Shareware on Sale: daily free and discounted software offers
The Shareware on Sale website looks similar on first glance to established Internet services such as Giveaway of the Day or Glarysoft Giveaway. When you look closer, you will notice differences between those services though. The first is that Shareware on Sale lists multiple programs per day instead of just one like most other sites in the vertical do.
The second that not all software listed by it is free. You find free offers here usually, but also discounted shareware offers. Those are not the only differences though. If you dig deeper, you will notice that limitations that are imposed on users on other sites are not as strict.
Offers are for instance available for a prolonged period of time and not only 24 hours. Other benefits may include that the software may be used in a business environment, that free tech support is offered, or that updates are included as well as part of the deal.
The details page of each offer lists the terms and conditions clearly so that you know what each offer includes and what it does not include.
As far as offers go: the site lists eight offers today for instance. Two of the offers are free, while the remaining six offers are discounted and available for a price of $2.99 or $3.99. The two free programs on offer today are a video converter (which has been offered for free before in several occasions) and a program to create your own movies.
The past sales listing provides information about programs that have been on offer previously. This includes popular applications such as Wise Care 365 Pro, Ashampoo Movie Studio 2013, or FileMinimizer suite.
You do need to create an account before you can download free offers or purchase discounted ones. As far as information go, you are only required to enter your name, country, email address and password to do so. Free offers do not require you to enter any billing information such as credit card numbers which many users will certainly appreciate.
The order page lists the download link and serial number if required, so that you can go ahead and install the application on your system right away.
The service does not appear to use a wrapper installer of sorts it seems, at least not for the test downloads that I made.
You can subscribe to a newsletter or RSS feed to stay up to date and be notified about new offers when they go live on the site.
Verdict
Shareware on Sale pushes the whole free software a day idea to the next level. Not only do you get more free and discounted offers as on other services of its kind, you also tend to get favorable conditions and terms more often than not.
The site could use a better layout, but that is not really something that most users will be too worried about as the content matters at the end of the day.
It remains to be seen how successful the concept will be, and how it will fare against the established sites that are out there.
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i have tried to contact them twice about problems with the site. the email address does not work.
Shareware on Sale is associated with the DotTech website you see in most of the first comments these days on the Giveaway of the Day website. I too downloaded a free program and the key sent did not work. I sent a message but I did not hear from Ashraf until I wrote again several days latter. It was too late. I have since downloaded 19 free and bought software titles from the Shareware on Sale site and am nothing but happy with it. When you “buy” software from them, leave the “Orders Detail” page open until you are sure your software is working. There is an “If you have any trouble, please contact us” link at the end of the installation instructions. Some people have been having troubles with activation codes falling on two lines. If that ever happens to you, and you can’t just cut and paste; then copy the code with two different cut and paste’s and you won’t get the random line return that somehow messes with the code, but doesn’t show in the single pasting. Ashraf is one of the true heroes of the web and this site is a great asset.
No, I do not work for nor have I ever met Ashraf. I just know a great deal when I get one.
My experiences with Shareware on Sale have all been very positive. I also bought Atlantis word processor last week for only $2.99, had been looking at this software for quite some time but wasn’t willing to spend $35, and I was able to download and register very quickly. Ashraf seems to monitor the questions at the site promptly and replies to any problems.
I just bought Atlantis word processor from Shareware on Sale offers for £2 and Its worth £30. Its one of the best word processors around. I think its still there – have a look..
Al..
Try this one Martin
http://www.yasalprogram.com/
Hi Martin,
A couple of weeks ago I participated in one of the Shareware on Sale offers for $2.99. Downloaded and installed the software. Unfortunately, the license code provided was reported to be invalid. I sent an e-mail to SoS explaining the situation. Within twelve hours I had received an e-mail from Ashraf (see above) informing me that the problem was being looked into, and another shortly after that with simple instructions on how to resolve the issue (the original download link was for an older version of the software, while the license code was for the most current version). Excellent customer service from Ashraf in my experience.
Ron
Hi Martin – I tested out one of the “freebies” on offer from SoS, Sticky Password Pro. Couldn’t get the requisite license code. Went right through the process, including providing name and email address. Then, right at the end I had to click on a button to get the license code. Clicking on the button did nothing.
Sent them en email detailing the problem, I’ve heard nothing back… that was over two weeks ago.
Maybe teething problems but their support is non-existent, woeful at best.
Hello,
I’m sorry but we have not received an email from you — we’ve replied to all emails sent to us.
That said, the issue you had with Sticky Password Pro was because Sticky Password’s servers were overloaded with requests and crashed. We posted updates regarding this matter, as did Sticky Password. Sticky Password fixed the issue in a few hours after which we extended the giveaway… I’m guessing you didn’t check back once it was fixed.
Sorry.
-Ashraf from SoS
i’ve tried 2 programs from this site, the first 1s reg code they gave didn’t work, contacted them..no reply (been a couple weeks)
the 2nd one crashed each time i tried to run it
win 7 x64
ymmv
Hello,
I’m sorry but we have not received from you — we’ve replied to all emails sent to us.
Can you tell me which programs you had issues with? I’ll be happy to help if I can, although please keep in mind tech support questions should be sent to developers themselves.
-Ashraf from SoS
Nice! I’ll be checking out the site daily.
For those offerings that must be activated within the offer period, most often you can create a virtual app using Spoon or the like. This way you never lose the app if you reinstall windows.
Hope they make the shareware Dupeguru free :-/
Looks pretty good. I’ll definitely be following this for a while and see.
I can’t remember when Giveaway of the Day had anything worthwhile.
On a site note, as I mentioned in this past and now happens,
I prefer links to open in a new tab and I like the change.