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1dollarcode.com - what do you think about my idea?

by Roky
13 replies
Being a developer I was always looking for a ways to get new customer leads. But not just any customers. A targeted ones. Ones who buy my products and want more. An upgrade, up-sell or my installation service.

What do you think about my 1dollarcode.com idea? Would you, as a programmer submit a module here to get high quality customers leads which you can offer your services, products up-sells?

Happy to hear suggestions and comments!
#1dollarcodecom #idea
  • Profile picture of the author SteveSRS
    I think your naming is wrong..

    customer don't go out and look to buy for '1 piece of code' they will always be looking for a finished product (small or big). Only other programmers MIGHT buy a piece of code to get work done quicker but still they won't do it much and not fast either..

    so perhaps 1dollarplugins.com or something or 1dollarsoftware.com would perhaps describe the idea better to your actual customers.
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    • Profile picture of the author Roky
      Thank you @SteveSRS.

      What about looking from programmers point of view. Would you submit a module here to get customers leads / link to your site/plugins marketplace?

      You said "MIGHT buy a piece of code to get work done quicker". Would you submit a half-made or not sales ready script and buy it here?
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      • Profile picture of the author Roky
        Looking at your post @SteveSRS ... I went creating a MVC of my idea.

        1dollarcode.com
        Like you said. This is for programmers, to re-use the code, snippets and modules. For every sale, author of code gets rewards points which can be used to buy others code/modules.

        1dollarplugins.com | Get hands on $1 products!
        This is for customers, looking for complete solutions. It has one URL licence with 1$ price tag and 10$ unlimited URL licence. Developers gets 30% on each sale.

        Any thoughts?
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Athey
    Splitting off the complete solutions for customers is a good call. With a programmer background, I do think in terms of individual modules...but there's so many good open source/GPL/etc pieces out there that it's a hard sale to get those like me paying even $1 unless I know what I'm getting is far better than what a "pip install <whatever>" and similar package managers can grab easily.

    By pricing at $1 you're effectively in app territory, and what you put out there will be judged by customers against what they grab on iTunes or Google Play. That will make for tough competition to take on with your own new brand
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    • Profile picture of the author minirich
      Splitting it up is a good idea as Alex already said.

      From a customer point of view it should be as easy and painless as possible to get, install and use this plugins.

      From a developer point of view, it should be stable, well tested, well designed (from the api perspective) and permanently supported. A freelancer will buy from you over and over if he was sattisfied and the quality was good. A corporate developer will buy from you when his investment is secure, that means if you can provide support over the time the component is used. If you are a single person, not incorporated, with out a dedicated community, then your chances are very slim even non existent to get a corporate customer (and usually thats where the real money is).

      Have a look at topcoder.com they have a slightly different angle, they deliver challenges to their developers and the best solution they will sell to customers. Or they will get requests from their customers to create a challenge for a module and then the developers create a solution and can challenge the solution of fellow developers.
      That way the customer gets the best solution for his money.

      Hope that helps
      Mike
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  • Profile picture of the author Roky
    @minirich thank you for your reply.

    then your chances are very slim even non existent to get a corporate customer (and usually thats where the real money is).
    I think you are right. After doing some research & testing, there's hardly to make any money with 1$ plugins.
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  • Profile picture of the author mralexanderca
    I would prefer dealing with CodeCanyon.net as they are a multi-million dollar company and at the end of the day this is where the real difference is. For a new startup the issue is bringing users on board which your system depends on, financing is hard to attain. So why would I publish code on your site when I know CodeCanyon would offer a much larger exposure to the code, they also want exclusivity for this reason. Your idea may work on a small scale unless you have a good team with an innovative & advanced website and good financing.

    $1 is not the focus, depending on whether you are looking at it as a short term or long term project. You may not make the most with $1 but if its attractive to the users, which is the focus, then you will eventually be able to increase. Cheap & large volume is also a method for some companies.

    I am a web developer myself.
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    • Profile picture of the author Roky
      @mralexanderca great reply!

      I agree, BUT submitting a code to CodeCanyon.net is not easy. They have REALLY high standards for 10$ plugin. I've tried with my simple plugin and they rejected it.

      Looking from developer view, some are getting some serious money in ... but some of them are not even making any sales (check out the stats on listing).

      Creating a 1$ code or better to say, 1$ plugin which solve simple problems, is a great way to get new leads (emails => customers) for developers ... where every developer can send mailing list for new offers (buyers buy more).

      The problem is, as you laid out, in creating a large list of 1$ plugins. That's harder without real money to invest. Any ideas here?
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  • Profile picture of the author mralexanderca
    @Roky, my pleasure.

    There is nothing wrong with high standards, I am actually happy with it because I know that I have to develop something good, or for the user they will have a high quality product. There is a controlling government, reference to the large amount of $ they have.

    The ones that are giving good products are cashing-in, don't blame them as there is a fairly large exposure of users. CC are essentially brokers and connect sellers and buyer.

    I encourage you to try this, once you start make sure you launch, and see for yourself the effect, make sure you have some money put aside for advertising to at least try it on a small scale or large if the opportunity arises.

    You will surely have some developers come on board, and you need to make sure you find the users.

    In it all, best of luck to you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kasparas
    Personally, I think there is a fundamental flaw with your concept. Your tagline is 'From programmer for programmers', but programmers are more likely to find pieces of code equivalent to those that you are selling as products for free, I would say. But don't let that discourage you. I would be interested in seeing your progress with your idea, so keep us posted?
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    • Profile picture of the author Lani
      Originally Posted by Kasparas View Post

      Personally, I think there is a fundamental flaw with your concept. Your tagline is 'From programmer for programmers', but programmers are more likely to find pieces of code equivalent to those that you are selling as products for free, I would say.
      As programmer, this is exactly what I think.

      Lets take example here, "Get webpage design screenshot using PHP" snippet your selling. In 10 seconds I found out that same piece of code in stackoverflow.

      So, as programmer, would you spend money on code snippet than actually google your problem and knowing that there is most likely tons of resources already available?

      If I would spend money on codes, it would have to be complex class/function or something bigger than just few lines of code.

      Thats just my opinion.
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      • Profile picture of the author Roky
        @Lani, Kasparas: I agree. I've added some examples there and went to some of my friends programmers, who responded the same as you did.

        The only person who would buy this things/codes are the ones who do google, then create a ticket on freelancer and say I've bough this code ... so you can do things faster (not knowing that the programmer could get this code for free using - again, google).

        If adding more complex code, you need support. Then, it's better to create a product, sales page or submit to other marketplace (like code canyon).

        @mralexanderca: I think the only market which could be successful is small/easy plugins for 1$. BUT, at the start nobody would want to put plugins in a marketplace where there is not enough poeple.

        When I asked programmers, put your plugin to 1$ market place, they said ... I can get more exposure on Magento, Prestashop or other marketplace with my 15$ plugin.

        Where's the market for 1$ plugins there?
        Because these markets will reject 1$ plug ins with reasons:

        In order for submissions to be considered for sale they must be of high aesthetic and technical quality, unique to our library and cannot be in violation of Envato's policies
        or

        Your submission does not have sufficient commercial utility.
        So I would need to create large base of plugins by mself/team, get large base of users (trough google organic search) ... and later use this platform for advertising of "premium" plugins, for example sending email list to 20.000 1$ buyers. Agree?
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  • Profile picture of the author minirich
    This could work out, but its a very long shot.
    Mike
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