E-Book sales

[trock]

I want to have people buy my e-books online and then pay through PayPal. I then want them to be able to immediately download their purchase after paying. Is there a way to set this up in PayPal Merchant services???

I have it set up for them to buy a book, but the auto download after payment I don't see anywhere.

TR

[PayPal_ReneeM]

TR,

I've done some research on your question and this is what I've discovered:

Today we don’t offer a hosting solution to store digital items. We do have some channel/distribution partners such as e-junkie that can host the downloads for you. Additionally, I do know that some SMB merchants upon the purchase of a digital item redirect the customer via URL (encrypted) that would allow a customer to download the item and in some cases merchant's will send this link via email. 

Other distribution partners to consider:

  Next Issue Media www.nextissue.com 

  Press+ www.mypressplus.com 

  CDS Global www.cds-global.com

Thanks!

Renee

PayPal Advantage

[trock]

Hi Renee,

Thank you for your work and research.

I have looked at some of the partnering solutions offered through PayPal's vendors and partners. Most seem a bit pricey, however, and may not be affordable for small businesses that do reasonable but modest volumes.

Digital distribution, especially in the music and book arenas, is now a fact of life and growing by leaps and bounds in popularity.

PayPal already has a wonderful array of plans for retailers. I would encourage PayPal to continue to expand and to look into digital distrubtion models as part of what it has to offer. It can only benefit both PayPal, PayPal customers and the retailer's customers.

Best,

TR

[minnichsmetals]

Trock, I am also a small business owner (Minnichs Metals), and while our sites that I run are constantly a work in progress, I like to think we've been able to maintain pretty well (considering I have no help, and no graphic design experience at all... I dont want this to seem as an endorsement or plug, but we use Intuit for our web design and hosting, and I know they have a ton of different plans, they are also set up with paypal to accept payments on your site as well.  I believe we pay somewhere around $15 a month to have our site hosted by them, and also to have the ability to do whatever we want to the site, at any time.  I have a program downloaded on my desktop (provided by Intuit for free with your subscription) which is called the Intuit site builder, all I have to do is open it up, and it allows me to do almost anything to my site with a few clicks, then click publish, and the changes are live!  There is even a simple paypal button I can click to add a payment option to an item on my site, or I can set up a paypal merchant account (for a fee) if I want to run a full store.  They may likely have something that could be offered to you for an automated download, or maybe an automated email sent with a link or attachment with the download?  Many dont realize, but you do not neccesarily need a paypal merchant account (monthly fee invloved) to accept payments, or even credit card payments... You just need to set up a business account with them, which is free, and you can begin accepting credit cards immediately, and only pay a fee when you get paid (I believe it's 2.5% + .30, but dont quote me on that..).  Aside from building an actual site, Im not sure if these companies allow you to build a site or not, but I do know for sure that they give you the ability to offer automatic downloads of ebooks, and I believe their integrated with paypal also- www.Cerizmo.com, and www.smartdd.com.  Again, I do not endorse these companies, cannot vouch for these two specifically, but I do know they offer what your looking for..  I hope this helps, and I hope your able to find what your looking for sooner then later!  Please let me know if I was able to shine some light for you, and please click the thumbs up at the bottom if I've helped.  Thanks.

Bob

Minnichs Metals

www.MinnichsMetals.com

www.YourChallengeCoin.com

[trock]

Hi Bob,

I already sites set up and PayPal payments for various products. These I mail as they are phsical books, CDs, photos, etc.

However, I know when someone buys an e-book or most any digital product, these days they expect to get that product immediately. I sometimes travel to places that don't have the best internet service in remote islands. So I can't always quickly respond to something like a digital sale.

I was hoping PayPal would have an automated downlaod set-up that would send a link the minute someone pays. They should. Digital products are growing by leaps and bounds and PayPal should be getting in on this instead of third party folks.

I'll try the links you have found. I also appreciate the sound business advice.

Very helpful.

Best,

TR

[minnichsmetals]

Good luck man, hope it all works out for you! Id be interested to hear if any of those options I sent work for you.  Thanks, have a great holiday!  Now I better get out of here, heading out for some black friday shopping with our paypal debit card, haha!

Bob

[trock]

Hi Bob,

Thanks, I'll let you know.

This company/site is down for renovation, by the way:

www.smartdd.com

Best,

TR

[Cybermidi]

Why don't you use Paypal IPN?   Set up a page for the download and have Paypal redirect the customer to that page after payment.

[trock]

For now I am trying the suggested www.Cerizmo.com.

Cost is reasonable and it offers another outlet for sales on it's site. I am already selling on iTunes and a couple of others where I split the proceeds.  But I have a some products I want to offer directly without a middle man. The lowest cost option does limit me to just 15 items right now, which may not work in the long run. But it is doing what I'd like so far and is working pretty seemlessly with my website.

Your suggestion is a good one. I'll play around with that option. I do have IPN set up for paper books that I physically mail. But I wasn't aware a re-direct could be set up. I thought the notification just came directly back to my e-mail. That is why I was asking this.

I will look into it.

Thank you.

TR

[lasik]

Smartdd.com is closed to new subscribers.  other options??