Licensing Catch 22

  • The one thing I absolutely hate about this plugin, is not how it works, but it’s licensing. I bought 3-4 parts of this plugin thinking that it would conform to the normal licensing schema of being able to move a license to another domain, with the ability to de-register it or change a domains name. This is not the case and it seems rather like a scam to me. One license should cover the plugin for any domain, because this current licensing schema is a joke. 1 site license should be for any site. Not an absolutely locked in domain name. The developer need not reply with his excuses. Because that is all they will be. Change your licensing scheme or stay silent.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Plugin Author JS Morisset

    (@jsmoriss)

    Premium licenses offer lifetime updates and support for the registered site – they do not expire yearly, as licenses from most other Pro / Premium plugins often do. Almost all of our customers appreciate the lower cost of lifetime licenses vs yearly license subscription fees – you are perhaps an exception to that. ??

    Premium license information is detailed before, during, and after purchase – lifetime licenses provide unlimited lifetime updates and support for the lifetime of the registered site and are nontransferable (licenses cannot be re-sold or used on a different WordPress Site Address). Licenses are registered to the Site Address they are used on – no manual registration / unregistration features are required.

    I would propose you compare the cost of lifetime nontransferable licenses to other yearly subscription models – the difference is quite obvious after just one or two years. ??

    js.

    Moderator Jan Dembowski

    (@jdembowski)

    Forum Moderator and Brute Squad

    @jsmoriss There is nothing in this review that needs a moderator’s attention.

    Plugin Author JS Morisset

    (@jsmoriss)

    @jdembowski Thanks for checking – I wasn’t sure since I know that support of Pro / Premium features in the forums is not allowed, so I didn’t know if Pro / Premium reviews were ok. This review isn’t actually about the plugin itself – Free or not – it’s about the Premium license terms, which made we wonder even more about its place in a Free plugin review forum… The Premium license review above would indicate that customers maybe are not aware of the support costs included in license terms (ie. yearly fees allowing for license transfers with their associated support costs). I’ll post a follow-up to explain that a bit more.

    Thanks,

    js.

    Plugin Author JS Morisset

    (@jsmoriss)

    @mplsmade The moderator gave us an OK to talk about Premium plugins and their licensing terms, so let me explain the difference between nontransferable lifetime Premium licenses vs transferable subscription-based Premium licenses, along with their associated costs for both plugin authors and their customers.

    I’m sure most readers know that Premium license prices are mostly based on support costs for the author – the more support a plugin requires, generally the more expensive the Premium license.

    When a Premium license is installed on a new site, or transferred to a new site, there is a probability that some support will be required. Yearly (for example) Premium license fees include the cost of supporting a new installation in the first purchase, and include the cost of supporting new / different sites (ie. when transferring a Premium license) in their recurring yearly fees.

    I understand that a lot of Premium plugins are now simply charging a yearly fee, so perhaps there is an expectation from customers that all Premium plugin licenses works this way. ??

    WPSSO uses a different Premium license model which is less expensive for the customer. The cost of our Premium license includes support for the initial site, and includes lifetime support and updates for that site. This is possible because support is generally only needed for the first few days / weeks. Our Premium licenses do not include the cost of supporting new / different sites with the same license (ie. when transferring the Premium license). If we were to factor-in 2 or 3 license transfers, for example, then the up-front cost would have to be 2 or 3 times more! Factoring-in license transfers is only possible when charging a yearly fee, so these costs can be spread-out over several years.

    The upside to our Premium licenses is that you can purchase the license once (and only once), and so long as your site is up and running, that single purchase is the only cost. In the case of yearly Premium licenses, well, the cost is kind of obvious – you pay Premium licensing fees every year.

    If you shutdown your site and create a new site every year, for example, then the cost of nontransferable Premium licenses like ours, and yearly Premium licenses, would be the same — but most customers keep their sites for more than one year. ??

    Hopefully this explains the difference between nontransferable lifetime Premium licenses vs transferable subscription-based Premium licenses, and why nontransferable lifetime Premium licenses are nontransferable. ??

    BTW, some people might consider yearly Premium licensing fees to be a “catch 22” — especially if you keep your site for several years — those license fees tend to add up. ??

    js.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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