Payloadz
I've been using Payloadz to sell digital PDF files for a while now. It's a great way for me to charge a few dollars for a digital document. Users pay me with Paypal, then they get a url good for 48 hours, and from there they can download the files. It's done automatically. In my case I'm selling hyperlinked PDF versions of my books for $3.50. The alternative to Payloadz is to send a file out by hand for each purchase, which would be insane.
It's not hard for the unscrupulous to cheat a bit (very few do) yet Payloadz removes the temptation of completely unregulated free downloads. I experienced a burp or two setting up the files the first time, but since then the system is pretty invisible. Customers download the books anytime, and the money flows into my Paypal account. I do nothing. Yet when all is accounted for my total profit from a digital file is equal to the total profit from selling the equivalent paper book -- with about 1/100th the trouble.
Payloadz can be used to deliver any digital good -- software, ebooks, movies, ringtones, or CDs worth of material. Biggest downside is their monthly fee ($15 minimum), in addition to the usual modest Paypal charge per transaction. You'll need some brisk traffic to keep it going. Payloadz has a completely free version, but since your files are unprotected in that version (not on the paid) I don't see any advantage to it.
I'd be crazy to call for the end of paper publishing (been there, done that wrong) but I have no hesitation in heralding the dawn of digital publishing. I think digital downloads FOR PAY will be a viable part of the gift economy. So far Payloadz has been an essential tool in exploring this new publishing model. I recommend the service to anyone selling intangibles.
-- KK
My PDF books available via Payloadz
Cool Tools
True Films
Favorite (15)
PCLicious Video Tutorials
Thanks for the review, it helped me in researching this company :)
Mary
I appreciated this review and actually signed with them. I couldn't find any documentation about increased security on their web site though (the FAQ's said a premium site offered more security but never explained what it was.)
I did a free trial with e-Junkie first and had a few problems. The PayLoadz set up couldn't have been easier.
Thank you for the recommendation!
Daniel Isdell
I used Payloadz for about 8 years. After my monthly payment failed because there wasn't enough money on my PayPal account, Payloadz shut me off without warning. When I contacted them to fix the problem, they were extremely rude and doubled the amount that they were previously charging me. When I complained they got absolutely abusive. I later found out that the "tech support" person that I was communicating with was Shannon Sofield (the owner of PayLoadz). I recieved such abusive and rude treatment that I would NEVER recommend Payloadz to anyone.
I switched over to e-Junkie (www.e-junkie.com)
They are MUCH less expensive, very easy to set up, quite pleasant, co-operative, informative, and polite.
Avoid Payloadz at all cost. Don't belive me? Google the words Payloadz and rude
Robin K at E-junkie
Mary, I'm sorry to hear that you'd trouble with our service :(
Although, it's an old post .. if you get this message, I'll appreciate if you can mention the problems you encountered.
Kris
I just switched from Payloadz to E-Junkie. Payloadz site looks really nice and more professional than E-Junkie at first but their service seems much better. At Payloadz I didn't even succeed in setting up an account. At first I couldn't complete my profile which apparantly was due to thei server migration. (none of the webforms saved data when you hit the save button). A few weeks later this was solved and I thought I would finally be able to start but when I tried to buy my own product (just to be sure everything was working) I got all kinds of error messages. I sent a message to support and another one a bit more than 1 week later, never got any answer...
eric
Just thought I would warn everyone about my difficulties with Payloadz. Their customer support is virtually NON-EXISTANT.
Their software has many bugs. When I tried to report them to support, I never received any response. I finally received a response on one after two weeks. I had difficutly with using the ftp upload, and they simply said it was working on their end, so it must be my problem. No additional help was provided. The documentation is full of errors like, typos gramatical, spelling and punctuation. I found later that their rates are much higher than others out there.
I canceled the service with Paypal and immediately returned to Payloadz to check my account status. They had all ready downgraded my account to the lowest level, even though I paid $100 for the 25 days left at my current level. Now they are declining my payments and today I have to rush to move the products to another site. :(
I am looking into Fastspring as an option. Does anyone have an opinion about them?
Optik
You guys should try INZU.net, they offer a service for downloads and mail orders, have low fees and friendly/fast customer service.
Also the store builder they have is real easy to use and you get a myspace style address.
Highly recommended :)