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Zyllyx
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Sep 20, 2002, 5:20 PM
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AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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I'm sure this has been brought up before, but it would be nice to be able to offer either individual articles or entire categories of articles as subscription items. With individual articles it would be a matter of buying "on the fly," perhaps with an interface to PayPal, but a subscription to a category would require a user database -- which would be much more complicated.
So I guess if you're not in the mood to do a full subscription module or support in AM, I'd like to see an "on-the-fly" article purchasing system that could interface with PayPal or something similar.
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fraser_itools
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Sep 23, 2002, 9:38 AM
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Re: [Zyllyx] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Thanks for the suggestion. Could we get a little more information on this? I understand how it would work and how it could connect to existing financial services.
I'm more interested in the potential for the market. Do you think the Internet has gotten to the point that you can charge for individual documents? How small would the smallest fee/document be? Less than $.01 would probably be a problem.
Do you think this would be more palatable to your customers than a monthly fee?
If we just implemented Paypal, would that be enough? or are there any other financial systems that people use?
Anyone else on the board want to let us know if you'd like this too?
Fraser Cain - Product Manager
interactivetools.com, inc.
Tel: (604)689-3347 - Fax: (604)689-3342 - Toll Free: 1(800)752-0455
Software for your Website - http://www.interactivetools.com/
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Zyllyx
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Sep 23, 2002, 9:57 AM
Post #3 of 21
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Re: [Fraser] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Thanks for the suggestion. Could we get a little more information on this? I understand how it would work and how it could connect to existing financial services.
I'm more interested in the potential for the market. Do you think the Internet has gotten to the point that you can charge for individual documents? How small would the smallest fee/document be? Less than $.01 would probably be a problem.
Do you think this would be more palatable to your customers than a monthly fee?
If we just implemented Paypal, would that be enough? or are there any other financial systems that people use?
Anyone else on the board want to let us know if you'd like this too?
Thanks for the reply!
RE: Pay-per-article vs. subscription; On my site (http://www.racingpress.com) I would not want to make ALL of my content pay-per-read -- only selected articles. The articles would be available at a cost of between $0.25 to $1.00. Whether it would be simpler to do PPA vs. subscription on a coding side is up for debate, but I would guess that people would be more apt to pay to read a single article than pay a recurring monthly subscription to a site where they may only read one or two articles a month... see what I mean? Give them a one-click solution to pay for articles that are pay-per-read (maybe a little dollar sign by the title or something) on a case-by-case basis, and it gives the reader more choice. That seems like the common sense approach to me.
Then again, it might be good to offer a choice -- i.e., either purchase this article for $0.50 or purchase a monthly subscription for the low low price of $blah... who knows. Suggestions, anyone?
RE: Payment options. My business is still small enough that I do not have a mechanism to take credit cards outside of PayPal. That said, I think that supporting other e-payment methods is a good idea going forward, as well as secure transactions. What the key should be is flexibility on the publisher side, and ease-of-use and simplicity for the end user -- the less clicks and keystrokes it takes for a reader to buy an article, the more apt they'll be to buy.
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Teambldr
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Sep 23, 2002, 11:49 AM
Post #4 of 21
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Re: [Fraser] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Another spin on this that has been talked about is the "free syndication feed - pay per article read".
A thought would be to give the feed away and include a cost to read the whole article above and beyond the summary.
Headline
Date/Time
Summary
Cost to read
When they press the headline it takes them to a summary page along with a signup link to either subscribe or pay per view.
Just a thought!
Brian
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fraser_itools
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Sep 23, 2002, 11:52 AM
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Re: [Teambldr] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Or you could figure out a way to split the fee with your syndicates, giving them a good reason to post the articles on their site.
Fraser Cain - Product Manager
interactivetools.com, inc.
Tel: (604)689-3347 - Fax: (604)689-3342 - Toll Free: 1(800)752-0455
Software for your Website - http://www.interactivetools.com/
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Teambldr
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Sep 23, 2002, 11:57 AM
Post #6 of 21
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Re: [Fraser] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Fraser....
Now you are getting my attention!!!!!
But that would require multiple steps:
1. Registration for syndication
2. Affiliate tracking for views and subscriptions
3. Payment tracing and reporting
4. Ability to deactivate an affiliate which pulls the feed.
and maybe more....
but I reeeeeeeeeeeeally like it!
Brian
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fraser_itools
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Sep 23, 2002, 12:04 PM
Post #7 of 21
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Re: [Teambldr] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Well, keep in mind that I'm not a programmer, and we're just brainstorming here - so that's about as far from a completed application as we could possibly get.
And, as you noted, the implementation can get complex with all the additional requirements to do this properly. Still, I like the possiblities.
Anyone else think this would be something they could use?
Fraser Cain - Product Manager
interactivetools.com, inc.
Tel: (604)689-3347 - Fax: (604)689-3342 - Toll Free: 1(800)752-0455
Software for your Website - http://www.interactivetools.com/
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Teambldr
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Sep 23, 2002, 12:09 PM
Post #8 of 21
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Re: [Fraser] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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One other thought...
A revenue split 3 ways.
The author
The feed user
The publisher
That is a homerun!
Of course the revenue split would have to be controllable and assignable. Some authors you may not want to pay and some you will. etc...
EDIT: And as per control, the percentages need to be controllable. Some you may want to pay more than others.
Brian
(This post was edited by Teambldr on Sep 23, 2002, 12:11 PM)
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WebGuys
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Sep 24, 2002, 8:31 AM
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Re: [MalaK_3araby] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Hi guys, my .02 is that although i am not crazy about paying for articles myself, i do like some of the ideas presented here, seems some people were awake in class :) the revenue split idea is great
we use Authorize.net as our gateway here and prefer it over paypal just because it looks more proffesional than paypal, although i do love paypay, they are great so dont misunderstand.
the option to do a pay per view is a great idea to have available.
WebGuys
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fraser_itools
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Sep 24, 2002, 9:20 AM
Post #11 of 21
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Re: [WebGuys] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Well, that's the basic issue. I think people are still in the "I'm entitled to free content" mindset. More and more websites are finding ways to get paid for their content, but only when their content is essential.
So, I think that it would be a neat technology, but I also think that it's a little premature for people to actually make signficant money with it.
But then, maybe that's the best time to introduce something. It's not our job to curb your ambitions. ;-)
Fraser Cain - Product Manager
interactivetools.com, inc.
Tel: (604)689-3347 - Fax: (604)689-3342 - Toll Free: 1(800)752-0455
Software for your Website - http://www.interactivetools.com/
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DaveCusick2
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Sep 27, 2002, 11:37 AM
Post #12 of 21
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Re: [Fraser] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Funny this topic should come up now, as at work at the moment, we're investigating the possibility of making some parts of our online content available on a pay-for-access basis using a micropayment system.
Paypal isn't as big in the UK as it seems to be across the pond, but a similar system called Nochex is gaining in popularity and there are a number of other systems around which provide alternatives to credit/debit cards - ideal for smaller payment amounts and of course those who don't actually have a credit/debit card.
One of the things we've been looking at is how the various systems could be tied into our existing Web site system, part of which is built around AM. I'll keep you guys posted if we come up with anything workable...
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Dave Cusick
Web Administrator, Live Publishing International
http://www.livepublishing.co.uk
...but currently at home, hence the separate account
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fraser_itools
Staff
Sep 27, 2002, 1:48 PM
Post #13 of 21
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Re: [DaveCusick2] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Please do. I'd like to see exactly how a website would present a fee-per-article system to the customer. And if you're building it on top of Article Manager, all the better. :-)
Fraser Cain - Product Manager
interactivetools.com, inc.
Tel: (604)689-3347 - Fax: (604)689-3342 - Toll Free: 1(800)752-0455
Software for your Website - http://www.interactivetools.com/
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canvey
User
Sep 27, 2002, 4:20 PM
Post #14 of 21
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Re: [DaveCusick2] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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You have just beaten me to it :)
What I was going to say is in any payment scheme, please don't forget us in the UK - it is frustrating when a product develops some sort of payment system, and the bases it solely for the US market. 
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fraser_itools
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Sep 27, 2002, 5:07 PM
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Re: [canvey] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Well, keep in mind that we're Canadian, so we try to keep our eye towards the global marketplace... but, if there are different technologies that we'd need to use to implement for different marketplaces, I'm sure you can imagine what our 2-do list would look like... ;-)
Fraser Cain - Product Manager
interactivetools.com, inc.
Tel: (604)689-3347 - Fax: (604)689-3342 - Toll Free: 1(800)752-0455
Software for your Website - http://www.interactivetools.com/
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DaveCusick2
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Sep 28, 2002, 7:10 PM
Post #16 of 21
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Re: [Fraser] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Actually, just had another look at PayPal and it's no longer as unattractive to Brits as it used to be.
The main change is that they are finally introducing international currencies (pound sterling and euro to begin with) next month. In the past, UK companies wouldn't have wanted to use PayPal because it only dealt in dollars - and a UK company selling to UK punters using dollars looks a bit strange!
There's still the disadvantage of having to pay an extra quid to PayPal every time you add or withdraw funds from your PayPal account, but this isn't a huge hardship.
-
Dave Cusick
Web Administrator, Live Publishing International
http://www.livepublishing.co.uk
...but currently at home, hence the separate account
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canvey
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Sep 29, 2002, 5:59 AM
Post #17 of 21
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Re: [DaveCusick2] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Thanks - will take a look.
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taylor
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Nov 1, 2002, 6:27 AM
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Re: [canvey] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Thought I would share some information I found concerning this--more and more respected content sites (time.com, salon.com, nytimes.com, wsj.com) are using this model. Here's some info I found:
http://www.yaga.com/land/yaga_ibill.html
(look at the bottom of this free article:)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101021028-366304,00.html
(which links to this:)
http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/from_related/0,10987,1101980914-139930,00.html
Hope this helps. It would be a great addition to AM to have it hook up to these kind of e-commerce services for indie content publishers.
Taylor
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fraser_itools
Staff
Nov 15, 2002, 9:18 AM
Post #20 of 21
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Re: [Lionel] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Subscription to a category is interesting. But do you charge them for each category? Do you do anything to charge them for each article in each category?
I'd love to hear a little more about how you've implemented this.
Fraser Cain - Product Manager
interactivetools.com, inc.
Tel: (604)689-3347 - Fax: (604)689-3342 - Toll Free: 1(800)752-0455
Software for your Website - http://www.interactivetools.com/
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Lionel
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Nov 15, 2002, 11:29 AM
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Re: [Fraser] AM: Per-article payment/subscription module?
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Subscription to a category is interesting. But do you charge them for each category? Do you do anything to charge them for each article in each category?
You could or could not charge them for each category, if you use different templates /index/cat.html. However, I don't believe it is right to "protect" an entire category, as people will not subscribe to a category without knowing what's in it. It's better to tease them with all the categories headlines and summaries.
The same goes for articles. You could protect all articles for all categories by publishing in /publish/articles and protect the entire directory.
So you have two choices remaining:
1-Charge them for every article within a category while some other categories remain free (again you must have different articles/template.html and make the determination of which is going to be free or not). That's my current setup. Except that I am member based and am not charging anything, yet. But hooking that up to a gateway is easily doable. If you use vbulletin member base as I do, you could be more sophisticated and have one group having access to a specific category, another one to all, etc... paving up the way for different prices. After registration/payment, client is re-directed to the page he was trying to access or give him access to a packaged zipped file for download (he will feel better to get something for his money instead of plain air).
2-Charge them on a pick and choose article basis.
The way that I currently do it on my site is simple. I simply incorporate a php tag in the article/templates.html on the first line, right before the html, that says requires authorization.php. As a result, when you browse a category and click on an article link to read, before that article page opens up it goes to the authorization.php script routine. It will ask you for your password. You have one, it will display the remaining html. You don't, then the script issues the exit command and redirects you to wherever you say (maybe a signup form). Such signup form will get the credit card info etc...
Now, reading this thread earlier, I thought it was cool to charge on a pick and choose per article basis. I was thinking of simply creating a check box field "Charged for Article (<?php require "/path/to/authorization.php"); ?>)" and in the article template, place $art_field(number)$ at the very first line. So, when you write an article, if you select that box, it will print that line where it supposed to be and therefore protect the chosen individual article
Where it gets really interesting, I am tying up the entire thing with an affiliate program, which, by syndicating the news, will allow those news to be all over, and when you click on those headlines and make a purchase, the other sites make money too.
Make sense? If you need more info, Luke has all my coordonates.
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