Author Topic: A little rant about AutoDesk Exchange  (Read 8042 times)

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BlackBox

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Re: A little rant about AutoDesk Exchange
« Reply #15 on: April 07, 2014, 12:51:20 PM »
+/- $0.60 after PayPal's cut.

Flat fee or percentage?

... Approx 33% per transaction.

[Edit] - Since my apps are only $1 at this time, I am unsure if there's a max (i.e., 33% up to $10, etc.).
"How we think determines what we do, and what we do determines what we get."

Locke

  • Guest
Re: A little rant about AutoDesk Exchange
« Reply #16 on: April 07, 2014, 12:58:52 PM »
+/- $0.60 after PayPal's cut.

Flat fee or percentage?

... Approx 33% per transaction.

[Edit] - Since my apps are only $1 at this time, I am unsure if there's a max (i.e., 33% up to $10, etc.).

Ouch.  Not cool PayPal.  Not cool.

LE3

  • Guest
Re: A little rant about AutoDesk Exchange
« Reply #17 on: April 07, 2014, 01:09:10 PM »
+/- $0.60 after PayPal's cut.

Flat fee or percentage?

... Approx 33% per transaction.

[Edit] - Since my apps are only $1 at this time, I am unsure if there's a max (i.e., 33% up to $10, etc.).

Wow -- wonder if it worth all the effort to put together a tool and on that price, and apart the time that might end up spending on providing support...

BlackBox

  • King Gator
  • Posts: 3770
Re: A little rant about AutoDesk Exchange
« Reply #18 on: April 07, 2014, 01:21:42 PM »
+/- $0.60 after PayPal's cut.

Flat fee or percentage?

... Approx 33% per transaction.

[Edit] - Since my apps are only $1 at this time, I am unsure if there's a max (i.e., 33% up to $10, etc.).

Ouch.  Not cool PayPal.  Not cool.

If you think that's bad....

I recently participated in Autodesk's Portathon event, which was a lot of fun, and I got paid handsomely for each app I published (4 of 5 apps max, per developer).

When all was said and done, they wanted to pay us via PayPal (which I was aware of from the outset), and I had to jump through some (albeit worthwhile) hoops in order to receive direct deposit. The only issue with the latter, was that their 3rd party payment company took a percentage in addition to my banks $19.00 fee for international payments (even though Autodesk said they wouldn't do that). I still ended up with a great deal more of what I earned, than had I used PayPal, so it all worked out.



Back to the thread topic; as a developer, my only issues are that I just wish they'd leave formatting alone.

I submit an app pages content with my app submittal. It has paragraph formatting within it's HTML, and some app pages maintain it, other seem to remove it. Some of the developer links (like to my homepage, etc.) 'show' fine, but are linked improperly. I check the back-end content I uploaded and it is correct.

Worst IMHO, is that I submit an app .bundle in accordance with the criteria, and what I receive back for final review prior to having an update 'go live' is different than what I submitted, but they don't bother to inform me of what changes they've unilaterally, and inconsistently made to each-and-every-single app (I have 4 pending updates). Some examples of the changes I mean, are that they've renamed directories in my app's .bundle, they've modified my PackageContents.xml file - and I don't mean just adding additional header content for the apps store purposes, they've added XmlAttributes, and even added Command XmlNodes, and XmlAttributes to demand-load an event-based plug-in that is supposed to execute at Initialize().

As a developer I find each instance of this not only frustrating, but confusing... It seems like each app reviewer does what they want, and inconsistently at that. All of my apps are similarly structured for simplicity, and seemingly what's fine in one app is not in another that implements similar functionality (basic context menus, nothing advanced at all). I want to provide quality app content to would-be customers, just as I do for my daily work supporting users here.

If I've done something incorrectly, point it out, offer guidance, and I'll learn... Unilateral, and unannounced changes to something I am ultimately responsible for according to prospective customers is frankly unacceptable... Ultimately, this is why I've delayed multiple app updates, which I submitted late last year, between now having to go through each one-by-one to determine what, if anything, has changed, and then address the merit individually, documenting my comments, etc. and re-submitting to Autodesk for review. Having started a new job +/- 60 days ago, with substantially greater responsibilities, I've simply not made the time for this, let alone dig into SincPac with Jeff (I feel bad for both, but need to get to a plateau first).

/rant
« Last Edit: April 07, 2014, 01:51:33 PM by BlackBox »
"How we think determines what we do, and what we do determines what we get."

BlackBox

  • King Gator
  • Posts: 3770
Re: A little rant about AutoDesk Exchange
« Reply #19 on: April 07, 2014, 01:29:52 PM »
+/- $0.60 after PayPal's cut.

Flat fee or percentage?

... Approx 33% per transaction.

[Edit] - Since my apps are only $1 at this time, I am unsure if there's a max (i.e., 33% up to $10, etc.).

Wow -- wonder if it worth all the effort to put together a tool and on that price, and apart the time that might end up spending on providing support...

It's not... I'm certainly not doing it for the money. LoL

My first published app (Right Click Rename) took me a long while to work out being that I am so new to .NET development, and I had to go through the app submittal criteria (i.e., CUIx, help file, PackageContents.xml, etc.). It was very much a learning process for me, but I felt it important not to pass that initial cost onto others for ultimately, such a simple app.

I maintained that model, and continued to enhance it with each subsequent app submittal, to where I am now with pending updates.

Other apps will warrant a higher fee, but for now, I'm offering a small amount of my work for what I consider to be a reasonable fee that covers the legitimate work (not learning) that was invested in these simple, not simplistic, and hopefully elegant apps.

Cheers
« Last Edit: April 07, 2014, 01:49:06 PM by BlackBox »
"How we think determines what we do, and what we do determines what we get."

ChrisCarlson

  • Guest
Re: A little rant about AutoDesk Exchange
« Reply #20 on: April 07, 2014, 01:33:15 PM »
I think the developer in this sense is just wanting to know the clientelle. Maybe AE doesn't show this information?

Information requested

a.     Your name/Company name
b.    Product name (Batch-In-Editor or Batch-In-Database)
c.     Product Version (v1.0)
d.    Product serial number
e.     Request Code
f.     Build version(1.0.1.2)
g.    Country/State name

At the end of the day this app now works perfectly as advertised, and should it run correctly it will save on editing 12800 drawings. At 30~ seconds to open, edit the xref location and save, we are looking at 107 labor hours of savings. :fingers crossed:

BlackBox

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Re: A little rant about AutoDesk Exchange
« Reply #21 on: April 07, 2014, 01:35:29 PM »
Maybe AE doesn't show this information?

FWIW -

At any time, an app publisher can download the data associated with a given app they've published, which is a .CSV breakdown of each download transaction, and contains the user's Autodesk Exchange account information.

Not all information is required, and many users leave their employer, country, etc. blank.

Cheers
"How we think determines what we do, and what we do determines what we get."