Selling Commercial Mods?

I’ve been told no one is “allowed” to sell CS-Cart modules. First question is why would they want to hinder and control the CS-Cart community in such a negative manner? Secondly what legal right or law allows CS-Cart to dictate such a restriction? I’ve posted a poll to find out if I’m alone in my objection to this restriction; please post your opinions and perhaps we’ll make some progress on this front with CS-Cart.

If we cant sell them, apart from the small ones, then why bother making any atall !



Very unfortunate for anybody without technical knowledge as im sure some hardcore addons with more manhours spent on them than CS are willing to provide will just end up being kept to themselves…

[quote name=‘SWS’]If we cant sell them, apart from the small ones, then why bother making any atall !



Very unfortunate for anybody without technical knowledge as im sure some hardcore addons with more manhours spent on them than CS are willing to provide will just end up being kept to themselves…[/QUOTE]



Are there laws preventing us from selling our mods or is it simply us following CS-Carts wishes? It’s not like companies ask Toyota or Honda if they can make after market parts for their cars. I just don’t understand this and it only hurts CS-Cart. It shows a serious lack of business knowledge, experience and foresight “imho”.

I can not see in any way how a restriction like this can be legal.



What are we to do on this forum? Only give support to eachother?

[quote name=‘Zyles’]I can not see in any way how a restriction like this can be legal.



What are we to do on this forum? Only give support to eachother?[/QUOTE]



What if we wanted to sell CS-Cart themes/skins do we need to get their permission to do this as well? If not then what’s the difference? I could certainly understand their position if they were using their own proprietary coding language such as Microsoft.



But they chose to use open source code (non encrypted) using open source technologies such as php/mysql which is why I’m so confused. What possible legal or logical argument could they make to justify their position?



What if someone opens a CS-Cart mod store; what could they do? If they “pulled” their license then there are definitely laws to protect the buyer; not to mention PayPal policies. You must get what you’ve paid for.



If they pointed to their legal agreement that doesn’t hold water either as it’s making statements that are not legal or binding. A company cannot simply make up their own laws and then try to enforce them. It seems to me that the only thing stopping anyone from opening a CS-Cart mod shop is themselves. If I’m wrong please correct me?

I couldnt agree with you more, I have emailed them asked the question relating to how it affects customers installing mods they purchased elsewhere…i.e in a mod store I may be opening soon…



From what I know there is no legal standings which give them to rights to anything I create unless of course im just moving around there code, however a true mod which is fully coded, well thats different.



Theres nothing they could possibly do to stop me selling mods, but they could do something to stop customers installing them I suppose

from what I understand, your allowed to sell mods, your just not allowed to sell any mods with any code that was copied from an already existing cs script, if you crack open notepad and code a mod from scratch you can sell it, if you copy code you cannot…

[quote name=‘snorocket’]from what I understand, your allowed to sell mods, your just not allowed to sell any mods with any code that was copied from an already existing cs script, if you crack open notepad and code a mod from scratch you can sell it, if you copy code you cannot…[/QUOTE]



This is not what they’ve (CS-Cart) told us. We asked them if we could open a store and sell CS-Cart mods. They replied that we could not and that this “may” be allowed some time in the future but under some program they were going to create.



Which leads me to believe they’re using this present restriction in the hopes of getting developers to purchase a license for the “rights” to develop mods. Again they cannot do this as they did not develop or create their own proprietary languages or technologies. They chose to use open source.

[quote name=‘mayanetwork’]What possible legal or logical argument could they make to justify their position?

[/QUOTE]



If nobody else makes mods they get all the customers.


[quote name=‘mayanetwork’]

What if someone opens a CS-Cart mod store; what could they do? If they “pulled” their license then there are definitely laws to protect the buyer; not to mention PayPal policies. You must get what you’ve paid for.



If they pointed to their legal agreement that doesn’t hold water either as it’s making statements that are not legal or binding.[/QUOTE]



I’m not a lawyer, but I can’t see how the agreement can possible enforce something like this. And yes. Nothing can stop me or anyone else to open a mod shop. Except ban from the forum.

[quote name=‘Zyles’]If nobody else makes mods they get all the customers.







I’m not a lawyer, but I can’t see how the agreement can possible enforce something like this. And yes. Nothing can stop me or anyone else to open a mod shop. Except ban from the forum.[/QUOTE]



In my view the worse case scenario is that they ban you from the forum, ban you from the Help Desk and ban you from any future releases. This of course would have long term negative effects for the company if they proceeded in this manner as word would filter it’s way to the internet community.



Of course this is all speculation as I truly have no idea how strongly they hold to this position nor do I know how they would proceed if confronted with such as scenario. To be fair their service and support to date has been great, but I do feel it’s time for us; the CS-Cart community, to find a solution to this problem once and for all. They are preventing us from making money that we could be making from developing and selling X-Cart mods.



Perhaps we continue to use this post as a growing “petition” to state our position and to show them how strongly we feel. After all it’s the sales they make from us that keep them in business. Any other ideas on how we can find a solution this issue?

I guess from my view them “allowing” people to develop mods is the wrong wording. I would think more along the lines of “official licensed modder”, and thats someone how has to maybe apply to be a modder and support their products and meet specific guidelines. Sort of like an affiliate to another company.



I certainly wouldnt want any tom,**** or harry just showing up and selling a few mods quickly that dont work and then us customers are left out to dry, with non working ****ty mods that someone sold us here on the forums.



I’ve seen that happen at X. Some fly by night operation sells a module that never really works and then give no support leaving customers to have paid for a module they cant use.



So from my perspective, having some sort of “licensed” or “affiliate” modders gives me a little more piece of mind about who im dealing with.



And given the response by Admin to the other thread, that they are open to discussions with mod makers, I just think if your looking to sell mods you should contact CS directly.

Just my $.02

why not, this is how proper coders work, I work for a gis company during the day and we are under licence from ordance survey to produce mapping software.

exactly i’m all for having officially licensed modders…

Im all for official licenced moders also, and from CS-Carts email I received today it looks like they are willing to work on such a basis…



As you say, we dont want mods by any tom **** or harry…



I will be having a chat online with them later regarding the process of becoming an official modder and see what comes of it, but overall I am satisifed with the response I received which showed them having an open mind.

I’m an officially Certified CS Module Developer.

[quote name=‘snorocket’]I’m an officially Certified CS Module Developer.[/QUOTE]



Could you please explain the process and cost to becoming an “Certified CS Module Developer”?

I think allowing ppl to sell mods would just help the cart and community grow in general.



Furthermore, I think that if people have a longstanding history with using the cart, and extensive knowledge on all its ins and outs - along with very strong programming/coding abilities - they should be able to offer contract mod work. There are a few things I’d love to dig in and tweak, but it’s just beyond my abilities. If there was a core group of coders who’d place bids on such work, I think it would only reassure potential buyers of the software that they’ve got a LOT of support options available to them. Might sell more copies, keep customers happier, good for everyone.

[quote name=‘mayanetwork’]Could you please explain the process and cost to becoming an “Certified CS Module Developer”?[/QUOTE]

First:

you should develop your very own custom module and post sceenshots and/or post the actual mod itself for review by the moderators. You may want to talk with the other developers and make sure your not making the same mod as others. If you don’t have a custom module that you coded then you can’t be certified because you don’t have anything to certify…lol



Second:

you need to get the blessings from CS to be officially Certified

[quote name=‘snorocket’]First:

you should develop your very own custom module and post sceenshots and/or post the actual mod itself for review by the moderators, if you don’t have a custom module that you coded then you can’t be certified because you don’t have anything to certify…lol



Second:

you need to get the blessings from CS to be officially Certified[/QUOTE]



I assume you simply need to do this once and not for each module? Or do you need their “blessing” for each and every module you develop?

just once but it can be revoked if developers are found ripping off customers, there will be a list posted of officially certified developers that all customers should review before making a purchase of any mod from anyone, a set of fair and simple set of rules should be followed, things like keeping the code open source, no encoding, the cs code is open source so the mods are to be also, I don’t want to hear any complaints about this one, we posted Testimonials and Newest FREE and Open Source, no ripping off customers, developers need to provide support and/or installation services ect…also we need to make a decision of where there going to be sold, multiple websites with google ads and reseller sites flying all over the net is not what we need. Looking at possibly installing a VB store on the forums, one place to buy all modules from certified developers would be nice…feel free to give opinions…