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Selling an eBook directly through Paypal - Need help

by mrjosco
11 replies
I have a website I built in a strong niche in the diet industry. The website hosts a bunch of free recipes and currently sells a recipe book for this niche through an affiliate program. I currently sell the product about 1x a day. I get one sale for every 500 visitors.

I want to see if I can increase conversion by selling my own product directly, with no middle man. This means I will have adds to 'buy the recipe book' that go directly to paypal. Once payment is made I want to either email them or forward them to a download page.

I have a paypal business account and I know how to set up a "Buy" link or button, but I don't know how to set up the download link/email.

Am I going about this the wrong way? How can I get this set up?
#directly #ebook #paypal #selling
  • Profile picture of the author rkat55
    Originally Posted by mrjosco View Post

    I have a website I built in a strong niche in the diet industry. The website hosts a bunch of free recipes and currently sells a recipe book for this niche through an affiliate program. I currently sell the product about 1x a day. I get one sale for every 500 visitors.

    I want to see if I can increase conversion by selling my own product directly, with no middle man. This means I will have adds to 'buy the recipe book' that go directly to paypal. Once payment is made I want to either email them or forward them to a download page.

    I have a paypal business account and I know how to set up a "Buy" link or button, but I don't know how to set up the download link/email.

    Am I going about this the wrong way? How can I get this set up?
    It's very easy. Just add the download URL to the buy button code. Just click on Customized Advanced Features and you can add it there.

    Good luck with your ebook!

    Rick
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    • Profile picture of the author Joseph G Spiteri
      Originally Posted by rkat55 View Post

      It's very easy. Just add the download URL to the buy button code. Just click on Customized Advanced Features and you can add it there.

      Good luck with your ebook!

      Rick
      Exactly as Rick says very easy to do.
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      • Profile picture of the author UMS
        Originally Posted by Joseph G Spiteri View Post

        Exactly as Rick says very easy to do.
        Very easy to do and very easy to have your ebook ripped off for free.

        Too many people upload their ebook to a static page (you wouldn't believe how many sites use thankyou.html as the download page) without any protection.

        Additionally, the download page quite often is included in the sitemap and is indexed, meaning it makes it even easier to find the download page.

        There are many different methods to secure your download page. If you are using WordPress there are a variety of plugins that will help you, or you can use software like DLGuard or a service like ejunkie or digiresults.
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        • Profile picture of the author jeremytfleming
          Originally Posted by UMS View Post

          Very easy to do and very easy to have your ebook ripped off for free.

          Too many people upload their ebook to a static page (you wouldn't believe how many sites use thankyou.html as the download page) without any protection.

          Additionally, the download page quite often is included in the sitemap and is indexed, meaning it makes it even easier to find the download page.

          There are many different methods to secure your download page. If you are using WordPress there are a variety of plugins that will help you, or you can use software like DLGuard or a service like ejunkie or digiresults.
          Hey Peter - any suggestion on the WP Plugins? I am running into this right now as well - I want my PDF on my website, but secure so it can't be downloaded without joining my list.

          Thanks!
          Jer
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          • Profile picture of the author jbsmith
            Jeremy - one of the simplest methods is to protect the directory containing your pdf using CPanel from your webhost.

            Then mail out the password to your subscribers via the reply on signup to autoresponder (when they either join your list or by triggering the autoresponder via a sale in Paypal, CB, 2Checkout, etc...)

            Only downside of this is that it's one password for everyone, but you can change it once every 2-4 weeks and be secure.

            Otherwise, DLGard, Ejunkie, etc... are good options too, but do cost more and do require some administrative support as customers will sometimes run into trouble with these.

            Jeff
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  • Profile picture of the author apoorv.parijat
    The easier way would be to expand the 'Advanced' section, add a 'return URL' and on that return URL, give your users the link to download. Sending an e-mail is pretty easy, too, but that will require a bit of coding.

    An even easier way would be to get something like eJunkie, or DLGuard. They can save you all the trouble of coding, etc — you just add the product, add your paypal details (just the e-mail) and it will give you a link. Once the user clicks on that link, he gets to the PayPal page, and upon checkout, he receives a unique link which can be used to download the product. It can also send e-mail at the same time. :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
    Pay pal is notorious for dropping customers from point of buy to the redirect url.

    Use something simple like e-junkie .. I haven't checked in a while but they used to let you sell your first project free.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chad Heffelfinger
    You may want free, but you can get a great little cheap service to protect your downloads and deliver them with several options such as:
    E-junkie Shopping Cart for selling downloads & tangible goods
    DPD Shopping Cart | The Easy Way to Sell Downloads, Keycodes, and Tangible Goods
    www.downloadz.com
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  • Profile picture of the author Rich Struck
    Definitely use ejunkie. You will make more sales and have a lot fewer customer problems, in particular, you won't have a million people emailing you about how to get their download.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrjosco
    I have taken the advice and signed up for eJunkie. I know there were some others who responded looking for information, so I wanted to share what I am learning.

    Thanks to all who responded, eJunkie is pretty awesome. I set up my add and added my product and am able to use a 7 day free trial without entering my credit card info - 7 days should be enough for my little test.

    I went ahead and followed the link and purchased my own product - it redirected and everything went smooth, but it didn't get me to my download link right away. I had an option checked (by default) to confirm payment from processor before allowing access to download link. It has been almost 30 minutes and I haven't got the email! If I was an impulse eBook buyer I would not be happy, so I removed that feature and now it lets them download without verifying from paypal.

    Now, we wait. If I can pull more conversions being a direct seller than I can as an affiliate I will put more time to increase the value of the product so I can increase the price.

    Thanks again!

    *Update: I unchecked the wait for confirmation and my test purchase STILL didn't go through. It said waiting for payment to be verified and it has been over half an hour and no email to verify my purchase. I don't think this is going to go over well with customers...
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    • Profile picture of the author rkat55
      I've sold tons of stuff just using the method i described above with almost zero problems. You guys are making it too complicated. When you depend on 3rd party software you will run into more problems. If someone wants to rip you off they'll find a way regardless. Just my 2c.
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