How to manage premium/paid plugin

[mmuro]

I have a plugin that currently resides on the WP.org repository, but recently started planning to release a premium/paid version. I'm wondering how other plugin devs manage selling their plugins?

I've looked at Fetch and/or Shopify to handle the digital download part. I'm not so much worried about people seeing the code but how to handle legitimate buyers (license keys?). Is it worth my time to maintain a database of license keys and build an API to check that?

My thinking is that they pay for the thing, get an email with a download link and that's that. Updates are handled via WordPress API so future versions don't have to be downloaded manually. Am I totally wrong here?

So, if you sell your plugin, I'd like to know what your process is.

[andreasnrb]

Personally I have a registration key that my customers use. Its only used if they want to be able to have automatic updates and use plugins that directly make use of my server.

LIcense keys are used so you can't just hook into the update system without paying for the pluggin or sharing the license key with others. Using license keys also gives you a possibility to track usage of your plugin and only offer support to those which have legitimate copies of your product.

To be able to handle atomatic updates you need to setup your own system.
There are premade code for this
http://konstruktors.com/blog/wordpress/2538-automatic-updates-for-plugins-and-themes-hosted-outside-wordpress-extend/
http://w-shadow.com/blog/2010/09/02/automatic-updates-for-any-plugin/

[mmuro]

Are you generating the license keys once you receive a payment? Automatically?

Thanks for the links but I plan to just use a transient and an API on my end to handle the upgrade.

[andreasnrb]

Yep. Its generated on the go. My setup is so that they become members of my WordPress site and thereby get both plugins and registration key.

And about the links. Thats what they are. Premade automatic update functions so one doesnät have to write it one self.

[davecoveney]

Glad you've asked this question - early next year we're planning to release two premium plugins and have started to think about these things so we can release the following:

1. A WordPress auditing tool which tracks settings changes, plugin installations, etc along with visual tools to help in spotting odd patterns of use.
2. An events plugin allowing for complex event scheduling - you can see it in use on a site we recently built: http://plazacinema.org.uk/

We have a lot of other projects that are currently internal and client use only, but given some have been proven over 2-3 years of use (like our aggregator) in complex environments then we suspect they have potential as well.

[Jeffro]

I recommend reading the following guide for suggestions on how to go about making a go with a commercial plugin.

http://wp.smashingmagazine.com/2012/...ss-repository/