Buy or Shop Product Download

[zami]

Hi.

I am new to ShopSite. I want to use ShopSite to add to my website in the future.

But I want to know how to sell only DOWNLOADS...like selling program software. When user buy something and it will automatically send them a link to download.

Is such feature availabe? I cannot seem to find any information it. Please refer me to some useful links.

thanks verryvery much

[Jim]

The feature is called Digital Download and is available in ShopSite Pro level stores only. So if you have a Manager or Starter level you won't find it in your store and you would have to upgrade to Pro to get it.

The feature is configured and files uploaded to the store under Commerce Setup > Digital Download in the back office. There is an option on the Edit Product Layout screen to indicate the product is for a digital download item and you select what file is associated with it there.

Here is a link to the help for configuring digital downloads
http://www.shopsite.com/help/9.0/en-US/ ... files.html

If you configure it so the download link is automatically provided to the shopper, make sure that you are using a real-time payment gateway so you collect the money at the time the order is placed. If you don't you could end up giving the product away without getting any money for it.

[zami]

Thank you so much for this information.
I guess this is the only way to do it...using the Pro Level? Do you know if another way (cheaper way to do it) using the starter level? Like get pay first and send them a link or something... I'm new to this...probably don;t know what I'm talking about.

Thanks again.

[Jim]

You could just have a product that you email a link to download the file for in a starter store but then you have no way of limiting the number of times the product is downloaded. Once a person purchased the product and got the download link they could pass it around to all of their friends and they could all download it for free. If the item was small in size you might be able to email it but most email has a limit of 5 meg or so for the maximum size.

With the Pro version ShopSite handles the downloads and limits the number of times and the length of time the shopper has to download the file, so you have a little more assurance that only the one shopper gets the file. Because ShopSite dispenses the file you can have larger files than what could be sent in an email. The size will depend of the speed of the connection to your server and the setting for how long a process on the server can execute.

[zami]

If my customer pay with pay pal and he will get a receipt to download the program within 5 days and with 1 download only.

How do I get the activation key code to the customer to activate the program on his computer?

Does ShopSite has this capability?

Where can I read more on this topic about key code?

Do I need a Dedicated Server to start this business or just any webserver?

Thanks,

[Jim]

If the download requires an activation key you would need to send that key separately to the shopper. ShopSite handles the actual download file but no way to handle a separate key associated with it. The only key that ShopSite will provide to the shopper is the one to actually download the file.

The type of server you will need depend on how much traffic you expect to have. Some (most) hosting companies limit band width for the server so if you have lots of large files to download you may need to get a dedicated server but if you are just starting out you may not need one.

If you haven't tried a demo of ShopSite to see how the digital download functionality works I would recommend that you get one and give it a try.
You can get a demo store here: http://shopsite.com/demo.html

You can find more information about the download functionality in the on line help at http://www.shopsite.com/help/9.0/en-US/ ... files.html