WSO question

I haven't run any WSOs in ages (years, literally) and went through the latest rules.

This topic may have been discussed to death when it was implemented, so links to another post somewhere would be greatly appreciated.

Basically, I'm curious about Rules #16 and #18.

I used to post WSOs that used RAP to handle payments and protected delivery of digital products. A buy button took the buyer to a page hosted by RAP where they completed the purchase. OTOs were optional. RAP itself is a simple kind of membership site. (There's a plugin that makes it a more generalized membership site.)

Before that I used something called DLGuard, which is still around. DLGuard is set up as a membership site as well. (RAP seems to have faded from use, as it hasn't been updated in quite a while.)

Rule #16 states that a Buy Button must be present. This seems like an odd rule, because isn't the purpose of WSOs to sell something? Why would someone NOT put a Buy Button in a WSO? (I guess they used to link out to their own sales page somewhere, but that never made much sense to me.)

It further states:

To sell a WSO in the WSO Section of the forum, your offer must have a Buy Button that takes the user to a checkout. This link cannot take the user to your website, an order form or an opt-in page.

What's the difference between a "checkout" and an "order form", and why can't they be hosted on your own website?

What is this trying to say, exactly?

I cannot send them directly to PayPal, although I can have a PayPal payment button. The problem with that is the download isn't secure; it's an unprotected page that someone can grab a link to and publish anywhere they want.

Rule #18 states:

Rule #18: Forced email opt ins

Sellers are not to force email opt ins from customers to gain access to their product. While you are allowed to request the customer to subscribe to your mailing list, this should not be the only way the customer may gain access to your product or service.

For security purposes, I like to put digital download products inside of a membership area; how can we sell them access to a membership area this way?

There's no rule I saw that says we cannot sell memberships, or access to membership sites. So what am I missing here?

-David