Show HN: Invoicing directly from WordPress | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Invoicing directly from WordPress

invoicingplugin.com

47 pointspeacemaker34 comments

Why would I want to send an invoice from wordpress? Why turn a CMS into a CRM, if it lacks all required features?

You obviously haven't spent much time in internet marketing. People who are somewhere in betweeen a non technical user and developer are productive because they use Wordpress for everything. There are entire ecommerce stores built around Wordpress. At this point Wordpress is like an operating system for web apps; it doesn't matter what the apps do, only that they're easy to install/run/customize for semi-technical users.

Yep - there are ecommerce plugins (WooCommerce being the big notable one, owned by Automattic themselves), CRM plugins, project management plugins, etc.

Exactly! Answered it better than I would have :)

> You obviously haven't

Could you please not do this making-it-personal trope on HN? It's internet incivility that mars your otherwise fine comment.

> There are entire ecommerce stores built around Wordpress.

WordPress (with WooCommerce) is actually the most popular e-commerce platform in the world and powers around 40% of all online stores.

https://trends.builtwith.com/shop (Click "The Entire Internet" tab)

I always wonder how Oracle is still present with that much market share in nearly every industry. I can't believe it's just "no on got fired for using Oracle Commerce" (?)

You obviously haven't spent time in internet security! /s

Wordpress is effectively the operating system of the web. It's much more than a run-of-the-mill CMS.

Another angle: Why wouldn't you want a CRM you can host in the backend of your landing page for no extra cost or on its own for $4/mo? :)

It doesn't lack all required features.

If you install WooCommerce you'll see that it's a full-blown e-commerce that can do receipts, track orders, and just about everything else.

I recently used it for a client website, developing all the stuff that they got for free would've cost 20,000.

I don't love WordPress, but it's extremely convenient if you don't like to waste time rewriting stuff that is already available as free, debugged software.

What are the benefits over something free like https://www.waveapps.com? I've had success with their invoice and accounting for many years.

A lot of people run their entire business directly from their WordPress website. Having a plugin that allows quotes, invoicing and payments in the same place is quite convenient for them.

I built this because people were asking me for it before I sold my previous software business. I know tools like WaveApps (and countless others!) are really useful but I think invoicing built into WordPress does meet a need.

I hear ya, appreciate the follow up!

How does wave make money if most of it's services are free? Do they sell your data?

I've used Wave before, they have a payments solution and I think they charge around 5% fees per payment taken on your behalf. At bulk you can usually get fees down to the 1% mark so they'll make their ~4% per invoice paid via their system.

I think they also have a paid support option but I can't remember, it's been a while since I used them.

They explain it pretty clearly on their site.

I may be wrong, but I feel that making this website https-only could only add potential customers. Making matters worse, trying https://invoicingplugin.com gives you a warning and redirects you to https://woodenracks.co.uk.

Hey thanks for pointing that out. That other site is a side project for a friend and I used letsencrypt certbot to auto-configure it. Assumed it was fine but obviously not! Will fix.

That issue is fixed now. Thanks again.

Happy to hear any feedback and suggestions

Just some random feedback, all of course my personal opinion:

1) Editing paid invoices shouldn't be allowed after a payment has been made.

2) Quotes should have an accept or sign option, the quote list should reflect the status.

3) Quotes should also have templates similar to invoices

4) Dashboard widget reflecting outstanding payments, recent payment stats, etc. Could be handy.

Thanks for taking the time to give feedback like this. 1-3 definitely agree and I've just put them on the backlog. I've already got 4 on there and will likely add it in the next update.

Site mentions "Free Lifetime Updates" but Codecanyon sales page says "6 months support from QuipCode" with a paid option to extend to 12 months. That seems somehow misleading and may potentially damage trust and cost customers.

It's misleading from the Codecanyon side unfortunately. You do get all updates forever on items bought through Codecanyon regardless of if your support has run out. The support part refers to answering questions and the like and it's defined by Codecanyon.

I used to have other plugins that were sold directly, plus a couple in development which I may sell directly as well. When selling directly I have full control over the updates but through Codecanyon I do not have that benefit.

My preferred option would be to add support forever (helping people with the product, questions and so on) but actually limiting updates for a certain period, perhaps 1 year. That way I am paid for continually developing and improving the plugin but customer support is included always, which I think is important as a small business.

A bit offtopic, but I don't understand why plugin authors are so happy to give 30%-60% of their revenue to Codecanyon. What value are they providing to charge so much?

Would love to know as well. I'm selling a plugin from my own site and had wrote of Codecanyon once I saw their pricing structure. I'm a bit curious if a big part of the reason is that doing the payment & plugin delivery is difficult for average WP dev. Would be interested to here success stories and comparisons.

Setting up payment and delivery is very simple and I've done it a bunch of times. I wouldn't underestimate the "average WP dev" either, they are getting a lot better than perhaps people on here may give them credit for. I can say the competition is certainly higher quality since when I started a few years ago but this has always been a side-business of mine alongside various startup jobs and other businesses.

The simple answer to why I use Codecanyon is access to a large, targeted customer base that is ready to spend money. That's not an easy thing to replicate. No matter the combination of PPC, content marketing, influencers and direct contact I try.

Thanks. Based on your feedback, I'll evaluate Codecanyon again when I revamp my plugin. Just so you know, I didn't mean to come across as flippantly judgemental about Codecanyon or WP plugin devs. All the best.

Hey no worries, I didn't take it as judgemental. There are a wide range of skillsets in WP dev and I agree that traditionally it's been seen as a bit more low quality. However that is definitely changing as more people get into WordPress development. Good luck with your plugins!

It's a good point... I've gone back and forth on this a lot and I guess it just comes down to the sheer number of customers I can get via Codecanyon compared to selling directly.

Believe me I've tried on many occassions over the last few years to setup direct sales of my various plugins and software. But I can't seem to drive enough targeted traffic to match the income via marketplaces like Codecanyon.

As someone who did a lot of market research before launching a paid plugin, the main reason is exposure. There is no other marketplace that comes close to the number of potential customers. Of course, you can roll your own solution but since almost nobody publishes numbers on how their business is going it's hard to see if it's more or less profitable.

From my own experience, the exposure you get at Codecanyon is not much. Their marketplace is crowded. It's far better to go freemium or try SEO or adwords.

Within the WooCommerce universe there are plugins or extensions that have some overlapping functionality, drawing directly from sales and the product database. WooCommerce PDF Invoices is one of the free ones.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com