Multiple Questions

[philip]

Hello,

My business partner and I have been evaulating using iLance to power a service auction website and it looks like a very powerful and robust solution. In spending time with the fourm and with the demo server both as a regular user and as an admin we have developed a list of several questions listed below:


In the demo.ilance.com site, we noticed that you can't edit the dynamic templates. Is this on purpose? We chose as an exercise in getting to know the system, trying to modify the buying.html template and the page appeared to register our selection, but nothing happened. I’m assuming that normally, double clicking the selection would lead to the template coming up and being editable. Is that correct?


Are there any limitations or restrictions on upgrading fro the “Starter” edition to "Established" and then to "Unleashed"?

On the licensing restrictions, what counts as "End Users"? Does this include administrative accounts, and all buyers and sellers?

When we remove users from the system using the admin control panel, do they stop counting in the 5,000 user limit?

Are there any automated processes for cleaning out inactive accounts that never did any transactions?


What is the turnaround time on getting the code from the time of ordering?


Is there a way of setting a transaction cost minimum (this minimum could include all fee types including insertion fees, final value fees, and upsell fees)?


Is there a way of setting the iLance Product - Final Value - fees that is the greater of 1) a minimum dollar charge or (Fixed) 2) a percentage of the transaction cost (Percent) ? (e.g. our fee is either $2.00 or %5 of the transaction cost, whichever is greater.). I checked in in the admincp - Settings - Marketplace - Service - Final Value - Fees, there is are Fixed and Percent values. Can I set both and iLance will take whichever is greater?


We’re thinking a lot about marketing efforts to build traffic and are wondering about support for marketing campaigns.

- Does iLance support giving users credits for referrals?

- Is there any affiliate marketing functionality?

Is there a built-in way to define a user as either the buyer or the seller class (the user would make this selection during registration) and have the user type influence page element appearance such as the navigation options? If not, can we can add the user type to some stack of data elements available to each page and add custom code to the templates for this?

Apologies in advance if any of these questions have been addressed before in the forum, but we didn't find the answers to these questions in our forum interaction.


Many thanks!
-Philip

[Peter]

In the demo.ilance.com site, we noticed that you can't edit the dynamic templates. Is this on purpose?


We're in the process of moving all template controls to the filesystem. This area along with "common" and "static" templates will no longer be available in ILance 3.1.4. This move is for the best and allows the designers and skin authors to simply manage all templates from the filesystem. This also avoids unecessary database calls fetching templates on each page hit.


We chose as an exercise in getting to know the system, trying to modify the buying.html template and the page appeared to register our selection, but nothing happened. I’m assuming that normally, double clicking the selection would lead to the template coming up and being editable. Is that correct?


Exactly but again this will not be an option in the next version. So there is really no point to discuss this any further. It's more of a time consuming process than anything and this is what we'd like to avoid for our customers that actively use the system. In fact, I'm using 3.1.4 now and editing my templates is so much easier and saves me a lot of time.


Are there any limitations or restrictions on upgrading fro the “Starter” edition to "Established" and then to "Unleashed"?


At this moment there is no limitation or restriction when moving to a new license tier. This is expected and would basically consist of ILance providing you with a new license key.


On the licensing restrictions, what counts as "End Users"? Does this include administrative accounts, and all buyers and sellers?


Users that pass through your registration system. Admin accounts do not reflect in this situation.


When we remove users from the system using the admin control panel, do they stop counting in the 5,000 user limit?


Yes. If you have 500 users registered and one's a dud then once you remove the account you now have 499 registered users.


Are there any automated processes for cleaning out inactive accounts that never did any transactions?


No. ILance would not perform such action on the data in your database unless a proper area and section within the AdminCP could be ultimately presented to you in terms of a Purge or Removal action. Removal of accounts are done by you from the Subscribers Manager area in the AdminCP. There is no automated code that removes or deletes accounts at this time. It's all done via AdminCP.


What is the turnaround time on getting the code from the time of ordering?


48 to 72 hours.


Is there a way of setting a transaction cost minimum (this minimum could include all fee types including insertion fees, final value fees, and upsell fees)?


No but it's a great idea. I would (once licensed) request this using the Project Tools area we have available, and submit a new Feature request to see it become implemented.


Is there a way of setting the iLance Product - Final Value - fees that is the greater of 1) a minimum dollar charge or (Fixed) 2) a percentage of the transaction cost (Percent) ?


Not at this time. At the moment the FVF is based on the amount and the rate the admin has defined within that category or FVF group in the appropriate sections within the AdminCP. Unfortunately, if the FVF is 0.03 then it will still attempt to base a calculation without a minimum fee charge. This again is a great idea and would ask that you submit this as a feature in the software once licensed.


(e.g. our fee is either $2.00 or %5 of the transaction cost, whichever is greater.). I checked in in the admincp - Settings - Marketplace - Service - Final Value - Fees, there is are Fixed and Percent values. Can I set both and iLance will take whichever is greater?


I believe you are able to mix and match FVF tiers so that the first tier could be based on 15% where tier 2 could be only based on $5.00 then tier 3 could be based on a final 3%. There is no option to set % or fixed and have the system determine the greater value. I think this logic applies to the feature request above.


- Does iLance support giving users credits for referrals?


Yes, using the referral manager. All user accounts in your system will receive a unique RID (referral id code) which they can lure other users to your site via this link code (ie: domain.com/?rid=xxxx) a cookie is crafted and once the user registers it's tracked within the referral manager.

You then have the tools and review options to see what that referred user is up to. Has he paid for any fees? posted any auctions? paid any advertising fees? etc and if they've been doing lots of active stuff on your site it there is an option to "pay out" the referrer who referred that new user doing all the active stuff. You set the rate, and this can be done on a case by case referral basis.


- Is there any affiliate marketing functionality?


Not at this time.


Is there a built-in way to define a user as either the buyer or the seller class (the user would make this selection during registration) and have the user type influence page element appearance such as the navigation options? If not, can we can add the user type to some stack of data elements available to each page and add custom code to the templates for this?


Yes, this is called the ILance Role Manager and you create and define roles (buyers, sellers, providers, experts, homebuyers, homeowners, investors, the list goes on). You create the type of marketplace you will cater to. Generally, Buyer and Seller roles work the best :)


Apologies in advance if any of these questions have been addressed before in the forum, but we didn't find the answers to these questions in our forum interaction.


No need. Excellent questions. Great feature requests. ;)

Regards,
Peter