Hi,

I have been looking at various billing software and helpdesk software, owned and hosted licenses, integrated applications, reliability issues, customer support issues etc. etc.

But I think my situation is simple enough that I don't need all those features.

All I have is one hosting plan for $10/month with a $10 setup fee.

My hosting is very simple and my customers will have basic questions.

I think I only need:

1) A simple application for the customer to submit tickets. Kayako eSupport look reliable and easy to use and is only $29/month.

2) Paypal's Website Payments Standard to put a Paypal link on my site for customers to create a subscription payment. Paypal has reporting features to track orders etc. Fees are high for small volumes but I can upgrade to a merchant account later.

3) 2CheckOut link on my site as a secondary payment option. Small setup charge and high transaction fees as well.

Is this a reasonable approach?

Thanks.

Hey,

I do like Kayakos eSupport system, but I find it hard to justify $29 a month on just a ticket system.

If you take a look at http://www.clientexec.com/ - it's the software we use and it's a great thing to have by your site. Our customers can sign up via 2Checkout or PayPal and it guides them through the order process. You can have coupons, and various other purchases they can make. You can also enable auto-activation (dependant on your control panel). Then they can login to ClientExec, check their invoices, submit a ticket and all sorts. It's simple to setup and use, as well as being cheap. From their site it's $16 a month.

I'd also check out http://www.licensepal.com/ as you can get the software through them cheaper than usual. ClientExec for example, is only $11 a month.

That's my recommendation, good luck!

Are you on reseller package? Or colocate your server? Who is your main provider?

I'm just starting out with a small, dedicated managed server at Colo4dallas.

My customers are business people and not really interested in exploring advanced hosting features, just SMB websites.

Thanks.

I would use WHMCS, it gives you billing/support/client area all in one for around $10-12

Hey,

I do like Kayakos eSupport system, but I find it hard to justify $29 a month on just a ticket system.

$29/month is nothing for a decent piece of software. Obviously it depends whether you actually need a support ticket system: how many tickets you receive, how many customers you have and how many employees/support staff you need to get working together... :)

Kayako for support tickets is much better than WHMCS in my experience.

WHMCS.com - its $15 a month and includes billing and support system. Simple to use and set up.

--Tina

I love WHMCS and WHMAP. WHMCS is easily to use in my opinion but WHMAP has many additional features like additional currency, multiple payment terms for hosting and addons.

WHMCS does come with a helpdesk software intergrated together which makes life a lot easier.

Since you have only one plan you can take a look at Free Php Hosting Biller (http://www.jnshosts.com/php-hosting-biller-1.0-4.php) however there is limitations and only supports PayPal and 2Checkout, but it is free and open source.

Hey,

I do like Kayakos eSupport system, but I find it hard to justify $29 a month on just a ticket system.

If you take a look at http://www.clientexec.com/ - it's the software we use and it's a great thing to have by your site. Our customers can sign up via 2Checkout or PayPal and it guides them through the order process. You can have coupons, and various other purchases they can make. You can also enable auto-activation (dependant on your control panel). Then they can login to ClientExec, check their invoices, submit a ticket and all sorts. It's simple to setup and use, as well as being cheap. From their site it's $16 a month.

I'd also check out http://www.licensepal.com/ as you can get the software through them cheaper than usual. ClientExec for example, is only $11 a month.

That's my recommendation, good luck!

Not to turn this into the 'all Hosting Puppy' thread, but I would recommend anyone thinking of purchasing a CE license to do so through Newedge (Client Exec itself). We had cheaper licenses through a couple of different places when we first started out and their support completely sucked. Buying from Newedge directly ensures that you get good support. And believe me, when your billing and support system is down you need good help and you need it fast.

That's my two cents.

Kayako is well worth the $29.95 ( or the more expensive version)
But if you are just starting out as Tina says WHMCS will suit you fine and is only $15.95 a month.

Some companies even offer billing solutions for free with their reseller accounts.

WHMCS support system is good, its just not great but its more than enough for a just a few tickets a day/week.

Not to turn this into the 'all Hosting Puppy' thread, but I would recommend anyone thinking of purchasing a CE license to do so through Newedge (Client Exec itself). We had cheaper licenses through a couple of different places when we first started out and their support completely sucked. Buying from Newedge directly ensures that you get good support. And believe me, when your billing and support system is down you need good help and you need it fast.

That's my two cents.
Not sure when you bought the license and from whom, but recently Newedge have removed quite a few distributors who clearly weren't doing a good job. The only problem I find with their program is that they don't offer support to the clients.

I would recommend WHMCS, it might be a bit too expensive and complex for your needs though, but it is a very good system and the support is excellent if you need help.

I would also recommend WHMCS - besides basic and advanced features, it has an integrated knowledge base and it is very easy to create new pages.

PLUS it is being updated / developed constantly and has great support.

I don't recommend clientexec. It may be good from an admin standpoint but for the customer it didn't work out in the past for us. The software is slow loading compared to other scripts that do the same thing. Also its a confusing interface for the customer, well at least for our customers anyway. Also most of the other systems have more features.

Not sure when you bought the license and from whom, but recently Newedge have removed quite a few distributors who clearly weren't doing a good job. The only problem I find with their program is that they don't offer support to the clients.

That's good to hear.

What do you mean by they don't offer support to their clients? I have often opened up support tickets at Newedge and received excellent support.

I don't recommend clientexec. It may be good from an admin standpoint but for the customer it didn't work out in the past for us. The software is slow loading compared to other scripts that do the same thing. Also its a confusing interface for the customer, well at least for our customers anyway. Also most of the other systems have more features.

I agree for the most part. If I could do it again, I wouldn't pick CE but in the beginning it seemed that Moderrnbill and CE were the only ones that everyone was talking about and I literally spent days trying to understand how to configure ModernBill. I had CE up and running in an hour. But the price is that there are a lot of features that I wish it had and yes, the interface is really non-intuitive in a lot of cases.

Sticking with it for now because it ain't broke, but it's on the hit list for sometime in the future.

Jon

Any low cost software around $5 permonth or any free

$29/month - it seems you have a good budget!

I would rather use osTicket by doing some modifications if you are looking only for the ticket system.

Hi,

I have been looking at various billing software and helpdesk software, owned and hosted licenses, integrated applications, reliability issues, customer support issues etc. etc.

But I think my situation is simple enough that I don't need all those features.

All I have is one hosting plan for $10/month with a $10 setup fee.

My hosting is very simple and my customers will have basic questions.

I think I only need:

1) A simple application for the customer to submit tickets. Kayako eSupport look reliable and easy to use and is only $29/month.

2) Paypal's Website Payments Standard to put a Paypal link on my site for customers to create a subscription payment. Paypal has reporting features to track orders etc. Fees are high for small volumes but I can upgrade to a merchant account later.

3) 2CheckOut link on my site as a secondary payment option. Small setup charge and high transaction fees as well.

Is this a reasonable approach?

Thanks.

That's good to hear.

What do you mean by they don't offer support to their clients? I have often opened up support tickets at Newedge and received excellent support.
Sorry, when I said program, I meant their distributor program. Good to hear their support is doing good, I believe that's something they've been trying to improve recently.