buckcosta

I am not sure whether PayPal could be the one-stop final solution for my payment process or not, please see the details below: 2 types of payment : One-off Annually and Recurring/Subscription Monthly 1. One-off Annual Payment: - Pay Admin Fee + One off yearly fee = Total One-off Payment (I think "Buy It Now" or "Pay Now" could do the trick.) BUT is there any coupon code function support before checkout? 2. Recurring / Subscription Monthly Payment (2 Year Contract): - Charge one-off admin fee + first month payment (and then monthly charge by direct debit or other ways) << Could PayPal be able to handle this process at all?? - There are 3 price options to choose from and each is different. - Coupon code may apply before checkout Questions for method #2 1. Could PayPal be able to handle Direct Debit (customer enters their bank details: sort-code and acc. no.)? 2. Could PayPal be able to automatically take money from customer's account or Do I have to manually sending an invoice or sending anything to customer, for example like "click-to-pay" in every month? 3. As it's a contract, how to prevent customer from cancelling the recurring/subscription payment? 4. Is there anyway at all or is it legal to take the rest of the money automatically if customer breaks the rules or cancel a contract? and How?

Sorry but I don't quite get the picture, will it work when the domain belongs to client + about 10-15 employees + they expect to pay nothing extra as they've already been paid for their website + the idea of using Google as an email hub for their organisation - I don't think they will get it.

Do you choose web-based or desktop based email client? As quite recently, one of my client wanted to switch from using IMAP or POP method to web-based email client such as Squirrel or Horde instead. What are pros and cons in each approach? From my company's point of view as in a web designer: IMAP or POP Pros: Emails, contacts, and etc are stored at local machine, no need to back-up, if anything went wrong with the server we don't have to worry about losing client's valuable business emails and contacts Cons: I need to keep all details about client's PC, which programs they're using and also keep all up-to-date in order to make a well synchronization between server and local. If in case there is any problem persisting even with their local machine itself, they'll call me anyway - in the other word, more hassle. Web-based email client Pros: Anywhere in the world with an Internet to access Cons: Their business sensitive emails and contacts are stored at our server, we need to take full responsibility if there's something happening. Client cannot backup their emails and contacts themselves, we need to do it ourselves manually, that increases our job. Clients may believe we have a full control to get access to their information and tampered with it. What's your recommendation?

Lol, I always add "a jerk tax" for this kind of client, depends on the level of jerkiness they are, take it or leave it as I don't like spending time solving their indefinite problems and complaints for the rest of my life.

Thanks guys for your reply, especially on Saturday. Well "preset package" serves its job quite well on a non-fussy no technical knowledge client, who appreciates everything you throw them into in order to having their website up and running. But true this doesn't fit with the rest of clients in this hectic world but at least giving them a based price and fast idea how much it would cost them. Because believe it or not, some of them (many) think that having a website with a designer and developer involved shouldn't cost them more than you pay for one meal or a cup of coffee, I honestly don't want to see any more heart-attacking faces when they heard the price I quote in person. People thinks "website" is ridiculously cheap and anyone could do it. Well, for this potential client, I think I'll send them a project requirement form for them to fill it in, then will produce a proposal with quotation later instead of telling them the price now because I could also sense the same things as you guys mentioned. Anyway appreciate more recommendation from you guys, please advice.

My company has a preset website package price for Ecommerce shop, say £1,500, which includes free domain, hosting, and limited number of product categories, email accounts and etc. Apart from that preset price if they want a custom design site which falls out of the package, I could easily give clients a quotation if the work starts from scratch because I can estimate how much time, effort, and resources I need to invest into the project. But except for today, I have received an inquiry email from a reputable company, the person who contacts me wants to know how much I would charge their company for when they already have their own 1. a template 2. a domain 3. a web host and also this saying from them: - I want you to setup an online shop in order to process the online payment for me - A few modification - Add a few things for me It sounds like they expect to pay a lot less rather than what the package price says and you don't know for sure how much A FEW things and modification are exactly, which on my terms, this work is classified as "custom design website - on the contrary, cost them more than the preset package price". What make me quite worry is a lot clients always say like this in the beginning but would be a pain in the ass for a developer later. If you were me, how much would you charge them for and what will be your next move?

Sorted!

I'm starting a new marketing affiliate program by allowing people to copy specific links from my site, then place this link on their websites with a direct image link from my site. The problem is my affiliates reporting back that all the direct images linked from my site don't display at all. Is there anything I have to solve with .htaccess? (When I try to copy direct url of an image in the browser, it displays normal but not from my affiliates' site.)

Exactly what I need. Thanks, mate.

I am asking for "topics" not the content, after reading comments from here I need to do a lot of research and digest it from there, blend it with my own knowledge and experience before writing a blog.

Moonfruit, Webs, Weebly, Yola and etc.

Indeed I am about to.

I don't mean to offend anybody or cause any debates here regarding about this topic. As I've seen so so many good website builder companies out there who charge their customers for such a tiny fragment of money each month comparing with the lum-sum money people has to invest in acquiring their own design and feels with web design studio - is it worth it to pay a higher price for custom design? (I am talking about normal consumers, individual person who doesn't have much to invest like corporate). Website builder's template designs aren't bad at all nowadays plus customer could insert their own code and CSS in order to get the nearest feels and looks suitable with their requirement. As I am running web design and development studio myself, it's such a tough industry and extremely competitive market with tons of many talented designers and developers lurking behind their desk, with millions more to come in the nearly future due to the economic crisis. Questions are: 1. What do you think about the future of web design studio or any individual freelancer working from home could be? 2. What are pros and cons between free or cheap website builder vs web design studio? 3. What are the interesting topics you'd like to read about web design and developing business related?