I tend to agree mate. When people like myself have little to no audience, I totally get that the marketplace is a no-brainer for sales, get access to a larger audience.
That said, being in the digital space and sold online before, I could see the downsides to this. My thought process was to sell on my own site, or on the Envato, creative marketplaces for even larger audiences.
Having 100% control on your own platform is always worth the investment in my eyes, however.
@Karmalakas and I had a good chat about this on another thread.
The reality is you could do both (suggest you also try experimenting with those other bigger marketplaces, I think you’ll get good results).
Re install, I took the approach from day one that installing locally won’t be an issue, and it hasn’t been. I point people to my install page How to install or update your plugin – Vexus Digital
If users were buying from my online store, in my eyes they felt comfortable enough to pay me money for a product, so accepting those install dialogues was no longer a hurdle and trust had been formed between my brand and the customer.
In your instance, that trust is even stronger. I 100% recommend you sell direct on your website given your audience and the trust you’ve built in the space over the years. Also means you can develop your own process for pushing out updates, collection emails, download stas, refunds, etc etc
Side note, I’ve poped you an email to your GMail from my Vexus email, so keep a lookout for that!
Thanks again!