how to sell instantly downloadable pdf reports online?

[newme]

Hello,

I have been looking at ways of improving my company's cash flow and have opted for online selling of market analysis reports in pdf format.

I've been in touch with aggregator sites who've agreed to market and sell my reports but for a hefty commission fee (50% of the sale value!).
The payment terms are not great either with payment to be made to our company minus the commission between 45-90 days from the date of purchase of my reports on their website.

This is in no way improving my cashflow in the short term!

That's why we've decided to market and sell our reports online ourselves through our own website as well as using the aggregator websites.

But I don't want to spend more money modifying our website to create an online shopping section.

So I need a solution that:
1. enables us to sell instantly downloadable pdf files from either our website (through a Buy it now button) or a third party website
2. can place restrictions on number of downloads, who is allowed to download, file security, etc.
3. allows buyers to download their chosen report(s) immediately BUT only once they have successfully paid for their products online
4. gives buyers a choice of secure payment options (e.g. through Paypal,major credit cards such as Visa or Mastercard, etc.). it's very important that payment is NOT available only through Paypal
5. calculates and adds VAT
6. allows the use of discount codes/coupons for special offers campaigns
7. if possible comes with a merchant account and payment gateway included
8. collects data on the type of reports bought/downloaded, basket value, buyers' details (company name, job title, email address and tel.) for lead generation and future marketing campaigns.
9. pays merchants quickly (ideally within 15 days of the actual online transaction as opposed to 30-90 days)
10. using a cart, there mustn't be a limit on the size of files uploaded to their server.

By selling our reports online ourselves I expect we could generate an extra £100K-£150k per year through online sales. But that means also marketing our reports ourselves.

What do you recommend for selling our reports online and for marketing them?

Your help would be greatly appreciated as I'd like to start selling online by late November - early December.

Thank you!

Em

 

[webgeek]

I take it that e-junkie and clickbank didn't fit this, for some reason?

 

[newme]

Thanks for the suggestion. The thing is I don't want the money from the sales to be actually paid to Paypal. I'd rather it was sent to our own account directly.

 

[webgeek]

Then any one of a gazillion ecommerce platforms with digital downloads and a payment gateway (minus paypal) sounds like what you're aiming for... unless I'm missing something obvious.

 

[newme]

I'm not sure I understand. I'm new to this, sorry. What do you recommend?

I'd like to maintain some control of the money paid by the buyers without whoever processes the transactions keeping hold of that money for weeks on end, if not months. Increasingly longer payment terms (of 60 to 90 days) for ad hoc projects is the main reason we want to sell off-the-shelf reports online: as soon as the customer pays they get the report without any delay and hopefully we receive the money in our account within a few days of the transaction or a couple of weeks max.

I don't mind transaction charges or monthly charges as it can't be any worse than the 50% cut the aggregators want...

What i don't want is for a third party to hold on to the money for ages or transfer the money to us on a monthly or, even worse, quarterly basis.

I'm under the impression that with Paypal, we wouldn't solve the settlement delay issues. or maybe i'm wrong and should spend more time on paypal's website.

I checked but couldn't find any information about payment terms and settlement delays.

Em

 

[webgeek]

I'd suggest SagePay and NoChex as possible options, if the mainstream providers aren't the answer to your needs.

 

[newme]

thanks. i'll look into it.

 

[Strontium Dog]

What is the price point for each report? How is it compiled if it is despatched instantly?

What for does your website take currently, and would a separate site fit the bill?

I think the bit you havent explained is why you cant use a normal payment gateway/merchant account.

 

[BobbyBoy]

Hi EM - I'm pretty sure that Romancart does all this.

They have their own payment gateway which included paypal, and they also allow coupons etc.

You'd own and manage the shop yourself, so no commission to pay to others.

They have UK based phone and email support which is pretty decent too

Hope this helps

Bobby

 

[Daz]

You can withdraw money from PayPal instantly, just takes a few days to reach your bank.

https://www.paypal.com/webapps/helpcenter/article/?articleID=94037&m=SRE

If a regular amount of money collects in your PayPal you can even setup a continuous automated withdrawal to your bank account.

Customers can also pay by card via PayPal without an account.

 

[newme]

What is the price point for each report? How is it compiled if it is despatched instantly?

What for does your website take currently, and would a separate site fit the bill?

I think the bit you havent explained is why you cant use a normal payment gateway/merchant account.

A typical downloadable pdf report will cost around £2000 + VAT for a single user licence (which is quite a reasonable price in the industry) and about £7000 for a multiple user licence.

Our website is a typical business website with information about us, what we do, the team, clients' feedback, contact details and news page with articles about topics that should be of interest to our clients and prospects. There are about 12 pages in total.

Because of the news/ resources page on our website I think it would be better for us to sell our reports from our website to tie in more neatly with the topics covered in the articles, our services and for branding. We are hoping to sell additional services on the back of the off-the-shelf reports.

We could use a normal payment gateway or merchant account. I was just hoping that we could find an all-in-one solution with shopping cart + payment processing. But it doesn't seem to be that simple.

I've found a shopping cart solution called DPD (Digital Product Delivery), which I think would fit the bill in terms of easy integration and delivery, reporting and tracking. The only thing is that it doesn't process payments so I still have to need a payment gateway/merchant account.

Sagepay is the likely winner because according to their website DPD integrates easily with Sagepay. But in the end the most important to me is that whenever card payments are made they are quickly credited into our company's bank account.

I'm sick and tired of clients extending payment times as a matter of policy or simply moving on to the next vendor. I just don't want to (and more crucially can't afford to) wait months for payment, like what has been happening this year.

I need to improve our cash flow so the main criterion in choosing a payment gateway and merchant account will be how quickly they credit the payments into our account.

Em

 

[Sparx]

Hi Em,

If you obtain a standard internet merchant account from one of the banks or through a reseller, i.e. Cardsave, PaymentSense, Barclaycard, HSBC, Streamline, etc. Then payments will typically clear into your bank account within 2-5 working days maximum.

I would then suggest using SagePay as the gateway, so your reports can be easily integrated which you already confirmed DPD have already explained.

Essentially, you need to obtain a SagePay account for their Gateway only. Then get some quotes from banks/resellers as stated above for a merchant account only. You do not want the whole package from the banks, just the merchant account. Unless their gateway can integrate with DPD if that is who you choose to use.

Hope that helps.

 

[newme]

Thanks Sparx. I think that's probably what I'll do then.

 

[newme]

Thanks to Webgeek, Daz, Sparx and everybody else for your advice.
I've been in touch with Paymentsense and am still waiting to hear back from Sagepay.
Getting a merchant account seems to be a bit of a palaver, though, and far from guaranteed.

I had another look on UKBF to see what ecommerce members' experience of Paypal was, especiallyu regarding settlement delays. It seems that's a lot more straightforward and quicker than I thought (paypal's website isn't very clear on the practical aspects of using them as a payment processor, all they do is ask you to sign up!).

Anyway, long story short, I've decided to go with DPD and Paypal Payments Standard for the time being.

Thanks again everybody for your input.

Em

 

[Sparx]

Brilliant, good luck.