Marketplace Closure

[Lindy]

We would like to take this opportunity to inform you of an important decision we've made with regard to the Invision Community Marketplace. After careful evaluation and consideration, we have decided to discontinue the Invision Community Marketplace, effective October 30, 2023.
 
Over the past several years, we have noticed a decrease in usage of the Marketplace, with a staggering 75% decline in sales. In addition, we have observed a growing trend away from off the shelf customizations towards bespoke tailoring of a community by working more closely with developers. While it has been a platform for many dedicated and talented contributors to share their work, we believe it is time to re-focus our efforts and resources to better serve your present and future needs.
 
We understand that change can be unsettling, but we are excited to share with you our new direction. We are putting our efforts into enhancing the newly introduced Providers Directory, a platform that will enable you to connect with third-party providers for a wide range of services, including custom development, community management/support, conversion services, and other valuable resources. Additionally, many providers will have independent websites you will be able to visit to explore and obtain existing and new premade resources.
 
More details are to follow soon, but we would like to highlight a few key points:

     • Marketplace renewals will cease effective immediately
     • New purchases will end September 15, 2023
     • The Marketplace will be removed in the October release and disabled on October 30, 2023
     • You will continue to be able to install and manage existing and new resources via the methods provided by their respective authors
     • You will be able to obtain a key for each of your current Marketplace purchases and provide that key to authors to transfer your purchases directly to the author

We invite you to visit the Providers Directory and start exploring the opportunities it offers. This will allow you to familiarize yourself with the database and the resources it will provide in greater depth. Many of the current Marketplace contributors have already created their profiles – please check them out!

Of course, this does not mean the end of aftermarket development with Invision Community. We are currently building new development tools for Invision Community 5 which have easier ways to add new functionality.
 
We want to express our sincere gratitude for your ongoing support and trust in Invision Community. We believe these changes will enable us to better position ourselves to continue moving forward in meeting the present and future needs of our customer base.
 
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out.
 
Thank you for being a part of the Invision Community family.

 

Update

We have posted our next blog covering the next steps for obtaining purchases from 3rd party developers.

 

View full blog entry

[Charles]

Marketplace authors have known about this change for a while now and some are looking to create their own Marketplace-like web site.

It sounds like a promising project and they are welcome to talk about it here.

[AlexJ]

So for normal users like me, can i still do 'application upgrade' check? OR That process is changing as well? 

If i understand - rather then purchasing renewals from IPS, i will be purchasing through developer site? So 10 developers, 10 sits for renewals? I am fine with it, as long as I can use add-ons on IPS forum. 

Current IPS functionality doesn't cover all my needs and for us, stand alone forum would be non usable without developers fixing the gap/bridge. 

 

[Matt]

Just now, AlexJ said:

So for normal users like me, can i still do 'application upgrade' check? OR That process is changing as well? 

Yes, we have that functionality already built in and it can still be used assuming the developers have entered the correct URL and have the ability to check for updates.

1 minute ago, AlexJ said:

i will be purchasing through developer site? So 10 developers, 10 sits for renewals?

That's correct, you'll go through to the developer's own site. It's likely that you have more than just one modification from a single developer, so it may be less.

Some of the developers are talking about forming a new site with a listing, so it may be somewhat centralised if they go ahead.

[AlexJ]

Ok thanks for quick response. Just a general question: How it impacts IPS team? From business standpoint Apple store makes 30% appx. I am guessing, to support developers through IPS Marketplace, IPS was charging fees on each transaction. 

Now does that mean, no marketplace = less revenue OR since 70% sales decline, it wasn't worth the hassle for IPS? Does this mean, customers will be charged different way, to make up for this revenue loss? Just curious. 

Is their anyway, I can have the 'local copy' of addons which I purchased through IPS? Currently it's all through ACP -Marketplace. I never asked so far because never needed it but with marketplace shutting down, I might need in future. 

[Charles]

Just now, AlexJ said:

How it impacts IPS team?

The Marketplace has lost us money for many years especially as people just are not as interested in "mods" like they were decades go.

[sudo]

No offence but this is crazy.

what will happen for people hosting in the cloud? No mods?

Edited August 15, 2023 by sudo

[Cedric V]

I wasn't expecting this outcome. It's no secret it has been declining for years, so action was bound to be made. I like the Dev Directory, it's a very nicely made alternative and it gives more freedom to our Devs. Well done.

[Matt]

5 minutes ago, sudo said:

No offence but this is crazy.

what will happen for people hosting in the cloud? No mods?

Most cloud packages can already use external uploads outside of marketplace. We'll remove the limitation for the others.

[All Astronauts]

42 minutes ago, Matt said:

We'll remove the limitation for the others.

[Clover13]

One potentially large gap is the validation and approval process done by IPS to guarantee the Marketplace developer's app/plugin aligned with IPS standards before it was approved for client download.  How will this be managed moving forward?

[Charles]

5 minutes ago, Clover13 said:

One potentially large gap is the validation and approval process done by IPS to guarantee the Marketplace developer's app/plugin aligned with IPS standards before it was approved for client download.  How will this be managed moving forward?

You would want to ensure you are only downloading from a reputable source.

[Dll]

6 minutes ago, Charles said:

You would want to ensure you are only downloading from a reputable source.

Will Invision be vetting those listed in the directory to ensure they are reputable?

[Charles]

Just now, Dll said:

Will Invision be vetting those listed in the directory to ensure they are reputable?

Much like when you purchase something online, we would rely on people providing feedback and reviews.

[Clover13]

1 minute ago, Charles said:

You would want to ensure you are only downloading from a reputable source.

Right, so this bodes well for well known and established devs as they have already created a foundational trust model with clients.  For new devs, that's a barrier they'd have to create over time.  Meanwhile, clients either have no way to validate new devs work like IPS previously did to guarantee the safety of the app/plugin.

I think this greatly elevates the risk for clients and subsequently harms the potential for developers to grow the product.  Hobbyist sites will suffer the most as they simply don't have the resources to invest in robust security evaluation.

Perhaps another opportunity for a dev to provide some level of AppSec and InfoSec scanning of applications to lower the risk.  

[Dll]

5 minutes ago, Charles said:

Much like when you purchase something online, we would rely on people providing feedback and reviews.

Well yes, fair enough. Although it is a step back in comparison to the marketplace in that respect, I think. And it may make it harder for new developers without any history or reviews. 

I can understand the change though, hopefully it'll be a success.

Edited August 15, 2023 by Dll

[Clover13]

1 minute ago, Charles said:

Much like when you purchase something online, we would rely on people providing feedback and reviews.

The problem is, without the current IPS scan/approval process of apps/plugins, any new development is a risk.  We also don't know how many iterations of scan/approval a given version of a given app had to go through to get final IPS approval, nor what those rulesets/barriers were for good practice per IPS standards.  We just know the end product from the Marketplace dev.  Now clients are subject to the intermediate iterations and any issues they expose.  This is particularly concerning when we get into PII and any level of security risk to our sites (which we had a confidence level IPS was protecting us from with their scan/approval process).

[Charles]

3 minutes ago, Clover13 said:

The problem is, without the current IPS scan/approval process of apps/plugins, any new development is a risk.  We also don't know how many iterations of scan/approval a given version of a given app had to go through to get final IPS approval, nor what those rulesets/barriers were for good practice per IPS standards.  We just know the end product from the Marketplace dev.  Now clients are subject to the intermediate iterations and any issues they expose.  This is particularly concerning when we get into PII and any level of security risk to our sites (which we had a confidence level IPS was protecting us from with their scan/approval process).

Yes, that is a concern. Again, only download from a reputable source or hire a developer to custom-make any needs you have.

[IPCommerceFan]

This sounds like a net positive for developers.   Two primary issues (based on observation) have always been how long it takes for IPS to approve an app, and the fact IPS takes a cut.   This knocks them both out, so it seems like a win to me.

I wonder though, since the Marketplace is essentially a portal for paid downloads, will this change affect the need/desire for IPS to continue developing/maintaining the Downloads or Commerce apps in the long run (V5)?

[Lindy]

5 minutes ago, IPCommerceFan said:

I wonder though, since the Marketplace is essentially a portal for paid downloads, will this change affect the need/desire for IPS to continue developing/maintaining the Downloads or Commerce apps in the long run (V5)?

Not at all; both apps are very popular outside of our own use. 

[Charles]

Yes, we have many clients doing really interesting things with Downloads+Commerce.

48 minutes ago, IPCommerceFan said:

This sounds like a net positive for developers.   Two primary issues (based on observation) have always been how long it takes for IPS to approve an app, and the fact IPS takes a cut.   This knocks them both out, so it seems like a win to me.

I think for developers that are serious about what they are doing, they can really thrive with us out of the way 🙂 

[Joel R]

To Marketplace developers and the Invision community as a whole, I will be happy to host an independent and collaborative Marketplace directory.  It's already in the works.

I fully support a thriving ecosystem of developers and clients: to extend, to inspire, and to push the boundaries of our platform. Technology is an important differentiator more than ever in the modern web, and working with developers (either privately or through their public mods) can help fine-tune your platform. 

 

More information and invitations will be sent out to active Marketplace devs.  You are also welcome to send me a direct PM.  

Follow this topic for any future updates.  

[Charles]

6 minutes ago, Joel R said:

To Marketplace developers and the Invision community as a whole, I will be happy to host an independent and collaborative Marketplace directory.  It's already in the works.

I fully support a thriving ecosystem of developers and clients: to extend, to inspire, and to push the boundaries of our platform. Technology is an important differentiator more than ever in the modern web, and working with developers (either privately or through their public mods) can help fine-tune your platform. 

 

More information and invitations will be sent out to active Marketplace devs.  You are also welcome to send me a direct PM.  

Follow this topic for any future updates.  

Sounds like something people will enjoy.

[Dreadknux]

Hm, I can see why IPS made this change but to be honest, asking clients to seek custom app/plugin development is going to be a lot more expensive than finding an app on a marketplace that many customers will be able to purchase. I guess it will make me a lot more hesitant to spend my money on third party apps.

[Lindy]

21 minutes ago, Dreadknux said:

Hm, I can see why IPS made this change but to be honest, asking clients to seek custom app/plugin development is going to be a lot more expensive than finding an app on a marketplace that many customers will be able to purchase. I guess it will make me a lot more hesitant to spend my money on third party apps.

To be clear, you will still be able to visit independent websites to obtain premade resources if you wish. From our standpoint, the trend has simply moved more towards custom development or stock installations.