sequential number program

Hello Programming Community,

I know next to nothing about programming so i come to you with a few questions.

I have a friend that developed a program to generate sequentially numbered part numbers. Along with some customizations to add prefix digits to the number to customize it for specific customers.

The program would have an internal database to keep track of which part numbers have been used already so that the numbers dont double up.

I am wanting to give him an offer on a reasonable amount to "purchase" the program for.

The problem is that i don't know how much time someone who is current on programming would take to develop a simple program like that vs how much time he spent on it because he had to learn some more current programming.

What are your thoughts? What would be a reasonable dollar value for a program like that vs how much time it would take a programmer to develop it?

Make him an offer based on what you can afford and see if he agrees. Software pricing is so divorced from simply paying for development time and other costs. Most things you buy are either priced low on purpose because the owner doesn't care and wants you to use it, or the whole plan is to sell X units, or even more simply, operate at a loss to compete with brand Y. There is no such thing as reasonable.

The right to use the program, maybe 5 cents.

The perpetual exclusive right to own and modify the source code, and sell further user licenses - make an offer.

The program isn't that interesting. Any competent programmer can write a bespoke version for their own requirements in a few lines of code.