Sell digital downloads

What it is

A digital download is a product that is a file, not a thing in a box. An ebook, a PDF pattern, a set of presets, a printable, a piece of music. You upload the files once. When someone pays, SitesPlaced creates a private download link for them, emails it, and shows it on the thank-you screen so they have their files before they close the tab. You can sell downloads alongside physical products in the same catalogue.

Mark a product as a download

1. 1Open Products in your store dashboard and either add a product or open an existing one.
2. 2At the top of Product info, under What are you selling?, choose A digital download. The other choice is A physical product.
3. 3Fill in the name, price, description and photos as usual. The photos are still what the product card shows.
4. 4Press Save product, then re-open the product. Files can only attach to a product that exists, so until you save, the panel says *Save the product first*. After saving, a card called Files buyers download appears.

Switching a product to a download also clears its stock and its options. A file sells to any number of people, so there is nothing to count down and nothing to size.

Upload the files

1. 1In Files buyers download, press Add file and pick the file from your computer. A progress bar shows the upload percentage.
2. 2Press Add another file for each extra file. A product can carry several: a PDF plus the source file, or a zip per size.
3. 3To remove one, press the bin icon on its row. That deletes it for good, including for buyers who have not downloaded it yet.

• Up to 2 GB per file. Anything larger is refused before the upload starts.
• Files are stored privately. There is no public address for them. The only way to reach one is through a buyer's link, and that link points at a temporary address that stops working about five minutes after it is created.
• Uploads count towards your store's storage allowance: 500 MB on the free plan, 2 GB on Starter, 5 GB on Growth. If an upload would take you over, it is refused with a message naming your limit.

Downloads allowed and link expiry

Under the file list are two boxes that decide how long a buyer's link lives.

• Downloads allowed is how many times each file may be fetched. The default is 5, and you can set anything from 1 to 100. It is meant to cover a lost phone or a failed download, not to be shared around.
• Link expires after is the number of days from purchase. The default is 30, and you can set anything from 1 to 365.

Both values are copied onto the buyer's pass at the moment they pay. Editing them later changes what future buyers get and leaves passes already sold exactly as they were. If a product has several files, the allowance is applied as one shared pool, sized as your limit multiplied by the number of files. Five downloads on a three-file product means fifteen fetches in total, and a buyer who re-downloads one file repeatedly can spend the pool early.

What the buyer gets

• On your storefront, a download carries an Instant download mark on its product card. You do not add it, and it disappears on its own if the product stops being a download.
• In the cart, the quantity for a download is fixed at 1. There is nothing to buy twice.
• At checkout, a cart of downloads only asks for a name and an email address. No address, no phone number, no postal code. The email is required, because it is how the files arrive.
• As soon as the payment is confirmed, they get an email titled *Your files from [your store] are ready*, with a button per product and a line saying how many downloads and until when.
• The same links appear on the order-placed screen, so they do not have to wait for the email.
• Their link opens a plain page listing every file with its size and a Download button. Under the list it repeats the allowance and the expiry date.

Shipping, stock and couriers

• A cart of downloads only carries no delivery charge, whatever your shipping settings say, and the free-shipping bar is hidden. A mixed cart pays the normal charge, because the physical half still travels.
• Downloads are not counted against stock. The products list shows the word *Download* where the stock number would be.
• A download-only order never goes to a courier. Fulfilment stops before any shipping partner is contacted.

Resend or disable a link

Open the order in the Orders tab. Orders with a download on them show a Downloads card with one row per digital product: the status (*Active*, *Expired* or *Disabled*), how many downloads have been used out of the allowance, how many files, the expiry date, when the email went out, and when it was last downloaded.

• Send fresh links emails the buyer a brand new link. It replaces the old one rather than adding to it: the count resets to zero, the expiry restarts from today, and the previous link stops working immediately. Use it when a buyer says the link expired or they never got the email.
• Disable kills a link on the spot. The buyer's page then says the seller disabled it. Use it for a refund, a chargeback, or a link that is clearly being passed around. A later resend brings the same pass back to life with a new link.

Good to know

• Files are delivered as you uploaded them. There is no watermarking, no per-buyer stamping and no licence key.
• If a product has no files attached yet, the buyer's page says so and tells them to contact you. Their purchase is still recorded, so attach the files and press Send fresh links.
• Deleting a file removes it from every link, including ones already sold. Replace before you delete.