How do devs keep track of serials/licenses they sell?

[Numanoid]

What kind of system do devs use to keep track of serials/licenses they sell.

For example, u-he must have sold thousand upon thousand of licenses for Zebra over the years

How are those records kept, is it an automated process via vendors like digital river?

But how are then the records updated when a user resell a license second hand to another user. I guess that kind of information will have to be updated manually in the customer database?

And when contacting users about upgrades to a plug users have bought, is that database linked up to a mass mailing system like Mailchimp for example.

[experimental.crow]

post-it notes ...
corkboards , pushpins , colored yarn ...

[masterhiggins]

IBM punchcards.

[Numanoid]

This is not intended as a joke thread

Anybody developing a plug for sale, will also have to think about the customer relations bit.

I have seen little or no discussion/info about this earlier.

So I am curious how this is handled, especially for those plugs where serial authorisation is used. I mean, with iLOK and dongle protection it is easier to see that everything is automated. But that also costs quite a bit.

[nonnaci]

I recall there were third-party companies that can handle license/serial management for you online. You basically integrate part of their SDK into their application for making challenge/response type queries. They provide hosting and online interface/page for user to login and manage their account info.

[stratum]

I have a similar silly question. How do professional preset designers know how many licenses for their presets are sold? 3 options: 1- they do not and trust you 2-they are being paid upfront 3-they have crystal balls.

[FabienTDR]

It's a mysteriously secret process called Book-keeping.

Tax authorities insist on it. Good morning!

You keep this stuff both on paper in folders and in case any DEV still isn't aware in 2017, also databases.

[Numanoid]

Tax authorities insist on it. Good morning!

That is an important part of it of course, but do they need to be notified when a user sell a license second-hand a couple of years after the original license was bought?

I mean, that is another part of keeping the books, licenses changing hands after they first got sold.

[Numanoid]

I recall there were third-party companies that can handle license/serial management for you online. You basically integrate part of their SDK into their application for making challenge/response type queries. They provide hosting and online interface/page for user to login and manage their account info.

Buying exteral services like that, how much extra cost would that add to a plug, 5-10-20% ?

[nonnaci]

Buying exteral services like that, how much extra cost would that add to a plug, 5-10-20% ?

A fraction of a dollar per serial generated.

[Numanoid]

Buying exteral services like that, how much extra cost would that add to a plug, 5-10-20% ?

A fraction of a dollar per serial generated.

OK, so for a "one man business" it would be most cost-effective to buy external services like you have described, rather than to come up with an own/ad-hoc system for this.

[nonnaci]

OK, so for a "one man business" it would be most cost-effective to look for external services like you have described, rather than to come up with an own/ad-hoc system for this.

Well there are risks such as the serial/license company folding, faulty security, faulty integration (possible point of attack). I'd say scope out the competition in that domain to see how long the players last/reviewed by others.

[syntonica]

How many out there roll their own vs. using third-parties?

If I buy a plugin, or any software for that matter, I'd rather see all my money go to the developer instead of the web host, the payment processor, the serial wrangler, the web designer, the Apple/Android store, etc. with crumbs left over for the person who actually does all the work.

Plus, I tend not to trust random internet companies... especially plugin makers!

[JCJR]

It would be hard for a one-man operation to do everything. In an earlier biz-related thread, IIRC Aleksey Vaneev claimed to do "a lot of it" himself so it must be possible.

Before retirement, the folks I worked with had 3+ programmers, several non-programmer media/content personnel, several tech support folks, a business manager, sales/marketing manager + other sales folk, accountant/bookkeeper, a network guy, a web guy, and at least a couple of folks doing duping, packaging and shipping. Everybody had enough to do to stay busy.

Keeping up with customers and registrations and such, there were some programmer tasks related to building registration and such into the apps, plus work performed by sales, tech support and the web guy.

From early 1980's to 1995 I did real dinky small time one man shop software writing and sales. Web wasn't an option back then. It was all magazine ads, mail order or phone sales. I had paper and spread sheet/database records of customers. I found that if sales increased, it meant more time spent duping disks and manuals, stuffing disks and manuals in mailers, answering more phone calls and opening more letters. So for one guy, if sales got "too good" there wasn't any time left for programming.

A web biz wouldn't be quite so bad, but there would still be lots of tasks to do.

[Numanoid]

So for one guy, if sales got "too good" there wasn't any time left for programming.

Yeah, it comes to a break point where a person need to decide if one should expand, and that creates a lot more issues.

u-he is an example for a best practice, he started out as a hobby, with initial success turning into business, and then 15 years or so later with 10+ employees doing code.