Forum4Hosts-Jo
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www.zaygo.com anyone heard of or used them?
zaygo
- Thread starter Forum4Hosts-Jo
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Hi folks
One of our clients brought this forum and this particular thread to our attention. First off, I'd like to say how great it is to see forums like this for the UK hosting community!
Second, I'd like to address some of the points raised by Andrew to get his thoughts and perhaps others' too:
1) Our software and plugins are a "rip-off"
Assuming that a person who wants to set up an automated domain registration site doesn't have any programming knowledge, or access to in-house programmers, then their choice is to hire a UK programmer, hire an off-shore programmer, or find software similar to ours. Our basic software, DomainCart (~£90) plus WorldPay Plugin (~£90) and Nominet Plugin (~£90) provides a totally automated .uk domain registration solution for £270. The latter package comes with a setup wizard and free templates enabling the client to set up an automated domain registration website (provided they have WorldPay and their Nominet tag already setup of course), without any programming knowledge, in a couple of hours. A *professional* UK programmer would charge £270 just to look at a spec for a similar custom made solution; a competent off-shore programmer would charge between £500-1k for a completed solution, not taking into account any management and communication time/hassle/costs associated with finding a trustworty off-shore programmer. Given the possible cost scenarios, we'd like to think that £270 is a fair price to pay considering the functionality and returns the client will get throughout a financial year: assuming a client sells 100s of UK domains a year, the automated DomainCart solution would save them a lot of time they should be spending on marketing in terms of eliminating the need for manually cutting and pasting orders, PGPing and so on. It also reduces the need to hire extra staff to handle domain orders - it probably costs £270 to hire a junior person to process domain orders for just 1 week
Anyway, it would be good to hear your thoughts as to why you think it's a rip off? The last thing we want to do is rip anyone off - we started in the hosting and domain registration business too and know what it feels like to spend money on software when you're just starting out!2) Our software has a "hell of alot of security updates, which is iffy too"
This is the one that compelled me to write a response to this thread, becuase it is factually incorrect and potentially misleading. We've had 1 security update in 2 years of operation - we issued it within hours of discovering it and the actual issue had never affected anyone. I'm not sure whether if this consitutes a 'hell of a lot of security updates' or not, but I'll leave that to the readers of this board to decide
It's also worth noting that not a single client, out of over 2000 Zaygo users world-wide, has ever reported a security issue related to our software. I'd be interested to know how many other security updates you've had about Zaygo software - because they certainly haven't been sent by us!Sometimes our clients point out threads like this to us and we usually don't follow them up - because we don't want to be seen to be overlooking the shoulders of our clients who may want to express either positive/negative stuff about their experiences with Zaygo. Moreover, obviously Jo was looking for an independent answer! Any answers I give are gonna be biased
But, seriously, somtimes we have to respond to to factually incorrect statements, so I'd like to apologise for having to enter this thread and hope Jo can get both negative/positive comments from other users.Cheers
Amir
Unfortunately it would be highly unlikely ... basically, we wrote everything in Perl because it's the most 'universal' (relatively speaking) of all the platforms. PHP or ASP are slicker, but unfortunately not everyone has them so we didn't commit to either - but pretty much all Unix or Windows servers in the reseller market have Perl or ActivePerl installed by default and we try to make products that the majority would be able to buy.
Cheers
Amir
Back in the early days I looked at the domain cart software and was certainly impressed, but money was the main factor holding me back.
I'll be honest but from memory I have not seen many implementations of the software though (must be looking in the wrong place ) but perhaps cost is the factor why
Thanks
Richard
I'll be honest but from memory I have not seen many implementations of the software though (must be looking in the wrong place
) but perhaps cost is the factor whyThanks
Richard
I'll be honest but from memory I have not seen many implementations of the software though (must be looking in the wrong place
Hi Richard
Sorry for the delayed reaction, I've now got the board in my favourites and will check back often. The reason why you haven't seen it (probably) is because we have an option whereby clients can change the name of the software files from zaygo to 'anythingyouwant' as well as the template system, which is so customisable I can't even recognise our own software when clients send us links to check them out! We have as clients some of the biggest ISPs and accredited registrars, to some of the smallest resellers.
Cost will always be an issue for people starting out but it depends how your business approach works I guess. Software like ours is more of a long-term investment rather than a cost - we regularly get feedback from our customers that their sales have jumped 200%-300% after implementing DomainCart/HostingCart simply because their customers are compelled to put more stuff into their shopping cart.
To be honest with you (and this is no assumption on my behalf about your business model, but an observation from experience in dealing with sales queries), those who see £60 as a lot of money for something like our software aren't making money in the business. £60 in business terms is nothing, especially for something that directly related to how you sell and how much (the example I use is an ice cream van ... you may supply the best ice cream in the world, but you're more likely to make money selling through a professional ice-cream van than going around selling it from the back of a bike
)But of course, like any profitable business, we have to maintain our own prices so that we're not losing money ourselves. At the moment, I think we've got that balance right between our prices and customer needs; sales are doubling in the latter half of this year.
It's still good to know why our software seems expensive to some as we're always trying to work out how to price ourselves better and help people out (without losing money ourselves!) so please let me know your thoughts!
Cheers
LOL. My replies have been so long you've not read them to the end to see my name
Tho, sorry, I seem to have missed it out in the last post - I thought it was in my sig. The name is Amir.As for tension, there's none whatsoever on my behalf. I'm seriously interested in Andy's opinions. I'm more interested when people are critical of what we do than when they offer praise, since I think it's the only way you can improve as a company. And yes, I know it sounds like a big cliche
but it's how we run our business. There's a lot room for improvement and we're always open to constructive feedback - though we do correct stuff that isn't factual (like the bit about the messags about security vulnerabilities, which simply aren't true)Cheers
Amir
I would like to point out that any "tension" is intentional.
My criticisums are meant to be constructive. My choice of wording above may have been strong, but at the time I had recieved to date 2 security updates (which is a good thing). I still think that the prices are steep, it cost me less to hire to programmers and graphic designers to create our signup system, databases and control panel then it would to buy the Zaygo software.
Personally I like to recieve critisum rather than the "we love your services" as its a good way to improve our company in terms of software development, site funcationability (such as the control panel) and our servers. Hence the reason we have a couple hundred Beta testers (and a few more this week thanks to Mark and others).
My criticisums are meant to be constructive. My choice of wording above may have been strong, but at the time I had recieved to date 2 security updates (which is a good thing). I still think that the prices are steep, it cost me less to hire to programmers and graphic designers to create our signup system, databases and control panel then it would to buy the Zaygo software.
Personally I like to recieve critisum rather than the "we love your services" as its a good way to improve our company in terms of software development, site funcationability (such as the control panel) and our servers. Hence the reason we have a couple hundred Beta testers (and a few more this week thanks to Mark and others
).Hi Andy
It's excellent if you've got access to programmers who charge below market rates, but unfortunately (and realistically) not everyone has (I know I certainly would like to know some!
. In all seriousness (not just out of curiousity) I'm interested in the prices being steep, can you let me know the contact details of a professional programmer and graphic designer who (combined) would build me:- 10 template pages (including navigation and graphic buttons)
- WHOIS system that supports 250 TLDs and sub-domains (including web lookups on .au, .tv and .name)
- automatically updated WHOIS server list with ability to add any future WHOIS servers and web lookups
- daily error checker to ensure I always have the latest and best WHOIS servers
- multiple search methods, including an ultra fast bulk lookup
- multiple year registrations (and ability for me to set different registration and pricing criteria for each TLD)
- advanced error checking
- web setup wizard so that I can set it up on my own without paying for their help
- fully featured shopping cart for domains
- web management console so that I can manage everything by myself over the web; must be point n click, no editing of files
- automatic order logging
- e-mail script that sends the order to various email addresses
- a callback script that wil work with any credit card payment provider
- translatable into any language via the admin panel
- automatic domain registration with Nominet, including PGP encryption server-side
- plugin architecture to allow me to expand my system to automtically register other domains, or manage my customers without hiring any more programmers
- must be in Perl so that I can switch it between Windows and Unix whenever I want
- must not be database dependent so that I can use it on a very basic and cheap hosting account
... all for a maximum price of £160 (which is the equivelant price of DomainCart + Nominet Plugin) and deliverable in 1 week? I'm not trying to be funny, but I'm seriously interested to know if someone is out there who would do the above for that kind of price!?
Cheers
Amir
10 template pages (including navigation and graphic buttons)
>> Our signup system is branded under a design I made, so that would be me lol.
- WHOIS system that supports 250 TLDs and sub-domains (including web lookups on .au, .tv and .name)
>> MWhois supports this, and is freely avalible and easy to intergrate
- automatically updated WHOIS server list with ability to add any future WHOIS servers and web lookups
>> MWhois has this ability through an admin page.
- daily error checker to ensure I always have the latest and best WHOIS servers
>> Intergrated within our domain-control software which has a backup database which will take over in the event of a failure, and automatic alerts to an engineer.
-multiple search methods, including an ultra fast bulk lookup
>>Included within MWhois
- multiple year registrations (and ability for me to set different registration and pricing criteria for each TLD)
>> Included with MWhois
- advanced error checking
>> Provided via the domain-control software
- web setup wizard so that I can set it up on my own without paying for their help
>> an install.php was provided for ease of use
- fully featured shopping cart for domains
>> We do not currently support this feature.
-web management console so that I can manage everything by myself over the web; must be point n click, no editing of files
>> domain-control admins may login and alter the system.
- automatic order logging
>> Handled via our domain-control software's order database.
- e-mail script that sends the order to various email addresses
>> Handled by domain-control with online invoice manager.
- a callback script that wil work with any credit card payment provider
>> Domain-control was written for use with cheque and Netbanx.
- translatable into any language via the admin panel
>> MWhois supports this feature, but we dont use it.
- automatic domain registration with Nominet, including PGP encryption server-side
>> We dont have an IPSTAG, and so do not support this.
- plugin architecture to allow me to expand my system to automtically register other domains, or manage my customers without hiring any more programmers
>> Domain-control was written onsite by 3 coders so any portion can be edited at any point.
- must be in Perl so that I can switch it between Windows and Unix whenever I want
>> We only have Linux servers and therefore use PHP.
- must not be database dependent so that I can use it on a very basic and cheap hosting account
>> Uses multiple encrypted MySQL databases for security and fast responses.
The entire signup system (not control panel) was written in 1 day, and cost under £60 to develop - so yes there are cheaper alternatives to Zaygo, please feel free to have a look:
www.domain-control.co.uk/Signup
We also added the option to check your order status from agccworld.co.uk
>> Our signup system is branded under a design I made, so that would be me lol.
- WHOIS system that supports 250 TLDs and sub-domains (including web lookups on .au, .tv and .name)
>> MWhois supports this, and is freely avalible and easy to intergrate
- automatically updated WHOIS server list with ability to add any future WHOIS servers and web lookups
>> MWhois has this ability through an admin page.
- daily error checker to ensure I always have the latest and best WHOIS servers
>> Intergrated within our domain-control software which has a backup database which will take over in the event of a failure, and automatic alerts to an engineer.
-multiple search methods, including an ultra fast bulk lookup
>>Included within MWhois
- multiple year registrations (and ability for me to set different registration and pricing criteria for each TLD)
>> Included with MWhois
- advanced error checking
>> Provided via the domain-control software
- web setup wizard so that I can set it up on my own without paying for their help
>> an install.php was provided for ease of use
- fully featured shopping cart for domains
>> We do not currently support this feature.
-web management console so that I can manage everything by myself over the web; must be point n click, no editing of files
>> domain-control admins may login and alter the system.
- automatic order logging
>> Handled via our domain-control software's order database.
- e-mail script that sends the order to various email addresses
>> Handled by domain-control with online invoice manager.
- a callback script that wil work with any credit card payment provider
>> Domain-control was written for use with cheque and Netbanx.
- translatable into any language via the admin panel
>> MWhois supports this feature, but we dont use it.
- automatic domain registration with Nominet, including PGP encryption server-side
>> We dont have an IPSTAG, and so do not support this.
- plugin architecture to allow me to expand my system to automtically register other domains, or manage my customers without hiring any more programmers
>> Domain-control was written onsite by 3 coders so any portion can be edited at any point.
- must be in Perl so that I can switch it between Windows and Unix whenever I want
>> We only have Linux servers and therefore use PHP.
- must not be database dependent so that I can use it on a very basic and cheap hosting account
>> Uses multiple encrypted MySQL databases for security and fast responses.
The entire signup system (not control panel) was written in 1 day, and cost under £60 to develop - so yes there are cheaper alternatives to Zaygo, please feel free to have a look:
www.domain-control.co.uk/Signup
We also added the option to check your order status from agccworld.co.uk
So in order to get all of that, I have to sign-up to your service? I knew there'd be a catch
The purpose of our software is to allow people to select their own service providers, hosts and accounts etc. In other words, the client is totally *independent* and is not locked into one service.
So my question still remains, you said our software was priced steep. Which is a fair enough point, but let's say I don't want to sign up to your service, because I can find a cheaper provider elsewhere, and besides I don't want to be locked into your service (e.g. I've got my own IPS tag). I'd want a solution that was my own and gave me freedom to move servers, service providers and be in total control of my own business, where am I going to get a programmer to write me the above exact spec for £160? If yours cost £60 to develop, how much more would it cost to include the other stuff in my spec, most crucially a shopping cart (which is no simple programming job if it's going to be done well) as it's the most important sales feature of any domain registration site?
Great site btw, I think clean design has always been the way forward!
Cheers
Amir
Edited: some typos and chanign some of my response as I read Andy's post too quickly and misread some of his points. thnx
The purpose of our software is to allow people to select their own service providers, hosts and accounts etc. In other words, the client is totally *independent* and is not locked into one service.
So my question still remains, you said our software was priced steep. Which is a fair enough point, but let's say I don't want to sign up to your service, because I can find a cheaper provider elsewhere, and besides I don't want to be locked into your service (e.g. I've got my own IPS tag). I'd want a solution that was my own and gave me freedom to move servers, service providers and be in total control of my own business, where am I going to get a programmer to write me the above exact spec for £160? If yours cost £60 to develop, how much more would it cost to include the other stuff in my spec, most crucially a shopping cart (which is no simple programming job if it's going to be done well) as it's the most important sales feature of any domain registration site?
Great site btw, I think clean design has always been the way forward!
Cheers
Amir
Edited: some typos and chanign some of my response as I read Andy's post too quickly and misread some of his points. thnx
be aware our signup system was designed specifically for our use - resellers.etc cant have it.etc
You can edit you IPSTAG and nameservers at any point via your control panel - its not directly linked to our signup system, the control panel cost considerably more than £60 lol.
Shopping carts are a good idea - we didnt use them as the service is budget and therefore we only expect a client to buy 1 domain (they can ovcource buy annother via their control panel at a later date).
Your software obviously has more features as it is based on a wide range of customers.etc, whereas ours was specifically written for AGCC use only.
The part where I say it is "steep" is mainly to do with the plugins, (the inital software cost is fine) as they are expensive, considering the customer has already paid once for the software.
You can edit you IPSTAG and nameservers at any point via your control panel - its not directly linked to our signup system, the control panel cost considerably more than £60 lol.
Shopping carts are a good idea - we didnt use them as the service is budget and therefore we only expect a client to buy 1 domain (they can ovcource buy annother via their control panel at a later date).
Your software obviously has more features as it is based on a wide range of customers.etc, whereas ours was specifically written for AGCC use only.
The part where I say it is "steep" is mainly to do with the plugins, (the inital software cost is fine) as they are expensive, considering the customer has already paid once for the software.
Not at all.
Zaygo was quick in contacting me to verify my credit card but since then they seem to have disappeared off the planet.
I have tried everything to contact Zaygo - repeatedly! They do not return calls, emails or even respond to issues logged on their website.
I do not know what to do.
Zaygo was quick in contacting me to verify my credit card but since then they seem to have disappeared off the planet.
I have tried everything to contact Zaygo - repeatedly! They do not return calls, emails or even respond to issues logged on their website.
I do not know what to do.
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