Error & The future of this plugin

Thanks for bringing this up.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently, especially after WordPress released the numbers that this plugin has over 4,000 active installs. Assuming at least some of those people are accepting live payments, then this plugin has more than proven it’s value to a few people.

With that said, the donate button has been hit 3 times since this plugin was released for a grand total of $25. I don’t mind, it is a free plugin after all, but it does lead me to believe that there’s no way to justify the amount of time and overall effort I’ve put into creating and supporting this plugin. Full disclosure, I have a freelance career and this plugin has definitely opened the door to a few projects, but the direct income is disappointing.

I’ve tried to garner interest from other developers to work on this plugin, but there haven’t been any bites, so I’m all that’s left for now. In order to continue supporting this plugin, I need to justify my time spent. I was thinking of a two-fold approach to monetization with premium support and a pro version of the plugin.

The premium support would involve looking at individual sites and determining why the plugin is misbehaving. This is normally an issue with poorly built themes, and involves either some reconfiguration of the plugin (probably not the case, but the fee would be refunded if it is the case) or some modification of the theme. I’ve consulted theme creators in the past to fix some of the issues with their themes and it probably won’t be the last time. In those cases, I would attempt to push the cost onto the theme creator.

To include a pro version of the theme, I would strip away some features from the basic version like:
1. Subscriptions
2. Saved cards

I would then add them to the pro version as well as:
1. Opt-in/out for customers saving cards
2. Stripe checkout
3. Other rare requests people have made that most people won’t use

I think the ideal set up for the pro plugin would be as an extension to this existing plugin, so I would only have to fix bugs once. I would also like the pro plugin to be affordable and nowhere near the cost of the WooThemes Stripe plugin at $79. My goal would be under $20 for a year of support and updates. There may also be a tiered approach where a multiple site license would be a higher fee.

If there are people willing to support the development of this plugin, then I can work on building a better system for error tracking so the generic messages aren’t all that you can report. I would also love to provide webhook support as well so any changes made in the Stripe Dashboard are also reflected in your WooCommerce store. I’d also like to work more hooks into the plugin so other developers or code-savvy users can implement their own logic to portions of the checkout process to do things specific to their sites. I’d love to hear your ideas for features as well and I can work on integrating them into the plugin(s).

I’d like to open this thread to discussion, and I’ll sticky it in the support forum to make sure it’s seen.

I understand some people aren’t going to be happy with this move, but I believe it’s the only move I can make. I do believe that this plugin is streets ahead of the WooThemes plugin and I know that I can make it even better.

Thank you,
Stephen

I think a lot of users would support you via a Pro version. You deserve compensation for your efforts that we all benefit from, and I think the price you mentioned is fair.

Hi,
I just discovered your plugin last week and installed it on my e-commerce site. I am not a developer and don’t know a lick of code, but I decently know my way around WordPress (although I still have a lot to learn!) and I liked your “no coding needed” approach to this plugin. I activated it and was running test purchases successfully, and loving it – I appreciate your hard work and generosity to create a simple to use plugin that works for free and had every intention of donating once this plugin proved to be a successful option for my site (it’s a shame there were so few willing to donate!).

Then today, while still running in test mode, I started receiving the “Error: there was a problem connecting to payment gateway” error that others have mentioned. I’ve looked at the other threads in this forum for this issue and you mention checking the console, another user mentioned editing PHP – both of which I have no idea how to do! Having a limited FAQ section and no documentation that allows me to troubleshoot the issue myself worries me, since now I have no idea how to fix the issue – I like being able to problem-solve for myself whenever possible. My site is only e-commerce and accepting payments is crucial.

I would definitely be interested in paying for a Pro version, (especially in the under $20 price range!), with a good documentation/troubleshooting/instructions that don’t require coding knowledge to resolve common issues.

Hope my feedback helps!

Thanks again for a great plugin and hope you continue to keep it going!

Hi Stephen,

Firstly, I’d like to thank you for your hard work in developing this plugin and offering it for free. I do have the same issue that others have mentioned concerning the spinner not working and I feel the processing translucent white is a little confusing for customers. I would very much appreciate a configurable processing message.

As a poor workaround that may assist others in the interim is to use the description box in woocommerce/settings/checkout/stripe for commerce to place text such as “When the PLACE ORDER button is clicked the screen will go white for a few seconds. Don’t refresh the page or hit the back button, this is normal and your order is being processed”.

As for your above post concerning a pro version, I believe charging $20.00 (￡13.37 (I’m in the UK)) for this plugin is an absolute bargain. Processing payments is the most important aspect of e-commerce and updates and support is a necessity that should understandably come at a price. Considering the competition, which is far more expensive, I feel your free option should be dropped to allow you to be recompensed for your work and for us to continue to put to use an excellent product (for ones who are using the plugin, the update should come at a price). I look forward to the next update.

Cheers,
Jeremy

Hi Stephen,

I would love to see a pro version if it means continued development and new features!

Keep up the good work!

I would also support a paid version!

Just donated $20. If everyone who actually ends up using these free plugins on a live site donated a tenth of that to the developer everyone would benefit. I use an average of 10 free plugins on a site, if I donate $2 to each of those developers thas 20 buck which is nothing to pay for all the time and effort that is put into developing them.

Keep up the good work.

P.S. I am not even using your plugin but appreciate your candor.

Stephen, any updates for us?

I’d pay for a a Pro version if it meant support for WooCommerce 2.3.X

See this thread: https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/woocommerce-235-support-1

Try this one instead https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/stripe-woocommerce-addon/

I want to but it doesn’t currently support refunds.

Developer posted an update on https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/this-plugin-does-not-support-refunds-in-woocommerce-interface?replies=9

Hello Stephen,

I’d be more than happy to pay for your plugin.
Have you considered putting it on Code Canyon? I am quite certain that if you sold it for a reasonable price (along the lines of what you’ve mentioned in your above comment… something like $20) I am sure plenty of people would buy it.

I found your plugin when I discovered my other option was to pay $79 per site for the WooTheme Strip plugin. That’s for one year. Seems ridiculous to me. If I could buy your plugin for $20 I would.

What’s your plan?

Cheers,

Jonathan

Thanks webmicroz, that’s the topic I started and the dev added the feature basically same day. Good stuff! I think this plugin is dead guys.

Hi Jonathan

you can use this Try this one instead https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/stripe-woocommerce-addon/ instead of paying $79 for woothemes

I would pay double what you’re asking for a Pro version if it meant this plugin would be updated to work with the latest version. For now it looks like this plugin is abandoned and too broken for most people to use. ??