
Show HN: Invoicing directly from WordPress - peacemaker
http://invoicingplugin.com/
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fbu2017
Why would I want to send an invoice from wordpress? Why turn a CMS into a CRM,
if it lacks all required features?

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chatmasta
You obviously haven't spent much time in internet marketing. People who are
somewhere in betweeen a non technical user and developer are productive
because they use Wordpress for _everything_. There are entire ecommerce stores
built around Wordpress. At this point Wordpress is like an operating system
for web apps; it doesn't matter what the apps do, only that they're easy to
install/run/customize for semi-technical users.

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dang
> _You obviously haven 't_

Could you please not do this making-it-personal trope on HN? It's internet
incivility that mars your otherwise fine comment.

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Justin_K
What are the benefits over something free like
[https://www.waveapps.com](https://www.waveapps.com)? I've had success with
their invoice and accounting for many years.

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thedangler
How does wave make money if most of it's services are free? Do they sell your
data?

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peacemaker
I've used Wave before, they have a payments solution and I think they charge
around 5% fees per payment taken on your behalf. At bulk you can usually get
fees down to the 1% mark so they'll make their ~4% per invoice paid via their
system.

I think they also have a paid support option but I can't remember, it's been a
while since I used them.

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ezequiel-garzon
I may be wrong, but I feel that making this website https-only could only add
potential customers. Making matters worse, trying
[https://invoicingplugin.com](https://invoicingplugin.com) gives you a warning
and redirects you to [https://woodenracks.co.uk](https://woodenracks.co.uk).

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peacemaker
Hey thanks for pointing that out. That other site is a side project for a
friend and I used letsencrypt certbot to auto-configure it. Assumed it was
fine but obviously not! Will fix.

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peacemaker
Happy to hear any feedback and suggestions

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mstolpm
Site mentions "Free Lifetime Updates" but Codecanyon sales page says "6 months
support from QuipCode" with a paid option to extend to 12 months. That seems
somehow misleading and may potentially damage trust and cost customers.

~~~
peacemaker
It's misleading from the Codecanyon side unfortunately. You do get all updates
forever on items bought through Codecanyon regardless of if your support has
run out. The support part refers to answering questions and the like and it's
defined by Codecanyon.

I used to have other plugins that were sold directly, plus a couple in
development which I may sell directly as well. When selling directly I have
full control over the updates but through Codecanyon I do not have that
benefit.

My preferred option would be to add support forever (helping people with the
product, questions and so on) but actually limiting updates for a certain
period, perhaps 1 year. That way I am paid for continually developing and
improving the plugin but customer support is included always, which I think is
important as a small business.

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handzhiev
A bit offtopic, but I don't understand why plugin authors are so happy to give
30%-60% of their revenue to Codecanyon. What value are they providing to
charge so much?

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kentt
Would love to know as well. I'm selling a plugin from my own site and had
wrote of Codecanyon once I saw their pricing structure. I'm a bit curious if a
big part of the reason is that doing the payment & plugin delivery is
difficult for average WP dev. Would be interested to here success stories and
comparisons.

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peacemaker
Setting up payment and delivery is very simple and I've done it a bunch of
times. I wouldn't underestimate the "average WP dev" either, they are getting
a lot better than perhaps people on here may give them credit for. I can say
the competition is certainly higher quality since when I started a few years
ago but this has always been a side-business of mine alongside various startup
jobs and other businesses.

The simple answer to why I use Codecanyon is access to a large, targeted
customer base that is ready to spend money. That's not an easy thing to
replicate. No matter the combination of PPC, content marketing, influencers
and direct contact I try.

~~~
kentt
Thanks. Based on your feedback, I'll evaluate Codecanyon again when I revamp
my plugin. Just so you know, I didn't mean to come across as flippantly
judgemental about Codecanyon or WP plugin devs. All the best.

~~~
peacemaker
Hey no worries, I didn't take it as judgemental. There are a wide range of
skillsets in WP dev and I agree that traditionally it's been seen as a bit
more low quality. However that is definitely changing as more people get into
WordPress development. Good luck with your plugins!

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ilamont
Within the WooCommerce universe there are plugins or extensions that have some
overlapping functionality, drawing directly from sales and the product
database. WooCommerce PDF Invoices is one of the free ones.

