I currently sell a couple of ebooks and I'm looking to set up some sort of delivery system where I don't have to be the deliverer.

Right now when someone buys one of my ebooks, I get a notice of payment (from Paypal) then I reply to their e-mail with the ebook (pdf file) attached.

So the problem is - I'm the automation. I am looking for automatic downlaod at the end of purchase, so I don't have to be sitting here wiating to get the ebook back to them in a timely manner.

Does Paypal do something like that - I can't seem to find it?

Any other suggestions.

Thanks in advance,
Scott (mktgbiz)

I haven't sold ebooks online, but I have a friend whom I've edited a couple for.

She sells them directly through her site, using paypal as the means of accepting payment, like you do. She also offers the book for sale through http://www.digibuy.com/

I suspect that if you look around, you can find some other third party sellesr like digibuy. I'd definitely suggest seeing what other companies are out there that can sell and distribute for you. They are out there.

If you don't mind spending some money to set up a Yahoo Store, you can use it to sell digital content.

The fees are fairly hefty if you expect to sell just one or two eBooks each month. The last I checked, a Yahoo Store cost about $30/month.

But if you have some volume, this might be an option.

You can probably set something up by using passowrd protected pages for download with the password being changed weekly to prevent piracy etc. I thought paypal did a download option exactly for this sort of thing though.

osCommerce offers a digital product add-in, so the client gets an email with a unique URL after they have purchased the product. They get a certain amount of downloads and there is also an expiry date....

Simon

I thought paypal did a download option exactly for this sort of thing though.

Yep, they do. There are different ways of doing it through PayPal, but the quickest to set up would be using "Auto Return."

Auto Return for Website Payments
Auto Return for Website Payments brings your buyers back to your website immediately after payment completion. Auto Return applies to PayPal Website Payments, including Buy Now, Donations, Subscriptions, and Shopping Cart.

Using Auto Return, you'd just set it up so after payment is made, the customer is sent to a hidden page on your site where they can download the book. For enhanced protection, you could periodically change the location of the page and choose the option for PayPal to generate encrypted "Buy Now" buttons.

To find this and the other options PayPal provides, click the "Merchant Tools" tab at the top of the page after you've logged in.

Try www.payploadz.com. I think it's just what you're looking for. I have used them before for ebook distribution...check them out!

I've just completed setting up this kind of scheme with PayPal.

PayPal / Merchant Tools / Integration Guide / Appendix B recommends the best course for any business to take. 'small business' + 'digital downloads' sounds about right in your case.

You can also specify a return page from PayPal for those customers who quit without completing a purchase, and lead them to your HELP / FAQS etc.

Don't believe what PayPal say about downloading there Integration Guide (1 MByte) it's about 12 !!

mktgbiz,

Since your post was awhile ago this may be moot information but anyway,
I have been selling ebooks for 6 years and last year set up exactly what you need to do. Up front I can tell you that some people still can't figure out how to download the ebook after purchase or the download site is down, so I do get a few emails and have to send it as an attachment. There is also a problem if you intend to accept echecks via PayPal because they take a few days to clear. I get a bunch of those but allow the people to download the guide anyways.

If you set up your download page make sure you either have a secure server or if not as a double safety set the meta robots command to noindex,nofollow so it doesn't get listed in the search engines. It won't matter if there are no links pointing to it, but why take the chance for a simple line of html.

I guess there is also an .htaccess file for Apache OS servers. .htaccess (http://javascriptkit.com/howto/htaccess.shtml)

I set my site Winning at the Slots Guide up for instant download offering pdf and msword formats. I use paypal encrypted buttons. I don't use the auto return feature because I return customers to different pages (which are embedded in the encrypted buttons) depending on what format they buy. I also threw a free jelly counter on each download page as an added security measure.

Paypal is by far the least expensive, 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction.
I also use PayloadZ mentioned, they give you a free listing in their store but they intergrate with paypal. They too are low cost, $15 a month for $250 a month in sales. The digibuy was by far the most expensive at 13.9% per. Now I'm redoing my sites and setting up an affiliate program via clickbank, which I don't really like to much, they charge $50 set up and 7.5% +$1 per transaction, plus their eBook directory is sloppy. (perhaps some can recommend a good affilate program for digital products) but seem to be the only one I can find except for Payloadz.

Finally I got an email from a new site a few weeks ago offering up to 10 ebooks for a flat $5 a month. The site was called. http://www.e-junkie.com/

Hope this helps any eBook Entrepreneurs.