Extension is in Warehouse for FREE BUT

Extension is in Warehouse for FREE but after 14 Days come a popup with

“Please activate your copy of Cross Reference Organizer in order to use it on this computer.”

and the Developer will paid for the extension.

image .

I like this extension but I would not have installed it if I had seen the price of 40,-€ immediately. Now in 14 days I got very used to working with it and of course I am pissed off

This is not a good action and the offers in the Extension Warehouse should be checked and correspond to the truth.
Soon the prices of the extensions will be wrong and you don’t know what you are paying…

What are the rules for this?

The problem with the extension warehouse is that developers have no other option than marking it for FREE unless they sell it through the warehouse.
But, many options choose to not sell their extensions through the warehouse (including me) for many reasons. In my case: I also sell software products other than SketchUp extensions and prefer to have a centralized licensing and e-commerce system instead of one for each platform (Sketchup, Revit and other Autodesk software, Microsoft office addins, …)

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The first words in the description are
NOTE: The plugin is not Free.

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I’m pretty sure that this NOTE was only added after i wrote to the developer (and “even” got an answer to me)

Then the developer has already had a chance to clarify the situation to you and correct it (e.g. add an info that the Extension Warehouse “free” label refers to that the trial can be downloaded for free). As he mentions, the migration from EWH1 to EWH2 changed the context and turned the original description to be misunderstandable.

I don’t know whether there are rules for fraud, but this definitely is not. The EWH team should take action if a paid extension download turns out to be a useless dummy, or if a bought extension starts to query to pay more.

When hunting for “free” (as in beer, not as in free software) stuff on the internet, it is a normal expectation that some of it does not work on your system, does not work anymore because it is unmaintained, or turns out to be a trial. In spite of that, I understand that finding this out after two weeks was not a great experience.

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And if you follow the link to their site there is an obvious Trial and Buy.

It would be simple to write in any extension’s ‘free’ version download page…

This is a free evaluation version, which will work for 14 days from its installation.
After that you will need to purchase the full version, for $xxx, available from here https://…

That way the users doesn’t feel cheated, and knows they know they are getting a time limited ‘free-trial’…

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Ideally the Warehouse should allow developers to set a prize even for extensions not sold in the warehouse, so the right prize shows on the product page and the extension can be filtered correctly in the search, but currently this can’t be done. Either the developer has to sell the extension in the warehouse, use a listing page that you can’t download the extension from, or have it as a “free” extension even if it isn’t free.

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I now understand the situation for the developers, but from Sketchup I don’t think this is correct.
If something is free it should be free.
If it’s a free trial, then it should be clearly stated and the price for the extension should be shown.

This is the condition - not the solution.

Since I’m logged in via TRIMBLE I can start the download directly in the Extension Warehouse and don’t have to visit the website of the developer.

Very true, but you could say I also don’t need to check the health records of the hooker I’m about to upload with.

By the way, I rarely use the Extension warehouse. And only then manually.

OK - but can this be generalised?

Isn’t it like Apple’s App Store or google that the extensions set there are checked?

Now, I would that assume.

All extensions are reviewed, but I don’t think there is a rule against publishing payed extensions using a third party licensing system in the Extension Warehouse. I do have a memory though SU staff has commented at some point how they’d like extensions not sold in the EW to still be associated with a price.

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Yes , currently I trust the content. But I still read the info and don’t just expect everything to be looked after by my mum.

I trust the E warehouse far more than apple, google. MS or even my Mum.

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Does Trimble still get a cut of the price of extensions that are listed in the EW but not sold through there, such as the one in question?

Nope, just for extensions actually sold in EW.