X-Cart forums

[xim]

On February 12 2011 we released an extra module FacebookTab which allows opening X-Cart store on your personal Facebook pages. The goal was to show products right on your fan page (in tab) without redirecting customers to a separate canvas page. The module was developed based on FBML technology that at that time was the only solution to display content in tab.
Meanwhile Facebook announced that their tabs started working with iFrame technology as well. However since we already had the FBML version we decided to concentrate on it and create a new product on iFrame logic in the future.

FacebookTab has given many of you an excellent chance to sell your products on Facebook thus convert your X-Cart into f-commerce cart. Also we developed the special application for easy connection x-cart store with facebook page. And this powerful solution is available only at $95, or even less with our special offers. I hope all of us believe that this investment was a very good deal. All this time we have been working on FacebookTab to enhance its functionality, in cooperation with FBML development team, submitting issues to the Facebook bugtracker to sort out major problems with FBML. And all that amount of work from our side, in addition to FacebookTab, costs our clients a one time fee.

On September 30 2011 Facebook announced that they are going to stop FBML support starting from January 01 2012 and totally remove FBML technology on June 2012: http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/568/
I'd say it was to our regret considering how much efforts we've put into our beloved child FacebookTab.
Anyway the progress is moving towards the future. We understand we have to create another product, now based on iFrame logic. No time for regret! Since then our team has been working hard on this brand new solution. We started developing it from scratch. It's a totally new technology and new code. We has invested our time, money, resources (I pray not health!) in this project. And today we are proud to launch the new service called f-Commerce Go.

It will be a SaaS freemium model. The integration module for X-Cart will be available for free download to all clients, and surely there will be a special Facebook application to connect your X-Cart store with your Facebook page as it was with FacebookTab.

We will be offering two f-Commerce Go plans:

1. Basic plan - free of charge, includes display of featured products on Facebook page. Though it's only for featured products I'm sure it's a exciting news for the X-Cart community.

Example here - http://www.facebook.com/fcommerce.go?sk=app_165931960160897

2. Silver plan - paid. The subscribers will get a more advanced solution that will support many features like as follows:

- Full store stock
- Categories browsing and products listing in categories
- Products search feature
- "Add to cart" and minicart
- A tag for orders from Facebook and search filter in X-Cart admin area
- "Like" and "Send" buttons for all products in Facebook catalog
- Facebook comments for all products in Facebook catalog
- Product detailed page with all the supported functionality such as Detailed Images, Products options, Related products, and others
- Bestsellers products listing
- WYSIWYG editor to put custom HTML text on shop start page
- Taxes, SpecialOffers, ExtraFields are available for Facebook catalog

Example - http://www.facebook.com/xcart?sk=app_165931960160897

Silver plan will cost $105 for 6-month subscription or $195 for 1-year. We are going to launch this service at the beginning of March.

From this date, though reluctantly, we stop selling FacebookTab. But we will continue supporting the application and module until Facebook removes FBML technology completely. For those clients who purchased FacebookTab module starting from January 01 2012, we will do product exchange to the f-Commerce Go service.

If you are interested in the software and would like to use the new service, please, visit this page send us your contact email (HelpDesk login so that our staff identifies you as an existing client). As soon as we launch the service we will contact you directly.

[babymart]

Dear Maxim,

Good day! I already bought Facebooktab May last year and the license is for life time and now you tell me that the products will be no longer workable from this June 2012. So do you have any solution for old customers.

Sincerely yours,

Roy MG
www.facebook.com/babyfarlin
www.facebook.com/mothersenvogue

[totaltec]

I doubt it babymart. It sounds like QT has been left out in the cold by FB. That would be something beyond their control. X-cart's lifetime license has always been a wonderful thing, but it means that they end up working fro free for those of us that have been around a while.

Like Maxim said, they dumped good money and time down the drain with Facebook Tab. I think the new SAAS model they are announcing will protect them from something similar happening in the future. If FB decides to change again, at least QT will be generating recurring revenue to cover the additional development costs that will cause.

Imagine what it would cost to develop a solution like this on your own, probably in the thousands of dollars if not tens of thousands.

[cflsystems]

That is why everyone should just dump all so called social sites and not invest any money and time in them. It is a waste. And having so many load with a page is most of the time a problem.
Well you can tell I am not a fan of the social sites

[totaltec]

Originally Posted by cflsystems

Well you can tell I am not a fan of the social sites

Me either! Big time waster if you ask me. But it's all the rage, and we can't ignore it unfortunately. I laughed long and hard when I saw this:
"

The percentage of total online sales generated by social media this past Black Friday actually fell to 0.53% from 0.55% the year prior, says an IBM Coremetrics study. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving. That figure rose on Cyber Monday (three days after Black Friday) to 0.56% from 0.41%, but still remains negligible."

http://news.investors.com/article/600351/201202071711/social-media-disappoints-as-ecommerce-driver.htm?src=HPLNews

And to think about the amount of money some companies are spending, staffing big buildings with personnel just to respond to clients on FB and Twitter. This kind of grass roots stuff is good for some people I guess. I just don't know anyone raving about all the sales they get from FB. Hits yes, sales no.

[thebluedoorboutique]

Originally Posted by totaltec

Me either! Big time waster if you ask me. But it's all the rage, and we can't ignore it unfortunately. I laughed long and hard when I saw this:
"

The percentage of total online sales generated by social media this past Black Friday actually fell to 0.53% from 0.55% the year prior, says an IBM Coremetrics study. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving. That figure rose on Cyber Monday (three days after Black Friday) to 0.56% from 0.41%, but still remains negligible."

http://news.investors.com/article/600351/201202071711/social-media-disappoints-as-ecommerce-driver.htm?src=HPLNews

And to think about the amount of money some companies are spending, staffing big buildings with personnel just to respond to clients on FB and Twitter. This kind of grass roots stuff is good for some people I guess. I just don't know anyone raving about all the sales they get from FB. Hits yes, sales no.

Not everyone should write off social media... I would safely say that 80% of our traffic to our website comes straight from social media.

[xim]

Originally Posted by babymart

Dear Maxim,
Good day! I already bought Facebooktab May last year and the license is for life time and now you tell me that the products will be no longer workable from this June 2012. So do you have any solution for old customers.

As I wrote Facebook initiated the termination of FBML technology, not Qualiteam. Yes, we provide life-time license for FacebookTab and if FBML is not disabled then you can continue using module.

However to provider our customers with the ability to continue selling via Facebook we have been developing new service with SaaS model. As @totaltec wrote this model will allow us to have the necessary sources for additional development and improvements.

And in new service you can make the decision which plan you want to use: simple for free or additional features for subscription

[babymart]

Dear Maxim,

Good day! You said "we will continue supporting the application and module until Facebook removes FBML technology completely". It seems like you put the blame on Facebook and consider it as a force major but you do not inform us before hand that Facebook could stop using FBML. I would ask for the resolution not putting the blame on your team.

Subscription seems not look like the commercialized license of the rest of your previous products at all.

With best regards,

Roy
www.facebook.com/farlin and www.facebook.com/mothersenvogue

[xim]

Originally Posted by babymart

Good day! You said "we will continue supporting the application and module until Facebook removes FBML technology completely". It seems like you put the blame on Facebook and consider it as a force major but you do not inform us before hand that Facebook could stop using FBML. I would ask for the resolution not putting the blame on your team.

When we were developing the FacebookTab on December 2010, there was only FBML technology which allowed adding custom tab.

Here is the timeline:
11 February 2011 - http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/462/ - Facebook announced iframe Tabs for Pages
Feb 15, 2011 - http://www.x-cart.com/ecommerce_software_news.html?year=2011 - Qualiteam released FacebookTab module basing on FBML
30 September 2011 - http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/568/ - Facebook informed us about the plans of platform using.

When we developed the module we didn't know that Facebook close FBML platform.

Originally Posted by babymart

Subscription seems not look like the commercialized license of the rest of your previous products at all.

Yes, you are right. f-Commerce Go depends on Facebook API and OpenGraph. There is impossible to release the module and say that it will work in future every time. As soon as Facebook changes API we have to implement the changes into our system (and that's we have done for FacebookTab all this year, even the reason was Facebook side). That's why we will use SaaS subscription scheme.

[babymart]

Dear Maxim,

Good afternoon again! "As soon as Facebook changes API we have to implement the changes into our system (and that's we have done for FacebookTab all this year, even the reason was Facebook side). That's why we will use SaaS subscription scheme." So what should I do now? Wait until June 1st and all my FacebookTab just block and un-functional right? I still wonder why qualiteam do not offer any best solution for old client at least free f-commerce full function for two or one year.

Sincerely yours,

Roy