We have been busy these past three months and the results are in. We have moved from PayPal to FastSpring which gets us: international tax handling, self-serve PO handling, more payment options, better subscription support, a client account portal and access to the Impact affiliate network. We have also moved to email based licensing for all license types except trial licenses.
Survey Update
Last time we sent out a survey but the response was not so great so we are trying again. The interim results are mixed but so far the results say that:
- Most respondents use dbFront daily,
- Use an even mix of External and Internal reporting.
- 40% use Single-Sign-On,
- A strong majority use SQL Server,
- There is little interest in a direct subscription version of dbFront,
- And the most appreciated aspect of dbFront is the customer service :)
If you have not filled in the survey please let us know what you think. It is important for the direction of dbFront. There will be a draw from all respondents for a PRO license or an extension to the support of any existing license.
Click to Start Customer Survey
From Paypal to FastSpring
After examining numerous options we decided to migrate from PayPal and move to FastSpring.
As you can see from the list below there are numerous gains for all:
- International Tax Handling: One important item was that as our international sales increased, the ability to correctly handle the VAT and other international taxes became more important. We have no desire to become international taxation experts and we have no desire to handle all of that extra accounting and government submissions.
- Self-Serve POs: You can now create quotes and invoices directly from the purchase page! Faster service for you and less admin work for us. This has also allowed us to get rid of the PO handling fee. The updated PO instructions are found here: www.dbfront.com/purchaseorder
- Payment Options: FastSpring supports far more payment options then PayPal.
- Client Portal: FastSpring automatically provides a client portal so that you can review previous purchases and manage existing dbFront licences.
- Subscription Support: We have not been great at reminding clients when their support subscription needed renewing. FastSpring automatically takes care of this.
- Affiliate Network: You can earn 20% commission on the sale of any dbFront license!
The main thread in all of these improvements is better client service and a reduced administrative burden. The main result is that we can dedicate more focused time to improving and increasing the dbFront value.
Email Base Licensing
As part of the move to FastSpring we are also moving away from Server Based Licensing to Email Based Licensing. Any existing user that renews their Support and Maintenance will automatically receive the new Email based license. This means that it is now much easier to migrate your license to a new server.
IMPORTANT: Please don't renew your license before your existing Support & Maintenance has expired. The new FastSpring store is not aware of your previous license and can't extend your existing Support & Maintenance subscription.
To purchase a new license or extend your existing support please visit www.dbFront.com/purchase
Affiliate Program
With the move to FastSpring we are retiring our existing referral program and moving to the same affiliate program used by Shopify and many other brands.
earn 20% of each license sale
We want to give our clients the opportunity to benefit by sharing their knowledge and experience.
Maybe your specialty is creating Database Applications (most of you), or you enjoy creating Tutorials, or you prefer doing deep Product Reviews.
Regardless of you specialty, you can become a dbFront partner and start earning.
For more details see www.dbFront.com/affiliates