ClickBankSuccessForum.com

[dkbradley]

When you sell an ebook how do you protect the download page so that its not visited by people who did not pay for the book? So that the URL isn't given to other people by someone who has purchased your product? Does CB offer some way of preventing this?

Thanks,
Doug

[samstephens]

Hi Doug,

ClickBank offers some code that you can use to protect your download page - you do need to know some programming to be able to use it though. The code doesn't protect download links though.

I've developed a program called DLGuard ( www.dlguard.com ) that will protect your download pages and your download links while at the same time building a customer mailing list.

It's even endorsed by Harvey, the owner of this forum

It also works with other payment systems too if you decide to use other systems as well in the future.

It makes security very easy.

You can see it here: www.dlguard.com

cheers
Sam
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Clickbank and other Payment Processor news: www.guardhq.com

Secure and automate your Clickbank payments and downloads: www.dlguard.com
- Recommended and used by Harvey Segal

[jos007]

IMHO, there is no need to protect your download page. Why? 3 reasons:

1, If it's not popular, noone is going to pirate it.
2, If it's popular, it will get pirated sooner or later no matter what you do
3, Even if you protect your download pages, unless the product is an executable which checks your servers, people can simply up it online or send it to their friends...

One of my friends purchased e-book pro to protect his e-book, it was $200 (I think) plus a lot of hassle for him (approving registrations every day by hand).

The result?

Within half a year, his whole book was cracked and uploaded on DC++.

There is no perfect protection!

And the bottom line is:
Don't spend a single dime on protecting your product, simply hide your download page like:
www.yourdomain.com/fglhdlgkjdfglkdjglkdfgd/download4395u3o5.htm
And spend the money you spared for advertising!

Good luck:
Joseph

[_jc]

Let's see... there is no perfect burgler alarm, so i guess i'll just leave all my doors and windows open. There is no perfect parachute, so i guess the next time i do aerobatics, i won't bother to wear one.. and so on.

If "pretty good protection" is inexpensive, why not buy it? Maybe the pirates will be too busy with all the merchants who decided not to bother, and left themselves wide open, to spend time on your product?

In short, some protection is better than none - if the cost is resonable.

Disguising your folder like that is always a good idea.

I thought about serious DRM for my PDF e-book, but couldn't find a solution that worked on Mac and Windows and didn't cost a mint.

Plus almost all of them had a very negative impact on the customer experience. I hope someday there will be a really good DRM solution.
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_jc
ArtHeadStart.com
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[samstephens]

JC's right, just because protection isn't perfect and can be hacked, it doesn't mean you should just not protect anything.

I was reading an article by a guy who was just surfing around on the internet and found a cool article to read. After reading through it a bit, he realised that it was actually an ebook that was being sold for a lot of money (can't remember the exact amount).

Basically Google had spidered the PDF document and it was a free read for anyone. The majority of the people reading this wouldn't have realised that they were "stealing".

Making your folder a hard to guess folder name is a good idea, but it's not protection. All it takes is for one person to buy it and then post your download URL on a forum. I've had a few people tell me this has happened to them before they bought DLGuard.

That's why you need to have unique download links for each of your customers that will expire.

Sure, you can't protect against the 1% that are going to steal your product, but you sure can protect against the 99%.

Wasted money? How much does your product cost? Usually if it protects only 1 or 2 thefts then its already paid for itself.


It's amazing how many people would install a deadlock on the front door of their shop (knowing full well that someone could smash a window and get in anyway) but when they bring their shop online they think security isn't nessessary.

I can't understand it.

Sam
_________________
Clickbank and other Payment Processor news: www.guardhq.com

Secure and automate your Clickbank payments and downloads: www.dlguard.com
- Recommended and used by Harvey Segal

[MilesBaker]

I agree, with all the posts in a way. Get the protection you can afford, but you don't have to go overboard. Even a simple password for the download area or product itself can be a good deterrent from distribution.

I used to have a product and the only protection was that once a week I moved the download area to a different place on my server. Not very good protection, yet I still made $1000's of dollars from it. Once I could afford to, I upgraded to better protection, but by then my product was already out there on P2P sites and such. I still made $1000's.

I think people tend to focus on the worry of protecting their product when they should be focusing on making more sales. Start selling enough of your product and then let that become your concern. Get the protection you can afford as your business grows. And KEEP IT SIMPLE.

I once found myself getting way too caught up in setting up the ultimate protection before my site was even launched. It ended up costing me a few $1000 and a lot of time. In the end I just went with something else entirely that was much more basic.
_________________
Miles Baker
http://www.clickscoop.com

[samstephens]

I agree with you Miles when you say that some people get caught up way too much with protecting their product rather than promoting it.

With an investment like DLGuard though, it's not just about protection - it also saves you a lot of time.

Adding a new product and getting it ready for distribution can be done in just minutes.

Then on the backend, it saves all your customer data for you, or can automatically inject your customers contact info into your mailing list provider.

So if you decide on a good download management system, then sure it'll protect your products from theft, but just as importantly it will speed up new product launches and help automate your back end.

Sure, everything can be done manually, but who has the time to waste?

cheers
Sam
_________________
Clickbank and other Payment Processor news: www.guardhq.com

Secure and automate your Clickbank payments and downloads: www.dlguard.com
- Recommended and used by Harvey Segal

[kpovo]

[samstephens]

Posting a link to someones download file is a lot more probable than posting the actual file on their website for download.

Why?

When someone posts a download link on a forum, it's relatively anonymous (I know you can track IP's but you can also spoof them).

When someone posts a file for download on their own website, that will make you lose your web host, your ISP may shut you down, and you will be much more prone to legal action.

It's just a lot more dangerous.

And sharing the PDF file with their friends? Even if they had 10 friends that would be actually interested in reading the PDF, that's still a LOT less than the thousands that may download it off a public forum.

Not protecting your product is a really bad idea. And when the protection also makes life faster for you and helps automate the backend? You'd be mad not to.

cheers
Sam
_________________
Clickbank and other Payment Processor news: www.guardhq.com

Secure and automate your Clickbank payments and downloads: www.dlguard.com
- Recommended and used by Harvey Segal

[jos007]

Everybody has good points.

The bottom line is:
Protect your product if it makes you sleep better.

I've heard that in the United States, some people sleep with a shotgun under their pillow.

On the north side of the border in Canada, they leave their doors open.

The difference? 10 kilometers

If it makes you feel better, buy a good protection tool.
If you are as greedy as me, do it yourself instead

Amen.

[MilesBaker]

[DW]

Cost wise, buy it and rest a little easier.

Nothing of course is thief-proof. If they want it bad enough to waste their time, they’ll get it. But, 99% of everyone else will not even try with some protection in place.

Which reminds me. Anyone remember Weblock?

Somehow I had found my way onto their list and started receiving emails about this software when it came out.

I sent the usual remove. After the third one in a day I visited the site. It bragged about how it was impossible to unlock.

Being pissed off for receiving three emails in one day... It took me all of five minutes to unlock the simple Java code and email the copy of the whole site asking for my prize. Then asked if I could exchange any prize I would be receiving for a simple “remove me from your list”.

[dkbradley]

Great responses, suggestion, ideas. Thank you all for your help and valuable time.

[Compu]

Jeez, I definately am going to purchase a copy of DLGuard. Although I change my download directory every two days... still, my products are been downloaded freely once in a while. I guess some customers would give away the download link to their friends or whowever.

I received a strange email on Saturday morning, someone told me they weren't satisfied my products so would like a refund, I said "sure" and asked for her receipt number, she said she couldn't find it but instead she gave me a copy of my download page!

I said "ok ok no problem", and then ask her to give me her first name, last name, zip code and please send the refund request via the email address she used when she placed the order. I said once I get all the information, I would proceed with the refund. However, no reply with the info I requested.

How was I supposed to issue her a refund without locating her purchase record? lol She said she bought my products via paypal so I guessed she expected me to send her a "refund" via paypal.

Anyways, something similar happened a few weeks ago too. Someone sent me an email and told me she lost the ebooks she bought from me and asked me to send the download link to her again. I said "sure, please provide me with your receipt number". She then said "This is rubbish, give me the download link now." I said "if you don't have the receipt number, please provide me with your first name, last name, postal code and country of residence, and please send your request via the email you used when you made the purchase." Again, no reply with the info requested.

What do you make of this?

[harry Potter junior]

Anybody on this planet ever heard of the saying

"Thou shalt NOT STEAL"?

What if the tablets of stone really were/are real?

Poor lost souls
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