immediately or for people who already have a copy but haven't
registered.  For products not registered, some small percentage would have
to be added to the "list" price given by the author so that the author could
be given his full requested payment.

    Yes, we will likely handle (or "sell", in a way) products that we
haven't got an agreement with (unless the author asks us not to, or there
is a general response to the contrary) but I hope that most authors will
be willing to take a small cut in payment for the benefit of receiving more
registrations, and thus making it simpler on the purchasers (they won't have
to factor in our percentage).  I don't intend to make much money on this,
so unlike most mail-order houses that want huge percentages, I can't see
our cut as being more than 10%.  This will depend partly upon how much
the credit card houses charge - I haven't fully researched this yet.  Maybe
we'll offer "cash" (i.e. cheque) discounts, I don't know.

    Also, we may offer services to help maintain authors' customer databases
for them, and take care of their update mailings and so on.  This will all
have to be worked out eventually, but right now I just want to know if there
is any point in going on with this project.

    I hope I've covered enough to give you a pretty good idea of what I'd
like to do, but if you have any questions, please ask - publically or
privately.  I really want to hear responses, even if it's "No way" or
"Sounds stupid".  If the group doesn't want to hear the discussion, feel
free to email me.  I will try to read every message mailed or posted.
Thank you.


Mike Hackett
Computer Science IV
London, Ontario, Canada