
Ask HN: How much should I charge for a customized program I already wrote? - eatporktoo
I was contacted by a business owner who wants a customized version of my software for his business. The changes are not very major and will take approximately two weeks. This would be something I would do in addition to my day job.<p>His company has 22 retail locations. I have just never sold my software before so I don't know how to price it. I was told something like $5000 would be reasonable but I wanted to know what HN thought.<p>(It is a desktop application)
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noonespecial
Remember, how easy it is for you to do it has _absolutely nothing_ to do with
what you should charge. How much value it brings to your customer (and how
easily that customer could buy that value elsewhere) should determine your
price.

If he's going to make a million dollars with it and his only other choice was
a $350k corporate license from Oracle, I'd say $300k sounds about right.

~~~
eatporktoo
That's a good point. Well there are a couple programs that do what mine does,
but it is not something that he would use to make money. He wants the program
customized so that his employees can't use it without knowing a password.

~~~
noonespecial
If all of the employees at 22 locations save 5 minutes a day on password entry
that's really not required from a security standpoint (not to mention training
time for new employees) then your customer will use your program to make a
_substantial_ amount of money.

~~~
petervandijck
Those arguments are never really true.

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pasbesoin
My comments are based on no particular expertise in this area. But, for what
they are or are not worth:

How much time, effort, and expense went into developing your skills?

If it's per location, as he expands, so does your business. (And, described
well, it can be present as a "win-win" business relationship. You're
"invested" in his success. Though I _don't_ mean giving him a break in return
for anticipated future volume.)

P.S. I'm talking up front costs. No claw backs of those if/when locations
close. Also, would a site license be transferable? That might depend on
whether moving it requires your support.

noonespecial mentions support. I'll add liability (and limiting same). Make
sure you define the terms.

I saw mention of LDAP or whatever. Sell him what he wants, in a timely
fashion, now. Such things, if desired, can be future upgrades -- for a price.
Even if you initiate: "You know, I'm continuing to work on the produce. Would
you be interested in having this (let me show you how useful it is) feature?"

You may end up giving him breaks, and/or just being a decent business person.
Just make sure those actions are on your terms and not coerced. You don't have
to be a greedy bastard to want to maintain control over the situation.

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kls
The two factors I see is, can you use the changes as a feature to other
customers. If so, I personally would consider doing it at a discounted rate.
If it is a total one off then I personally would charge time and materials at
the prevailing rate for a freelancer. If he wants a lump sum amount well then
you need to master the art of figuring out the maximum amount you can charge
for something.

~~~
eatporktoo
Unfortunately I don't think this is something that other people would really
need. I failed to mention that this is a program that I offer for free
currently, so I don't really have plans to sell this to anyone else.

I am working on the maximum amount idea... Assuming it takes me a while to
test it, it should only take about a week of my evenings to get the changes he
wants completed and tested to my liking.

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iKnowKungFoo
You might want to ask this question on
<http://programmers.stackexchange.com/>, then link to the question on HN. I
think you'd get more replies there.

$5k might be fair, who knows? $5k total? per store? Does that include future
installs?

Are you selling the source code too or just the compiled application?

If you're not selling the source code, are you going to license the software
to him based on the number of installations or just give it to him for a
specific price? You could sell it on a sliding scale based on the number of
installations. If he has 22 locations and 5 installs per store, then have
pricing for single installs and discount for a pack of 5 licenses.

You shouldn't give it away cheap just because it "wouldn't be too much
trouble". Take into account the impact on business. How much time & money will
your software save them? Remember time _is_ money.

Good luck.

~~~
noonespecial
Also don't forget to consider the time you will spend supporting it once its
installed and _put that into the contract_. I'm here to tell you, if its not
in there very clearly, your customer will forcefully assume free support
forever.

~~~
eatporktoo
Thanks for this tip, I put in the contract that I will provide one year of
bugfixes/support for the program.

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petervandijck
Charge 499 per location, and $99.99 per location per month if they want
support/upgrades (limit the amount of support hrs). 22 _499=11K, plus 99.99_
12*22 = 26K per year extra.

Do you have a sense of what they're currently paying/what the competition
charges?

