Ecwid enables you to sell digital or virtual products like software, audio and video files (mp3s), e-books, graphics, etc. that are delivered to customers by download.
How E-Goods work
Customers can add digital products to their carts and go to checkout in the same manner as if it were ordinary products. After the order, containing such a product, has been processed, Ecwid sends an email notification with the download link to the customer. Also the customer can download the product from the order details.
Ecwid will send a notification with the download link only when the order gets Accepted or Chargeable payment status.
This feature is available for all Ecwid users.
How to add a such product
If you want to add a digital product, perform these steps:
- Log in to your Ecwid control panel and go to the "Catalog" page.
- Click any product to edit it or create a new one.
- Open the “Files” tab.
- Upload the files you want to sell.
These files will be available for customer only after he/she purchased this product.
Please note, that each file cannot exceed 100Mb. However you can upload more than one file per product.
Protecting download links
In order to prevent download link (and therefor a file) from sharing, you can limit the link lifetime and number of downloads customer can make. You can set these limits on the "System Setting → Store Profile→ E-goods" page. There are two options available:
- Link lifetime, in hours
- Number of downloads
You can set either both options at the same time or any of them. If the option value is empty, the corresponding limit won’t be applied.
Examples:
- "link is available for 24 hours only, unlimited number of downloads"
- "link is available without any time limits, however customer can download it 5 times only"
- "link is available for 48 hours and customer can download it 3 times only"
When needed, the store administrator can manually regenerate any download link or expire it on the "Order details" page of the necessary order. After regeneration a new link will be generated and sent to the customer, so he/she will be able to download the file again. After forced expiration, the link will become unavailable for a customer immediately.
The “Link lifetime” and “Number of downloads” features are available for paid users only. Free users` download links always have unlimited lifetime and number of downloads.
FAQ
How can I customize the email with download links?
You should modify the “Egoods download” notification on the "System Settings→ Mail→ Customer notifications" page.
More details are available in this article: Mail Notifications
How can I upload files which customers can download without actual purchase?
In this case you shouldn’t use the E-goods feature and should add links to these files to your products` descriptions. More details are available here: How can I add a file to a product, so my customers can download it
Does Ecwid support download resuming?
Yes, Ecwid supports resuming of download. However it works only if you don't limit number of downloads (i.e. Ecwid doesn't need to track them).
E.g.
You don't limit number of downloads:
- customer starts downloading your file
- then customer pauses the download
- after he/she resumes it, his/her browser will not download the whole file again, only the necessary parts will be downloaded
If you limit the number of downloads:
- customer starts downloading your file
- then customer pauses the download
- after he/she resumes it, his/her browser will start downloading the whole file again.
