Digital goods is the term used to describe non-tangible products such as computer games and other software, custom-designed sewing or craft patterns, e-books, digital images, music, ringtones, Web site templates — basically anything that can be provided to consumers in an electronic format.
For artists on a budget, the good news is that you don't need a fat wallet to Set up and sell your digital goods online. Many services are free to use until you make a sale, at which time you pay a commission fee for the delivery service. Other services charge a modest monthly fee, with no additional transaction fees.
If you already have your own Web site or blog, there are a number of services that you can use to sell from your own Web space. If you don't have a Web site of your own —and you should —you can still take advantage of online shops and affiliate referral programs offered by digital goods e-commerce providers to boost traffic and sales of your own work.
The best news is that you can still spend most of your time in the studio recording or blogging to your fans, as digital goods e-commerce systems tend to handle all or most of the e-commerce transactions for you, taking a percentage of the transaction fee. These delivery and payment systems are simple to use. It is as easy as uploading the files, providing contact and payment details and a description of each item you have for sale.
Here are five easy-to-use and cost-effective online delivery platforms that you can further investigate in getting started with your own online digital goods business.
DigitalGoodsDelivery.com: For All Types of Digital and Tangible Products
Digital goods publishers can use DigitalGoodsDelivery.com's delivery system for virtually any product that can be delivered to the consumer over the Internet, including standard movie and audio files, plus zip files, Word documents, PDF files and more. DigitalGoodsDelivery.com is good only for those with their own Web site to sell from, and it is a PayPal payments-based system.
After you upload the digital files, which remain hosted on and served by DigitalGoodsDelivery.com, you can use the provided HTML code on your own site to create PayPal button links for downloads. When an item is purchased, the customer pays you directly through PayPal. You can also use this interface to sell tangible goods on your Web site. This lets artists sell related products, for instance a t-shirt or mouse pad, that features your images and so on, on your site alongside the digital products you have for sale.
Pricing for DigitalGoodsDelivery.com starts at $9.95 per month. This provides all features:unlimited sales volume, automatic file delivery, customizable buyer interface, and custom e-mails with 50-MB of file storage. Additional plans for more storage are available (see DigitalGoodsDelivery.com pricing here).
E-Junkie: A Digital & Tangible Goods Cart
E-junkie is a shopping cart and digital delivery system for publishers who have their own Web site and are looking for a way to include "buy now" buttons to sell downloads. Using E-junkie, you can store your files on their servers, and buyers of your work are sent an e-mail (customized by you) to download the product after a successful purchase. Cart buttons are available for a number of payment systems including PayPal, Google Checkout and Authorize. Net. E-junkie can also be used to sell tangible products on your site.
For tangible products, E-junkie lets you include details such as shipping and packaging, sales tax, color and size options, and more. E-Junkie pricing starts at $5 per month. This account gives you the ability to list up to 10 products within a 50-MB space limit (see E-Junkie pricing here).
PayLoadz: Sell Anything that Can be Downloaded
PayLoadz is a fully-featured digital goods platform that lets you sell just about any type of digital product. It takes care of hosting and delivering the files to buyers, and other features such as product key registrations for those selling software. Sellers can define the file format, delivery format, and price for uploaded items. PayLoadz also lets you conduct transactions on your own site. The selling code you need for your own site is automatically generated for you, or you can upload digital items and sell from a PayLoadz store, or use their digital content delivery system for purchases on different online auction sites.
When you use PayLoadz, the fee charged when you sell an item is the fee charged by PayPal for receiving payment. The free PayLoadz account lets you use up to 1GB of file storage and no fees are paid to PayLoadz unless your total sales for a 30-day period exceeds $100. Once you sell $100 worth of digital goods, you will need to upgrade to a paying account, which starts at $15 per month for up to $250 transactions (see PayLoadz pricing here). PayLoadz also offers an affiliate program via an ad syndication code that features specific products for sale at PayLoadz.
Tradebit: Best for Music, Photos, eBooks, Software
Tradebit is an online marketplace for self-publishers to upload and sell their music, audio files, photos, software and eBooks. With a Tradebit eShop you can upload files (up to 2-GB in size), and edit specific details including thumbnail views, price, description, tags, and so on.
After you finish with the details, you can link the digital product up to PayPal, Google checkout, or Clickbank and put the purchase code on your own Web space, with a 25-percent commission going to TradeBit. If you choose the Tradebit Publisher's account your product gets listed in Tradebit directories but your payout is via PayPal after you earn $20. Tradebit also offers an affiliate program and allows those selling digital goods on Tradebit to promote them with their ID to get additional sale commissions.
Zipidee: Sell your Videos, Music & eBooks
Online 'Digi-Good' marketplace, Zipidee provides artists and sellers with a storefront to market and sell their original digital goods. Because it is a hosted service, artists who currently do not have their own Web site to sell from can use Zipidee stores. Once you have uploaded your video (avi, mpeg, mp4, wmv, mov, flv), music (mp3, wma) or eBook (pdf) files, you'll want to categorize the content for search purposes and set your rental or purchase price. You can also customize your Zipidee profile to tell prospective digi-buyers about yourself and your digital work. It is pretty effortless to get your work listed on Zipidee.
After you set up your own store, Zipidee takes care of the transactions, and once you earn $50 you will receive a PayPal, ACH (Automated Clearing House), or check payment. Zipidee subtracts any processing fees (credit card or PayPal transaction fees) then collects a 20-percent share of the profits from each transaction. Zipidee also offers an affiliate program where you can earn 15 percent of each completed transaction through your site. Artists with a Zipidee store do earn affiliate revenues on their own content.
Vangie Beal is a seasoned online marketplace seller, frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com and avid online bargain hunter. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com.
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