Vextend Sell Lives On
Vextend Sell was originally created in 2017 when my single store small business began using Vend and wanted a few features to be handled differently, including having a customer facing screen for PC sales. This was the first time I created an extension, and I learned the easiest way to deploy it to our computers was to use the Chrome Web Store, thus making it available and free to any other Vend customers. After our store moved to iPads a year later, I only pushed a few further updates to this extension as our business no longer needed it.
In 2022, Google announced that the software version this was written on (known as Manifest V2) would be replaced by newer software. While I have offered the chance for users to donate to the extension, I received only one donation, ever. I'm not complaining, but needless to say, there wasn't a huge incentive to invest the time to rework the software to be compatible with the new version required of Chrome Extensions. I reached out to Lightspeed support (who had bought out Vend), and thought for a while that they would be considering some type of replacement solution to not leave users of the extension (their customers) without an option. I felt it was better if they created their own customer facing screen so they could properly support it. However, the 2023 deadline for ending V2 extensions got extended by Google, and Lightspeed stopped communicating that any progress was being made on anything directly from them. After a recent check with their development team in early 2024, I am under the understanding that they are not planning a solution.
Sometime beginning in June 2024, V2 extensions will no longer work. While I felt bad that there are now a few hundred users actively using the extension, I also didn't have a motivation to update and continue to manage this (especially considering the this is a software that adds features to another business's software that seems unwilling to make a feature needed by a percentage of their users). I am hobby programmer who occassionally fullfils this hobby by doing projects that can be used by my small business. Like any small business owner though, my time is limited. Running a seasonal business where we run very intense hours during 7 months of the year makes me hesitant to take on another project.
I had some ideas floating in my head about using this extension to make some passive income or raise some money for local charities. I rewrote parts of the extension with that goal that a paid version of that could fulfill one or both of those goals, and even found a payment platform that works well within extensions. However, as I go through this process I am reminded that like anything in business, the product is only part of the job; all the back office communicating changes to the software, uploading to the store, supporting emails, documentation, graphics, payment systems, and all that add up. The 10+ hours rewriting the initial code wasn't bad, but I've easily spent three to four times that trying to get this published and changes communicated to you all.
So, here's the plan: I have rewritten just the customer facing screen, as I feel this is by far the main feature used in the extension. Plus, the way this is programmed, it connects more directly into the Sell screen of Lightspeed than the other features. The other features were always prone to breaking if Lightspeed changed some underlying code, but as long as Lightspeed doesn't disable the code that sends a message each time a sale is updated, this extension should be fairly future proof. (Note that item notes will not be supported due to a kind of unreliable way we used to pull that info from the sale, and as of now promo images will not be available on the facing screen. Otherwise, the customer screen should look almost identical, and will still support auto loading/fullscreen).
My goal is that once we are through the testing phase of the new extension, there will be a fee, likely $50 per year for as many computers as you need it on (under the same Google Chrome account). Depending on total expenses to maintain this, I hope to consider using some of the funds received to support some local charities in my community, but as of now I'm not ready to make any promises until I am sure of the stability of the software. That said, when the new version rolls out, for now it will be in a 'long-term free trial mode'. Basically I've put collecting payments as my bottom priority to develop, so I'll continue to offer it free until then. All users should be aware though that this is considered a paid software, and for now you are getting a very nice free trial. Likewise, if there are broken features during this trial, support may be limited.
As a small business owner, I understand none of us want more software fees, yet even with other non-Lightspeed POS systems, it's not uncommon to pay extra for 3rd party plugins or add-ons. At $50 per year, this is a fraction of what any Lightspeed user pays for a single month of service for the core software. I will do my best to support the software, but please remember that this is a hobby project by a single person, and my day job (vegetable farmer) comes first.
Upcoming Timeline: Sometime after March 15th (as soon as I'm ready, possibly that weekend, or it could be up to a month after), I will be attempting to push out the new extension, which means most of the current extension functionality will go away. At that time you may need to reset a few settings with in the extension settings. There may be a few initial bugs, so don't hestiate to reach out to vextend.ext@gmail.com. Please note that I will be attempting with the new release to rename the extension to Vextend Display to more accurately represent the changed program.
Thanks for your understanding. I really didn't want to be in the software business, but I also hope this can help users that were unsure how to move forward after the change, and eventually do some good for my local community.
I encourage you to fill out the form below if you want receive any important emails as we work through the transition.
-Scott, the Developer of Vextend