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No Handango & PocketGear anymore!
Moderators: kornalius, bmanske, PointOfLight
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kornalius
Fri Feb 02 2007, 09:00am


Registered Member #1
Joined: Wed Apr 19 2006, 08:25pm
Posts: 2783

ArianeSoft Inc. is not doing business anymore with these two very unethical companies.

First Handango is not paying us our royalties (even though they take a good 40% in profit) because we didn't follow all their crazy exclusive rules (the list is very long). Kind of our fault in a way but anyway there are customers out there with our program that basically gave money to Handango and not the developer. We were tempted to cancel all Handango orders serial #'s so that the users get a refund from Handango and resale the product at discount to them just so that Handango doesn't keep all the money in the end.

Second PocketGear, since we are outside of the US they have to take out a TAX (that they probably invented) on our checks. So in the end they take approx. 65% of our profit. That is insane. I couldn't believe it when we got our checks, another tax was deducted from our profit because we are not in the US. We thought that 40% was already a good chunk of money for just putting a description and file in their database.

It was our first time dealing with these companies and our last. I don't understand why they are allowed to do such things and no one says anything.


Regards,
Alain Deschenes
President and programmer
ArianeSoft Inc. (http://www.arianesoft.ca)
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kornalius
Fri Feb 02 2007, 09:01am


Registered Member #1
Joined: Wed Apr 19 2006, 08:25pm
Posts: 2783
 Sorry to vent here but I had to do it, feels much better now.

It has to be said so that less people gets caught in their scams.
Regards,
Alain Deschenes
President and programmer
ArianeSoft Inc. (http://www.arianesoft.ca)
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Paul Fielder
Fri Feb 02 2007, 10:05am

Registered Member #25
Joined: Wed Sep 06 2006, 10:37pm
Posts: 89
 I purchased directly from your site, and had a pain free experience, I would recommend this option to anybody that is considering purchasing a licences.

A further point to note is, this software is fantastic value for money, when you factor in the first-rate technical support and assistance that others and I have received while starting out.
Regards
Paul
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Paul Fielder
Fri Feb 02 2007, 10:07am

Registered Member #25
Joined: Wed Sep 06 2006, 10:37pm
Posts: 89
 Just a note, could you just list the light version with above said componies, maybe with a pop-up when run as where to purchase the full product, thus getting the exposure, but not having to pay the fees!
Regards
Paul
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quangdx
Fri Feb 02 2007, 12:55pm

Registered Member #87
Joined: Mon Oct 02 2006, 07:34pm
Posts: 157
 whenever I can I try to go directly to the author's website to purchase their software.
firstly so they get all their money for their hard work.
secondly to make sure I have the latest version.

I got PPL direct from arianesoft.ca and have to say it's worth every penny.

I was thinking about putting my games up for sale on sites like handango and pocketgear, so I can get the exposure. but the more I read about them the more reluctant I am to do so.
the science of play
www.asobitech.com
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PointOfLight
Fri Feb 02 2007, 03:20pm

Registered Member #49
Joined: Sun Sep 17 2006, 03:02pm
Posts: 1129
 I seem to hear more and more horror stories about Handango as time passes. I think that, not unlike many computer manufacturers, they've gotten too big for their britches, as it were. It would be nice if a bunch of people would pull out of their service any maybe knock them down a few pegs, but I doubt that will happen. I've always felt that it should be the obligation of resellers to treat the developers right, since it's the developers that are supposed to be making them money.

As for PocketGear, I haven't heard too much about them being a problem. Can't say that I really think about going to their site to purchase things very often, though. I agree with the sentiment that I try to buy directly from the developer if at all possible.
Eric Pankoke
Founder
Point Of Light Software
http://www.polsoftware.com/
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matteo.m
Fri Feb 02 2007, 04:54pm

Registered Member #8
Joined: Fri Jun 16 2006, 05:40am
Posts: 367
 That's s...k , company that make profits in this way... and probably even a lawyer will find hard to sue. Hear those things make me angry
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kornalius
Fri Feb 02 2007, 10:56pm


Registered Member #1
Joined: Wed Apr 19 2006, 08:25pm
Posts: 2783
 Thank you for the support guys. I just wanted to pass the word on the unethical business they use so that people tempted to deal with them think about it twice. For me it pays off in the end to promote my softwares through my web site. It is more work but at least I don't feel cheated.
Regards,
Alain Deschenes
President and programmer
ArianeSoft Inc. (http://www.arianesoft.ca)
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Donone
Mon Feb 05 2007, 04:44am
Registered Member #231
Joined: Fri Jan 12 2007, 10:17am
Posts: 626
 I purchased direct from 'our' (Arianesoft) site with no problem. I don't see how you need anybody else to sell it. The internet is easy enough to operate and locate things.
I have noticed that these two companies 'stock' items and presumably get 100% profit, when authors appear to be totally unobtainable and have moved on.
I think you should sell from Arianesoft only and get 100%. The internet doesn't work like local shops needed in each town in order to sell. The internet is like one big shop, it is as easy to get from you as anywhere.
You only stop learning when you die.
Sometimes I think I am dead
http://www.don-simmonds.co.uk
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tigme
Mon Feb 05 2007, 08:08am

Registered Member #256
Joined: Wed Jan 31 2007, 05:33am
Posts: 28
 A note on selling software online:

I've always used www.regsoft.com they are very nice take a small cut even burn a CD if requested by the client and have always sent my checks in due time. No funny taxes where deducted/added because I'm outside the US. I've been dealing with them for over 5 years now. I can highly recommend their services. Unfortunately you still have to market your own software.

Alain now would be good time to start a PPL only store where developers using PPL could market their PPL programs. That way you can also take control of the hackers and crackers stealing / reproducing software. You can distribute the store contents as XML and external parties can build website based on the content on the shop.

I've created such a referral site/page over the weekend. Unfortunately the hosts don't have any DB export or XML files available I had to scrutinize an HTML file for data. To see an example of this look at: http://tigme.net/home/index.php?dirname=html_docs/080003d_content_shop

AMAZON.COM built itself into giant using this scheme. Alain if you provide the shop your community can partially do the referrals for you on the above named idea. I'm sure a lot of your followers will just do it for the kick of seeing PPL growing into a mean application used by everyone.

Before I start day-dreaming to much....


_________________________
Rudolph Thomas
TIGME.NET
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kornalius
Mon Feb 05 2007, 02:13pm


Registered Member #1
Joined: Wed Apr 19 2006, 08:25pm
Posts: 2783
 I like the idea. Something to think about for sure.
Regards,
Alain Deschenes
President and programmer
ArianeSoft Inc. (http://www.arianesoft.ca)
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PointOfLight
Fri Feb 09 2007, 08:57am

Registered Member #49
Joined: Sun Sep 17 2006, 03:02pm
Posts: 1129
 I'd like to throw another one into the mix here. Anyone have any experience with PDATopSoft? I recently had a developer ask me if I knew anything about them, because apparently they owe him $400+ dollars and won't answer any of his emails. Since I've never sold anything PDA-wise yet, I didn't really have an answer for him. Any thoughts I could pass along would be helpful.
Eric Pankoke
Founder
Point Of Light Software
http://www.polsoftware.com/
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Game Spyder
Fri Jul 06 2007, 03:48am
Registered Member #529
Joined: Fri Jul 06 2007, 03:37am
Posts: 1
 Hey there,

I know this thread is a little old but having read it thought would quickly say about my experiances with another company - clickgamer! In my experiance and the experiance of my friends, they beat handango every time. Not only is the support for developers a lot better, but also for customers. I used to use handango but am not going back now having found clickgamer - also check out clickapps, same idea but for applications - absolutly amazing!

GS
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PointOfLight
Fri Jul 06 2007, 02:51pm

Registered Member #49
Joined: Sun Sep 17 2006, 03:02pm
Posts: 1129
 PPL itself is actually listed at both ClickGamer and ClickApps.  I suggested to Alain to list it at ClickGamer because it might attract the attention of more game developers that way.  I've been working with ClickGamer for quite some time in terms of writing reviews, and it seems to be a very nice site.
Eric Pankoke
Founder
Point Of Light Software
http://www.polsoftware.com/
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kornalius
Sat Jul 07 2007, 08:10pm


Registered Member #1
Joined: Wed Apr 19 2006, 08:25pm
Posts: 2783
 ClickGamer and ClickApps are simply amazing so far. Thanks for suggesting them. In fast, PPL is listed on both like Eric said.
Regards,
Alain Deschenes
President and programmer
ArianeSoft Inc. (http://www.arianesoft.ca)
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