Actinic and Oxatis: Q&A

[DanielHollier]

Hi Wesley

It is the plan to provide MarketPlace Manager free of charge on an ongoing basis. Actinic Payments shouldnt be too long, the sooner the better as far as I am concerned.

[Jyan]

Too expensive?

I've been quoted at £55 per month for 500-1000 products. For me that's too much. What do you think?

[Mike Hughes]

It depends what you're comparing it with. Hosting will cost from £10/month for something decent and if you have Actinic Business 'Cover' costs £350 in the second year, so say £30 per month.

So Actinic Business is £900 up front and then £40/month ongoing costs. £55/month for an online version doesn't compare too badly with that.

To my mind the costs are comparable. You just have to decide which approach suits you best.

At the end of the day, if you're running an online business you want to get the best tool for the job and be prepared to pay for it. £55 a month for what is the essential system tool for an online business is a bit of a bargain really.

Mike

[leehack]

I've been quoted at £55 per month for 500-1000 products. For me that's too much. What do you think?

I think it's incredibly cheap, you can expose 1000 products to the whole country/world for £55 a month. What do you think it should cost?

[Jan]

Is it appropriate to compare the costs with the current offline offering though, you should be comparing it with other online software surely. Without going into details on this forum, I think that the quote you have is comparable if not a bit cheaper than some of the others.

Regards,

[Jyan]

I have already have Actinic Business for a while and I am paying £30 per month for the cover so I have already paid a lot out. If I didn't already have Actninc Business I think it's OK for the price but still seems steep considering what Actinic do for the money each month.

[leehack]

That's a skewed way of looking at things surely, this offering is expensive because of what you are paying for another solution. Using that logic, you could say anything in the world is expensive.

Surely each solution should be judged independently for its value, you think it is 'OK', if you're not paying £30 a month for Business, so one can only assume that they've got it right?

[Mike Hughes]

seems steep considering what Actinic do for the money each month.

I understand what you're saying but that's the wrong way to think about this. Software systems have huge development, upgrade and maintenance costs. You have to think about all the time and effort that goes into the system. Not view it as just a bit of software running on a server.

After all, when you bought Actinic all you got was a DVD and some paper. Again, the physical deliverable doesn't reflect the value you're paying for.

Mike

[Jan]

If you also include your hosting costs, you are probably not that far off paying £55 a month at the moment.

Are you wanting an extra site or are you looking to move your new site, what has prompted you to request a quote?

Regards,

[Jyan]

I was thinking of moving current site and cancelling cover - if I'm convinced it's worthwhile. The hosting cost savings to me are negligable. One benefit I'm looking at is the eBay and Amazon integration. However I have managed to work without this until now...

[Darren B]

Hi All

Please let me know of you have any other questions, I will be more than happy to help.

you have answered one of my three questions but it probably got lost in the other posts

2) where are the servers located

3) what are the support hours, still 9 to 5

[Darren B]

That's a skewed way of looking at things surely, this offering is expensive because of what you are paying for another solution. Using that logic, you could say anything in the world is expensive.

Surely each solution should be judged independently for its value, you think it is 'OK', if you're not paying £30 a month for Business, so one can only assume that they've got it right?

I understand what you're saying but that's the wrong way to think about this. Software systems have huge development, upgrade and maintenance costs. You have to think about all the time and effort that goes into the system. Not view it as just a bit of software running on a server.

After all, when you bought Actinic all you got was a DVD and some paper. Again, the physical deliverable doesn't reflect the value you're paying for.

Mike

I agree with you both, there are may variables here

For a single shop, actinic catalog and no support i guess it probably is exspensive, also for multisites with 1000's of products it would also work out more espensive. so i think you have to weigh up all the factors as stated.

current dektop software

Cost of hosting
Cost of actinic offline package
Cost of Actinic support

new online option
cost of plan dependant of size of business

as mentioned the amazon and ebay thing is going to be included so no additional cost there, AP is being intergrated so that remains the same for both options (well i guess it will)

unless there are any other hidden costs i think every unique site has to be compared seperately to decide and if it turns out a few quid more of less then i dont see what the issue is.

one of my sites turns over more than 2000 times my support costs and looking at the online option and calculating it pro rata it will cost more but to me the benefits, speed of the server and support is the critical factor not just the bottom line costs

[wesleythorne]

Hi Wesley

It is the plan to provide MarketPlace Manager free of charge on an ongoing basis. Actinic Payments shouldnt be too long, the sooner the better as far as I am concerned.

hi, thanks for that, actinic payments is a key element for us, i hope you can keep all the functionality you have with the desktop version of actinic.

One thing i have not seen is the mention of product reviews, i may have missed it. We use code path for our main site, is there a built in product review system in the online saas or one on the pipeline ?

Thanks
Wes

[plantsforshade]

Hi All

- The limit of 1000 refers to Customers, not visitors. So somebody browsing your site without making a purchase will not count as a customer.

Hi Daniel

Thanks for clearing up my error on visitors/customers. The 15 k page views is still very low and I am sure even a moderately busy site would get 250k per month so costs in reality would still be around £200 per month.

Best

Nigel

[DanielHollier]

Hi Daniel

Thanks for clearing up my error on visitors/customers. The 15 k page views is still very low and I am sure even a moderately busy site would get 250k per month so costs in reality would still be around £200 per month.

Best

Nigel

15k page veiws is approxamately equivillant of 6Gb of data transfer. We would consider a 6Gb site a busy one. By far the most popular of the Actinic Desktop Hosting pricebands includes only 6Gb.