Selling stuff over internet

InCreator · Mon 27/04/2009 09:02:29

How does it work?

Let's say, I'm about to sell some tutorials, 3d models or a simple puzzle game.

Point is, it is distributed digitally, so there's no shipping. And for a really little price, let's say, $5.

What do I need? How it's done usually?
I've heard about paypal... what would be other, proven ways to handle money? Like, standard setup for such little business?
And downloads? How should this work? E-mail? Some crazy java/php system with passwords to e-mail?

Being a citizen of one of the most corrupt hellholes on earth, getting that money out from paypal/whatever simple handling service would probably cost more additional fees to local bank than I would actually earn. How to handle this? And survive generally without getting ripped off too much?

Let's share some wisdom here, people.
Because as much as I learned from Google, selling "dr. XXX's internet business secrets" to dumb people is the damn business.

Akatosh · Mon 27/04/2009 09:40:37

I hear BMT Micro is a standard platform for this stuff. I don't know much about it, having only experienced it from customer side, but it seems to work well enough, so you may wanna check them out.

/EDIT: Well, as I said, I only experienced it from a customer's perspective. Sorry that didn't help.

InCreator · Mon 27/04/2009 09:45:43

Paying $1.25 from every $5?
No-no-no.

Plimus offers $0.75 fee from every $5 and yet, their page & offers look alot less cheap'ish.
But I'm still looking for more options.

thezombiecow · Mon 27/04/2009 10:52:56

Most indies use Plimus or BMT Micro to sell games, don't know about tutorials and stuff but technically the theory's the same.

There are endless boring debates over at indiegamer.com about which is best. I use Plimus and haven't really had a problem, although by the time they take their fees and paypal take their's, you're always going to be left looking at a slightly smaller pie.

When I started selling games, you couldn't do it through PayPal alone - they had some condition about not being used to sell digital goods. I notice people are doing that now, so maybe their T&Cs have changed...

Trent R · Mon 27/04/2009 18:37:57

AFAIK, PayPal is very trusted (for example, ebay scams) so you may have customer satisfaction straight from the name. But I've never sold anything, so I honestly don't know.

Quote from: thezombiecow on Mon 27/04/2009 10:52:56
When I started selling games, you couldn't do it through PayPal alone - they had some condition about not being used to sell digital goods. I notice people are doing that now, so maybe their T&Cs have changed...

Perhaps they are considered 'donations' with PayPal, so it is up to the 'seller' to end up sending the product.

~Trent

mdyoung40 · Sat 02/05/2009 14:59:23

what is this bullshit of submitting games that are porn links"lindsay lohan sex tapes"that crap should be banned,has nothing to do with games,bann those bastards.what do the rest of you think

RickJ · Sat 02/05/2009 15:28:59

InCreator you may want to consider using Google Checkout. Does anyone have any experience using it?

Buckethead · Sat 02/05/2009 17:03:18

Google checkout isn't used widely yet:

"Google Checkout is available to U.S. and U.K. merchants"

Trent R · Sat 02/05/2009 20:56:30

I've used Google Checkout, mostly because you get $10 off a purchase at Buy.com when you use GC for the first time.

~Trent
PS-mdyoung40, you posted in the wrong thread.

TerranRich · Sun 03/05/2009 00:06:00

PayPal is more than acceptable for selling digital goods. I don't know about how they were before, but I've purchased many digital merchandise via PayPal. Plus it's 100% secure, guaranteed, and uber-trusted. I don't see any reason to go anywhere else.

mdyoung40 · Sun 03/05/2009 13:55:21

yea Trent R, sorry about that,i was mad

InCreator · Mon 04/05/2009 07:07:23

Quote from: Buckethead on Sat 02/05/2009 17:03:18
Google checkout isn't used widely yet:

"Google Checkout is available to U.S. and U.K. merchants"

Does that mean US/UK ONLY?
In this case,

Still, what would be checklist to start selling something easily? I got the webpage/room, I got the digital merchandise. Now what?