What would you expect from BV if you were paying for each update?

How frequently would you like to see updates if you were paying an annual maintenance fee? Once a year? Every 6 months? Every quarter?

I wouldn't put a timetable on any of the updates. That's only looking for more trouble. I suggest releasing an update when you have enough patches and new features to put in it. In other words when you have enough value added to charge for it. I also think a small charge for the update would be reasonable.

However the whole idea could open up a can of worms. What happens if I don't want SP2 or SP3 but do want SP4? Do you fix the broken stuff for free but charge for the new features? <shrug>

How about doing something like the mmorpg's do. Say $25 for each SP, but if you want to purchase SP4 in the example above you get SP4 plus all previous SP's for $50? Then at the same time offer the individual patches for free on the forums like you have been. That way people can select the fixes they need right now or wait until they are bundled in the next SP.

Bob Noble

I justed the announcement that service pack 5.5 will be available on Thursday. This will be the last free service pack for BV Commerce 5. Customers who purchased recently will receive service packs free for 30 days after purchase.

I will be announcing more details about the annual maintenance plan on Thursday.

I can say that service packs will build on each other and if you decide that you want to install just a portion of a service pack to fix a specific bug you are responsible for the customization of your store. If you decided that you don't want the full service pack there is no guarantee that any future service pack will install or work correctly.

In the long run, the best bet is to provide feedback to me so that I can make the application more extensible in places where it might not be now. If you built a credit card plugin for BV Commerce 5.0 it should still work in 5.5 (maybe with minor tweaks). I'd like to improve the plugin model going forward so that there is less reason to customize the internal code.

I just have to chime in and play the role. Shoot me for doing it...LOL..

Hopefully I'm not the only one. I dabble a little bit in the investment market and have literally no leg to stand on. But the keyword is dabble. I toss $100 here and pray for a 6% return. I buy a CD or two and get peanuts in 12 months. I'm not doing this for my retirement, I know enough to let the pro's handle it. And the Pro's get the real money. My dabbling provides something to talk about with my brother.

My client pays me $100 and makes $1,000. My client pays me $500 and makes $10,000. I'm not touting that I'm awesome, I can pull a few out of this forum, in this thread for that matter, that put me to absolute shame.

Pay BV dabble money and and that's what you're going to get. I know how much my client's are "investing" and I know how much they're getting in return.

To say that BV has gotten the correct amount of money out of myself and my client's is a bold faced lie.

This isn't dabbling in ecommerce. Thousands of transactions, thousands of dollars, thousands of visitors, thousands of listings, all thanks to BV providing the correct toolset for me to work with. At a mere $499. Are you serious?!?!?!?! At least the price is back up to a somewhat operable number.

Show me a $500 investment that returns $10,000 in 12 months and I'll cut you a check. Unless of course your name is charles ponzi or some derivative of madoff...

Again, I'm just playing the opposite role. I don't want to pay anybody more than I feel is necessary, but if BV isn't getting at least $150-$250 a quarter, we're staring at a BV6 release date of 2011 on outdated technology and we'll constantly be playing catch up to our competition.

Our proper investment in BV buys the necessary workforce to build us better solutions, faster, as close to bug free as possible and has it properly supported regardless of version.






Intuit wants to charge me $29 or something a month for support. They can get away with that number because they probably have 70% of the market using their product. Did I need their help this month? This year? No. So I'm not paying it.

I need BV's help on a hourly basis and I get it for Free. Rather than helping us count our money, BV is helping us make it. I'd rather feed that BV beast.

The answer is YES..LOL.. in terms of speed, accessibility, Usability, scalability and how this affects engine results, a huge YES! Remember when Target got sued for their lack of accessibility?


Price the GPS at MSRP +50 and good luck...LOL.. I'm in your niche a little bit with a client and I've drawn the same conclusion, the entire craftsmen market is really weird in terms of web design presentation, but I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Print is by far more used than the web (better suited for different thread, interested in your thoughts though!). I watch my pops in his workshop and I don't see a computer monitor anywhere. I see grid paper with chicken scratch that only he can decipher.



A good nonstick pan makes a better omelette regardless if the egg is store bought, market bought or that fake liquid stuff we get at hotels.... doesn't stick, doesn't burn in certain areas, easy to flip, easy to slide off onto the plate and start up a new one. Now a copper pan, while used by most professionals, can eventually introduce metallic poisons into the omelette... wait... totally off subject...LOL



You're right man. Just playing around :)



I've been here for quite some time, I struggle daily for my clients. I care deeply about their success, my success and BV's success. I don't want BV to undersell the support. It's so heavy a burden and while the maintenance fee concept is brand new to the community, there needs to be an understanding that this fee still isn't covering it.



Does marcus use the maintenance fee as a loss-leader product or does it get priced correctly that all is covered and we see a drastic turnaround because the proper staff (at $75-$80K @ 4 people) is in place to support AND develop?

Proper working capital will allow for proper staff to provide all of the things we all so desperately need. Marcus is walking a thin line. I don't see a gray area, it's going to win or lose customers.

I personally do not charge my customers for errors I make. New features and improvements are a different story than bug fixes. But I understand the need to be profitable also.