The Open Market for Components

FAQsUnderstand the opportunity and learn more about the open market for components. Find out why Businesses all over the world are turning to components and how you could be sitting on a goldmine. Components are now accepted within the architecture of almost all the major technology platforms allowing you to reach a new and fast growing market of IT professionals.

Q. Which products are suitable?
A. ComponentSource is interested in any Microsoft Windows, .NET™, WPF, WCF, WF, Silverlight™, COM™, J2EE™/Java™/EJB™, AJAX/JavaScript, Adobe Air, Flex, Flash, Eclipse, RCP and VCL™, components that you have developed. We are also interested in any development tools, add-ins or plug-ins for major IDEs like: Visual Studio, Visual Basic, Visual C++, C# (C Sharp), VS LightSwitch, Delphi, C++ Builder, JBuilder, IntelliJ etc. Plus any application or software development life-cycle development tools for: design, modeling, coding, version controlling, testing, building, deploying and managing a software application or product. Plus tools that help manage other products - like Microsoft SharePoint, Exchange Server, SQL Server, Oracle databases, MySQL or CRM packages like Dynamics, SAP etc. We are also distributing and reselling tools or utilities aimed at database, network management and other IT administration tasks.

Q. How do I know if my product is in demand?
A. The best place to look for an indication of likely product demand is our current bestselling product list updated every day on our Web site. Or look at our annual ComponentSource Awards for our top 100 bestselling publishers and products, as these are based on real sales $ values and will show you what sort of products are selling well to our audience already and what gaps in the market there are that give you potential opportunities for a new software product or idea.

Q. What industries would be most interested in my technology?
A. It depends on the type of component you have and whether it is for a niche market or mass market.

Q. How do I know if my product(s) can be horizontally marketed?
A. Ask yourself whether this is a general component that can be used in all industries and have mass appeal for example accounting components can be used in all organizations in all different industries. Look at the business value your component can bring and position it in that way.

Q. Do you take applications?
A. No. ComponentSource specializes in software components, software developer kits (SDKs), software development tools and tools or utilities for IT professionals - such as database, network, security and IT administrators. However where we sell a particular component from an application we may also carry the full product too.

Q. Do you take shareware?
A. ComponentSource sells to professional developers, IT professionals and to a corporate audience. We only want professional, commercial software components and development tools. All software needs to go through a quality assurance process before being allowed on the Web site. Some of our bestselling products today started out as a shareware or freeware product and we can help transition your current shareware or freeware product into the commercial software marketplace.

Q. What is the market for my product(s) - how many sales can I expect to make?
A. This is the "million dollar" question that is difficult to answer. There are many variables that must be considered to even start thinking about predicting sales. We can tell you though that our bestselling Publishers are selling hundreds of units per month and those in the top 100 bestseller list are selling tens of units per month. Our bestselling publishers are selling over $1 Million USD per year with us, but we also have publishers who do not make any sales at all. Our average return on investment (ROI) when compared to publisher program fees that we charge to list your products ranges between 14 to 1 and 18 to 1.

Q. How can you help to market my software to corporate organizations?
A. For corporate developers ComponentSource offers services that facilitate the adoption of software components and the evaluation of your software tools. Our corporate customer services include Electronic Software Delivery technology which means developers can evaluate and procure software products immediately to meet project deadlines 24/7. Our international call centers in the US, Europe and Asia/Pac back up this download service with real people for our Web site users and customers to speak to 24/5 Mon-Fri. Customers can call us on 50 toll free numbers from 47 countries and speak with us about your products in 9 languages on the phone, by email or using live chat. We do not hide behind our Web site - we are here and ready to speak to anyone at any time 24/5 Mon-Fri for you - we have found this service level differentiates us from other Web sites and local or domestic software resellers.

We also offer other services to address corporate buying behavior. These include Corporate Accounts for fast secure online purchasing, Online Quotes (an automatic quote-generation system to help purchasing departments in large corporations track orders), Online Receipts - providing proof of purchase for auditing bodies and CD/DVD backup - to resolve audit issues and to assist customers with limited Internet bandwidth. We also provide our corporate customers with the opportunity to buy source code escrow licenses from our participating publishers and this gives them additional assurance when using those products.