Hello Everyone!
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Over the past couple days we have received a few questions so we wanted to take some time to provide a bit more detail regarding the new E-Commerce Certified Marketplace.
Marketplace Reasoning
When we purchased SocialEngine one thing became very clearly right off the bat, we need a certification process for 3rd party add-ons. Our developers were bogged down in support requests from individuals running SocialEngine PHP with multiple add-ons. These add-ons had made it to the store without any sort of screening process making it impossible for us to provide any kind of meaningful support. We couldn’t focus on the core product due to the high volume of support needs trying to identify if the problem was a core problem or one due to add-ons.
In light of so many obstacles related to the lack of supervision in the marketplace we received requests from both our customers and our developers for some sort of certification process. Our customers wanted to know that the add-ons they were purchasing wouldn’t denigrate the performance of their SocialEngine community while our developers wanted a way to distinguish themselves from low quality plugins and have the opportunity to drive visibility for their products and services.
We firmly believe this is going to be a very beneficial and successful endeavor for everyone.
MARKETPLACE OVERVIEW
The following is a description of the criteria and processes we have set up to ensure that the plugins in the SocialEngine Marketplace are both functional and safe.
Certification
Approval criteria:
- Installs on the core
- Does what it describes
- Has email contact for support
- Provides: screenshot, description, zip with code files
Submission Process:
- Logged into marketplace
- Code delivered via zip file
- One-step process to upload zip file during checkout
- Any denied submission will have an accompanied explanation
Listing Requirements
- Logo
- Short description of services
- Short description of experience
- Contact info
- Support email
App Visibility Functionality:
- Categories
- Popular
- New
- Note: featured and sponsored not in the initial launch but on the roadmap
Ratings and Reviews
- 5 star rating system
- Customer must have purchased to be able to review
- Opportunity for developers to respond to reviews
App Delivery
- Downloaded from store
- Link sent in purchase confirmation email
The initial launch introduced the new design and certification process. Upcoming improvements will include details mentioned above, improvements from feedback we receive, as well as from our own observations of things that we find may need improving.
We are also working hard to approve Certified Developer applications. We had terrific response to the program and have many applications to check. Our team is working very hard to check all pending submittals.
We appreciate your participation, feedback and patience while we work towards a better experience for all involved. It is our goal to have the best E-Commerce Marketplace solution that benefits all participants.
