| Selling Digital Content: Companies | |
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| Blogs as Stores: A Comprehensive Overview | | http://www.typepadhacks.org/2007/08/blogs-as-stores.html | | "Blogs as Stores: A Comprehensive Overview of E-Commerce Solutions for Bloggers," from Typepadhacks. Discusses integrating blogs and stores, blog commerce, selling niche products, the ideal blog store (Shane Logic); current TypePad solutions including direct payment options, hosted storefronts, affiliate stores, social shopping widgets and hacking cash; the pros and cons of using PayPay, Google Checkout, Amazon Flexible Payments Service (Amazon FPS), E-junkie, FatFreeCart, RightCart, PayLoadz and TypePad Tip Jar; pros and cons of hosted storefront solutions companies such as Esty, PrestoGifto, eSnipe, Cafepress, Zazzle, Lulu, blurb, ProStores and 1shoppingcart; pros and cons of affiliate stores including Amazon aStore, PopShops, Bravise and Zlio; and social shopping widgets including ThisNext, Wists, Stylehive, StyleFeeder and Kaboodle. | | |
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| Content Reserve | | http://contentreserve.com | | Content Reserve is a secure site where member publishers can upload and sell their eBooks, electronic publications, digital audio, music, video and other digital content. Services include storage of approved materials, digital rights management (DRM), pricing, monitoring downloads, and access to a network of buyers and sellers. | | |
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| Selling Professional Services Online | | http://www.bitwine.com/ | | BitWine provides advisors/experts (e.g., tutors, programmers, etc.) to people seeking advice or professional help. They recently partnered with Skype who provides Internet phone services (the system also works on land lines). Advisors set their fees (price per minute), payment method, how and when they can be contacted (time of day, their time zone, country), language(s) they speak and a description of the service they are offering. A client contacts a provider and they determine if the service can be delivered; if they agree, the provider enters a start charge on his computer and the client selects a mode of payment (e.g., PayPal account). | | |
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| Payment and Transaction Management | | http://www.authorize.net/ | | Authorize.net manages payment transactions for their customers (including websites, retail stores, mail order/telephone order (MOTO) and mobile devices) using credit cards and electronic check transactions. Their fee-based services include customer support, security, a verified merchant seal for web clients, automated recurring billing, fraud detection, a merchant toolbox, shopping carts, auctions, kiosks, certified developers and hosting partners. | | |
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| Payment Service | | http://www.e-junkie.com/ | | E-Junkie is a monthly subscription service that provides shopping carts and “buy now” buttons for the selling of downloads and tangible goods from a website, eBay, MySpace, Google Base and CraigsList. Fees are based on the number of products you are selling, and the amount of hosting space you need (from 50-999 MB). They automate and secure digital delivery of files and code and can automate shipping calculations and inventory management of tangible goods. Their shopping cart handles sales tax, VAT, packaging and shipping calculations. They also offer multiple currency support. | | |
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| Introduction: 2006 EContent 100 | | http://www.econtentmag.com/articles/articlereader.aspx?articleid=18639 | | "Introduction: 2006 EContent 100," by Michelle Manafy. This annual list is comprised of the companies that matter most in the digital content industry. The categories include content commerce, content security, blogging, classification and taxonomy, collaboration, content creation, production and digital publishing, content delivery, content management, fee-based information services, intranets and portals, mobile content, search engines and technologies, and podcasting. | | |
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| Self Publishing | | http://www.lulu.com/help/index.php?fsymbol=download_faq | | Lulu.com provides free web publishing tools for producing and selling eBooks, music, photos and movies. There is no set up fee or minimum order requirements, Lulu handles the PDF conversion, and sales are made through Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Noble and on the Lulu site. Lulu handles all transactions, order tracking and shipping. Additional services (fee-based) include editing, proofreading, formatting, cover design, marketing and translations. | | |
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