Agreed to all the above. Why, when I've logged in to my account do I have to enter my credit card to download an upgrade? Why should I pay "download protection?" Protection from what?
I try to buy direct from the developer if I can, I can usually get upgrades that way - SBSH and WebIs for example. I used to use Palmgear some years ago and my account and purchases are still there and accessible without problem.
I'd like to know how much PocketGear charges. %40 per cent seems outrageous for the service they provide, which is valuable to have it all in one easily accessible place, but not that much. I would rather go to PocketGear if they charge less.
They are obviously price gouging but I don't fault them, they are charging what the market will bear, and laughing all the way to the bank, which is what their job is. And their services have some problems, and not stellar service, but not bad, but overall they are decent except for the price. If developers could band together to form a cooperative for transactions, that would be best. I'm sure they could do it for less cost than 40%. How much does a paypal transaction cost developers? Probably in single digits percentage. There is the added cost of the web site.
Also, the 40 % is hurting all of us by driving prices up. Except of course whoever owns or has shares of Handango.
I'll try looking for alternate ways of buying from now on.
As a developer who sells software on Handango, I feel like I do have some legitimate comments here. First, Handango and PocketGear provide nothing approaching enough value to justify a 40% commission. Both sites have clauses in their distribution agreements prohibiting a developer from offering a better price anywhere else (although developers routinely do). Checks are only sent when the accumulated balance reaches $100, encouraging developers to set higher prices to see money on something approaching a regular basis. Personally, I have only received 1 check per year for the last two years as a result of this. The commission rates of 40% also force developers to raise the price of their products to have any hope of seeing a real amount of money. The price of my applications has gone up $1 over the last year simply to cover the increases in the Handango commissions.
PocketGear/Motricity is no better and charges the same commission percentage (40%) as Handango. I stopped listing my applications on PocketGear because they simply did not drive enough sales in 1 year to ever cut a check. I don't really believe that Handango or PocketGear are worth anything near what they charge, but I've yet to find an acceptable alternative, so I'm left with choosing the lesser of two evils.
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There have been plenty of developers disgruntled (mild term) with PocketGear over the years as discussed on this and other forums. As a customer, I much prefer PocketGear's site design at this point in time, and redownloading there is a snap.
From what I understood from previous heated discussions, Pocketgear terms are very similar to Handango's. So before complaining too much about this, realize that if it were easy, anyone could open a storefront with "more fair" terms and not allow H and PG any business. Since this doesn't happen, I suspect in order to offer what these sites offer, for developers and customers, it is necessary to take the cut they do and use the 'scam' tactics they might employ.
"Personally, I have only received 1 check per year for the last two years as a result of this. The commission rates of 40% also force developers to raise the price of their products to have any hope of seeing a real amount of money."
Wait - you are selling an app that generates $100 a year, and are complaining about paying $40 of that to Handango? They are running a site that creates a market for your product, and requires no hosting / maintenance from you - this seems like a good way to sell a niche product like you are selling. Your sales would likely be a fraction of this AND you'd have to support your own site otherwise.
From what I understood from previous heated discussions, Pocketgear terms are very similar to Handango's. So before complaining too much about this, realize that if it were easy, anyone could open a storefront with "more fair" terms and not allow H and PG any business. Since this doesn't happen, I suspect in order to offer what these sites offer, for developers and customers, it is necessary to take the cut they do and use the 'scam' tactics they might employ.
Good point,
What does it take to sell and distribute software over the web and what is it worth to have someone else do it for you?
It would be great to see an actual cost breakdown of where all the money goes for a online software purchase. It would likely placate some and outrage others.
"Personally, I have only received 1 check per year for the last two years as a result of this. The commission rates of 40% also force developers to raise the price of their products to have any hope of seeing a real amount of money."
Wait - you are selling an app that generates $100 a year, and are complaining about paying $40 of that to Handango? They are running a site that creates a market for your product, and requires no hosting / maintenance from you - this seems like a good way to sell a niche product like you are selling. Your sales would likely be a fraction of this AND you'd have to support your own site otherwise.
This is just about the only reason I even bother. I get to go out to dinner once or twice per year from the revenue that this generates. My big complaint is that the amount required to generate a check has doubled in the last 2 years and the commission has gone from 25% to 40% in the same time. The reality is that I still make money out of the deal which is the only reason I stay with Handango. The only real value they provide is the traffic (though they don't provide any statistics as to how many of the sales came from my site so I am somewhat dubious as to how much traffic they actually generate by themselves), and the credit card processing. The reality is that I do have to support my own site (sans the credit card processing) regardless of whether Handango exists or not.
Don't get me wrong here though. The relationship is profitable for me which is the only reason I continue doing it, but they don't do nearly enough to justify the percentage that they take. When I initially started at Handango, the commission was 25% and I considered that fair for the service they provide. The have raised the commission 15% over the last 2 years, however the lack of real competition leaves a small developer, like myself, with nowhere else to go. I have seriously considered implementing PayPal processing on my own site because of Handango's commission hikes. The time and effort involved in what Handango does is nowhere close to 40% of the cost of the software, but because there are no other portals with better terms, a developer has the choice of developing their own system (not realistic for someone who's full time job is not mobile software development like myself) or paying the Handango tax.
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As a developer, I offer products on both Handango and Pocketgear. The 40% is just the start as in order to drive real business one must also advertise on their sites. Only the highest volume software can support even the a modest advertising campaign at these sites.
I believe that Microsoft helped promote Handango when they first released Windows CE devices years ago. This helped establish them as pretty much a monopoly. If you don't sell on Handango, you probably won't be found. Heck, even PPC Thoughts has no incentive to promote a product if not on Handango as their Members Discount site is linked directly to Handango's Commerce Engine.
Furthermore, Handango and Pocketgear will not provide the developers with the e-mails of those that download trial versions. I would like to provide incentives and promotions to all those that download a trial, but I never know who they are. I am sure they are afraid that we will try to sell directly. However, the commerce engine at my site is Handango's! Yet, Handango only takes 30% (not the full 40%) if a customer orders from my site so they treat me as a competitor even though all my orders go through Handango!! The bottom line is the consumer loses because they pay a premium.
There are only two solutions to this problem:
a) Competitive sites to Handango and PocketGear are created
b) The Developers organize so we might be able to pressure Handango and PocketGear.
Until some true competition is introduced, the customer will have to pay extra!
The case is worst if you are a developer living outside US, because you have yet to pay taxes over your little 60% just because your software is hosted in an US server! And there is no option for hosting your program in your own server!
In addition to that, depending on where you live, your bank may charge over $100 to process the $100 check!!! This happened to me, so I chose to receive my credits in Paypal to spent them in little e-Bay purchases. Pathetic!
All in all, I think that it's simply impossible for most of us to make a decent profit from this business. I'm on this just because I love to develop PPC apps, and this is a hobby for my spare time. For this reason, however, sometimes I simply cannot put enough time in supporting customers, and this really pisses me off.
If we could get better profit from our work, I believe there would be many more professional and fantastic apps (and happier developers) out there.
"Wait - you are selling an app that generates $100 a year, and are complaining about paying $40 of that to Handango? They are running a site that creates a market for your product, and requires no hosting / maintenance from you - this seems like a good way to sell a niche product like you are selling. Your sales would likely be a fraction of this AND you'd have to support your own site otherwise."
Well, I sell way more than $100.00 a year, but Handango does little in "creating a market for my product." The dirty little secret is that Handango and Pocketgear only allow a developer to list our products in a couple of categories and use only a few key words in their search engines. So it is very hard for Handango customers to find our products. . . unless we advertise on their sites.
So as Hillary Clinton once said, "I can't be responsible for all those small undercapitalized business in the United States!"
Handango is there to sell advertising. By crippling our ability to be found in their search engines, we are forced to pay the big bucks to advertise. If a product does not generate over $20,000.00 a year it is not cost effective to advertise on Handago. This is why you only see the same products being advertised over and over again on those sites. Handango is not about maximizing unit sales, they are all about maximizing advertising $$$$. They are very Google'ish!
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