

Ask YC: Best way to sell downloadable software? - pg

My friend works for a company that wants to sell a piece of downloadable software.  They've talked to Digital River but say they aren't very responsive.  Anyone know what the best options are?  Thanks.
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cperciva
What platform does this software run on? There's a far larger ecosystem on
Windows than on OS X or freenixes.

What sort of software is this? Mass-market software selling for $5 needs a
completely different solution from special-purpose software selling for $5000.

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nickb
What's the price point of the software? A buddy of mine sells a pretty well
known app for under $100 and he uses <http://www.esellerate.net/> He mentioned
that Kagi is also an option: <https://www.kagi.com/kagisolutions/index.php>

If the software is over $150 or so, it's probably better to setup your own
payment system down the line.

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ericb
swreg.com and regnow.com are two options. I rolled my own and got a merchant
services account. I think I remember seeing good things about swreg. Their
rates are certainly lower.

If you are trying to lock down a shareware program, armadillo is the best.

The ASP is worth joining to get the best info if they're doing a lot of this:
<http://www.asp-shareware.org/>

~~~
bd
Shareware selling friend (ASP member) recommended:

<http://www.shareit.com> <http://plimus.com>

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tom_rath
We use Plimus and are very happy with them.

I would recommend you avoid SWREG and other Digital River properties. Our
experience with DR was very unpleasant and a quick Google search on "swreg
scam" and a review of this summary:
[http://successfulsoftware.net/2007/07/04/swreg-customers-
bew...](http://successfulsoftware.net/2007/07/04/swreg-customers-beware/)
should tell you why.

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bprater
What functionality (pieces of the puzzle) does he not want to deal with? In
general, selling software boils down to being able to take money (credit
cards) and provide the software (via a secret URL or a serial code).

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tlrobinson
Wil Shipley just launched Golden%Braeburn for OS X apps, which looks pretty
nice (same system used in Delicious Library):

<http://golden-braeburn.com/>

~~~
warwick
5% of your sales for what it offers? Remember, they're not hosting your
payment stuff, or processing credit cards, or anything like that.

Golden%Braeburn strikes me as something that would be great, but I'd really
only want to pay for it once.

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hermitcrab
Anything other than Digital River.

e-junkie + paypal and/or GoogleCheckout is one non DR option:
[http://successfulsoftware.net/2007/07/23/cost-effective-
soft...](http://successfulsoftware.net/2007/07/23/cost-effective-software-
registration-with-ejunkie/)

Plimus, Avangate and Fastspring are others.

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duane
The best way to do it is to make software that is so good people will want to
buy it. It's really the most effective piracy solution.

Also, a smart programmer can provide a better solution that anything digital
river can offer.

~~~
Maro
Just because a piece of software is really good doesn't mean ppl. will _want_
to pay money for it. It's not an effectice piracy solution.

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jamesbritt
How do people handle unlocking features that should not be available unless a
license has been bought?

