How do you guys choose registration service providers?

[Masafumi]

Would anybody give me some suggestions?

I have recently became interested in the shareware game market and have done a research for a month. The most difficult thing I found is how developers choose registration providers such as regnow. For example, I found that there are some providers which charge cheaper transaction fee than regnow, but a large number of developers use regnow instead of, say, esellerate. Why do they choose regnow?

I read somewhere that affiliate programs provided by such companies as esellerate do not efficiently allow affiliates to earn money because affiliates need custom builds, while regnow can track where sales come from by using cookie. Something like that. Does this fact relate to the reason why many developers use regnow?

I am sorry to ask this kind of basic questions. But, there is not much information I can find on the website of registration providers, especially regnow's. I appreciate it if you guys would help me out.

Thanks a lot

[Jack Norton]

Why do they choose regnow?

Hmm I would like to know that also... just a word, look here: www.plimus.com
You won't regret that.

[henning]

I use Plimus too and am quite happy.

[Valen]

This is a Frequently Asked Question. One of the entires in that FAQ covers that, and you can also find out more about payment processing services here. I personally use BMT Micro, which I'm happy with, and the support provided by them is great.

Plimus has a relatively low service fee, but from what I understand you have to use their proprietory system?

[Jack Norton]

Plimus has a relatively low service fee, but from what I understand you have to use their proprietory system?

no, you don't have to.
Infact I'm not using it

[Coyote]

I think right now they are actually recommending that you DON'T use their proprietary system, if you ask.

I'm going through Plimus, too.

I think a lot of the decision-making is legacy. Once you've gone with a provider, it's a lot easier to stick with the one than to change everything over... your current provider either needs to really screw up or someone else offer a *significantly* better deal to make it worth your while.

If you aren't selling a ton of licenses, switching providers for only a few extra dollars a month may not make sense.

[Valen]

If you aren't selling a ton of licenses, switching providers for only a few extra dollars a month may not make sense.

This is true, and you can also negotiate a lower fee if you are selling a large volume. But yeah, it really doesn't make sense to switch if you'll be saving $1 per sale and you only have 30-60 sales a month. When you get into the hundreds, then it's time to negotiate.

[Jack Norton]

Well I may seem greedy but if something make me save, and has also other advantages, it's worth transferring my products (as long as I don't have 50 games!).
A game for 24.95$ with 10% (plimus, esellerate) commission = 2.49$ taken from vendor
the same game with 20% (regnow) commission= 4.99$ taken from vendor
even at 16% commission (new regnow special rate) the sum is 3.75$ (1.25$ more).

Let's say you sell 50 copies / month at 24.95... you may save from 62$ to 125$ month personally I wouldn't throw it into trash, with the save you can buy a dedicated server...

[Mark Fassett]

This is true, and you can also negotiate a lower fee if you are selling a large volume. But yeah, it really doesn't make sense to switch if you'll be saving $1 per sale and you only have 30-60 sales a month. When you get into the hundreds, then it's time to negotiate.

A savings of $30-$60 a month is a significant enough savings to make it worth it in my book. It means being able to buy a book or a game, or ads, or other stuff. The only way it wouldn't make sense is if you would get more sales with one provider than another (like if you get 20 more sales a month from regnow than you would with plimus). Gotta test.

[Valen]

A savings of $30-$60 a month is a significant enough savings to make it worth it in my book.

In my opinion $60 out of $1200 is not a lot. Of course, you want to keep costs as low as possible, but I wouldn't jump around for a few extra dollars. By the way Jack, I just tried to access your order form and got an internal server error.

[edit] Ok looks like it's working now.

[Greg Squire]

A savings of $30-$60 a month is a significant enough savings to make it worth it in my book. It means being able to buy a book or a game, or ads, or other stuff. The only way it wouldn't make sense is if you would get more sales with one provider than another (like if you get 20 more sales a month from regnow than you would with plimus). Gotta test.

I think Mark hit on something that maybe some of us aren’t considering when looking at a registration service, and that is “Affiliates”. A number of them have affiliate programs, and I don’t have a good idea how good or bad these programs are amongst these different registration companies. The percentage that they take is only one consideration. If another service can produce more sales because of the affiliates, then you might make more money with them, even though you are getting a little less on each registration.

Does anyone have some opinions on how good or bad these affiliate programs are for some of these registration companies? When evaluating affiliate programs some stats come to mind, such as # of affiliates and the % that the developer pays to affiliates. A little less tangible is how big or good are each of these affiliates; are they actively promoting these games (hopefully your game), and are they well known and popular.

[MattInglot]

In my opinion $60 out of $1200 is not a lot. Of course, you want to keep costs as low as possible, but I wouldn't jump around for a few extra dollars.

Little wastes of money here and there add up terribly. Jack and Mark are right, it certainly is worth saving that money. How many more sales could you gain by using that money for advertising instead? Or how about a dedicated server like Jack said? Even just "pizza money" for a week or a few nights at the pub.

Imagine that instead of wasting $60 unnecessarily that you were walking down the street and lost $60? How would you feel then? Or if your city imposed some sort of $60/month tax?

[Mark Fassett]

In my opinion $60 out of $1200 is not a lot. Of course, you want to keep costs as low as possible, but I wouldn't jump around for a few extra dollars.

You're right - $60 out of $1200 is not alot - only 1/2 a percent. But over the course of a year, that's $720, and that's a significant amount of money to me. That's a new test computer. It's my server paid for. It's any number of things - including beer and pizza. The people that end up with money at the end of the day are the people that know where it goes. If it was $5, I probably wouldn't switch, but a dollar a copy is more than enough reason to switch.

[winnick]

http://www.regshare.com/
An overview of Shareware Registration Services

[Mark Sheeky]

Hmm. Out of interest, how many people DO change registration services? I haven't. I'm thinking that it's like bank accounts. You can see that others are better but most people stick with the one they started with...

Mark
Cornutopia Games
http://www.cornutopia.net

[Andy]

how many people DO change registration services? I haven't. http://www.cornutopia.net

The same is here. Even if we agree with all profits of the movement we still scared to change good working thing.

[Coyote]

There's more to the equation than JUST the percentage, too, let's not forget that.

Though it sounds to me like Plimus is currently hard to beat.

[Valen]

There definitely is more to it than just the percentage. Looks like Plimus only accepts credit card and check orders, while BMT also accepts Switch/Solo, Deutsche Bank, and PayPal. I've had orders with Switch/Solo and PayPal. Sometimes it comes down to convenience for you and your customers. I personally would rather not have to deal with PayPal myself, I can spend my time doing more productive things.

By the way, for those who are concerned about affiliates, there's no law that says you can't use multiple payment processors. I use BMT as my primary one, and RegNow for affiliates. I simply make custom builds that contain a URL to the RegNow order form with the affiliate's ID embedded in the link.

[SonSon]

I thought Plimus accepted payments through PayPal. I think I read it on this forum.
Maybe I'll use two Payment Processors then.

[Bluecat]

Something I've been wondering for a while: Why don't you guys have your own merchant accounts?

Surely that way you don't have to pay any percentage to a third party provider. I can see the downside as having to process your own returns and fraudulent payments, but from the sounds of things on this forum, there aren't too many of those.

Just wondering.

cheers

John

[Sillysoft]

I use eSellerate, which I am happy with. It was very easy to set up, which was what I wanted at the time. I have considered switching, and concluded that it would really only make sense if I switched to use a merchant account. It would take some extra work, but the fees are much lower then any of the payment processors. I think the reason most people here do not currently use merchant accounts is precisely because they require more time and effort to set up and maintain.

For someone starting out I would recommend to use one of the payment companies, since you will have enough stuff to deal with already.

[SonSon]

Something I've been wondering for a while: Why don't you guys have your own merchant accounts?

Because it's not advised by Steve Pavlina and DavidRM unless you generate enough sales.