68 replies to this topic

[jimdango2]

Hello!

I would like to request to the admins/mods that they create a new forum specifically for users who are soliciting paid help/services RFPs from other members.

I came here today specifically looking for someone who could help a client of mine with an OSCommerce security issue which they are having. Unfortunately, I can't do that because it is against policy. The client has fired their old web designer/dev and wants one who specifically works on OSCommerce.

It is perfectly sane and reasonable that you would not want sales requests and solicitations in other topic areas. However, there is a clear demand for this from your users, as demonstrated by posts just here on the General Discussion front page:

http://forums.oscommerce.com/topic/385588-topic-removed/
http://forums.oscommerce.com/topic/385631-am-i-allowed-to-post-about-looking-for-a-web-designer/
http://forums.oscommerce.com/topic/385407-os-commerce-developers/

Note that these are all people seeking help, not peddling their services. And, this is the obvious place to do it if we are looking for help specifically related to OSCommerce.

Lay down some rules, and if things get bad, you can always just close the thing down and say you tried.

Alternatively, if this is just not up for discussion, it might be a good idea to post a sticky with suggestions from your regular members on where users like myself can do to solicit help (Webhostingtalk, etc). I work on high-performance computing for oncology research! I don't know where to go to find a good web developer who is specifically experienced with OSCommerce.

Thanks for your consideration on this contentious topic.

[kymation]

We used to have one. It was removed. Although I think it's a good idea, don't hold your breath.

Regards
Jim

[Harald Ponce de Leon]

Hi All..

Commercial support providers can be found here:

http://www.oscommerce.com/partners/corporate/list,developers

The forum is for public discussions where members help one another out, including guests reading the discussion.

A job board is planned where enquiries can be published (for a low fee).

Kind regards,

[burt]

@Harald Ponce de Leon -  Why not have 1 sticky post that cannot be replied to, with a list of people who you know can do quality osCommerce work AND post on the forum providing value.  It solves everything at 1 stroke.  Why not offer a "certification" system - that is a list of people that YOU have certified as those who know their stuff.  Once a person has been certified, they could renew the certificate every quarter for a fee.  That gets you some cash, and people looking for a developer can contact easily that list of people for a quote on whatever is needing work done.  I think you know who you would certify immediately, and knocking up a forum post would take 10 minutes.  You could make some type of "osCommerce Certified Developer" badge for people to use on their websites.  

Is it not about what adds value to the community?  Part of YOUR community is developers.  Embrace everyone for a brighter future.

[Harald Ponce de Leon]

Hi Gary..

How is that different to the Corporate Sponsors?

Kind regards,

[toyicebear]

Corporate sponsors are not exactly "certified", its just some companies paying a monthly fee to be listed and to have some banners show.

A certified developer list/directory should not be "mixed" up with banner views etc.

Paying a fee should not be the only criteria to be listed, proven experience with oscommerce coding should also be a criteria.

If any fees are involved for the listing then is should rather be an initial administrative certification fee and re-certification fee after a set period schedule.

Edited by toyicebear, 08 April 2012 - 09:25 AM.

[Harald Ponce de Leon]

Hi Nick..

They are more than capable of being labeled as "certified".

Kind regards,

Edited by Harald Ponce de Leon, 08 April 2012 - 09:20 AM.

[Biancoblu]

I completely agree with Gary on his idea for a certification system.
I have been here since 2006 and have now learnt who I can trust and who I can't in terms of hiring professional, paid help, but new members are surely lost, as I was at the beginning. There are people here that look for newbies in order to offer, even push, so-called professional services which turn out to be a complete nightmare, I have experienced that myself, and many others have too.

I think it would therefore make this community a safer place if we had a list of oscommerce certified developers.

[Harald Ponce de Leon]

Hi Nick..

(I hate editing posts adding new content, so here is a new post)

There are banners shown from Corporate Sponsors however this is not an advertising/banner system. All enquiries are verified to make sure the partner is qualified and is of interest to the community. This is not an automated system - only partners providing services related to e-commerce and to the community are accepted.

Kind regards,

[Harald Ponce de Leon]

Hi Isabella..

The bronze level Corporate Sponsorship would be ideal for this. Marketing materials can be provided and badges can be shown similar to the Community Sponsor badge.

Is it the price that is an issue?

Kind regards,

[toyicebear]

Due to the cost  involved in the current corporate "sponsor" program its very limited, as seen only 3 companies are listed under "Development".

It would be much more beneficial for the community to have a much larger "directory" of certified developers to choose from, this is especially true for newbies/start-up shop owners on very restricted budgets who can not afford to hire companies like those listed under corporate sponsors to do modifications to their site.

[Harald Ponce de Leon]

Hi All..

BTW, the spotlight on our partners have even more focus on our new website (in development):

http://new.oscommerce.com/index.php?Services

Kind regards,

Edited by Harald Ponce de Leon, 08 April 2012 - 09:37 AM.

[Harald Ponce de Leon]

Hi Nick..

What pricing level would be of interest to you?

Kind regards,

[Harald Ponce de Leon]

Hi All..

In addition, the Live Chat section is available to:

1) ask for help
2) provide commercial support

for free (not tied to the Corporate Sponsorship program).

Kind regards,

Edited by Harald Ponce de Leon, 08 April 2012 - 09:49 AM.

[bruyndoncx]

and then there is also LinkedIn which should give you some confidence in the people you deal with, it has an open osCommerce professionals group and allows for postings about jobs
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?jobs=&gid=1530647&trk=anet_ug_jobs

[toyicebear]

Harald Ponce de Leon, on 08 April 2012 - 09:38 AM, said:

Hi Nick..

What pricing level would be of interest to you?

Kind regards,

That depends... The current sponsorship packages are actually a bit "tempting", since the number of sponsors are fairly low that in turn leads to that each listing gets very good exposure.

What i was alluding to was more of a larger "certified" developer directory listing, since the participants number would potentially be much larger this in turn would of-course mean much less "exposure" for each individual listing.

It would then maybe make sense to have bi-annual certification/verification of listings to strike a nice balance between the administrative part and to ensure that listings are current/relevant/available.

What the amount for the verification process for entering the directory and the bi-annual fee for re-verification should be i am not so sure about....it would depend heavily on how the directory was structured and how each individual listing would appear.

Edited by toyicebear, 08 April 2012 - 10:40 AM.

[14steve14]

I think some kind of forum for paid work would be good, and people who are going to make money from what others cannot do, ought to pay be listed there.  If someone can earn money from oscommerce, they should pay something back to oscommerce, not the community. Then hopefully oscommerce could be developed faster and better, which would benifit everyone.

The only trouble will be when people refuse to give help free of charge in the forums because they could earn money from not offering free advice.  This happens on other forums and i know it will happen here.

[jimdango2]

Yea! I really kicked the bee hive, didn't I?  =)

Unfortunately, it looks like the first thing that happened that the interests of the customer (me) was thrown out the window as quickly as possible and replaced with your interests.

My question must have been understood as, "How can I monetize this?"

Having a list of sponsors isn't really what I need. This is a small time project of mine and anyone with enough money sitting around to donate to the project is not going to be interested in taking this on.

Managing a list of service providers gets ugly because you have the competition from different providers and they all want to be on the 1st page of google. You get the idea. Ultimately, it becomes whoever paid you the most gets listed at the top, and that immediately makes the information worthless since it is corrupted from my perspective.

This just happens to be the most direct and sane place to go to fulfill my need. You've got developers crawling all over this board, but I can't make a post that lists my need, what I'm willing to pay, time frame, and other requirements.

If you make it hard or inconvenient from my perspective, I'm gone. I'll go post on some other web dev board which does allow me to state my needs and solicit proposals via email, PM, reply-post or whatever. So keep that in mind with whatever solution you might think up. If you just frustrate me (the customer), I'd be stupid to stick around.

Having a jobs section would almost certainly be appreciated by your community, but there is no way I would ever pay to post when there are so many other alternatives out there already.

Doing certifications is expensive. It's only worth what you put into it, and for an OSS project of this size, I can't see it happening.

[Harald Ponce de Leon]

Hi Jim..

Have you asked any of the 3 developer companies listed as Corporate Sponsors? If not, why not?

Kind regards,

[jimdango2]

I just emailed my client and told them to go here and make a post for a new web dev. Prob solved.

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29