Im thinking about providing an oscommerce installation service. What i will do is: 1. Install it. 2. Install the contributions like.. new template, seo-url, all-prods, new language, new-payment module and others small details like changing the color, the border length and others. 3. Design the logo, header, index page. 4. Put the product and the product details. 5. Web hosting and domain name registration for 1 year. 6. Teach customer how to use the admin page. 7. 1 month of support service. For USD130.... Do you think its cheap or a rip off? Thanks for any comment.
This is not an advertisement... I just want to know if the price is reasonable or not. Opinion needed.
Depends on who your market is. If the market is UK/ USA then the price is exceptionally cheap (too cheap - you will get many thinking that it is low quality because of it). It should be marketed simply as an e-commerce site rather than off the shelf script installation service
Thanks for the fast reply. But somehow or another i have to tell my customer that i've been using a free script, should i?
It is extremely cheap. You may want to rethink your fee. You do not have to tell your customer you are using a free script as long as you don't tell them you are designing the script. Or, what is the harm in saying it is the OSCommerce script? The services you are providing are well worth the money. Jim
As I see your target market is Not very tech savvy peoples. So this price is not advisable. If you can provide good support to US/UK peoples then price should be $500 to $700. Make sure that you must give Toll free number for this Price Tag.
Wow! thanks Jim Guinn, now im getting excited. I tought that, by using the free script, i should not be charging too much. Thanks WM7. Yes my target market is not tech savvy people. Not everybody have the knowledge, let alone the time to learn to do this. So im helping them to setup everything. What do you mean by "As I see your target market is Not very tech savvy peoples. So this price is not advisable"? Not advisable? is it too expensive?
USD130 is very cheap it will create a negative impact on your customers. So I suggested the price range in between $500-$700 per e-commerce site setup.
Owh i see... Haha. Thanks. yes you're right. USD130 is very cheap for people from US and UK. Im targeting customers from Malaysia. Comparing my country's annual earning per capita with the one people from US and UK earn, its quite reasonable i guess. Thanks for the info!
Even $500-$700 is still cheap but people will find it acceptable level given it is off the shelf based - the weak dollar is making it seem cheaper to the UK. A basic ecommerce store here would normally be £500-£1000 if not from the likes of Guru/ eLancers etc but you would find it very hard to break into the market.
I would tell them. Several people may want that because oscommerce is so popular that they know if they run into any problems down the line and you aren't available... there are hundreds of oscommerce coders that would be more than willing to assist. At the same time though, you have to stress that you are giving them something unique to fit the needs of their website. In other words, you are turning a brick (a solid foundation) into a gem for them.
Another option you can look into is CubeCart. It is much more stable than OSCommerce, easier to program and you can eliminate their copyright and put your own for a 1-time $89 fee. That fee could easily be included in your fees to the customer. Jim
The way you should probably think about it is, rather than imagine you're charging the client for the product (which you're not - they can as easily download it as you can), you're charging the client for your services, which are much, much more valuable. If there's one thing I've learned from being a self-employed business type is that you should never underestimate yourself. If you start thinking in terms of charging clients what you think they want to pay, you'll both be affected, as you may well get frustrated at recieving such a low amount, and the client may well get frustrated as they eventually realise they're not paying enough to guarantee excellent service (and by this, I'm not saying that developers should be greedy, or anything like that. What I've found is that, by setting rates too low, you stretch yourself too thin, and have to take on too many jobs to cover yourself - this impacts negatively on the client's experience, and leaves you feeling underappreciated)
The free bit is no different to many other companies. We did use Visual Web Developer Express for the first few months of trading which is free. In theory by your rational our clients could have likewise downloaded the software free and made their own .Net web applications. Ok, the skill and time elements are higher but then that is why we charge $4000+ for an ecommerce site rather than your $500