1. How much does it cost?

You can try it out for free for 35 days. The purchase price is £65 (GBP) for an outright purchase (click here for USD equivalent). Outright means forever - you will be able to continue using the software forever without having to pay again (unless you upgrade to a new major version - see below).  An annual option is available for £25 (click here for USD equivalent). Domain-wide licenses (allowing multiple installations on the same domain) are avaialble for £48 per year or £120 outright. We cannot tell you the exact price in US Dollars (or any other currency apart from British Pounds) because it depends on the exchange rate used by your card issuer at the time you make the purchase. A discount is given for 2nd and subsequent outright licenses (currently 25% - this does not apply to annual licenses).

2. Does it run on Joomla 1.0 AND Joomla 1.5?

Yes it runs on both. nBill 2.x does not require legacy mode.

3. Does it run on PHP4 AND PHP5?

NO. nBill 2.x will only work on PHP5. nBill 1.x will work on PHP4 or 5.

4. Does it run with MySQL 4 AND MySQL 5?

Yes. Some features require MySQL 4.1 or later.

5. What are the pre-requisites for running nBill? 

 The main requirements are:

i) Joomla 1.0, Joomla 1.5, or Mambo 4.6 installed

ii) PHP5 (5.0 or later, but 5.2.9 or later preferred)

iii) MySQL (version 4.1 or later, version 5 recommended)

iv) ionCube (note: ionCube might not work on Windows 64-bit servers - see http://forum.ioncube.com/viewtopic.php?t=1772&sid=15c23d9e6221fc9e71d44d764b6931b1)

v) If running on Joomla 1.5 without legacy mode, the mysqli PHP extension must be enabled.

For more information, see the documentation: http://www.nbill.co.uk/help/index.php?page=pre-requisites.html.

6. Why is nBill better than a shopping cart?

For certain types of business, nBill provides a more flexible solution than traditional shopping cart software because it allows you to tailor the purchase process to your own needs. Whereas a shopping cart typically uses a fixed checkout process, nBill allows you to create your own order forms.

On an order form, you can define whatever fields you like, so you can capture whatever data you need in order to fulfil the order - even allowing file uploads or domain name availability checking (something a shopping cart is rarely able to accomplish). This style of ordering suits some businesses better than others - particularly, service industries and those with just a limited range of products. A traditional online shop with lots of products would still be better off with a shopping cart that allows you to browse the product catalog and add items to a 'cart' (which is not currently possible with nBill).

Another benefit of nBill over shopping cart software is that it provides much more comprehensive billing and bookkeeping features - allowing you to create ad-hoc invoices, recurring subscriptions, and even record offline income and expenditure so that you can report on all of your transactions.

It is possible that a traditional shopping cart feature could be added to nBill at a later date, however, for now nBill provides a unique and highly flexible solution which suits many businesses much better than a shopping cart.

7. Can I set up an affiliate program using nBill? 

nBill itself does not contain any affiliation features, however, it does allow for integration with 3rd party affiliate software. In particular, it is very easy to add integration with PostAffiliate Pro (PAP), as there is an nBill extension which seamlesslely adds this capability. Other affiliate programs can be integrated by redirecting your customers to a thank you page after purchase and inserting the affiliate tracking code on that page (that is not necessary when using the PAP extension).

8. Can I use nBill in a language other than English?

nBill has been written with multi-language use in mind.  All English text is held in separate language files.  To use the component in a different language (both in the Joomla back end and in the website front end), you will need to install the applicable language pack extension.  You can see the language packs that are currently available here: http://www.nbill.co.uk/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,10/task,cat_view/gid,12/  

Joomfish support is included for text that you supply yourself (eg. field labels on your order forms etc). 

9. If I buy a license key for my test server, can I change it to my live domain when I'm ready without having to buy another license key?

You cannot change the key after purchase without incurring a fee (even then, the old value will be permanently blocked from using future versions of nBill), however there are other options available to you:

If you need time to test and set up your products, order forms, etc. on a test site before going live, you can use the 35 day free trial. If that is not long enough, just ask us for an extension. If that still is not long enough, you have 3 choices:

1) Buy a license key for the live domain, but run your test site on a local web server (such as JSAS or another WAMP package) - if the live site setting starts with 'localhost', nBill will run ok even if the license key belongs to your live domain.

2) Buy a one year license key for the test site, and then buy an additional license for your live site when you are ready.

3) Buy a license key for your test site, then when ready, request that your test site be blocked and a new key issued for your live site (a fee will be charged, and you will never be able to use the test site address again with future versions of nBill).

If you want to run nBill on more than one website on a more permanent basis (ie. not just while you are setting things up initially but as an ongoing test site), you should either buy a separate key for each, or (as long as the test site is on the same domain as the live site) you can buy a domain-wide license (which will allow it to run on any website on the same domain, including subdomains).

If you have already bought a license for your test server before reading these FAQs (tsk tsk!), you can request that your old key be blocked and a new one issued for a nominal fee, or you can buy an additional license key. To block and re-issue, make sure you are logged in (using the username and password you supplied when purchasing), and click here.

10. If I move my site to a different domain or folder, can I have a new license key for the new location without paying again?

If you purchased a domain-wide license, you can use the same key on any website on that domain (including sub-domains). If you have a single site license, or want to change the domain name, there is a small admin fee for changing a license key - even if you are just moving to another folder on the same domain and the old location will no longer be used. The fee for blocking and re-issuing a license key is significantly less than the cost of purchasing a new license key. If you would like to block your old key and have a new key issued, make sure you are logged in (using the username and password you supplied when purchasing), and click here. Please note that after a block and re-issue, your old site address will be permanently blocked from using future versions of nBill.

11. I cannot see a payment gateway for Paypal on the gateway download page - does nBill work with Paypal?

Yes. The Paypal gateway comes pre-installed as the default gateway with nBill. It is not necessary to install the Paypal gateway separately, which is why there is no download available for it. The Paypal gateway supports one-off and recurring payments, and requires a normal Paypal business account. It does not work with Paypal Pro (but a Paypal Pro gateway is available from a third party company, OSDCS). 

12. There does not seem to be a payment gateway available for my Payment Service Provider - will you write a payment gateway for my PSP?

Whenever we write a payment gateway, we make it available to the public at no charge. We will develop the most often-requested payment gateways as and when our development schedule permits. If you don't want to wait for us to get round to developing your gateway, you can sponsor the development of a gateway. This will be charged at 50% of our normal fees for development in exchange for which we require the rights to distribute the gateway under a liberal license so that everyone can benefit from it.

If you do not require recurring payments, development of a gateway would typically cost around £140. If recurring payments are required, the cost would typically be £280, although it could be as high as £420, depending on how the payment service provider's system works. We do not guarantee to be able to support all payment gateways, and the cost may vary depending on the complexity of the system. Please contact us for a quote and time estimate (warning: we are very busy and there is typically a lead time of 2 to 4 weeks before we can begin any new gateway development work. We might have to turn down your request during busy periods. A gatweay can be written by any competent PHP developer though, so you could ask another company to develop it for you). All prices are shown exclusive of VAT.

13. I am a developer - if I write a payment gateway for nBill, what do I get in return? 

If you are a developer, another alternative is for you to develop the gateway yourself. Full instructions are provided here: http://www.nbill.co.uk/documentation/payment-gateway-development.html . If you develop a gateway and are willing to donate it for public use (and meet the criteria listed at the end of the payment gateway developer instructions), we will give you one free license for nBill (or refund your license fee if you've already bought one). If your gateway supports recurring payments, the free license key will not expire. If your gateway only supports one-off payments, your free license key will expire after 2 years.

If you want to sell your payment gateway yourself under your own licensing arrangements, rather than donate it for public use, you may do so (although you won't get a free license key that way), subject to taking your own legal advice (some may claim that this would violate the GPL license that Joomla and Mambo are released under - we would disagree of course, as nBill is not released under a GPL-compatible license anyway). Naturally, it is possible that a free gateway for the same PSP may be released at a later date though.

14. What security precautions should be taken when using nBill?

It would be good to use an SSL certificate to provide an extra layer of protection against theft of your customers' data. You might find the following article helpful in getting an SSL certificate to work with your Joomla 1.0 site: www.netshinesoftware.com/security/using-an-ssl-certificate-with-your-joomla-website.html

If you have an SSL certificate installed, and you want your order forms to be processed over SSL (especially important if you are using a payment gateway which remains on your site rather than redirecting to the payment service provider's site), you must amend the URL in the menu item to start with https instead of http. 

Other security concerns largely relate to any 3rd party addons - nBill extensions, and payment gateways. If you install any extras by 3rd parties, you have to be sure you can trust the source.  The component does warn you of this in big red letters on the extension installer. Of course, the usual security issues involved in using Joomla and any other add-ons apply, and are even more important if you are storing customer data on your Joomla database.  For more information, see the article about Joomla Security on our main website.

One of the best security measures is to ensure that register_globals is switched off on your server, and that the Joomla register_globals emulation is also switched off (although the component does validate all user input, weaknesses may exist in other components that you have installed - which could compromise the security of your whole system if register_globals is switched on).  See http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,1030.0.html.

Ensure you are always running the most recent stable version of Joomla and any other components. Also, please be aware of any data protection legislation that may apply to you (eg. if you use nBill in the UK, you will very likely need to register with the Information Commissioner to comply with the data protection act). 

15. For how long will I get free upgrades if I purchase an outright license? 

You get security fixes for as long as the major version you are using is supported. If we were to decide to stop supporting an old version, we would give you plenty of notice so that you would have time to upgrade to the current version (but you could still continue using the old version forever if you wish). Minor version increments and revisions are free of charge indefinitely, but if a new major version is released (eg. version 2.0, 3.0), that would require the purchase of an upgrade (at a lower cost than a new license). If a new major version is released, the previous version would continue to be supported, and security fixes made available for some time.

16. Can I use nBill in conjunction with Virtuemart?

No. Integration with Virtuemart is a possibility for the future, but it is not currently available. We would prefer to develop a shopping cart system specifically for nBill rather than trying to integrate with VM and keep up-to-date with changes and development of the Virtuemart project, however if there is sufficient demand, we may create a Virtuemart extension to allow sharing of data between VM and nBill.

17. Can I use it with Community Builder?

There is some rudimentary integration - when a user record is created by nBill, an entry is added to the community builder user table, if present. Further integration may be added later.

18. Does it integrate with <xyz> component? 

nBill integrates with Joom!Fish, J!Whois, JACLPlus, Access Granted, and at a very basic level with Community Builder (see previous question, above). A module providing some integration with nBill 1.x is also provided by the makers of Jomres. It is possible for you to add your own integration with other components (if you are a PHP programmer), by extracting the data you need from the nBill tables (which are all prefixed with 'jos_inv_' - depending on Joomla table prefix of course), and by using the events provided by nBill (just drop your PHP file into the appropriate event folder [/administrator/components/com_netinvoice/events/] - see notes in readme.txt in each event folder for more information).

19. How do recurring payments work?

nBill allows you to collect payments from your clients on a regular basis for subscription style products. However, this is subject to recurring payments being supported by your payment service provider. nBill does not store credit card details, and nBill does not initiate charging the customer's card itself every month/year/whatever (the payment service provider does that). All nBill does is tell the payment gateway at the time the order is placed what the recurring payments should be. The payment service provider (eg. Paypal) will then store the card details securely and take the payments on a regular basis.

If the payment service provider allows for callbacks to be made when each payment is taken, nBill will be able to mark the corresponding invoice as paid for you. However, not all PSPs do this (eg. authorize.net does not), in which case you will need to mark invoices as paid yourself.

If a client cancels an order, you will also have to login to your merchant control panel with your payment service provider (eg. your Paypal account), and cancel the recurring payments there, as nBill will not do this for you. Similarly, if the payments are cancelled (eg. by the client logging into their Paypal account and cancelling there), you will need to mark the order as cancelled in nBill, as it will not know that the payments have stopped.

For a more complete explanation, please see this help topic (opens in a new window).