Hey all,

I'm new to the Indie scene would like some pointers in the follwing areas:

* I have a game ready and would like to know what Indie publishers you know of that I can send a demo to.

* If I don't use a publisher and want to sell the game myself, what Credit card handling servoces are available (I know about Paypal but they need too many steps from the customners site at the end)

* If you have any other tips please do point them out.

Thanks in advance
Leslie Young

1. You might want to check out www.gamethoughts.com or www.garagegames.com

2. I think you would probably want to use a service that does all the order processing and distribution for you. Heres a table comparing all the different registration companies http://www.regshare.com/matrix1a.asp
I think the BMT Micro plus plan looked the best.

I use emetrix to handle my online transactions. You can add\modify your products instantly, furthermore,it has an excellent fraud protection and the commission rate is low.:)

Thanks for the replys.

Brad: I know of garagegames (I licensed the Torque engine to develop my next game with and also send the demo of the other game last night, just to see what they think)

I'll have a look at that URLs, thanks

Originally posted by Xyber
(I know about Paypal but they need too many steps from the customners site at the end)

* If you have any other tips please do point them out.

Thanks in advance
Leslie Young

whatever you do, don't do paypal

Actually, a correction to what Dragon Keeper said. Don't exclusively use PayPal. For what it is, the rates aren't too bad. There are certainly others that are much worse. But if you do use them, make sure they're not your only way to pay for the product.

You see, from his reaction alone, you can see that some people just hate PayPal. They won't use it because they know that a portion of the money goes to PayPal. They disagree with the way they do business, the lack of support, whatever it is, they don't like it and you're not going to change that.

If you offer several payment options and PayPal is one of them, you're much better off. The webstore I purchased has support for a PayPal module integrated right into it, but I haven't purchased it. I really don't have much need to, although I might do so, just because I've had some problems lately with international sales and the AVS that's built into my credit card payment processing agent. I can shut it off, but I'm not going to.

Another potential hangup is the fact that if a person doesn't already have a paypal account, they have to go sign up for one, come back, and then order. Giving the customers another hoop to jump through is not the way to encourage sales. In my webstore, we have buy it now links where it's possible to go from start to finish in three clicks. Make it easy to pay, and if you have a good product, they'll do so.

couldn't of said it better man

I would agree with not having Paypal be your only way to purchase. Paypal has been known to freeze accounts if they have any problems with fraud. As a result, if that's your only revenue source, you could find yourself locked out of funds for several weeks or months while you fight with paypal.

There are tons of horror stories about dealing with their service. Notice that you cannot find a phone number anywhere to call paypal...this is by design, according to interviews I have read.

With that said, I have had no problems with paypal in using it as a consumer.

Would just like to add that actually, it's probably a good option to include PayPal as an option for online purchasing. Not everyone has a credit card, and PayPal offers an additional method of online payment for those who don't.

-Z-

My biggest problem with using PayPal is that you have to give them direct access to your checking account. While on one hand, this is convenient, on the other hand, you open yourself up to some major hassles. If they think you owe them money for any reason, they can take it and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

I had this problem with an ISP once where I had dial up service for a while. I gave them my account number, they took the money once every 3 months, and it was fine. But, I cancelled my account after 6 months, since I was only there temporarily. Now, I trust my math, so I rarely balanced my checkbook back then unless I noticed a major problem. A year after I moved, I noticed my checking account was getting more and more off. I decided that it was about time. (It had been 4 years, after all). So as I balanced it, I realized that this ISP had been continuing to bill me for a year after I had cancelled their service.

Yes, it was my own fault. No question there. But after calling my bank, they refused to do anything. They said if it were a credit card transaction, they would do something since that would fall under credit card protection. But checking accounts have no such protection. The ISP refused to refund any of my money and said they'd continue billing me until they got something in writing as a cancellation.

My only option since the ISP refused to speak with me anymore was to close the checking account, open a new one, and order all new checks. From then on, I will never give anyone direct access to my checking account. As for my problem with paypal, as I'm sure all of you know, they intentionally make it difficult to find their customer support phone numbers. Would you really want to deal with the headache the one time that something happens? It's up to you if you are. I'm not though.

FYI: I'm sure I had other options and could have taken them to small claims court to get my money back, but it was a very long time ago and at this point, I don't care about the incident any more. I used it to illustrate a point. That being, that giving someone direct access to your checking/debit account does not afford you the same protections that a credit card does.

Paypal's been known to do all kinds of crazy and evil things to people, and I probably wouldn't join them at this point if I didn't have a fairly old paypal account (which, i seem to recall, exempts me from at least one or two of their later evil proclamations... things that applied only to accounts created after some date).

On the other hand, I carry a small balance in my Paypal account (for various reasons) and if I see something small I want to purchase online and they accept Paypal, I'm far more likely to buy it than I am if they only take credit cards.

Mental process goes something like: I've already got the money right there. I can just go ahead. I don't need to dig my card out of my wallet. I don't have to worry about paying for it at a later date. I don't need to worry about seeing it on my statement later and wishing I hadn't paid for it (or someone else seeing it on my statement later and giving me grief about the waste).

Of course, this is all anecdotal and I have no idea how common I am in this regard, but if you want to attract *me* as an impulse buyer, Paypal is a good thing to have. :)