eSellerate.net experiences?

[Indiepath]

I'd like to ask from those who are using (or have used) eSellerate ( www.esellerate.net ) as their eCommerce service providers.

Could you tell me what kind of experiences have you had with them?
Any bad?
Any good?
Anything else?

And no - I'm not looking for "use plimus" nor "instead". I want to hear from people who are partnering with eSellerate and have signed their contracts.

Thanks.

[Chaster]

We're using esellerate for our latest game, and so far, no problems. Setting up the SKU/product etc is kind of confusing but once you get it set up, it's okay...

Of course, we haven't started the major marketing push for our game yet, so it's not in wide distribution (except through online portals - who all do their own payment processing of course) so I don't know what they are like once we start getting a lot of orders (fingers crossed)... The in-app purchase SDK works well...

Chaster

[FlySim]

We have used eSellerate for the last 9 months - so far so good.
They fixed a duplicate order problem we had with the integrated resellerer. Always respond to emails quickly. I really like the online order database. The only downside is the 10% to 15% jump is a bit abrupt.

-J.R.

[Red Marble Games]

Another satsified user -- I've been with them for a couple of years now and they're terrific. Great customer support, attentive to feature requests, great service. Some say that their developer interface is convoluted, and it is, a little, but I have to say that the service everyone presses on these boards, Plimus, is far more confusing and difficult, at least to my tired brain.

[patrox]

Esellerate is fine until you reach the 15% commission rate and if you don't use affiliates. ( their affiliate tracking is really not very efficient )

NASA interface, but you'll get used to it eventually, it has lots of options, menus, buttons.
Keygeneration is kind of problematic because people don't see the code in their receipt ( you couldn't customise the email by the time I tried it, that might have changed ).
Fraud detection is very poor, they let a *LOT* of fraudulent orders go through, so you end up with a nice amount of chargebacks...

pat.

[Red Marble Games]

I can't disagree with Patrice about the 15% issue or the affiliate thing; these are definitely down sides to eSellerate, though I think the whole business of affiliates is grossly overrated. Fraudulent order problems I really have not experienced at all. Not sure what is meant by keygen problems; the serial number gets sent in every order email, so I haven't had this sort of problem either.

Not to turn this into a flame war. Plimus is a good service too with a few advantages over eSellerate. I can't use them because I'm a Mac guy, and their in-game purchase solution is Windows only.

My advice, sign up for both (it's free) and see which you like better.

[Chaster]

Last time I communicated with Plimus, their in-app purchase solution was undergoing complete rewrite - so it wasn't even AVAILABLE... (of course, that was about 2 months ago - it might be available now..)

If you want in-game purchase, eSellerate is the best option I've found so far..

Chaster

[Jack Norton]

Fraudolent order: a lot even here.
The situation in the last few months seems to have improved a bit, still... isn't very safe
Apart for that and the interface that's a bit weird is ok...

(see? I didn't talked about Plimus this time!!! )

[Sillysoft]

I use eSellerate and they have been very good. I have had almost zero fraud/chargeback orders. It was very easy to get everything set up, and they respond quickly to questions.

Only complaints is that they push their EST download feature. You must use it to use some advanced features (affiliates, CD orders). Then they put an extra charge option for it on your order page. I like to serve my own downloads, so I don't do the EST thing.

Also the 15% jump is not so nice when (if) you hit it, as others have said.

[Indiepath]

Again - I don't want to hear whether some other (plimus/whatever) is better. I don't also want to hear "try both" nor other suggestions. I want to hear eSellerate experiences. I'm not blaming anyone, but would hope to keep this in the "own experience", thank you.

Fraud detection is very poor, they let a *LOT* of fraudulent orders go through, so you end up with a nice amount of chargebacks...

How many chargebacks you had? In what period of time?

--------------------

And again: Please, don't get into fight which is better, just merely say your experiences and state how long have you been using their service.

Thanks for all for your responses.

[Jack Norton]

Before the last 2 months (but there could be some fraudolent order in those sales that didn't showed up yet) I had about 3 chargeback every 9 sales, so 30%.

... a bit too high ! maybe now things have changed (I hope for them!!). Or maybe all people buying my games are dishonest hehe

[patrox]

Two other things i disliked about esellerate. The 20 MB upload is ridiculous. ( basically you can only have a "CD on demand" containing 20 mb of data )

The VAT handling is non european friendly. ( It's added instead of deduced , which is illegal for end consumers in europe ).

Note that globally it's not a bad service, i was pleased using them until i discovered the one which can't be named
it's just good versus better.

pat.

[Jack Norton]

The 20 MB upload is ridiculous

That can be extended asking them with an email. Still I don't understand why you have to ask them each time...
The VAT thing is bad too also for european sales.
I have same products on sale with both Plimus and eSellerate, and I had occasionally some people complaining about that ...

[tentons]

Have any of the negative issues mentioned here changed, in your experience? Now they have the in-game purchase completely finished, etc.

Any new comments as to what might have changed for the better?

[ChilledOut]

In general I've had a very good experience will eSellerate. The people I've dealt with there have been very friendly and helpful. The only problems I've had:

1) Most affiliates don't want to use eSellerate. Also affiliates have to download a new build everytime you put out a new version.

2) I had some issues with the in game purchase option hanging occassionally. I could never really pinpoint what would cause it but I ended up getting rid of it in the longrun.

[Bachus]

Never used them, but I hear their customer service is pretty good. They'll respond to e-mails fast, etc.

I don't know about the Windows SDK, but the Mac one was recently hacked. Every Mac app that used the integrated seller would automatically work without restrictions. They were working on a fix, but I never heard if they ever released one or not.

[Frozen In Ice]

They used to be my primary, however after the last situation, they are now the secondary processor (almost third really). I found their fraud measures just not up to my expectations. I returned to BMT Micro whom I found was quite good in that department. I also found eSellerates bandwidth usage a bit confusing. I'm not if they are charging me for delivery or what. I like BMT's developer interface. Straightforward, simple and quick. Plus , anytime I have contacted them, they've been great. I contacted eSellerate to advise them of a fraud order, which they hadn't caught yet and I felt as if they really didn't appreciate the phone call (which was long distance for me, prime time during the day).

Just my experience and opinion, for what it's worth.

[Indiepath]

Well, we have used them now over half a year and I really like to have personal contact from the esellerate.net. One of their employees always respons on our issues.

The ordering system is good and I like the possibility to fully customize your ordering page.

Also they can generate Armadillo (Software Passport) keys directly - and our games will start using that (one already uses). That's a big plus.

So far been very happy with them. No big problems.

Oh - just one thing: make sure you don't accidently click "phone orders" for your store, because esellerate charges for those! We had small mess with this... but it was handled properly by them.