6 ms·

It has good revenue, but it relies upon 37 signals to promote it. Without their support, revenues could tank. Its a big risk for many potential buyers.

by mikek 14y ago

robryan 14y ago
Also you need to reengage every customer to change the payment method. Giving everyone a good opportunity to end their subscription or at least reevaluate whether they have gained from the subscription.
- kondro 14y ago
  I doubt this would be required. 37signals uses Braintree and probably stores credit card numbers themselves. Besides, I'm sure for a transfer like this Braintree would transfer these existing accounts to a new Braintree account.
  - dangrossman 14y ago
    I wouldn't be so sure. I couldn't get a payment gateway to transfer my own stored info to another account also owned by me (to switch merchant account providers), let alone someone else. There must be a PCI rule being violated there somewhere.
  - pbreit 14y ago
    It's at least unclear. 37s indicated previously that the buyer would need to build a new billing system and my impression was that customers would need to re-enroll in a new billing relationship. 37s has not clarified one way or the other.
    - nateberkopec 14y ago
      I emailed Jason, and he said Braintree would transfer all the data over.
      - chawkins 14y ago
        I wonder why he didn't just say as much in either the blog post or the Flippa auction?
  - aculver 14y ago
    Correct regarding Braintree's willingness to help port customer data. See the "Data Portability" section at https://www.braintreepayments.com/tour/vault https://www.braintreepayments.com/tour/vault . Also, there is more information in this blog post: https://www.braintreepayments.com/blog/data-portability https://www.braintreepayments.com/blog/data-portability
  - larrys 14y ago
    Keep in mind that this is most likely not setup as a separate company. So there is a contract between 37 signals I'm guessing (and sorry no quick way to verify this but it certainly makes sense that they didn't setup an entire separate legal entity which they can sell) and the person paying the money. My guess is that the wording of the contract legally isn't setup to allow the transfer of payment or card details to another party because the website was sold. While defacto this probably happens all the time I'm not sure a new buyer would feel comfortable simply taking over cc details and continue billing. At least not if they are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars. So at the very least you have to send a letter or email stating what is going on and getting a new contract executed. As anyone who can tell you about recurring billing will confirm that's not ideal because it gives people a chance to reevaluate and say "nah cancel this I don't really need it". Added: And in fact if you take some time and scroll to the bottom of the home page it says "sortfolio" is a trademark of 37 signals. Unfortunately there is no way to signup for a new account and see the contract that goes with the "pro" setup that costs $99)

It has good revenue, but it relies upon 37 signals to promote it. Without their support, revenues could tank. Its a big risk for many potential buyers.

by mikek 14y ago

It has good revenue, but it relies upon 37 signals to promote it. Without their support, revenues could tank. Its a big risk for many potential buyers.

robryan 14y ago

Also you need to reengage every customer to change the payment method. Giving everyone a good opportunity to end their subscription or at least reevaluate whether they have gained from the subscription.

kondro 14y ago
I doubt this would be required. 37signals uses Braintree and probably stores credit card numbers themselves. Besides, I'm sure for a transfer like this Braintree would transfer these existing accounts to a new Braintree account.
- dangrossman 14y ago
  I wouldn't be so sure. I couldn't get a payment gateway to transfer my own stored info to another account also owned by me (to switch merchant account providers), let alone someone else. There must be a PCI rule being violated there somewhere.
- pbreit 14y ago
  It's at least unclear. 37s indicated previously that the buyer would need to build a new billing system and my impression was that customers would need to re-enroll in a new billing relationship. 37s has not clarified one way or the other.
  - nateberkopec 14y ago
    I emailed Jason, and he said Braintree would transfer all the data over.
    - chawkins 14y ago
      I wonder why he didn't just say as much in either the blog post or the Flippa auction?
- aculver 14y ago
  Correct regarding Braintree's willingness to help port customer data. See the "Data Portability" section at https://www.braintreepayments.com/tour/vault https://www.braintreepayments.com/tour/vault . Also, there is more information in this blog post: https://www.braintreepayments.com/blog/data-portability https://www.braintreepayments.com/blog/data-portability
- larrys 14y ago
  Keep in mind that this is most likely not setup as a separate company. So there is a contract between 37 signals I'm guessing (and sorry no quick way to verify this but it certainly makes sense that they didn't setup an entire separate legal entity which they can sell) and the person paying the money. My guess is that the wording of the contract legally isn't setup to allow the transfer of payment or card details to another party because the website was sold. While defacto this probably happens all the time I'm not sure a new buyer would feel comfortable simply taking over cc details and continue billing. At least not if they are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars. So at the very least you have to send a letter or email stating what is going on and getting a new contract executed. As anyone who can tell you about recurring billing will confirm that's not ideal because it gives people a chance to reevaluate and say "nah cancel this I don't really need it". Added: And in fact if you take some time and scroll to the bottom of the home page it says "sortfolio" is a trademark of 37 signals. Unfortunately there is no way to signup for a new account and see the contract that goes with the "pro" setup that costs $99)