How do I safely make my PDF available for download ?

by Jekiko Banned
29 replies
Hello all.
I am a newbie to product vending and have just signed up paydotcom.

I wrote an ebook all about blogging and I have it as a PDF file.

So far I have my product and am writing a sales page but I don't have a website or a mechanism for sending the product of a link.

What is the best way to make my product available for download using
Paydotcom ? (or other affilaite sites) I guess that paydotcom don't help you with that side ?

What is the best course of action ?
Also I don't want people just to get to the download link without making a payment.

How do you guys - the experts handle it ?

Thanks
#download #make #pdf #safely
  • Profile picture of the author jlandells
    Jekiko,

    I use DLGuard. I researched the market with exactly the same concerns and it seemed to be the best product out there.

    Regards,
    -John.
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  • Profile picture of the author esr
    I've never used Paydotcom, but I do use Paypal.

    The buyer clicks on the paypal button on my site, they're taken to paypal to pay, and then, once their payment goes through, they're taken to my download page.

    When you set up the item for sale in Paypal, they ask you for the URL to your download page. It's very simple.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jekiko
      Banned
      Hi esr,

      So what happens if someone then posts your download page
      link on a few forums ?

      Then loads of people can start downloading it without paying.

      Has that happened to you ?
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      • Profile picture of the author TimGross
        Originally Posted by Jekiko View Post

        So what happens if someone then posts your download page link on a few forums ?
        ...The same thing that happens if someone buys and emails it to friends or uploads the actual file online somewhere.

        Here's some very important advice:

        As someone just starting out, don't waste more than 10 seconds delaying rolling out our your product for sale with issues like this. You could waste a week or more trying to make these decisions or get the technical aspects of product delivery worked out, and that's not you primary concern right now:

        Your primary concern is to actually make your product for sale and see what happens.

        Make your product available for say today. Right now. With an unprotected direct download link. Find out if anyone wants to buy it, and get started at the business of actually making sales.

        Change the download location after you make some sales if you're concerned about theft, and at some point in the future - after you've established that your product is successful - then spend the time, money, and effort to safeguard downloads.

        On your list of concerns:
        - Will anyone buy my product?
        - Is my sales letter any good?
        - How am I going to drive people to the sales page?
        - Are buyers going to be happy enough with the product not to refund in droves?
        - etc, etc

        ...Worrying about download protection just delays the answers to all those questions. In all seriousness: Deal with that worry last.

        Best of luck to you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Wizardofwisdom
    DLGuard - it's definitely the king of the pdf safeguards. Beware, though - make a note of your username - if you lose it, it's encrypted and you have to wait while their support gets back to you. They will, but you may have to wait!

    But otherwise, yep, I've tried other "cheap" safeguards and they're a waste of time. DLGuard not only safeguards the product, but also gives you some comeback with the customer if there's a query because Paypal do not give you any seller protection for downloadable products. If the customer - or their credit card company - queries the sale you're quite likely to lose the money - even a couple of months after you sold it.

    Whilst DLGuard still can't protect you against this - (once the sale is made, it's out of their hands), it will deter fraudulent clients from buying or downloading in the first place - they're more traceable. (I learned to my cost - I lost about $1,000 of "sales" through Paydotcom "affiliates" at Christmas by some lovely person who used unauthorised credit card numbers to make a lot of "purchases" through my site. Presumably, without safeguards, I was easy prey.)

    Hope that's useful!

    All good things
    Trevor.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lonelyguy
    Anyone know If i can just take someone's PDF and use it to sell for money?
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    • Profile picture of the author Blase
      Originally Posted by Lonelyguy View Post

      Anyone know If i can just take someone's PDF and use it to sell for money?

      Sure you can do that!

      It's called stealing!

      Unless I misunderstood your question, are you NUTS?:confused:

      You may want to keep your day job.
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      "Nothing Happens Until Something Is Sold"
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    • Profile picture of the author IMChick
      Originally Posted by Lonelyguy View Post

      Anyone know If i can just take someone's PDF and use it to sell for money?

      Forum Troll

      -- Just reported this guy--

      Please take a few seconds to report spam and fake posts to keep our valuable forum clean.
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      • Profile picture of the author Joshua N. Rabon
        Originally Posted by IMChick View Post

        Forum Troll

        -- Just reported this guy--

        Please take a few seconds to report spam and fake posts to keep our valuable forum clean.
        You reported this guy for that....really?

        I'm not saying I fully subscribe to the whole "There's no such thing as a stupid question" idea but maybe he's not a Forum Troll, maybe he simply wasn't being as clear as he should have been, or maybe he's not that bright (no offense LonelyGuy).


        You seem a bit itchy with the trigger finger.
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    • Profile picture of the author Learnanew
      Originally Posted by Lonelyguy View Post

      Anyone know If i can just take someone's PDF and use it to sell for money?
      Unless it comes with PLR or MMR rights, then no.
      Signature

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    • Profile picture of the author Ian Harmon
      Originally Posted by Lonelyguy View Post

      Anyone know If i can just take someone's PDF and use it to sell for money?
      LOL, What an appropriate name - Lonely Guy
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Adams
    Use this! PDF security - PDF document security software with DRM PDF control you can control nearly everything i.e. viewing, copying, sharing, printing etc..
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    P.S. If you found my post useful, please click the "Thanks" button below...
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    • Profile picture of the author IMChick
      Originally Posted by BlackBookProject View Post

      Use this! PDF security - PDF document security software with DRM PDF control you can control nearly everything i.e. viewing, copying, sharing, printing etc..
      Sheesh, that's expensive. I know that you're going to say that it's much less than having multiple stolen downloads, but the entry into the market of several thousand dollars and up is very steep. I also don't like the part where my products are hosted on their servers. But it's a great link so we can see what's out there--thanks for sharing.
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      • Profile picture of the author Mike Adams
        Originally Posted by IMChick View Post

        Sheesh, that's expensive. I know that you're going to say that it's much less than having multiple stolen downloads, but the entry into the market of several thousand dollars and up is very steep. I also don't like the part where my products are hosted on their servers. But it's a great link so we can see what's out there--thanks for sharing.
        I know its expensive, but I think we are taking about 2 different things here. Are we trying to protect downloads, or access to PDFs. DLGuard is great to limit access to your thank you page. The above remotely protects the PDF from multiple people accessing the already downloaded document. Here's a link to a site that allows you to password protect your PDF, but people can share the password remember. Password protect a PDF document
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  • Profile picture of the author GirardGk
    I agree, DL Guard is definetly the best way to go i have been using it for years
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    • Profile picture of the author radhika
      1. Protecting pdf downloads - By installing a script that hides the download link and give secure access to the download. This access to download should be controlled by your script.

      For this you need a script installed on your site to protect membersship area.

      2. Protecting pdf as such - So the pdf file can not be printed or passed on to others.

      For this you need a pdf creating software that opens the pdf only on certain computers and with password.

      Good luck!

      .
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  • Profile picture of the author GB2008
    If you want to protect your download link yourself - might be time to learn some PHP coding! Pretty simple to make sure a limited number of IP addresses are used per download - "real" customers can always email you if they have a problem. Then you could also scramble or even rotate the download link itself to make it harder to find - tho' that might be overkill...

    Bottom line - as someone else already said - get that product out there and get selling! If there's no demand, then you're better off finding that out asap - no point in spending a lot of time safeguarding something that no-one wants anyway!
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  • Profile picture of the author WinsonYeung
    Originally Posted by Jekiko View Post

    Hello all.
    I am a newbie to product vending and have just signed up paydotcom.

    I wrote an ebook all about blogging and I have it as a PDF file.

    So far I have my product and am writing a sales page but I don't have a website or a mechanism for sending the product of a link.

    What is the best way to make my product available for download using
    Paydotcom ? (or other affilaite sites) I guess that paydotcom don't help you with that side ?

    What is the best course of action ?
    Also I don't want people just to get to the download link without making a payment.

    How do you guys - the experts handle it ?

    Thanks
    Upload the file to your server.
    Let say your website name is call testing.com
    and your ebook is call ebook.pdf
    If you want to access the ebook, type the url
    http//testing.com/ebook.pdf]404 - Not Found

    hope this helps
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  • Profile picture of the author NewbiesDiary
    Originally Posted by shinmenx View Post

    in for later
    WTF????

    Is that like "yeah Man, can you save my place -Dude!"



    In cpanel (soz dont know how to do it without cpanel) you can put a password protect on a directory, so what you can do is create a directory 'downloads' and put your download page and downloads etc in there. Just make sure you email the buyer with the username and password to access the download. Get them to opt in and explain that they're opting in so you can send them their username and password.
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    • Profile picture of the author 1bad55
      Originally Posted by NewbiesDiary View Post

      WTF????

      Is that like "yeah Man, can you save my place -Dude!"

      In cpanel (soz dont know how to do it without cpanel) you can put a password protect on a directory, so what you can do is create a directory 'downloads' and put your download page and downloads etc in there. Just make sure you email the buyer with the username and password to access the download. Get them to opt in and explain that they're opting in so you can send them their username and password.
      If I remember correctly PayDotCom uses PayPal for a payment processor and if you force the customer to OPT-IN to get the download you are breaking a major rule with PayPal and they can actually sieze your account and take your money.

      You DO NOT want to force people to OPT-In to get the download using PayPal or really bad things can happen.
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  • Profile picture of the author heidigroleau
    Great suggestions, I think DL guard is a great tool for providing a quality download service to many customers that may be able to assist you, if your on a tight budget that may be restricting you try the e-junkie tool, it make things much simpler and easy to use. If you use coupons on either of these, you can get a 50% discount! Check it out, and hope this helps!
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  • Profile picture of the author gerrihabib
    Would agree with heidi, the best and cheapest way I've found to serve files quickly and efficiently is the e-junkie system. Its very user friendly and you can store up to a 1GB with their basic options, so well worth checking out for sure!
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    • Profile picture of the author Nathan Hangen
      Originally Posted by gerrihabib View Post

      Would agree with heidi, the best and cheapest way I've found to serve files quickly and efficiently is the e-junkie system. Its very user friendly and you can store up to a 1GB with their basic options, so well worth checking out for sure!

      You say 1GB, yet my plan only allows me to store 50MB...did I miss something?
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  • e-junkie.com! I swear by it (and at it, when I lose track of my login/password).
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  • Profile picture of the author activetrader
    I sell on ClickBank. I had my IT guy make a PHP download page. Here is the crux: The download file does not exist unless someone buys. When payment parameters are passed from ClickBank including receipt, a download PDF is generated as a temporary file. It stays life for two hours and then disappears. It reads the IP address of the buyer and the download link will only work for that specific IP address.
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    Me

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  • Profile picture of the author Sid Kaplan
    Go to Secure Digital Downloads | Learn how to properly secure Digital Downloads to prevent theft and indexing by search engines (No I am not selling this). This is a great guide with scripts for securing digital downloads and it is relatively cheap! I have used it many times!

    Good luck with your product.
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  • Profile picture of the author Micheal Perkins
    Payloadz.com is a service for digital products that is the brainchild of the people at Paypal. Payloadz sends the user a download link after they make payment. The link is only good for I think 48 hours, then it expires. The purchaser then has to send you an email to get a new link sent to them. Once the link is used, it is no longer good.

    You can also see if someone claiming to have not been able to download the product really did or not.
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    • Profile picture of the author nhynes57
      The problem is if sombody uploads your pdf to a file sharing site
      then it will be all over the web and none of the above mentioned
      solutions will matter.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nathan Hangen
      Originally Posted by Micheal Perkins View Post

      Payloadz.com is a service for digital products that is the brainchild of the people at Paypal. Payloadz sends the user a download link after they make payment. The link is only good for I think 48 hours, then it expires. The purchaser then has to send you an email to get a new link sent to them. Once the link is used, it is no longer good.

      You can also see if someone claiming to have not been able to download the product really did or not.

      I just signed up. They have a free account, which is good. The home page does a terrible job of helping you understand the service...and the fact that the "brains" behind Paypal started this has me worried, but it might be a good replacement for E-Junkie. They let you remote host files for free.
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