Merchant Solutions lets you offer downloadable goods (such as ebooks or software) for sale in your store. This is a system for selling downloadable items and charging for the download.
Making a downloadable good
- Sign in to your My Services page.
- Click the Store link.
- Go to Store Editor.
- Create your item page.
- On the item's Edit screen, go to the Download area and click the Upload button.
- On the File Upload page:
- Click the Browse button to locate the file on your computer.
- Enter the file name - including the file extension (for example: filename.pdf or filename.mp3). This will become the default file name when the customer downloads the item.
- Click the Send button.
- Click the Update button.
- Publish when ready.
Ordering a Downloadable Good
If your customer has ordered a downloadable item, a Download button will be displayed on the Order Confirmation page. The customer just has to click this button to begin downloading the item.
Alternatively, they can come back to the Order Status page later (even from a different computer) and download the item. Your customers can always get to their Order Status page using the URL from the Order Confirmation email.
Note: There is no time limit within which a buyer must download a downloadable good they have purchased. Buyers can always get to the download link from the Order Status page, but they will be required to enter the credit card number (or PayPal ID) used in the order for identification. There is also no means to ensure the file can only be downloaded once.
Note for merchants using PayPal Checkout as payment processor:
If you want to sell a downloadable item and you use only PayPal Checkout, buyers will be required to use or create a PayPal account. Checking out through PayPal Checkout as a guest will not be available. Learn more.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Risk Tools work with selling Downloadable goods?
If you have enabled Risk Tools for your site and you sell downloadable goods, please be aware that Risk Tools will not prevent a person who is committing fraud from downloading the product.
When selling downloadable goods, the buyer sees a link to access the download page on the Order Confirmation page after submitting the order. Risk Tools rules are applied upon order submission but before the merchant fulfills the order in the case of physical goods. With downloadable goods, fulfillment happens immediately (access to the download link) and thus as a merchant you are informed of a potentially fraudulent order only after access to the downloadable good has been granted.
Should I use downloadable goods for free downloadable items?
If you're offering free downloadable items, you don't need to follow these instructions. Just upload your file to the Store Files (or to your File Manager in the Web Hosting portion of your account) and create a link to it using HTML or the Link button.
Is there a size limit for downloadable files?
Yes. Our system currently accepts files no larger than 14MB, but some browsers may impose a lower limit. Remember, very large files may be difficult or impossible for your users to download if they're on a slow internet connection. Try to keep your downloadable files as small as possible by zipping them with a zip file utility such as WinZip or WinRAR.