Petko, I appreciated your efforts to accommodate people like me who couldn't buy at noon yesterday.
But I am ticked off at Share-It.
First of all, they do not accept orders from Gmail, unlike just about everyone else in the world.
So I used my work account, and of course forgot the registration data at work last night.
I surfed to Share-It and could only find an order placed on my home account (not the Gmail account). Their site isn't flexible.
I contacted Share-It through their "contact us" system that promises no more than "four steps". Not very customer friendly. The four steps entail answering questions so they don't have to bother sorting the email that comes in -- but it is sometimes a pain in the butt to have to figure out which question is most suitable.
Of course I did not hear back from them right away with the reg data I had requested, having given them the work account to validate my right to what I was asking. So last night I did without MI4 pro.
So I decided to download the trial edition, which is indicated to be MI4.
But it is not. Share-It has not replaced MI3 with MI4 (Stephen Diamond has a note to that effect this am in www.outliner.software.com .
I also pointed out to Share-It that the pricing of MI4 does not reflect the fact that the Canadian dollar is higher by a few cents than the US dollar.
MI4 is $24.95 US and $27.09 Canadian. So in addition to paying $2.14 more, we are also paying an additional few percentage points on top of that -- and that spells gouging. Canadians were taken advantage of in many ways when our dollar was less than the US dollar. Now that it is clearly more, it is time we got to benefit, especially on purely electronic transactions.
Petko, I wish you could find a more user friendly vendor -- at least one that accepts Gmail. If Gmail is good enough for Amazon.com it should be good enough for Share-It.
Thanks.
Daly
Share-It Needs to Go
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Daly de Gagne
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Wed Feb 07, 2007 6:15 pm
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Daly de Gagne
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Wed Feb 07, 2007 6:15 pm
Petko, thanks for explaining.Petko wrote:Daly, just to clarify that the absence of proper trial version is our fault, not ShareIt's. We wanted to offer the new version first exclusively to our current customers. Once our special offer expires (Monday evening or earlier), we are going to release MyInfo 4 for the public.
I also appreciated your private post to me today, and your taking the trouble to confirm the actual trading range of the Canadian dollar.
At the time I got your email even I had not realized how high it had gone.
It closed at $1.07 US.
By the way, all I have heard from Share-It is an automated response -- not very impressive.
I have asked them to charge me a rate based on the actual value of the Canadian dollar, and to refund the difference to my credit card. It will be interesting to see if they do.
If they do not, I would ask that you seriously consider using another vendor.
In any event MI4 is now on my machine, and looks very good after just a quick run-through.
Congratulations.
Daly
Petko has limited options when choosing a company to processes online payments.
A huge percentage of the online shareware sales is run by Digital River. In the past few years they've gobbled up most shareware sales payment processors, like ShareIt, RegNow, and many smaller companies. Not long ago they bought Element 5, the major European-based shareware sales processor. It's hard to escape their grip.
Digital River is a Minnesota-based company. And while I sympathise with the Canadians, I don't feel too badly for them. Since I live in Minnesota I have to pay 7% sales tax on virtually all shareware I purchase from anywhere in the world, since Digital River owns most of worldwide shareware payment processors. At least they're not paying Minnesota sales tax too!
By the way here's how I workaround I use to order using a free email account from Gmail. It should work for Yahoo, Hotmail or other free accounts.
1. Complete the order form (including entering your GMail or other free email account address) but do NOT choose credit card, instead choose "Pay by Check." (You'll change this later).
2. Click though the review your data screen. (Ignore the fact that you've agreed to pay by check, and to wire they money because, as was noted, you'll change this later).
3. At the Thank You screen click on "Change Payment Option."
4. Click on "Edit your data." Change payment option to Credit Card.
5. You can now enter your credit card info and complete the payment process.
6. It worked for me.
A huge percentage of the online shareware sales is run by Digital River. In the past few years they've gobbled up most shareware sales payment processors, like ShareIt, RegNow, and many smaller companies. Not long ago they bought Element 5, the major European-based shareware sales processor. It's hard to escape their grip.
Digital River is a Minnesota-based company. And while I sympathise with the Canadians, I don't feel too badly for them. Since I live in Minnesota I have to pay 7% sales tax on virtually all shareware I purchase from anywhere in the world, since Digital River owns most of worldwide shareware payment processors. At least they're not paying Minnesota sales tax too!
By the way here's how I workaround I use to order using a free email account from Gmail. It should work for Yahoo, Hotmail or other free accounts.
1. Complete the order form (including entering your GMail or other free email account address) but do NOT choose credit card, instead choose "Pay by Check." (You'll change this later).
2. Click though the review your data screen. (Ignore the fact that you've agreed to pay by check, and to wire they money because, as was noted, you'll change this later).
3. At the Thank You screen click on "Change Payment Option."
4. Click on "Edit your data." Change payment option to Credit Card.
5. You can now enter your credit card info and complete the payment process.
6. It worked for me.
Since Petko is in Bulgaria, I guess most probably he can't use Paypal, but he could use 2checkout.com, they also have good fees, when I checked the fees were much lower than those of specialized shareware processors.
As for the sales tax - I have to pay 20% when purchasing from shareware authors based in European Union. That's valid for anyone who purchases MyInfo and is based in EU.
With 2checkout, the sales tax (VAT) for EU users will not apply, since they are technically reseller and based in USA.
As for the sales tax - I have to pay 20% when purchasing from shareware authors based in European Union. That's valid for anyone who purchases MyInfo and is based in EU.
With 2checkout, the sales tax (VAT) for EU users will not apply, since they are technically reseller and based in USA.
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Daly de Gagne
- Posts: 52
- Joined: Wed Feb 07, 2007 6:15 pm
Petko, I appreciate the serious discussion around this issue. I just got a response (after several days) from Share-It, which appears to be based in Cologne, and their explanation is that because currencies fluctuate they have to charge more for the Canadian price.Petko wrote:Since а few months PayPal operates just normally in Bulgaria (we are in the EU now), so we may start accepting PayPal orders directly soon. It requires some work, because we have to automate the process in order to deliver instant access to the registered version as it is currently with ShareIt.
They said I hadn't specified which currency to use.
But that's a nonsense argument -- if they want to avoid risk they simply charge my credit card the American price in US dollars, and let Mastercard do the risk. The explanation I got suggests to me that Share-It is also involved in currency trading -- of course that is legal, but I don't want to pay the cost of hedging their risks if that's what they are doing.
In my reply to Share-It I pointed out Petko how easy it is to check the current trading rates.
I feel that Share-It's response to me was dishonest.
There is no reason to have two prices. Just charge a US dollar price for everyone -- and let the credit card people deal with it.
Daly
Daly, it may be caused by the fact, that we can set three prices of MyInfo with ShareIt: the US dollar price ($49.95 USD), the Euro price (E35.95) and the British Pound price (24.95 GBP). If you try to purchase with any other currency, the price is calculated by the exchange rate of the Euro with this currency, which may be not the same as the exchange rate between the dollar price and this currency.
However, I think that if you change the Currency setting when purchasing (from Canadian dollar to US dollar), you will be charged exactly $49.95 USD.
However, I think that if you change the Currency setting when purchasing (from Canadian dollar to US dollar), you will be charged exactly $49.95 USD.
From the top of my head, that's how it works (as Petko says).
They find out from your IP where you are based and suggest price in CAD. You have to change CAD to USD manually. If you don't, they will charge in CAD using their extremely unfavourable ROX.
Many companies do this (profiting on ROX), but Share-It took it a bit over the roof.
Still one has choice, though their default setup is not in customers best interest.
They find out from your IP where you are based and suggest price in CAD. You have to change CAD to USD manually. If you don't, they will charge in CAD using their extremely unfavourable ROX.
Many companies do this (profiting on ROX), but Share-It took it a bit over the roof.
Still one has choice, though their default setup is not in customers best interest.
We have good news from ShareIt today:
We are pleased to announce that by November 19th, 2007 we will start processing orders by customers using free email account addresses! Because you are a valued client and have done well in keeping chargebacks and returns at a low level, it is our pleasure to inform you that we have decided to begin allowing free mail orders for your account at no additional charge!
In the past the acceptance of these orders had been possible by request only after a certain review period and an additional fee. Now it is a free service to you and can be offered without delay as the review process has already been completed successfully for your account.