Buying a script for your own project is simple. Buying one to build a client's site raises three questions that are much easier answered now than in a year.
Which licence tier
If the end product is free to its users, a regular licence usually covers it. If your client will charge their users, that is normally the extended tier. Getting this wrong is a conversation with your client you do not want.
Whose account owns it
If you buy it, the licence, the support channel and the updates live in your account. When the engagement ends, your client has a site running on a licence they cannot see or renew. Buying it under the client's account, or transferring the cost to them explicitly, avoids that.
Who answers when it breaks in a year
Author support goes to whoever holds the licence. If that is you and you have moved on, your client is stuck. Say plainly in your handover who supports what, and for how long.
The handover document
- Which items were bought, and their purchase codes
- Which account holds them
- When author support ends on each
- Any modifications you made, and where
Half a page. It is the difference between a client who recommends you and one who calls you angrily in eighteen months.
Related: counting your installs.
