It looks like we made a bit of a mess of the DNS server. It is pointing to the wrong ip address which is loading the incorrect site. We are working to resolve this as quickly as possible. DNS changes take a bit of time to propagate.
UPDATE: This problem is now resolving.
We became notified of the issue a few minutes before the site started resolving to another IP address. The IP address was our ip address, but ending in .0, instead of .176. The rest of the numbers were the same, so it was not a malicious attack- simply a problem in our development in adding the wrong IP address for the DNS server.
Things are looking ok now. You may need to restart your comp if it is still resolving incorrectly.
Shannon
Friday, June 26, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Connectivity/Networks Issues at Hosting Provider
UPDATE: Back up, looking good as of 11:40AM.
Our hosting provider is having some network issues. I have confirmed it is sitewide for them and they are working to resolve it ASAP. We are keeping our fingers crossed. It looks like it has taken down some other sites we know of as well. We use ThePlanet hosting and they are top notch most times. Sales during this time will be processed when the servers come back online.
- Shannon
Our hosting provider is having some network issues. I have confirmed it is sitewide for them and they are working to resolve it ASAP. We are keeping our fingers crossed. It looks like it has taken down some other sites we know of as well. We use ThePlanet hosting and they are top notch most times. Sales during this time will be processed when the servers come back online.
- Shannon
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Friday, October 3, 2008
PayLoadz.com 3rd Quarter Results
New York, NY October 3, 2008 -- PayLoadz.com discloses internal valuation metrics for its online downloadable content ecommerce solution and displays a continued trend of considerable growth.
During the past year, registered accounts increased 36% from 59,600 to 81,000. Similarly, the number of products registered for sale through PayLoadz increased 58% from 256,000 to 404,000.
The number of file downloads processed for September 2008 was 73,600. The dollar value of transactions processed for the period from September 2007 to September 2008 was just over $7M.
"We are poised to finish 2008 with revenues in the $900K range. We are forecasting revenue growth for this time next year to put us in at $1.25M for the year conservatively," said Shannon Sofield, founder and CEO of PayLoadz.com. "This past week we have seen near record levels in new accounts and new premium accounts. I think with the current economic conditions, people are looking to hedge their risk by diversifying their incomes with a solution such as ours."
You can reach Shannon Sofield at 646.201.4019.
###
During the past year, registered accounts increased 36% from 59,600 to 81,000. Similarly, the number of products registered for sale through PayLoadz increased 58% from 256,000 to 404,000.
The number of file downloads processed for September 2008 was 73,600. The dollar value of transactions processed for the period from September 2007 to September 2008 was just over $7M.
"We are poised to finish 2008 with revenues in the $900K range. We are forecasting revenue growth for this time next year to put us in at $1.25M for the year conservatively," said Shannon Sofield, founder and CEO of PayLoadz.com. "This past week we have seen near record levels in new accounts and new premium accounts. I think with the current economic conditions, people are looking to hedge their risk by diversifying their incomes with a solution such as ours."
You can reach Shannon Sofield at 646.201.4019.
###
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Importance of Store Listings
This will be a post attempting to stress the need for our sellers to list their item in the PayLoadz Store, even if selling on their own site. The store provides a free way to boost sales of their products. Sales are increased due to the variety of automated marketing functions we have in place for store listings. New sellers as well as experience Internet entrepreneurs benefit from these listings. Here are how the stats break down:
# of Products for Sale in PayLoadz System: 403,494
# of those Products listed in PayLoadz Store: 145,945
# of product sales for the past 30 days: 74,591
# of those products listed in PayLoadz Store: 60,582
We should pause a moment to take in that information. What the above says is that despite there being more than two times the number of unlisted items vs. listed items in our store, the listed items outsell the unlisted items by 600%. That should convey to our sellers the advantage gained by listing their products in our store.
Below is a list of additional statistics in regards to specific listing information itself. I will let you draw your own conclusions based on the data. I hope you will see that store listings that take advantage of all of the listing fields and features get an added benefit in terms of sales increases via better marketing.
# of product sales for the past 30 days: 74,591
# of those products listed in PayLoadz Store: 60,582
# of sold products that have keywords specified: 36,328
# of sold products that have product image: 31,744
# of sold products that have external website: 36,807
# of sold products that have description: 57,905
The above information is for products that have been sold in the past 30 days. When you compare the items sold in the store vs. unsold, the additional listing features really begin to stand out. It shows a complete store listing is the best way to leverage the store. It also shows that almost all of the products sold are the ones with completed store listings:
Total products in store: 145,945
# of sold products that have product image: 44,420
# of sold products that have external website: 70,584
# of sold products that have description: 63,285
This is the first time I ran these stats myself. I thought the items listed in our store should have had an advantage over the unlisted items, but I did not imagine how overwhelming it was in favor of store listings. It definitely gives us something to build upon.
Happy Selling!
Shannon
# of Products for Sale in PayLoadz System: 403,494
# of those Products listed in PayLoadz Store: 145,945
# of product sales for the past 30 days: 74,591
# of those products listed in PayLoadz Store: 60,582
We should pause a moment to take in that information. What the above says is that despite there being more than two times the number of unlisted items vs. listed items in our store, the listed items outsell the unlisted items by 600%. That should convey to our sellers the advantage gained by listing their products in our store.
Below is a list of additional statistics in regards to specific listing information itself. I will let you draw your own conclusions based on the data. I hope you will see that store listings that take advantage of all of the listing fields and features get an added benefit in terms of sales increases via better marketing.
# of product sales for the past 30 days: 74,591
# of those products listed in PayLoadz Store: 60,582
# of sold products that have keywords specified: 36,328
# of sold products that have product image: 31,744
# of sold products that have external website: 36,807
# of sold products that have description: 57,905
The above information is for products that have been sold in the past 30 days. When you compare the items sold in the store vs. unsold, the additional listing features really begin to stand out. It shows a complete store listing is the best way to leverage the store. It also shows that almost all of the products sold are the ones with completed store listings:
Total products in store: 145,945
# of sold products that have product image: 44,420
# of sold products that have external website: 70,584
# of sold products that have description: 63,285
This is the first time I ran these stats myself. I thought the items listed in our store should have had an advantage over the unlisted items, but I did not imagine how overwhelming it was in favor of store listings. It definitely gives us something to build upon.
Happy Selling!
Shannon
Monday, September 29, 2008
Features and Fixes: Round Up (September)
Some good functionality improvements on the list. Stay tuned for more...
Free File Downloads - Premium level sellers can set any file in their file list to be downloaded free of charge.
Store Featured Listings Fix - There was a bug preventing certain featured items from being displayed as Featured Listings in the store, this has been fixed now.
Tell A Friend Captcha - The system for the Tell a Friend functionality now has a captcha on it to prevent abuse. Annoying, but needed.
Micropayments Bug - There was an issue where accounts were not being properly redirected to the PayPal Micropayment email address specified. This has been fixed now.
Browser Fixes - Safari and Firefox were getting some issues in the Send Download system as well as the product setup process. This has been resolved including a few other issues.
Store Search - The Query used for the store search had to be refined to provide more accurate results. This is an ongoing process to be sure.
Download Page Timeouts - There was an issue with the SQL database queries which did some heavy lifting that needed to be refined/optimized. The download page loads much faster now.
TrialPay Payment Method - The system is now enabled to use TrialPay accounts as a payment method for sales. More on this later.
Google Checkout Enabled in Store - Sellers who disable PayPal but have Google Checkout enabled will have their sales go right to GC for payment.
Store Sub-Category Menus - We have implemented fly-out menus for the Store category navigation to make it quicker/easier.
Description Field in Bulk Import - The description field was getting cut off when using the Bulk Product Import system. This is now fixed and longer descriptions can be added now.
New Pre Made Purchase Buttons - The Code Generator system now includes several new buttons to choose from in addition to using the standard PayPal and your own custom buttons.
Subscription Product Download Bug - An issue has been resolved in the recurring payment/subscription download system.
Amazon Flexible Payments Enabled - Sellers can now sell in their PayLoadz account using the new Amazon payment system. Very similar to PayPal in functionality. More on this later.
Video Clip Previews - We are now enabling sample video clips to be viewed for certain file types in the store so customers can sample the item before buying.
Music Clip Previews - We have re-enabled sample song/audio clips in the store so customers can listed to portions before buying.
Free File Downloads - Premium level sellers can set any file in their file list to be downloaded free of charge.
Store Featured Listings Fix - There was a bug preventing certain featured items from being displayed as Featured Listings in the store, this has been fixed now.
Tell A Friend Captcha - The system for the Tell a Friend functionality now has a captcha on it to prevent abuse. Annoying, but needed.
Micropayments Bug - There was an issue where accounts were not being properly redirected to the PayPal Micropayment email address specified. This has been fixed now.
Browser Fixes - Safari and Firefox were getting some issues in the Send Download system as well as the product setup process. This has been resolved including a few other issues.
Store Search - The Query used for the store search had to be refined to provide more accurate results. This is an ongoing process to be sure.
Download Page Timeouts - There was an issue with the SQL database queries which did some heavy lifting that needed to be refined/optimized. The download page loads much faster now.
TrialPay Payment Method - The system is now enabled to use TrialPay accounts as a payment method for sales. More on this later.
Google Checkout Enabled in Store - Sellers who disable PayPal but have Google Checkout enabled will have their sales go right to GC for payment.
Store Sub-Category Menus - We have implemented fly-out menus for the Store category navigation to make it quicker/easier.
Description Field in Bulk Import - The description field was getting cut off when using the Bulk Product Import system. This is now fixed and longer descriptions can be added now.
New Pre Made Purchase Buttons - The Code Generator system now includes several new buttons to choose from in addition to using the standard PayPal and your own custom buttons.
Subscription Product Download Bug - An issue has been resolved in the recurring payment/subscription download system.
Amazon Flexible Payments Enabled - Sellers can now sell in their PayLoadz account using the new Amazon payment system. Very similar to PayPal in functionality. More on this later.
Video Clip Previews - We are now enabling sample video clips to be viewed for certain file types in the store so customers can sample the item before buying.
Music Clip Previews - We have re-enabled sample song/audio clips in the store so customers can listed to portions before buying.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
PayLoadz.com Downloadable Content Service Continues Growth in 2nd Quarter
PayLoadz.com, a leader in digital good content ecommerce services, announces 2nd quarter results that show continued strong growth.
New York, NY July 8, 2008 -- PayLoadz.com discloses internal valuation metrics for its online downloadable content ecommerce solution and displays a continued trend of considerable growth.
During the past year, registered accounts increased 40% from 54,000 to 76,000. Over 1,800 accounts pay a monthly fee for service. Similarly, the number of products registered for sale through PayLoadz increased 58% from 230,000 to 365,000.
The number of file downloads processed for June 2008 was 70,000 compared with just 52,300 in June 2007, representing a 34% increase. The dollar value of transactions processed for the period from June 2007 to June 2008 was just over $7M.
Monthly revenues have increased 28% when compared with June 2007 while yearly revenues have increased 40% in a year over year basis ending in the 2nd quarter.
"I am very happy with the large percentage and dollar increases the company is showing. PayLoadz.com, Inc. is operating in a bootstrap scenario, with extremely low overhead and a simplified structure, in an attempt to make it a valuable acquisition target," said Shannon Sofield, founder and CEO of PayLoadz.com. "We are building a strong base, which is ideal for a larger concern to come in and painlessly take the business to the next level. We are strategically positioned for the next phase of downloadable content ecommerce evolution as we have completed the test of concept phase and look forward to further growth in the upcoming fiscal periods."
The New York, NY based company employs a small staff of programmers and support staff while keeping costs down by outsourcing administrative tasks.
In the near term PayLoadz will implement buyer oriented features intended in increase purchases and provide value to people looking for digital goods. According to Mr. Sofield: "We've developed a full featured service from the seller's point of view, now we are shifting our focus to the consumer to make the search, purchase, and acquisition of content as seamless as possible. By doing so, we will increase value to the seller which will ultimately increase our bottom line."
###
For more information, please contact Shannon Sofield at (646) 201-4019 or Shannon.Sofield@PayLoadz.com.
New York, NY July 8, 2008 -- PayLoadz.com discloses internal valuation metrics for its online downloadable content ecommerce solution and displays a continued trend of considerable growth.
During the past year, registered accounts increased 40% from 54,000 to 76,000. Over 1,800 accounts pay a monthly fee for service. Similarly, the number of products registered for sale through PayLoadz increased 58% from 230,000 to 365,000.
The number of file downloads processed for June 2008 was 70,000 compared with just 52,300 in June 2007, representing a 34% increase. The dollar value of transactions processed for the period from June 2007 to June 2008 was just over $7M.
Monthly revenues have increased 28% when compared with June 2007 while yearly revenues have increased 40% in a year over year basis ending in the 2nd quarter.
"I am very happy with the large percentage and dollar increases the company is showing. PayLoadz.com, Inc. is operating in a bootstrap scenario, with extremely low overhead and a simplified structure, in an attempt to make it a valuable acquisition target," said Shannon Sofield, founder and CEO of PayLoadz.com. "We are building a strong base, which is ideal for a larger concern to come in and painlessly take the business to the next level. We are strategically positioned for the next phase of downloadable content ecommerce evolution as we have completed the test of concept phase and look forward to further growth in the upcoming fiscal periods."
The New York, NY based company employs a small staff of programmers and support staff while keeping costs down by outsourcing administrative tasks.
In the near term PayLoadz will implement buyer oriented features intended in increase purchases and provide value to people looking for digital goods. According to Mr. Sofield: "We've developed a full featured service from the seller's point of view, now we are shifting our focus to the consumer to make the search, purchase, and acquisition of content as seamless as possible. By doing so, we will increase value to the seller which will ultimately increase our bottom line."
###
For more information, please contact Shannon Sofield at (646) 201-4019 or Shannon.Sofield@PayLoadz.com.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Intermittent Site Errors Getting Resolved
Starting yesterday morning we were getting errors in the site with database timeouts. Throughout the day we took some of the secondary sites offline so we could ensure that the main site stayed up and running to process orders. It limed along as we looked at queries and potential issues. That continued until just this morning as we found some scripts hammering the database servers from recent development work and have been working to get them into proper shape. We are in the home stretches now and are just getting everything buttoned up again.
As always, if there is a site issue some orders could not be immediately processed. Rest assured though, that usually the payment processing script will continue to retry to process the order until it succeeds. If you need to send a download in the meantime, use our new Send Download system found under the Selling tab of your account. You can send out downloads to any email address with no charges against your account.
Thank you for your patience,
Shannon
As always, if there is a site issue some orders could not be immediately processed. Rest assured though, that usually the payment processing script will continue to retry to process the order until it succeeds. If you need to send a download in the meantime, use our new Send Download system found under the Selling tab of your account. You can send out downloads to any email address with no charges against your account.
Thank you for your patience,
Shannon
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Features and Fixes: Round-Up
Been a while since I've updated the Features and Fixes section. Dev has been going full-on and looks to continue for the foreseeable future. Some things below will need their own post, but for now, I'll just list them here.
In no particular order:
Do Not Record Seller Downloads
Sellers will not have their IP Addresses tracked when they access the customer's download page. Previously, they used one of the customers access times when they loaded the page. With this change in place we are now able to link directly to the customer's download page within the seller site without fear of having them trigger the download expiration for the IP address access limit.
Store Search Improvement
Small fixes here have yielded much better results. More to come on this front.
Disable Download Function
Sellers can now disable a particular download for an order making it unusable by going to the Order Detail page and clicking on the Disable Downloads button.
Bug Fix to Not Log Pending Order Accesses
When a user accessed the page when the order was pending, the system would count it as a download access even though no download could be made because the order was still pending. This has been fixed so pending order access of the download page will not be counted.
Captcha on Feedback Form
For users who are not logged into the system, they will need to enter a human verification image text value to submit their inquiry. Bots were using this to spam using our mail server so thankfully, that has been closed up.
Prevention of Duplicate Billing Addresses
Even though there are front end checks in place to prevent users from having multiple billing agreements, we have instituted back-end checks for those users who slip through the cracks. Previously, this would cause a double bill issue. No no user can have more than one active billing agreement.
Button Image Editing
In the Code Generator, the user can now change their button used for the buy now button a lot easier now.
Reseller Tracking for PayLoadz Express
Now resellers can choose to send traffic to the PayLoadz Express system and receive credit for it. The Express system is a much easier way to get people into the system.
Subscription Button Generation
This is a big one that I will post more on later. But we can created a new subscription system where users can create digital good subscriptions with a very powerful Send Download system. More here for now.
Powerful Send Download System
You can now send a free download to a variety of options. Existing customers, customers of other products, a text file, and a lot more.
In no particular order:
Do Not Record Seller Downloads
Sellers will not have their IP Addresses tracked when they access the customer's download page. Previously, they used one of the customers access times when they loaded the page. With this change in place we are now able to link directly to the customer's download page within the seller site without fear of having them trigger the download expiration for the IP address access limit.
Store Search Improvement
Small fixes here have yielded much better results. More to come on this front.
Disable Download Function
Sellers can now disable a particular download for an order making it unusable by going to the Order Detail page and clicking on the Disable Downloads button.
Bug Fix to Not Log Pending Order Accesses
When a user accessed the page when the order was pending, the system would count it as a download access even though no download could be made because the order was still pending. This has been fixed so pending order access of the download page will not be counted.
Captcha on Feedback Form
For users who are not logged into the system, they will need to enter a human verification image text value to submit their inquiry. Bots were using this to spam using our mail server so thankfully, that has been closed up.
Prevention of Duplicate Billing Addresses
Even though there are front end checks in place to prevent users from having multiple billing agreements, we have instituted back-end checks for those users who slip through the cracks. Previously, this would cause a double bill issue. No no user can have more than one active billing agreement.
Button Image Editing
In the Code Generator, the user can now change their button used for the buy now button a lot easier now.
Reseller Tracking for PayLoadz Express
Now resellers can choose to send traffic to the PayLoadz Express system and receive credit for it. The Express system is a much easier way to get people into the system.
Subscription Button Generation
This is a big one that I will post more on later. But we can created a new subscription system where users can create digital good subscriptions with a very powerful Send Download system. More here for now.
Powerful Send Download System
You can now send a free download to a variety of options. Existing customers, customers of other products, a text file, and a lot more.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
PayLoadz Integration Incentive Program
We are pleased to announce a new program designed to reward developers for integrating the PayLoadz service into their applications by providing financial compensation for their development efforts. Payments will range from $100-$5,000 for the initial development, and will include a 10-20% revenue sharing for all new referred clients resulting from the integration.
Following the release of the PayLoadz API live Beta, we feel this is the best way to get developers on board as partners of our service. We strongly feel that by working together, we will be able to take the service in new directions that our in-house team may not have known about. We are also hoping to seize upon this opportunity to provide better services for our existing users by leveraging the expertise of third party developers.
To be considered for an Integration Bonus, please contact us and submit a brief summary of the planned integration. Based on the merits and potential usability of the application, we will give an award amount for completion of the integration. It is not limited to API development, developers can integrate into our system in any way including our RSS/XML feeds and other data sources.
Some of our interested integrations include:
- Shopping Carts
- osCommerce
- Joomla
- Volusion
- StoreFront.net
- Yahoo Cart
- 3dCart
- Mal's
- Magento
- any others... - Hosting Providers
- iGoogle
- WordPress
- any hosting provider... - Payment Processors
- ClickBank
- TrialPay
- Authorize.Net
- Echo Inc
- Pligg.com
- PaySimple
- BeanStream
- AlertPay
- any other payment processor... - Widgets
- Google Gadgets
- Open Social Widgets
- Facebook Widgets
- any portable, simple application... - Storefronts
- Yahoo!
- Amazon
- Homestead
- CafePress
- any other storefront... - Social Networks
- MySpace
- Facebook
- Flickr
- Zoomr
- any other social network... - Newsletter/Email Management Tools
Basically, anything you can think of that provides value to a person looking to integrate downloadable files in an eCommerce environment.
We are looking forward to hearing about the great ideas you have planned for our service.
Cheers,
Shannon
New PayLoadz API Released
We are happy to announce, after a lengthy development period, that the new version of the PayLoadz API has been released in a live, fully-functioning Beta. This new system will allow any developer to integrate our services within their website or application.
The API is SOAP/XML based and is very similar in structure to the eBay and PayPal APIs as well as Google's APIs. Any developer with experience in these popular API formats should have no trouble integrating our service within their application. We have full documentation as well as functioning sample code for every call we have already built for your use.
The API allows developers to create a downloadable good, upload a file into our system, create a download transaction, and present an end user with a download link. The API also provides supporting calls for all of the above functions like transaction status and product purchase button HTML generation.
We feel this new system will be the key driving factor to the growth and new features released in our system using the talents of outside developers to take our service in a new direction. Shortly, we will be announcing an Integration Incentive Program which will provide developers with compensation for developing an application or site that uses our service.
If you have any ideas or are an experienced developer, we'd love to hear from you. We are more than willing to help anyone get this development under way. We can likely provide some financial incentive. Just give us an idea of how you see the system being used and we can take the discussion from there based on the idea's merits.
Happy Programming,
Shannon
The full API file set can be downloaded here:
http://api.payloadz.com/docs/PayLoadz_API_Documents_and_Samples.zip
Additional Information can be found here:
http://help.payloadz.com/help/default.aspx?page=PayLoadz%20API.aspx
The API is SOAP/XML based and is very similar in structure to the eBay and PayPal APIs as well as Google's APIs. Any developer with experience in these popular API formats should have no trouble integrating our service within their application. We have full documentation as well as functioning sample code for every call we have already built for your use.
The API allows developers to create a downloadable good, upload a file into our system, create a download transaction, and present an end user with a download link. The API also provides supporting calls for all of the above functions like transaction status and product purchase button HTML generation.
We feel this new system will be the key driving factor to the growth and new features released in our system using the talents of outside developers to take our service in a new direction. Shortly, we will be announcing an Integration Incentive Program which will provide developers with compensation for developing an application or site that uses our service.
If you have any ideas or are an experienced developer, we'd love to hear from you. We are more than willing to help anyone get this development under way. We can likely provide some financial incentive. Just give us an idea of how you see the system being used and we can take the discussion from there based on the idea's merits.
Happy Programming,
Shannon
The full API file set can be downloaded here:
http://api.payloadz.com/docs/PayLoadz_API_Documents_and_Samples.zip
Additional Information can be found here:
http://help.payloadz.com/help/default.aspx?page=PayLoadz%20API.aspx
Monday, March 31, 2008
Digital Delivery at eBay - Over Half a Million eBay Transactions Worth over $15 Million
It looks like the fight for Digital Delivery is over and the loser is the thousands of loyal eBay sellers using the auction site to sell Digital Goods. eBay recently announced that they no longer support the listing of any item that can be electronically delivered to a customer and instead, must use the Classified Ad format to promote their items at eBay. Classified Ads may not link to another website in order to purchase the items, nor may they contain any purchase buttons, links, or other information for buying a digital good. The potential customer has to contact the seller via email or phone to initiate the purchase. I assume after contact has been made, the seller can provide a purchase link to the customer. Not exactly in keeping with the theme of instant gratification promised via a digital good.
We were one of the first to sell downloadable content on eBay. Certainly one of the firsts to enable automatic file delivery once PayPal introduced their IPN system (1999 I think) that allowed server to server communication when a transaction was made enabling the file to be sent to the customer without interaction. It was an ideal solution. eBay evolved from a site offering one off items (pez dispensers), to sellers offering non-unique items (cd-rom drives), to new products (think eBay Express), to the future- digitally delivered goods.
I've spoken at every eBay/PayPal developer conference since 2000. I had proctored developer tracks on a wide variety of subjects each year, but always gave one track on digitally delivered goods and their benefits.
In 2004 I believe it was, PayLoadz partnered with eBay in providing the first officially sponsored downloadable auction at eBay in selling Madonna's American Life single as a download. The auction was a hit and it was the first time ever that a digital track debuted on the Billboard Top 10. It was a proof of concept that digital goods were real. We even went out to eBay's campus and had several meetings and discussions with eBay and digital goods, all looking very promising. They definitely "got it" at that time and they were exploring ways to make things easier for their sellers. Shortly after, they began offering the new digitally delivery listing flow. Certainly not perfect, but an effort nonetheless.
Then they announce this change. I had thought digital auctions were working out well, but apparently not. The feedback manipulation reason seems flimsy and many sellers have concluded it is related to the new $.01 listing fee enacted recently. Whatever the true reason, eBay appears to be moving away from the future of online commerce. So be it.
FYI, our service has processed over 500,000 transactions for digitally delivered goods at eBay worth over $15,000,000. Best of luck to all sellers.
Shannon
We were one of the first to sell downloadable content on eBay. Certainly one of the firsts to enable automatic file delivery once PayPal introduced their IPN system (1999 I think) that allowed server to server communication when a transaction was made enabling the file to be sent to the customer without interaction. It was an ideal solution. eBay evolved from a site offering one off items (pez dispensers), to sellers offering non-unique items (cd-rom drives), to new products (think eBay Express), to the future- digitally delivered goods.
I've spoken at every eBay/PayPal developer conference since 2000. I had proctored developer tracks on a wide variety of subjects each year, but always gave one track on digitally delivered goods and their benefits.
In 2004 I believe it was, PayLoadz partnered with eBay in providing the first officially sponsored downloadable auction at eBay in selling Madonna's American Life single as a download. The auction was a hit and it was the first time ever that a digital track debuted on the Billboard Top 10. It was a proof of concept that digital goods were real. We even went out to eBay's campus and had several meetings and discussions with eBay and digital goods, all looking very promising. They definitely "got it" at that time and they were exploring ways to make things easier for their sellers. Shortly after, they began offering the new digitally delivery listing flow. Certainly not perfect, but an effort nonetheless.
Then they announce this change. I had thought digital auctions were working out well, but apparently not. The feedback manipulation reason seems flimsy and many sellers have concluded it is related to the new $.01 listing fee enacted recently. Whatever the true reason, eBay appears to be moving away from the future of online commerce. So be it.
FYI, our service has processed over 500,000 transactions for digitally delivered goods at eBay worth over $15,000,000. Best of luck to all sellers.
Shannon
Friday, March 28, 2008
eBay Suspends Digital Good Auction Format
eBay has announced that the Digital Delivery format listing flow will be disabled on March 31st. They cite abuse in the Seller Feedback system as the motivating factor for the change in policy. They can list their item as a Classified Ad at eBay still, but no transaction can take place there which defeats the purpose of the system.
They have good reason to look at the Feedback system manipulation caused by digital goods. I have seen many digital auctions at eBay priced as little as one penny ($0.01). This means a customer can buy an item, get feedback for themselves and the seller with very little cost. Their feedback scores will be artificially inflated because of having many, very low cost, transactions. Understandably, this is something eBay would like to avoid. The solution they propose however, is not in the best interest of anyone involved.
The first issue is that they do not explicitly prohibit Digital Goods from being sold in auction format. They are simply removing the Digital Delivery flow from the listing process. Sellers were able to sell and deliver their digital goods on eBay long before this flow ever existed and will likely just use those older processes to deliver their item. Our system has been servicing digital good delivery for years before their Digital Good flow. In fact, our own eBay Store (Power Seller with 99.9% positive feedback) does not even use the eBay Digital Delivery flow for handling our digital goods and we still achieve excellent results in terms of reliable delivery. The key is to match the digital good name, the auction title, and use PayPal's IPN to do a product lookup on auction payment and send the download to the customer in that way. Very straightforward and there are systems in place already to do it this way.
Another option is that sellers will be able to use a trick that has been known for some time for digital good sellers at PayPal. This trick was presented to me by a PayPal employee during one of the eBay Developer conferences held before eBay Live each year. You see, digital goods are not covered under PayPal's Seller Protection Policy because there is no reliable means to prove the item was delivered or not unlike physical goods which provide tracking information via a major carrier. The suggested solution was to sell a download via their website and then mail a small item to the customer using the major shipping carrier which would act as proof of delivery and be protected under the Seller Protection Policy. The seller could send a CD containing the files bought, but could simply send anything they chose, like a pencil. This obviously only make sense when selling larger value digital goods like software. However, using this principle, eBay sellers can list and sell digital goods in auction format and include a tangible, shipped item like: "Widget on CD- Plus Instant Download Delivery". Who knows if it will come to that though...
I think a better solution would be to put a minimum starting price point or Buy It Now price on any auction being listed via the Digital Delivery flow. As soon as the flow is invoked a simple trigger in the eBay system will require a Starting Price of say $5. This is the ideal solution. It will keep digital goods listed in their proper format instead of using the normal auction listing flow as mentioned above which will prevent the need for policing of auctions looking for digital goods under the new policy they currently are implementing. It will also keep eBay actively involved in the quickly growing digital good space. Otherwise, they will have to spend a considerable amount of resources tracking down sellers who list in the standard format. The Digital Delivery flow provides a centralized mechanism for eBay to track and manage this type of auction.
We have actually implemented a minimum price policy for Sellers on our system for listing their goods in our eBay Store. Sellers have two options in terms of listing digital goods when selling on our service. In their own auctions, and in the PayLoadz eBay Store. We do not enforce a price point when they list in their own auctions, but enforce a $1.00 minimum when listing in our own eBay Store. This is to ensure people are not simply flooding our store with worthless goods and to reduce the risk of negative feedback due to a seller configuration issue in their PayLoadz account (like not specifying a valid file for delivery). We'd rather not list an item that generates a negative feedback rating when the customer pays less than a dollar for the item.
Alternatively, eBay can look to a service provider, like PayLoadz who is a Certified Application on eBay, to enforce these policies for them and act as a single integration point for digital delivery. Just a thought ;)
Until eBay explicitly prohibits selling digital goods in auction format, then the old system (using our platform or another) will continue to work.
I hope someone is listening...
Shannon
They have good reason to look at the Feedback system manipulation caused by digital goods. I have seen many digital auctions at eBay priced as little as one penny ($0.01). This means a customer can buy an item, get feedback for themselves and the seller with very little cost. Their feedback scores will be artificially inflated because of having many, very low cost, transactions. Understandably, this is something eBay would like to avoid. The solution they propose however, is not in the best interest of anyone involved.
The first issue is that they do not explicitly prohibit Digital Goods from being sold in auction format. They are simply removing the Digital Delivery flow from the listing process. Sellers were able to sell and deliver their digital goods on eBay long before this flow ever existed and will likely just use those older processes to deliver their item. Our system has been servicing digital good delivery for years before their Digital Good flow. In fact, our own eBay Store (Power Seller with 99.9% positive feedback) does not even use the eBay Digital Delivery flow for handling our digital goods and we still achieve excellent results in terms of reliable delivery. The key is to match the digital good name, the auction title, and use PayPal's IPN to do a product lookup on auction payment and send the download to the customer in that way. Very straightforward and there are systems in place already to do it this way.
Another option is that sellers will be able to use a trick that has been known for some time for digital good sellers at PayPal. This trick was presented to me by a PayPal employee during one of the eBay Developer conferences held before eBay Live each year. You see, digital goods are not covered under PayPal's Seller Protection Policy because there is no reliable means to prove the item was delivered or not unlike physical goods which provide tracking information via a major carrier. The suggested solution was to sell a download via their website and then mail a small item to the customer using the major shipping carrier which would act as proof of delivery and be protected under the Seller Protection Policy. The seller could send a CD containing the files bought, but could simply send anything they chose, like a pencil. This obviously only make sense when selling larger value digital goods like software. However, using this principle, eBay sellers can list and sell digital goods in auction format and include a tangible, shipped item like: "Widget on CD- Plus Instant Download Delivery". Who knows if it will come to that though...
I think a better solution would be to put a minimum starting price point or Buy It Now price on any auction being listed via the Digital Delivery flow. As soon as the flow is invoked a simple trigger in the eBay system will require a Starting Price of say $5. This is the ideal solution. It will keep digital goods listed in their proper format instead of using the normal auction listing flow as mentioned above which will prevent the need for policing of auctions looking for digital goods under the new policy they currently are implementing. It will also keep eBay actively involved in the quickly growing digital good space. Otherwise, they will have to spend a considerable amount of resources tracking down sellers who list in the standard format. The Digital Delivery flow provides a centralized mechanism for eBay to track and manage this type of auction.
We have actually implemented a minimum price policy for Sellers on our system for listing their goods in our eBay Store. Sellers have two options in terms of listing digital goods when selling on our service. In their own auctions, and in the PayLoadz eBay Store. We do not enforce a price point when they list in their own auctions, but enforce a $1.00 minimum when listing in our own eBay Store. This is to ensure people are not simply flooding our store with worthless goods and to reduce the risk of negative feedback due to a seller configuration issue in their PayLoadz account (like not specifying a valid file for delivery). We'd rather not list an item that generates a negative feedback rating when the customer pays less than a dollar for the item.
Alternatively, eBay can look to a service provider, like PayLoadz who is a Certified Application on eBay, to enforce these policies for them and act as a single integration point for digital delivery. Just a thought ;)
Until eBay explicitly prohibits selling digital goods in auction format, then the old system (using our platform or another) will continue to work.
I hope someone is listening...
Shannon
Friday, February 29, 2008
Sellers' Sales Increase 1,036%
Sellers Using Our Service See 1,036% Year Over Year Sales Growth. A pretty incredible number. It basically means a seller that was selling on our service a year ago, on average, has seen their sales increase by 10x. That is pretty impressive.
As an example, if the average seller on our service has sales of $1,000 today, a year from now based on the average growth, they will have sales of over $10,000 per month. I'm impressed! I knew there was accelerated growth in digital sales when using PayLoadz vs. tangible goods, but I never realized it was this significant.
Get growing!
Shannon
THE SIMPLE MATH OF IT ALL
------------------------------------
Fun with database queries on a Friday night. Let's look at the math...
First, we query our system to get a list of all the sellers who had sales this time last year. We also get a total of those sellers' sales for a 30 day period from one year ago. Fast forward to today, we generate a list of sellers and match them up with the list from a year ago and compare their sales for this past month. Now we have a BIG list of digital good sellers from last and this year. We do a simple percentage change calculation using:
(New Sales-Old Sales)/Old Sales = % Growth Year Over Year
Finally, we average the number above for all the sellers in our list and we come up with 1,036.23%, or a growth factor of 10!
As an example, if the average seller on our service has sales of $1,000 today, a year from now based on the average growth, they will have sales of over $10,000 per month. I'm impressed! I knew there was accelerated growth in digital sales when using PayLoadz vs. tangible goods, but I never realized it was this significant.
Get growing!
Shannon
THE SIMPLE MATH OF IT ALL
------------------------------------
Fun with database queries on a Friday night. Let's look at the math...
First, we query our system to get a list of all the sellers who had sales this time last year. We also get a total of those sellers' sales for a 30 day period from one year ago. Fast forward to today, we generate a list of sellers and match them up with the list from a year ago and compare their sales for this past month. Now we have a BIG list of digital good sellers from last and this year. We do a simple percentage change calculation using:
(New Sales-Old Sales)/Old Sales = % Growth Year Over Year
Finally, we average the number above for all the sellers in our list and we come up with 1,036.23%, or a growth factor of 10!
Features and Fixes: January and February 2008
Work continues over here at PayLoadz. A lot of small things this month while work continues on the bigger projects. We should have a few of those being released this coming month. Stay tuned...
Drop Down Navigation Menus - Mouse over drop down menus have been added to the top navigation bar to increase the efficiency in which sellers can access common functions of their account.
MassPay Error for Syndication System Payouts - An error has been addressed for website owners using our Syndication System to earn click through payouts.
Delete File Function Updated for New Delivery and Storage System - Delete file function fixed to remove files properly.
Automated Reseller Fee Payouts - The PayLoadz Reseller System now has automated payouts to users on a per click and recurring revenue basis.
Removed Paid Additional Storage - Sellers can simply ask for more storage and we should be able to provide them with the needed amount.
JavaScript Variables on Download Page - Sellers can access the payment variables of the order via JavaScript variables in the download page to use for their own code such as affiliate programs and tracking programs.
Improved SQL Queries for Store - The PayLoadz Store has had a revision of the display queries which have increased their speed and efficiency dramatically.
Affiliate URL Optional in Product Setup - Sellers no longer need to enter and affiliate URL when setting up their product.
Items Missing From Available Affiliate Products - All seller items will appear in the list of Available Affiliate Products in our site if they choose to.
History Search Date Defaults - The selling history now defaults to one day in the future to ensure proper encapsulation of the search results as a default.
From Name in Add Download Email - When using the Add Download Email system to send out downloads manually from our system the seller's Profile Business Name is shown as the From Name in the email instead of just their email address.
Enjoy!
Shannon
Drop Down Navigation Menus - Mouse over drop down menus have been added to the top navigation bar to increase the efficiency in which sellers can access common functions of their account.
MassPay Error for Syndication System Payouts - An error has been addressed for website owners using our Syndication System to earn click through payouts.
Delete File Function Updated for New Delivery and Storage System - Delete file function fixed to remove files properly.
Automated Reseller Fee Payouts - The PayLoadz Reseller System now has automated payouts to users on a per click and recurring revenue basis.
Removed Paid Additional Storage - Sellers can simply ask for more storage and we should be able to provide them with the needed amount.
JavaScript Variables on Download Page - Sellers can access the payment variables of the order via JavaScript variables in the download page to use for their own code such as affiliate programs and tracking programs.
Improved SQL Queries for Store - The PayLoadz Store has had a revision of the display queries which have increased their speed and efficiency dramatically.
Affiliate URL Optional in Product Setup - Sellers no longer need to enter and affiliate URL when setting up their product.
Items Missing From Available Affiliate Products - All seller items will appear in the list of Available Affiliate Products in our site if they choose to.
History Search Date Defaults - The selling history now defaults to one day in the future to ensure proper encapsulation of the search results as a default.
From Name in Add Download Email - When using the Add Download Email system to send out downloads manually from our system the seller's Profile Business Name is shown as the From Name in the email instead of just their email address.
Enjoy!
Shannon
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Live Site Issue: File Names (Resolved)
We are working to resolve an issue with downloads currently where the user is prompted to download an incorrect file. Our team has found the issue and is working to resolve as quickly as possible.
Regards,
Shannon
------------------------------------
UPDATE 12:38 PM EST - Issue Resolved
The issue with the file names being the same has now been resolved. It was actually a bigger issue than the simple file names. A new script running on the server that we moved from the development environment to the live product server had a seemingly small bug in it that prevent it from binding the change to a single user's account and caused a site wide update instead. The only recourse was to remove the offending script until it could be looked at closely and to restore the data from a backup.
This is where things got a little messy. Our system backs up data regularly in case something like this comes up. However, the issue arose when some of the backups still had the offending incorrect data in them. Luckily, one of the backups from earlier today 6:00 AM EST had the proper data. In a perfect world, we would be able to restore the single table and fields that caused the issue, but unfortunately, that is not the case. Databases are generally monolithic creatures with one aspect of data, like product information, intimately tied to other tables, like user information and order information. The only reliable solution is to restore the entire data set to the last known good value. This means the 6AM data backup. Meaning, there is a current data gap from 6:00AM EST today until 12:00 noon today that is unrecoverable at this time.
Ultimately, this is a good thing. I see issues in a potential data loss recover process that will need to be improved and I am putting those at the top of our task list. Changes will include a better testing environment before scripts go out, a better QC check when the script moves to the live server, and a faster, automated data or site restore option. It took a few hours to restore the data when it should only have taken a few minutes. We didn't want the 6 hour data gap, but in hindsight, we should have just accepted it for the time being. We spent far too long looking at ways around the gap in data to no avail.
Finally, the system should be working properly now. If it is not, we will be on it all day. For sellers, the orders placed during the data gap will not be recovered- this unfortunately, is unavoidable. You can still send the downloads to customers manually using the Add Download Email link found on the Product Detail page in your account.
Thank you for bearing with us during this hectic time,
Shannon
Regards,
Shannon
------------------------------------
UPDATE 12:38 PM EST - Issue Resolved
The issue with the file names being the same has now been resolved. It was actually a bigger issue than the simple file names. A new script running on the server that we moved from the development environment to the live product server had a seemingly small bug in it that prevent it from binding the change to a single user's account and caused a site wide update instead. The only recourse was to remove the offending script until it could be looked at closely and to restore the data from a backup.
This is where things got a little messy. Our system backs up data regularly in case something like this comes up. However, the issue arose when some of the backups still had the offending incorrect data in them. Luckily, one of the backups from earlier today 6:00 AM EST had the proper data. In a perfect world, we would be able to restore the single table and fields that caused the issue, but unfortunately, that is not the case. Databases are generally monolithic creatures with one aspect of data, like product information, intimately tied to other tables, like user information and order information. The only reliable solution is to restore the entire data set to the last known good value. This means the 6AM data backup. Meaning, there is a current data gap from 6:00AM EST today until 12:00 noon today that is unrecoverable at this time.
Ultimately, this is a good thing. I see issues in a potential data loss recover process that will need to be improved and I am putting those at the top of our task list. Changes will include a better testing environment before scripts go out, a better QC check when the script moves to the live server, and a faster, automated data or site restore option. It took a few hours to restore the data when it should only have taken a few minutes. We didn't want the 6 hour data gap, but in hindsight, we should have just accepted it for the time being. We spent far too long looking at ways around the gap in data to no avail.
Finally, the system should be working properly now. If it is not, we will be on it all day. For sellers, the orders placed during the data gap will not be recovered- this unfortunately, is unavoidable. You can still send the downloads to customers manually using the Add Download Email link found on the Product Detail page in your account.
Thank you for bearing with us during this hectic time,
Shannon
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
PayLoadz Offers Unlimited Storage for Digital Content Sales
PayLoadz.com unveils new storage and delivery platform for digital goods ecommerce offering virtually unlimited product offerings.
New York, NY December 18, 2007 -- PayLoadz.com, a leading self-service digital content ecommerce platform, has released a new version of its content storage and fulfillment system to deliver downloadable content such as ebooks, music, videos, software, crafts, or any other file. This new platform provides unlimited file storage for sellers using its services without any increase in cost.
"I am very excited about latest version of our file delivery system," says Shannon Sofield, founder of PayLoadz. "Because of the repeat and impulse buying nature related to selling digital goods, the more products sellers have available, means more sales and revenue for our sellers. By providing them with as much storage as they need for their downloadable goods without increased cost, they can create more valuable content offerings."
The PayLoadz.com service now has a key competitive advantage with this new release as other companies attempting to enter this market niche are bound by their limited product inventory and file storage capabilities. The PayLoadz Free, Basic Service, gets a file storage increase from just 50MB to 1,000MB representing a twenty-fold increase. Higher level accounts feature Unlimited File Storage.
About PayLoadz
A New York, NY based company, PayLoadz is a long standing leader in the digital content and delivery sector. The privately-held company has over 60,000 registered users selling over 280,000 downloadable goods.
###
New York, NY December 18, 2007 -- PayLoadz.com, a leading self-service digital content ecommerce platform, has released a new version of its content storage and fulfillment system to deliver downloadable content such as ebooks, music, videos, software, crafts, or any other file. This new platform provides unlimited file storage for sellers using its services without any increase in cost.
"I am very excited about latest version of our file delivery system," says Shannon Sofield, founder of PayLoadz. "Because of the repeat and impulse buying nature related to selling digital goods, the more products sellers have available, means more sales and revenue for our sellers. By providing them with as much storage as they need for their downloadable goods without increased cost, they can create more valuable content offerings."
The PayLoadz.com service now has a key competitive advantage with this new release as other companies attempting to enter this market niche are bound by their limited product inventory and file storage capabilities. The PayLoadz Free, Basic Service, gets a file storage increase from just 50MB to 1,000MB representing a twenty-fold increase. Higher level accounts feature Unlimited File Storage.
About PayLoadz
A New York, NY based company, PayLoadz is a long standing leader in the digital content and delivery sector. The privately-held company has over 60,000 registered users selling over 280,000 downloadable goods.
###
Features and Fixes: November and December 2007
Some updates from the last month or so of dev. Things have been a bit hectic with the new delivery system development and roll-out. Things should calm down now as we move into developing other functionality. Thanks for bearing with us during this time.
Happy Holidays,
Shannon
Unlimited File Storage - We can now offer unlimited storage for accounts with our new file storage and delivery system.
New Delivery System - A more robust and reliable system. Download speeds are much higher and do not require the use of FTP links meaning reduced firewall issues.
Seller Subscription System - Sellers can now sell their products as subscription items. Customers can pay a monthly fee and the seller will be able to send any list of subscribers any product in their account.
Send Download to Existing Customers - Sellers can send a download to any of their existing customers using the same Add Download Email method as when sending a single download.
Increased Bulk Download Limit - Sellers can now send a product download to a list of email addresses they paste into the system. Up to 200 recipients now.
Seller's Note to Send Download - Sellers can add a note when manually sending a download via the web interface. Useful for adding instructions or simple notes.
Enhanced Affiliates Search - Sellers can now search their affiliates using a variety of criteria.
Download Link Text Enhanced - Greater emphasis has been placed on the download link on the download page to be less confusing.
Continue Shopping URL - Sellers can specify a specific URL that customers will be sent to when clicking Continue Shopping in their shopping cart.
Captcha on Contact Seller in Store - Word/image verification to prevent spam.
SEO on Store Detail Page - Some tweaks to make search engine results more relevant for items in the Store.
Auto Assign Item Number - Sellers can leave the Item Id/Item Number field blank when creating a product and it will be auto-assigned in an incremental value.
Enable Checkout Language Selection - Sellers can specify the page language their customers will see when checking out.
Category Selection in Advanced Store Search - Customers can search by category as well as keyword when using advanced search by default.
Export Products Invalid File Location Alert - Seller's are alerted to misconfigured products on file information exports system.
Pay Affiliates in PayLoadz Interface - Sells can enable PayLoadz to pay their affiliates directly from within our interface using the PayPal API.
Move Express Site to New Server - Express system has been moved to our new server along side our other sites.
Custom Email Text in Google Checkout Fix - Custom product text included in GC now.
RSS Feed of Sales History - An XML/RSS feed of a seller's recent order history is now provided to track sales when not at our site.
Disable PayPal Checkout - Sellers can choose to not sell with PayPal if they like.
Happy Holidays,
Shannon
Unlimited File Storage - We can now offer unlimited storage for accounts with our new file storage and delivery system.
New Delivery System - A more robust and reliable system. Download speeds are much higher and do not require the use of FTP links meaning reduced firewall issues.
Seller Subscription System - Sellers can now sell their products as subscription items. Customers can pay a monthly fee and the seller will be able to send any list of subscribers any product in their account.
Send Download to Existing Customers - Sellers can send a download to any of their existing customers using the same Add Download Email method as when sending a single download.
Increased Bulk Download Limit - Sellers can now send a product download to a list of email addresses they paste into the system. Up to 200 recipients now.
Seller's Note to Send Download - Sellers can add a note when manually sending a download via the web interface. Useful for adding instructions or simple notes.
Enhanced Affiliates Search - Sellers can now search their affiliates using a variety of criteria.
Download Link Text Enhanced - Greater emphasis has been placed on the download link on the download page to be less confusing.
Continue Shopping URL - Sellers can specify a specific URL that customers will be sent to when clicking Continue Shopping in their shopping cart.
Captcha on Contact Seller in Store - Word/image verification to prevent spam.
SEO on Store Detail Page - Some tweaks to make search engine results more relevant for items in the Store.
Auto Assign Item Number - Sellers can leave the Item Id/Item Number field blank when creating a product and it will be auto-assigned in an incremental value.
Enable Checkout Language Selection - Sellers can specify the page language their customers will see when checking out.
Category Selection in Advanced Store Search - Customers can search by category as well as keyword when using advanced search by default.
Export Products Invalid File Location Alert - Seller's are alerted to misconfigured products on file information exports system.
Pay Affiliates in PayLoadz Interface - Sells can enable PayLoadz to pay their affiliates directly from within our interface using the PayPal API.
Move Express Site to New Server - Express system has been moved to our new server along side our other sites.
Custom Email Text in Google Checkout Fix - Custom product text included in GC now.
RSS Feed of Sales History - An XML/RSS feed of a seller's recent order history is now provided to track sales when not at our site.
Disable PayPal Checkout - Sellers can choose to not sell with PayPal if they like.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Featured Seller: BuildARamp.com
You can view the entire Featured Seller series posts here.
This week, we have Brandon Cardone from BuildARamp.com here to tell us how he sells downloadable plans for skate and bike ramps.
Tell us briefly about what kind of digital goods you sell.
I sell a 54-page PDF format, Skateboard Ramp Building Guide for Beginner’s titled “The Beginner’s Guide To Building Ramps”.
I also sell 4 variations of skateboard ramp plans that include full color illustrations, measurements, and materials list. The Ramp Plans compliment the beginners guide.
What file and delivery formats do you use?
PDF files compressed into zip files.
How long have you been selling your items?
Since March 2004
How have your sales performance changed since you started selling?
My sales performance has steadily increased every year since I started in 2004.
What tools have helped your increase your sales?
PayLoadz is at the heart of my business; it allows me the freedom to focus on the marketing end of things instead of dealing with my customer’s purchases and product deliveries.
The ability to use both PayPal and Google Checkout for payment gateways seamlessly with PayLoadz has greatly increased my sales.
The use of Google AdWords and paid online advertising in strategic niche areas on the web.
I also utilize the PayLoadz Affiliate builder program to maximize my websites exposure on similar and relevant websites.
I also have my products listed in the PayLoadz Store and eventually plan to utilize the PayLoadz Ebay store.
By far the best tool I have used is good old Search Engine Optimization to increase my organic search rankings with popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN.
I use my blog to help add quality content to my website. I also post customers projects to my website photogallery. I offer sample product downloads, free desktop wallpaper, and free skateboard ramp plans to increase interest and traffic to my pages.
What PayLoadz features do you use the most?
I use the sales statistics to keep track of my business progress and accounting. But mostly I use Payloadz for the professional and secure delivery of my electronic goods.
What PayLoadz features helps to increase sales for you?
The integration with PayPal and Google Checkout. I also use custom text that is sent to a customer along with their download links to help up sell and cross promote my products.
What other tools or services have helped you manage your business?
This week, we have Brandon Cardone from BuildARamp.com here to tell us how he sells downloadable plans for skate and bike ramps.
Tell us briefly about what kind of digital goods you sell.
I sell a 54-page PDF format, Skateboard Ramp Building Guide for Beginner’s titled “The Beginner’s Guide To Building Ramps”.
I also sell 4 variations of skateboard ramp plans that include full color illustrations, measurements, and materials list. The Ramp Plans compliment the beginners guide.
What file and delivery formats do you use?
PDF files compressed into zip files.
How long have you been selling your items?
Since March 2004
How have your sales performance changed since you started selling?
My sales performance has steadily increased every year since I started in 2004.
What tools have helped your increase your sales?
PayLoadz is at the heart of my business; it allows me the freedom to focus on the marketing end of things instead of dealing with my customer’s purchases and product deliveries.
The ability to use both PayPal and Google Checkout for payment gateways seamlessly with PayLoadz has greatly increased my sales.
The use of Google AdWords and paid online advertising in strategic niche areas on the web.
I also utilize the PayLoadz Affiliate builder program to maximize my websites exposure on similar and relevant websites.
I also have my products listed in the PayLoadz Store and eventually plan to utilize the PayLoadz Ebay store.
By far the best tool I have used is good old Search Engine Optimization to increase my organic search rankings with popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN.
I use my blog to help add quality content to my website. I also post customers projects to my website photogallery. I offer sample product downloads, free desktop wallpaper, and free skateboard ramp plans to increase interest and traffic to my pages.
What PayLoadz features do you use the most?
I use the sales statistics to keep track of my business progress and accounting. But mostly I use Payloadz for the professional and secure delivery of my electronic goods.
What PayLoadz features helps to increase sales for you?
The integration with PayPal and Google Checkout. I also use custom text that is sent to a customer along with their download links to help up sell and cross promote my products.
What other tools or services have helped you manage your business?
- Google AdWords
- Google Checkout
- Google Analytics
- Google Webmaster Tools
- Google Adsense
- PayPal
- Blogger
- Advanced Web Ranking
- CSS
- RSS
What types of marketing do you rely on?
- Organic Search Results
- Google AdWords Pay Per Click
- Yahoo Marketing, formerly Overture
- Paid online advertising with targeted websites
- Blogs
- Word of mouth
- Athlete Sponsorship
- Tshirts
- Stickers
- Affiliate program
- Link Exchanges
Can you provide any advice to sellers just getting started selling digital goods?
Really get to know how your customers are using your website. You can use free services like Google Analytics to gain valuable information about your visitors and it will help you optimize your pages for sales.
Once you are setup properly with payloads to deliver your goods. Focus your energy on getting as many links to your website as possible (but don’t be a spammer!). It’s all a numbers game really, the more doors there are to your website the more visitors and potential customers you will ultimately gain.
Consider using Pay Per Click Advertising to jumpstart your marketing campaign, make friends, network and exchange links, provide excellent customer service, giveaway stuff, offer free information, promote, promote, promote.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Digital Rights Management (DRM) Decreases Sales and Increases Costs
(I've been meaning to write this post for some time, but there is just so much information to include to cover all the points. Therefore, I will begin this post and provide a basic framework for the reasons why DRM is wrong. This is a draft that will be added to as we go along. Feel free to play devil's advocate and bring up any issues I have missed.)
Digital Restrictions Management
DRM, or Digital Rights Management (Digital Restrictions Management for those in the know), is an attempt to limit the usage of a digitally delivered good to a single person- usually a person that has purchased a single copy of the item. Using these systems, the seller intends to prevent the item from being used by anyone other than the person that bought the item.
The fact is DRM systems are the furthest thing from being perfect. No system works on all computer platforms or all situations of the end-user. Whether it is attempting to secure a PDF eBook, a piece of software, or a pay-per-view movie file- no technology exists that will successfully allow a customer to view the file in all computer environments. What this means is that you are placing minimum technical requirements on your product as soon as you intend to use DRM. Even if it is something as simple as a password protected PDF, you have instantly reduced your potential sales market by excluding those end-users who do not have the minimum PDF viewer requirements that will allow the password to be entered properly. Only certain versions of PDF viewers like Adobe Acrobat will allow the use to enter a password to open a file. It gets even more restrictive across other product types like video files, especially those using a technology like Microsoft DRM. An unprotected PDF can be viewed by 100% of the Internet population using freely available software. When the seller puts DRM on the file, that number drops and no they have effectively eliminated a large portion of sales.
"They are Stealing from Me!"
That is the argument I hear most from small sellers. Most have never sold even one copy of their file, but they want to make absolutely sure that no one other than the customer can use their product. As we saw above, that is not possible as DRM systems are flawed fundamentally. A person who receives your file is not stealing from you. You may have not received compensation for your product, but since it is a digital good, available in infinite quantities without incurring additional overhead- it did not cost the seller any out of pocket expenses.
Limited File Sharing Increases Sales
If a customer who purchased a digital knitting pattern shares the file with their friend you now have the potential to gain a customer. The non-paying recipient never heard of the seller or their product and was likely never going to hear of them. By having the original customer send the file to the non-paying recipient, they can now determine the value of your product directly and are likely to do so because of the direct testimonial from the original paying customer who shared the file. Provided that the file has identifiable information as to where the item can be purchased in terms of either file properties (or in the case of this knitting pattern), a direct link to the seller's store with the ability to market similar products to the converted user.
Increased Support Costs
We sold DRM Windows Audio Files using MS DRM on our system a few years ago for a major recording artist. We sold the same exact song as an unprotected MP3 file on the same page. Not only did the MP3 file outsell the DRM file 15-1, but the costs incurred from providing end-user support for using the DRM file was extraordinary. Both files sold for $1.49. To this day, four years later, we get email requests from customers who purchased the DRM file asking to retrieve their DRM license for the file. That means we have to look up the order, generate a new license, deliver it, and troubleshoot any additional installation issues. That does not even cover the bulk of the support costs which occur immediately after the sale when trying to initialize the DRM on their computer. This again relates to the technological requirements or misconfiguration that occurs when dealing with the wilds of the Internet. Time spent supporting customers because of DRM is money lost. You are also likely to loose the endorsement of your product for every customer that has a problem with the file.
Nature of Digital Goods
This point has to be made as it may not be completely obvious to people unfamiliar with selling digital goods. It has to do with the impulse buy and the re-purchase behavior related to selling digital goods. The following describes the vast majority of downloadable good purchases. If a customer buys and item from a seller and they got value out of it and it was easy for them to use (no DRM), then that customer will likely go back to the seller's store and immediately purchase one or more related products they have for sale. In addition to this impulse buying behavior, the entire existing customer base of a digital good seller will be much more likely to buy any new product offerings from the seller in the future when compared with tangible items.
An Anonymous Coward writes:
"Actually, it did cost the seller; it cost the seller a potential sale."
Again, if you read above, it didn't cost the seller anything because the person was never going to pay you for the item anyway. If the person was not given the product by a friend, they were not actively pursuing the item. The exception is a person actively seeking the product on a warez site, in which case, no DRM would have worked since you see every piece of software ever made there. So again, it didn't cost a thing for not using DRM, however if you do use DRM, then it did cost you a potential sale.
Digital Restrictions Management
DRM, or Digital Rights Management (Digital Restrictions Management for those in the know), is an attempt to limit the usage of a digitally delivered good to a single person- usually a person that has purchased a single copy of the item. Using these systems, the seller intends to prevent the item from being used by anyone other than the person that bought the item.
The fact is DRM systems are the furthest thing from being perfect. No system works on all computer platforms or all situations of the end-user. Whether it is attempting to secure a PDF eBook, a piece of software, or a pay-per-view movie file- no technology exists that will successfully allow a customer to view the file in all computer environments. What this means is that you are placing minimum technical requirements on your product as soon as you intend to use DRM. Even if it is something as simple as a password protected PDF, you have instantly reduced your potential sales market by excluding those end-users who do not have the minimum PDF viewer requirements that will allow the password to be entered properly. Only certain versions of PDF viewers like Adobe Acrobat will allow the use to enter a password to open a file. It gets even more restrictive across other product types like video files, especially those using a technology like Microsoft DRM. An unprotected PDF can be viewed by 100% of the Internet population using freely available software. When the seller puts DRM on the file, that number drops and no they have effectively eliminated a large portion of sales.
"They are Stealing from Me!"
That is the argument I hear most from small sellers. Most have never sold even one copy of their file, but they want to make absolutely sure that no one other than the customer can use their product. As we saw above, that is not possible as DRM systems are flawed fundamentally. A person who receives your file is not stealing from you. You may have not received compensation for your product, but since it is a digital good, available in infinite quantities without incurring additional overhead- it did not cost the seller any out of pocket expenses.
Limited File Sharing Increases Sales
If a customer who purchased a digital knitting pattern shares the file with their friend you now have the potential to gain a customer. The non-paying recipient never heard of the seller or their product and was likely never going to hear of them. By having the original customer send the file to the non-paying recipient, they can now determine the value of your product directly and are likely to do so because of the direct testimonial from the original paying customer who shared the file. Provided that the file has identifiable information as to where the item can be purchased in terms of either file properties (or in the case of this knitting pattern), a direct link to the seller's store with the ability to market similar products to the converted user.
Increased Support Costs
We sold DRM Windows Audio Files using MS DRM on our system a few years ago for a major recording artist. We sold the same exact song as an unprotected MP3 file on the same page. Not only did the MP3 file outsell the DRM file 15-1, but the costs incurred from providing end-user support for using the DRM file was extraordinary. Both files sold for $1.49. To this day, four years later, we get email requests from customers who purchased the DRM file asking to retrieve their DRM license for the file. That means we have to look up the order, generate a new license, deliver it, and troubleshoot any additional installation issues. That does not even cover the bulk of the support costs which occur immediately after the sale when trying to initialize the DRM on their computer. This again relates to the technological requirements or misconfiguration that occurs when dealing with the wilds of the Internet. Time spent supporting customers because of DRM is money lost. You are also likely to loose the endorsement of your product for every customer that has a problem with the file.
Nature of Digital Goods
This point has to be made as it may not be completely obvious to people unfamiliar with selling digital goods. It has to do with the impulse buy and the re-purchase behavior related to selling digital goods. The following describes the vast majority of downloadable good purchases. If a customer buys and item from a seller and they got value out of it and it was easy for them to use (no DRM), then that customer will likely go back to the seller's store and immediately purchase one or more related products they have for sale. In addition to this impulse buying behavior, the entire existing customer base of a digital good seller will be much more likely to buy any new product offerings from the seller in the future when compared with tangible items.
An Anonymous Coward writes:
"Actually, it did cost the seller; it cost the seller a potential sale."
Again, if you read above, it didn't cost the seller anything because the person was never going to pay you for the item anyway. If the person was not given the product by a friend, they were not actively pursuing the item. The exception is a person actively seeking the product on a warez site, in which case, no DRM would have worked since you see every piece of software ever made there. So again, it didn't cost a thing for not using DRM, however if you do use DRM, then it did cost you a potential sale.
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