Need help? Check out our Support site, then


WordPress.com Forums » Support

Offering PDFs for sale

  1. theknest
    Member

    I would like to offer PDFs for sale to download, but I can't figure out how. Specifically, these PDFs are knitting patterns. I have a merchant Acct with Paypal and have generated the code for a "buy now" button. I have a WordPress.com blog. I have created the PDFs... I have uploaded the PDFs to my wordpress media library. Now I just need to connect them all correctly. Ideally, I would like to set up a page where there is an image of the PDF with a "Buy Now" button under it. The user would click the button, enter pertinent information, and then at the end of the process, the PDF would download to their computer. Seems easy enough, but alas, I am lost. Please help!

    The blog I need help with is theknest.wordpress.com.

  2. timethief
    Member

    Please read these support documentation entries:
    types of blogs allowed and not allowed - http://wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/
    advertising - http://en.support.wordpress.com/advertising/

    If you are in any doubt, please contact support for clarification.
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/contact/

  3. timethief
    Member

    Re: paypal http://en.support.wordpress.com/paypal/

  4. theknest
    Member

    first off, thank you for responding so quickly! However, I am missing how your first two links relate to my situation.. perhaps I am missing something?
    Also, I have followed the wordpress support for paypal that you suggested. It was quite helpful, but I still have this gap in making this work.

  5. yarnaholic
    Member

    tt-if theknest is the designer/publisher of those patterns, there shouldn't be an issue, at least from what I understand from Staff comments in the forums.

    FWIW-there are other knitters/designers/publishers offering their patterns for sale, but darned if I know how they've set up shop. Maybe an etsy or ravelry link? (Try a WP.com tag search for patterns or ask in the WordPress.com forum on ravelry?)

  6. timethief
    Member

    @theknest and yarnaholic
    We volunteers have no more information that any other members have at wordpress.com. In the case of using a wordpress.com blog for any commercial endeavor I believe that contacting Staff and running your idea by them is part of the due dilligence that any business person would undertake.

    This what the support documentation states:

    If you are in any doubt, please contact support for clarification.
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/contact/

    As a small business person myself, I wouldn't rely on the interpretations of Volunteers. I would want to see in writing that what I propose to do is allowed, and I would go to Staff to get that in writing.

  7. theknest
    Member

    Yeah, this seems like something that should be relatively simple... and yet it's not so far. I am waiting to get authorization from Ravelry to become a designer. From there I should be able to offer the pattern through the ravelry store. I was just curious if someone knew some super-easy way to host it through my wordpress blog natively. I figured that it would be more seamless that way. Plus, it seems like most things work SO well through WP and that I was just missing some super-obvious link or function somewhere. Oh well. Thanks for the advice, though!

  8. timethief
    Member

    @theknest

    Yeah, this seems like something that should be relatively simple... and yet it's not so far.

    I'm sorry I could not point to a simple written answer for you that exactly fits what you propose. The support documentation links I provided above are the only ones that I can find that are relevant.

    This a peer support forum that Staff do monitor, but when business, time and money are involved, I wouldn't be content with the opinions of Volunteers based on their interpretations of documentation, and comments forum threads. That's why I suggested contacting Staff as opposed to wasting any time on seeking out the opinions and interpretations of Volunteers.

    Best wishes with your blogging and your business. :)

  9. yarnaholic
    Member

    @theknest, tt has given you excellent advice and, as she is one of the forums' foremost volunteers, you should follow it and contact Staff to ensure that everything is kosher from WordPress.com's end *before* you start selling patterns from your blog. http://en.support.wordpress.com/contact/

    @tt- 'nuf said. :)

  10. tellyworth
    Staff

    @theknest if you created the patterns yourself, and your blog is a real blog and not just an advertisement, you can link to a sales page/button/etc.

    If you didn't make the patterns yourself, or if you plan on using your blog as one big ad, please don't.

  11. timethief
    Member

    @tellyworth
    I'm thinking that perhaps adding Ravelry to the support documentation (types of blogs - Affiliate marketing blogs) along with Etsy may be a good idea.

  12. justjennifer
    Member

    Perhaps it's the late hour and I'm not understanding you correctly, tt, but how does linking to your Etsy shop now become an "affiliate marketing blog"? Ravelry ( http://ravelry.com ), for those who aren't familiar, is a huge community of fiber-related forums. Pattern designers can also sell their patterns there (or give them away for free). Again, I'm not seeing the affiliate marketing angle.

    http://en.wordpress.com/types-of-blogs/

    Affiliate marketing blogs: Blogs with the primary purpose of driving traffic to affiliate programs and get-rich-quick schemes (“Make six figures from home!!”, “20 easy steps to top profits!!”, etc). This includes multi-level marketing (MLM) blogs and pyramid schemes. To be clear, people writing their own original book, movie or game reviews and linking them to Amazon, or people linking to their own products on Etsy do NOT fall into this category. Here is a thread in the support forums that talks more about which affiliate links are OK or not OK.

  13. raincoaster
    Member

    For what it's worth, the Buy It Now code from Paypal does not now work, nor has it ever, with WordPress.COM. You have to use the email donation link, which is purely HTML and no javascript. There MAY Be workarounds that allow you to set prices, but it would take some farting around on Paypal to enable it to happen. I'm interested in doing an ebook available as PDF, so I am looking into it and will let you know if I find a way to make a link on WP.com to a specific price at Paypal.

Topic Closed

This topic has been closed to new replies.

About this Topic

Tags