Today we launched developer ‘licenses’ for each of our themes / extensions. A developer license (something you’re bound to have come across elsewhere on the web) grants you access to use a product on more than one web site, while a standard license is for singular usage.
Other businesses employ license keys, tracking code and other complex systems to enforce this, we’ve decided to take a different approach.
Jigoshop, it’s themes and extensions are all released under the GPL. This means that we have no right to restrict the code in any way. You’re free to edit and redistribute it in anyway you see fit (just like any other GPL software). Ergo, whether you choose to buy our products with a ‘single’ or ‘developer’ license you actually have exactly the same rights. This is simply a fundamental part of the GPL.
So why bother with developer licenses at all? Well, we believe Jigoshop is a great product. We also have a huge amount of faith in the WordPress community. So while our standard and developer products are essentially the same thing, we’d like to think that if you’re using one of our themes (or extensions) on more than one web site you would do the right thing, and purchase a developer license.
So that’s it. No hard sell, no complicated / restrictive licensing, no forcing current customers to upgrade to developer licenses, just an option to pay extra if you wish to.
At least you’ll have a clear conscience and know you’re doing your bit to support the future development of Jigoshop, right? 
First of all thanks for a brilliant product, by far the best ecom plugin out there, and look forward to purchacing the developer licence.
Can you give us an idea what extensions you have planned in the pipe-line? Also if i could know what comes under the licence.
The standard license is for use on a single web site / domain. The developer licenses grants unlimited usage. Our products are GPL though and instead of spending time and effort building complex license systems we’d rather leave it up to the customer to make the right choice when purchasing one of our products
Our development focus at the moment is on configurable products, an Authorize.net gateway and a WorldPay gateway. Plus more themes / bug fixes.
Hi there. I think you misunderstand the GPL. It very clearly states you can use GPL code however you want, including on however many sites you want. By saying your licenses restrict number of sites (vs selling one vs multiple support seats/domains to differentiate levels) you are actually not distributing as GPL at all.
Hi Jane. Perhaps I should have put ‘single usage’ and ‘unlimited usage’ in curly quotes. Our “developer” and “single” ‘licensed’ products are actually identical and both GPL. The “developer” ‘license’ is purely there for people who plan to use our products on more than one web site and want to pay a little extra to support Jigoshop development.
There are no restrictions on either ‘license’. Hopefully the blog post clears this up.
Unfortunately the language you’re using is the exact opposite of what you say your intention is. With language like that, which confuses users because it means something very specific that is not what you describe elsewhere, your free plugin would not be allowed in the .org repository. Any reference to where/how often they are allowed to use it is the issue. You might want to look at something like, “suggested for people who are using on…” so that it is not a declaration of usage rights.
I’ll amend the copy on the product pages slightly. I’d like to point out that this is all in reference to our themes / add-ons, none of which are listed on .org.
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Woohoo – a WorldPay gateway – thank you!
Just a thought on the dev license side – I can certainly see where you’re coming from and your approach is quite refreshing; I hope it works for you!
What about the club membership idea that was mentioned a while back?
I could see this working as another option alongside developer licenses for individual add-ons.
If I developed occasionally and used the odd add-on, then I’d want to pay a license for that add-on when I needed to.
Alternatively, if I were to commit to using Jigoshop for all my smaller e-commerce clients and you were to have a steady supply of new themes & add-ons, I could see the value to me of paying a monthly fee and not have to worry about getting developer licenses for individual add-ons or themes, whilst knowing that I’m supporting you.
Of course, it depends on what that monthly fee is set at, but what do you think?
rgds, Mark
The club is definitely still in the pipeline. It will probably be released as version 1.0 becomes available and we officially leave beta status.
We’ve been live a month now and have some idea of what level of service we can offer on a monthly basis (thus we can try to calculate a fair club subscription price). Did you have any expectations regarding the price?
*claps* Nice guys… Build a great product and the community will support you.
Cheers
Thanks! We certainly hope so!
Am experimenting with the plugin now and all is going very well so far so will be more than happy to support such great developments. I did have a thought though and that is are there any plans for a product feed that could submit products to Google Base, shopping.com, etc?
A future extension perhaps?
Guess not then
Hey buddy, sorry I missed your comment! Yes we do have plans to integrate with Google. With both a Google Checkout gateway and Google base support.
Hi.
.
I love your plugin and I must say it’s a brilliant product.
I have a few question though and probably a thought at the same time
Coupons (promo codes) have the ‘individual use only’ option which is fine but I was wondering if there was a way to limit a coupon to a one-time use? In other words to prevent from multiple downloads with different iP’s or email accounts limiting the coupons to a one time use for a product ID only. If there is, could you please explain, if not is it possible to include the ability to add more than one coupon at the same time?
Also the downloadable product links to a file on the server. Can there be an option to redirect to a page IN ADDITION to the specific URL on the server? This way a paid customer is redirected from the shopping cart or account area.
Just maybe some ideas.
Thanks once again for some great work.
Please post future ideas on the ideas forum
We have a few ideas for the coupon module but have other priorities right now.
Whats the timeframe on the Google base support?
Hi Corey, This is on our every growing list, I guess if enough people want it we can move it towards the top. Cheers Andy