Hi guys,

 

Im currently working with a photographer who wishes to have one of his slideshows (mp4 format I think) uploaded to their site for visitors to download. However, the photographer wants to sell the slideshow...so the visitors will have to pay a small fee to download it.

 

How can I do this?

 

The photographer wants to preferably receive payments through Paypal, and I know its possible to embed Paypal into your site but how would you then give access to the visitor to download the file once they have paid?

 

Are there any security issues I should know before doing this?

 

Thanks

Hey Ashley,

 

You can take PayPal payments over your website relatively easily. If you just set up the PayPal account, create the item to sell within PayPal, and then copy the Buy button code onto your website, then that will allow you to take the payment.

 

As for having a downloadable product, that can be achieved in a few different ways. I think the easiest way would be for you to create a hidden page on the website with a direct download link to the slideshow. Then (somehow) when the buyer completes the purchase, they are shown/emailed the link to the hidden download page.

 

I'm not sure if you can configure PayPal to send a custom confirmation email (which would include the link), or whether you can look at a Call-Back URL (the URL the buyer is sent to after completing checkout with PayPal).

 

I think that would be the easiest way for you. Good luck.

 

Darren

Wow, thanks alot for that. It actually sounds relatively simple, im going to look up that Call-Back URL because that would be exactly the kind of way i'd like it to work.

Glad I could help. Let us know how you get on with it!

 

Darren

Hello again

 

Thanks for all that info, was very helpful when setting everything up.

 

Ran into a slight problem which im new to, basically the video file that the users will be buying and downloading is quite a large size...and im worried about bandwidth issues (even though my hosting give me unlimited).

 

Is there any particular ways to deal with this when allowing users to download content from your website? I guess there must be a way seeing as other sites allow large downloads.

In theory, if you have Unlimited bandwidth, then file size shouldn't be a problem. Most hosts have what's called a Fair Usage Policy which means you can't abuse the system - like hundreds of gigabytes per day perhaps, which would spoil it for the other customers on their bandwidth pipes. However I'm sure you probably won't be exceeding that, so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

As for users, I'm sure they will realise they've bought a large file size movie so will be happy with the long download.

 

Darren