Hello all,

i had recently made a perfect mediafire.com clone. It is exactly same as Mediafire using the same javascript they are using. and i coded the backend and database. I had tested it and its working exactly the same way mediafire does. It has multiple server support, multiple languauge support, admin panel, and all.

Actually i did that code just to improve my programming skills and it took me about 5 days to finish the code.

But today when i go through google i found that many ppl are looking for a perfect mediafire clone jst like wht i made. So i am thinking seriously about selling it. Not to a single person but like MFHS.

So here is where i need your suggestion. I like to know you opnion about how much do i have to sell it for? i mean the cost of the code.

At many places i saw ppls bid for around an average of 1200$. But that is to a single person and is customized. But the code i made is not customised its just the exact clone of Mediafire( coz i am so poor in designing but all the images have been copied into the localhost and their is absoutly no call to any other site ).

So how much do you think i will sell it for??..

Please give me your suggestions. I never sold a code before so i dont know the price.

Remember its an exact collne.( http://www.mediafire.com ) If you guys need a demo for suggesting the price then replay. I can arrange a demo in 2-3 days as i need to make some tweaks before i sell it.

Edit: Sorry forget to ad some words about mediafire for those who dont know about it. Mediafire is a free file hosting site which uses mainly Ajax and have a nice design and useabliity. It is one the top rated site i saw in my experience which uses ajax and php to make some thing so cute n nice.

Regards,
Anush

This post has been edited by silverblaze: 22 May, 2008 - 06:31 AM

if it's an EXACT clone, there's possible copyright infringement in it, so you should go through and double check everything first, otherwise you could get into some trouble...

as for the price, i'm not sure, as I sell nothing

by exact copy i mean i jst take their images and javascript and i decoded the javascript which was really hard. As both of them are availabe and i havent done any hacking i am not sure whether thr is a possiblity of Copyright infringement.

But if you ppl think copyin thr javascript or images in illegal please let me know about it as i never heard so before.

And more over the whole php and working code is written by myself by using my imagination and coding skills i have earned so far. I jst decoded thr javascript and learn it and then created a php file to match the script.

Just using the phrase "take their" in that post shows that there's possible copyright infringement. You really need to keep an eye on that. If it was released under a GNU license or such, you could use their source code, but then you couldn't sell it for commercial purposes.

Regardless, make sure the majority of your code is original. You don't want MediaFire to think you've infringed on their copyright, because they will start to cease and desist you.

However, there's nothing wrong with building a clone of a site. The problem is coming from the fact that you've deconstructed their script and used it as your own. You wouldn't want somebody doing that to you would you?

Hope that helps clarify some things for you. Good luck with everything.

thanks JBrace1990 & akozlik..

i will look into it and will do the nesseary.

I will then rite a new js code keeping theirs as a reference. I think then the prob will be solved.

So if i write a new js code the complete source code will be mine, In such case how much will i get if i sell the code?

I don't know. That's like me asking you how much I could sell my car for. Consider how much work you put into the project, figure out your hourly rate, and go from there. If you think there's a market, you could drop your price down. It really depends on quality of code, time you put into it, fully working features, whether or not you're going to offer upgrades, tech support, etc. Have you taken these things into account? What do you think the code's worth?

hehe.. i kne its like asking "asking you how much I could sell my car for" ...
but i dont actually know the current market rate thats why i asked you.

considering the amount of work i put into it, the time taken( including the time im goin to take to code my own js) i think around 1250$ is pretty much okey. But that is when i am selling it to a single person. but wht i like to do is to selling it commercial. That is why i am confused, if i sell it for some 250$ or 500$ i will get what it worth if 3-6 copies are sold. But i am still confused about the amount. i dont knw wether this will be less or high. i dont want it to be a loss for both me and the buyer.

About the functions it has all the functions of mediafire, each and every single one. The only thing that is not perfect in tht code compared to mediafire is that when uploading after the upload is complete their is a file verification in mediafire, i actually dont know how to verify the uploaded files, so i just put a dummy progress bar their. Other than that the code has all the functions of mediafire. And al of them perfectly working. Also after reading an article about security in this forum itself i had done some research on it and removed all the known vulreablites also.

Also i will provide tech support and future upgrades as i am already working on premium members and earning system to intgrate it into the code so that it wil become better that mediafire. but it will be avaliable only for the next upgrade. And also i can give them 1 year free upgrade.

So wht do you think about the cost?

Get a demo up. Get the word out. Get some FREE users. Show people that there is interest in your site. Then start marketing. I know I wouldn't drop any money on a product that may or may not flop.

It looks like your idea is kind of like the pricing of vBulletin. The "top" version of vBulletin is selling for $160, so for a new product (vBulletin is widely used among large sites as you know) I wouldn't charge anything above that. I realize they aren't the same thing (one being for forums and the other for file uploads) but you have to start small.

Maleficus makes some great points. Definitely put up a demo and get some free members. You've really got to promote your product and get people using it. There's no way I'd go and drop $1250 personally on software that I didn't know the stability of. Hell, not even Mac OS is that expensive.

Developing commercial software is definitely tricky business. I think you've got your pricing amounts mixed up as well. You should sell a non-commercial version of your software to individual users for cheaper than you would sell it to businesses. Individuals don't have giant amounts of money to spend, but businesses have that budgeted.

Do some research into similar products, put the word out, get some free trial members, and you're good to go. You might also want to write it to be handled on a subscription basis, like renting out space on your hard drive. Something tells me there'd be more of a market for that. You could do like, $10 for 500 MB or a gig or whatever. I actually think that might be your best bet. I work for a client right now who has a subscription service that he charges $14 a month for, and he's making over $1400 a month off the fees. Just food for thought.

Take care

thank you for your great advices...

I will follow as u said, i will up a demo soon and i think i can give codes for free for a small amount( say 25$ or 50$) for review. And after some 5-10 of them are sold and after collecting the feedbacks and whn i feels its ready to go i think i can raise the amount to some 150 to 200$ or so.

And a spl thanks to akozlik, your advice was really a food for my thoughts. When i read that, i got an inovative idea. I will try to make it happen surly i vl let you know.

Thankyou all for all your great support, finally i am getting this feeling that i am reaching somewhr. If you have anymore adivces or suggestions, you are always welcome.

Regards,
Anush

Just one more thing.

Definitely focus on giving away free trials for like, 3 months. People typically don't want to pay anything to try software out. I was house hunting the other day and this site wanted me to pay $3 for a trial of their site to view homes, and I clicked out. I figure if your site is good enough I will see the value for it during a free trial, and then decide to subscribe. People are always wary of spending their money, especially in today's economy.

Those free trials are also integral in working out all the bugs and kinks in your program. You'll never cease to be amazed by the crazy things people try to do on your site that you never would have imagined. There's no way you can bug test everything yourself, so using your free trial members to report bugs is great. Also make sure you set up some sort of bug notification function that is called whenever something goes wrong, and e-mails the bug error to you. You can't always rely on your customers 100% to report bugs to you.

Let us know about the progress! I'd love to scope it out sometime and see how it works.

Glad to hear the tips and comments helped. You can always PM me if you've got any more questions, or just keep posting to this thread. I'm a pretty seasoned freelance programmer, so I definitely have some good experiences of what to do and what not to do. As always, take care, and good luck.

thanks akozlik,

i havnt thought about a free trial yet actually, you are 100% correct. But i like to think it this way, if i was goin thru something and i find i will get something for free for 2-3 months which otherwise i have to pay i will really give it a try. And also if its great, i will let other kne abt it too.

Now you can bet i am goin to give a free trial to the service i am goin to run once the new idea worked out well.

By the way can you advice some good data centers i can actually relay on. I might be needing some good performace dedicated servers for low cost.

thank you.

take care...