You will see my previous posts as to the nature of the problem and the script I have so far. If you think you can fix my dilemma, please let me know and please quote your services. You can email me at jim@bcecards.com
Thanks
How does MacDeveloper work? I dont see anything explaining it.
Looks like I got here just in time. 
Sorry, I haven’t made the official announcement yet, but will be doing so shortly. In the meantime …
MacDeveloper is a marketplace for businesses to post outsourced projects to a pool of quality mac developers in a reverse auction styled environment. If you need a web page design, that next killer app, or the perfect Applescript workflow, this is the place to post your project.
Buyers: Post your development projects to be bid for free. No escrow accounts or hidden fees. Buyers have the means to post closed bids.
Developers: With shamefully low Monthly, Quarterly or Annual registration plans, allows you to bid on projects in any area of your expertise. At the Developers option, you can choose to accept PayPal payments through the system, or negotiate payment terms on a project by project basis.
As we have just launched MacDevloper, we’re still sweeping up some dust. Translated, that means the next thing on my list is an About page that better describes our service. 
What, so people have to pay a subscription fee?! Nobody is going to fall for that when rentacoder is free for developers and has a far larger target audience.
Developers pay the fee, Buyers do not. Rent a Coder is not free - it charges developers 15% of the transaction fee.
I personally think you should charge the buyers. The buyers are the ones with the money to spend, they can afford to be charged, that’s why they come to the site in the first place. The Developers on the other hand, are actually looking to earn some money, not spend it. As for the 15% rentacoder fee, I think that’s fair enough, and at least there’s no risk envolved in that. A percentage is better than a flat rate in my book.
Lambo,
First off, I’m sorry you feel the way you do about our rate table, or the fact we charge at all. I guess you can’t win’m all. :rolleyes:
On the other hand, it is my hope once you see how things fit together, you will understand why things are set up the way they are, and perhaps change your mindset.
Do you even know what our rates are? Before you slam MacDeveloper, why don’t you give us the opportunity to state our case? No more than we charge a Developer can make that money back on one job alone.
This is a Mac centric resource. The very intent was to provide a venue for Mac people to experience and enjoy the same as other available systems, which are crowded with Developers running Windows or Linux. I can tell you those folks wouldn’t know the Applescript Protocol link if it bit’m in the butt. Never mind being able to test for it, because they don’t have Macs.
I think you would be one of a very few who would agree with that. Even from my own personal experience, on other venues, Buyers were constantly trying to cheat the system because they were charged a straight percentage. Bear in mind, this happens whether you get your <insert product/service here> or not! That is exactly the reason we wanted to avoid any Buyer fees at all.
There are many other reasons which bear out my point which I won’t go into on this forum, but forcing Buyers to use escrow accounts is certainly one of them. In short, we wanted to create as open a resource as is possible with few restrictions, while at the same time give both Buyer and Developer a sense of security and trust essential to conduct business.
MacScripter has been in existence since 1999. Historically we have always been a all volunteer collaborative, to which I’m very grateful for the principalship and members help. If it weren’t for folks like you and others, MacScripter would never have existed. That said, not a dime comes out of anyone’s pocket except mine to keep this operation running.
I do not feel the model we implemented for MacDeveloper is out of line with any other venues available; our rates are incrediably cheap, and harbor very few restrictions, and IMHO quite fair when compared to any other mix. The second the Buyer accepts a Bid from the Developer, we connect you together so you can conduct business as usual any way you choose, unhindered.
HTH
Ok, so what are your fees? It looks like I can’t check them in advance before going ahead and paying them. Also, I like the way that the contact system in rentacoder provides proof of all the transactions between buyer and developer, it makes me feel very protected and safe when I take on a job, because I don’t have to prove something that’s happened in private email because it’s all there on the website. Does MacDeveloper have the same sort of thing? I’m slightly concerned that if all communication and all payment is left for people to get on with, AND with it being free to sign up as a buyer, it would be all too easy for people to make a bogus buyer account and abuse the system.
Believe it or not, I do thoroughly support MacDeveloper and I’d like it to succeed, but I can see things in it’s design which put me off somewhat.
What might be nice to have in the Developers section is a way for Developers to sell projects that they create, sort of like Kagie. The Script Builders area is nice, but if you want to create share ware you need to come up with you own solution for selling it. This also might make it more likely that people would join becouse they have a potential source of revenue to help pay for the membership even without bidding on projects. It could also showcase the knoledge and skills of the developers.
hehe …
phunnie you should mention that.
Much more to come …
Wow, Ray explained to me about MacDeveloper in loads more detail by email and it looks very promising indeed, so to re-answer the original question, you should certainly think about posting this job on MacDeveloper. From a buyers point of view, it’s certainly the smart option as opposed to other sites, seeing as the developers are immediately more likely to be able to take on the job because of how specific MacDeveloper is in it’s area of expertise. I can’t wait to see Ray make an “About MacDeveloper” page, what I heard sounds very exiting.
This second proposal sounds interesting, am I sensing a sort of versiontracker-like thing coming on?
I do have one final last concern, which is that if MacDeveloper opens up so close to MacScripter, people will turn their expertise away from helping others to doing jobs on MacDeveloper. I hope this turns out not to be a problem.
Lambo, hey man, thanks for the kind words!
Well, it won’t be a Versiontracker killer, but it will allow Developers to spotlight your shareware offerings. It is our hope to include this in the same subscription, so in some ways it will allow Developers to offset the already low cost of entering. I’m afraid I’ll have to mums the word until we’re ready to unveil it, so please stay tuned.
If history has anything to bear this on, I feel it will not. While members would obviously suggest quick paced, payable projects to MacDeveloper, things should continue on here as they always have. It is my hope members will understand the difference and make that determination when the opportunity presents itself.
Well Ray, you have peaked my interest. It would be nice to have more information, as Lambo said the lack of a fee break down is a problem. I would be interested in signing up as a developer, but without knowing what it will cost, as well as more of how you plan on working the program I’m hesitant to do so. I do have a number of projects that I have been working on in various degree’s of completion, mostly for InDesign. They are sort of on the backburner since I want to market them as shareware but haven’t got around to setting up the method for doing so.
How does this grab ya? :lol:
Monthly: 12.50
Quarterly: 35.50
Yearly: 125.00
Lifetime: 2000.00
Obviously, they’re ridiculously cheap. It would be very easy to complete only one project to cover the cost for the yearly subscription alone. {!!!}
Now comes the best part:
Be sure you take advantage of our Early Bird Special. Register now and get the first three months absolutely free! 
As far as the ‘program’ goes, we designed MacDeveloper to be as straightforward as is possible, without the system getting in the way of things.
For Example:
When you’re awarded a project, the Buyer must fill out a Contract Development Spec {CDS}; a document which serves both as legal instrument as well as job spec. This CDS provides that extra sense of security for both parties involved, essential to building trust. Once the Buyer digitally signs and saves the CDS, the Developer is sent an email notification, allowing them to either accept, or deny the project. If you accept, you’re taken to the same CDS file to digitally sign. This creates a PDF file that has all the development criteria you need to start the project. Both parties can download this PDF at any time for their records.
We both know what it’s like to get burned. The obvious purpose of the Contract Development Spec is to first build trust in the Buyer/Developer relationship, articulate exactly what the expectations are, and moreover avoid any potential “gotchas” that can potentially arise after a project has been awarded and money has exchanged.
Once you both have created and signed a CDS, both parties are sent email notifications revealing your email addresss. While you can certainly use the Private Message Board {PMB} for further communication, this allows you to conduct business any way you choose, unhindered. Once the project has been awarded, you’re not forced to use our system to complete the job.
One of the things that allow us to keep our rates so low is we do not enforce Escrow accounts for the Buyer. This allows you to negotiate your terms any way you wish, generally in advance. At the Developers option, you can elect to accept payments via PayPal through our system. Otherwise, you are free to negotiate how you want to be paid any way you wish.
There are many more system/buyer/developer specific features, but the above are a couple of examples in how much thought went into implementing MacDeveloper. If you have any other questions, please feel free to write me off-forum.
HTH!