Post by rph » Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:49 pm

I'm getting an invalid filetype error when trying to upload an updated extension (it's a zip file).

-Ryan


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Post by ThePath » Fri Nov 15, 2013 7:59 pm

I noticed this thread and thought Id add a feature Id like to see:

Additional License
The ability to add a standard license and price and lets say a Developers license and price.

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Post by gob33 » Sun Mar 30, 2014 7:38 am

With +12.000 downloads, I consider extension store now out of control.
12 of 12.000 displayed per page (0.1%)
Many extensions do the same thing with small variations (if not masked copy of original work).
Clonage has made the average price drop.

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Post by rph » Sun Mar 30, 2014 9:53 am

gob33 wrote:Clonage has made the average price drop.
In all honesty that's one of the reasons I'm not as active anymore. Displaying sales figures created an explosion in knock-offs, right down to the look and even name of mods being copied. And since many of these developers are based outside the west it's very easy for them to greatly undercut your prices and still be very profitable.

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Post by Qphoria » Tue Apr 01, 2014 5:28 am

Yes unfortunately a free market has its flaws when it gets too over bloated. You are exactly right about the non-westerners and their lower prices. But what is the solution? Curation? how do you decide which to curate? First come first serve? What if a popular dev makes a better version of a mod that already exists? Should we pay a guy to go feature-by-feature through each similar mod and determine which is better.. the cheaper one that was out 2 weeks before one that was made by a more reputable developer for $10 more? Even if the code is vastly different? Maybe we can code some code comparison tool to look for similar code lines?

It always goes back to the soda analogy....

Pepsi vs Coke... they are almost identical, premium products, but their "code" is different.
Then RC comes along with a similar look and taste but different "code"
Then there is Jolt which adds the feature of "extra caffeine"
Then Jones soda
Then Store brand
Then the international brands
it's never ending.

Pepsi and Coke do it by advertising us to death... so we recognize it by branding... but that costs a ton. Still people seem to be willing to pay.
Store brands do it by being cheaper, but they don't have as many good taste "features"
Jolt was hot out of the gate, but was a one trick pony and faltered in the long haul.
Jones does it by being trendy, but not necessarily better, just different.

So are people buying because they see it advertised more?
or because it is cheaper?
or because they recognize a name brand?
or search sorting?
or is it just a numbers game?

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Post by rph » Tue Apr 01, 2014 7:56 am

I'm not really advocating protectionism but at the same time I think it's becoming clear the store isn't working as well as it could be. It's just amazing how many times I have to contact other developers for something as basic as not using the same name as my mod. The over-saturation of mods on the market and the poor search functionality in the store certainly don't help on that front either.

I've been a big advocate of making the Extension Store metrics driven over and over again. Places like Themeforest.net give you lots of information. Years active, portfolio, "elite" status, and so on. The Extension Store could go a step beyond that if it had an integrated help desk solution. That would give you metrics on response time and the number of users having issues with a mod, even if just for internal use for the store to flag problem mods. Plus it would help get rid of the support requests all over the place (comments, forum, PM, contact form on demo sites, everywhere but where the freakin' readme file specifies).

Not that I think there's much chance of any of these improvements happening. :-\

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Post by gob33 » Tue Apr 01, 2014 6:16 pm

They are now crafty people who start from a copy of a bestseller, rename all names inside and re-arange in such a way you cannot say it is a copy, modify a little the look and presentation, add some functions borrowed elsewhere, and then issue a clone at lower price than original. If original developper do not drop its price and align, he dont sell anymore in favor of the clone. Why programmers will continue to publish extensions in the shop and do support if it is to find a clone few time later ?

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Post by Qphoria » Wed Apr 02, 2014 10:31 am

rph wrote: Places like Themeforest.net give you lots of information. Years active, portfolio, "elite" status, and so on. The Extension Store could go a step beyond that if it had an integrated help desk solution. That would give you metrics on response time and the number of users having issues with a mod, even if just for internal use for the store to flag problem mods. Plus it would help get rid of the support requests all over the place (comments, forum, PM, contact form on demo sites, everywhere but where the freakin' readme file specifies).
Big fan of this idea. I think once 2.0 is out there will be room to improve on the extension store.

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Post by Urms » Mon May 12, 2014 7:05 am

I noticed that sometimes 3* extensions with no reviews and purchases go in the list of extensions earlier than 5* extensions with a lot of votes, comments, etc. Does anyone know how they order extensions in the directory?

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Post by Johnathan » Mon May 12, 2014 10:54 pm

By default, I think it's by date modified. Are you filtering on Rating? The filters sometimes are a bit off, but they've been that way for a way, so I don't think it will get fixed any time soon. You could always try reporting it to the OpenCart team, though, using the Support > Contact Us link above.

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Post by obd2spy » Tue May 13, 2014 3:19 pm

I am new at Opencart and has developed a new commercial extension. Exists any rules for new developers? Because I wait since 2 weeks to get approved, never got a reply from the support until today.
If I read your discussion, it looks like you don't want new developers.

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Post by Johnathan » Tue May 13, 2014 9:17 pm

Rules are posted when submitting your first extension, but I think most accounts are auto-approved. I'm not sure why yours was not -- you'll need to contact the OpenCart team directly about that, as no one here would have access to tell you.

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Post by hambone » Sat Jun 14, 2014 6:13 am

Was just browsing this post, when I realised that OpenCart extensions aren't GPL. Ah, now I know :)

Btw, the extension store is indeed in a mess. Could we have something more like CodeCanyon or other Envato stores? while it's cool to have a grid view of products, it's hard to see the following
1) Author - I tend to buy plugins (coming from Wordpress) of authors I trust. And whom I've tested the coding on our site. Oh by author, I mean next the extension's picture. Not when I clicked on the extension.

2) Sales - While you show the amount of comments, people tend to look for the products with the most sales, and then the portfolio of the author of that product. So let's say I create a variable product extension, and it sells as number in my category, a customer will tend to look at the comments and then if its favourable, will most probably buy my other extensions

3) Wishlists & Add to Folder (CodeCanyon) - I might not buy an extension then, but I most probably will later, especially if it gets further developed in terms of features

4) Sorting by downloaded doesn't work. Ascending and Descending shows some of the same extensions. In my case was the "one page super checkout" and "advanced professional email template". CodeCanyon works out of the box :)

5) Changelog - It is crucial for customers to know changes that has happened in the coding, and when it took place. It is a norm with Wordpress

6) Number of items/page - Currently we can only view 12. Can't we view more, like 20, 40, 80 and 100? Just got to reduce the size of the thumbnails, and make them more square. In that sense, it'll be easier to purchase new extensions

7) Best sellers for the week/month - CodeCanyon does this well, and it helps developers sell more :)

8) Top Authors / Elite authors / Featured Product - Increases credibility of author and improves sales

Btw, on paid vs free extensions, perhaps you could separate them? Just my two cents :) Appreciate your feedback.

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Post by gob33 » Thu Jun 19, 2014 6:15 am

4) Sorting by downloaded doesn't work.
I fully agree, certainly one reason why sales are major for extensions coming at begining of the return queue, the merchants dont pass time to turn pages and review all. "Downloads" are for free extensions, "Sales" for commercials, when you want both, sort result is something hazardous you cant trust.

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Post by hambone » Mon Oct 13, 2014 6:55 pm

Any feedback @Daniel or @Qphoria? :)

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Post by Qphoria » Mon Nov 10, 2014 10:17 pm

These are good, reasonable ideas, I'll mention to Daniel and James.

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Post by madimar » Mon Nov 24, 2014 7:12 am

totally agree, extension store has not been improved since ages. Everyone could take advantage of suggested improvements: customers, developers, Opencart.
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Post by rph » Wed May 27, 2015 1:09 pm

So the commission rate is going up 5% in June. Add that to paid advertising, licensing time limits, and new versions getting rushed out just to put some third-party service in the core. I have nothing against monetization but it would be nice if there was some work to improve the lives of store owners and developers to go along with it. Instead we're stuck with all the same old problems and difficulties.

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Post by Johnathan » Wed May 27, 2015 11:19 pm

rph wrote:So the commission rate is going up 5% in June.
Source?

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Post by nosecret » Wed May 27, 2015 11:44 pm

Correct, I also get email from marketing@opencart.com with title
OpenCart Extension Store | Commission Rate Increase & New License Feature

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