How can you sell or auction your code?

Question

Say you write some python code using your expertise in some knowledge-domain that could be used to perform some sort of Web Service for a wider set of people. (ie. you take their data and do something magic with it and return something of more info value.)

So you get the code to work -- you get to the proof of concept stage by deploying it on app-engine.

But the problem is you dont want to go to the next stage of learning and writing javascript to make the site pretty, nor do you know how to market the web service. Also you need money so you can continue being an independent hacker, so you dont want to give the code as open-source.

So how do you find out if some other person (or company or Google) wants to buy the code from you and do something they like with it? Is there some sort of protocol or Ebay for auctioning off code for independent developers (hackers), which you guess might be worth something between $100 and $10,000?

Or perhaps you just show-off an example of the 'magic' on your app-spot website and hope for people to approach you -- if this is the case, any advise on how to get exposure from the people who might want to buy the code ?

Answer 1

I doubt that anyone runs a (consistently used) site like that (it would quickly turn into a crap flood). Your best bet is to use your network of contacts or market yourself somehow (such as emailing people who might be interested). I highly recommend you make the service at least presentable to a potential buyer (otherwise they might have a hard time appreciating how magic your magic is).

Good luck!

Answer 2

I think the only people who might be interested in buying the code are people with the same domain knowledge as you who can appreciate that the product actually works. After all, if you've chosen some esoteric niche, unless they understand what the software is useful for people aren't going to be able to figure out how to make money off of it.

Answer 3

There exist a few sites for selling code.

The most well known is probably hotscripts.com,

• sourcecodeshop (down at the moment, try later).
• CodeCanyon
• SpikeSolutions

Google it - I used to have a whole list of sites that specialized in selling Actionscript snippets:

A better idea is probably to search freelancing sites to see if people are looking for related projects, and work into solutions that people are actually looking for.

Answer 4

Another option is Binpress, a recently opened software market for web frameworks and platforms. Registration is by invitation only (can be requested) so the quality should be higher (fair disclosure - I'm involved in the project).