Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#21

Post by evoltix » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:20 PM UTC

sahillavingia wrote: post #13

evoltix wrote: post #10

Seriously? I'm not sure I could take anyone seriously that tried to sell me a link of "value." Why not just share the link for free like people have been doing since the beginning of time? Don't get me wrong. You did a great job getting this rolled out over a weekend and it looks nice. I must need some enlightening because I really don't get it.

I think there are some links that do have value. For example, if I wanted to release a new web app to my Twitter followers but wanted some sort of barrier (without having to set it all up myself) - I would use Gumroad. If I had a bunch of files laying around my FTP that I never sold and would like to sell off for $5 a pop without the overhead of creating a store - I would use Gumroad. Does that make it any better in…

This makes more sense to me now and I see the potential. Perhaps you should put this example on your website to make it a little more clear.

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#22

Post by srik1234 » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:20 PM UTC

sahillavingia wrote: post #4

lux wrote: post #3

What are your fees? Didn't see that anywhere on the homepage.

Honestly, I'm not sure - hence them not being listed - but I think I'm going to go with 30%. And then for people making >$x a month dropping that in tiers. Thoughts?

My recommendation is to establish the %age markup based on file sizes, since that would be the basis for infrastructure costs such as storage and bandwidth.

30% is definitely high. I understand 30% has become a buzzword these days, but in reality it cuts a lot into merchants' margins. You may want to research on current digital goods market sites such as e-junkie, payloadz etc. Most seem to have a combination of monthly pricing and a "low" per transaction fee. Monthly fee certainly going to be a barrier for casual merchants.

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#23

Post by lux » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:21 PM UTC

sahillavingia wrote: post #4

lux wrote: post #3

What are your fees? Didn't see that anywhere on the homepage.

Honestly, I'm not sure - hence them not being listed - but I think I'm going to go with 30%. And then for people making >$x a month dropping that in tiers. Thoughts?

At 30%, unless my product is pure profit I'm going to look elsewhere. A Paypal (or WePay!) buy now button isn't that hard to create after all...

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#24

Post by fuscata » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:21 PM UTC

I get a broken lock icon, and "Connection partially encrypted" message. You need to make sure all externally linked resources on the page use SSL. Specifically: change http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Cabin:regular,bold to https://...

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#25

Post by evoltix » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:21 PM UTC

jeffclark wrote: post #14

evoltix wrote: post #10

Seriously? I'm not sure I could take anyone seriously that tried to sell me a link of "value." Why not just share the link for free like people have been doing since the beginning of time? Don't get me wrong. You did a great job getting this rolled out over a weekend and it looks nice. I must need some enlightening because I really don't get it.

Imagine you have a Fireworks iPhone mockup template. Instead of setting up a store somewhere to list your ONE item, you put the template up on your website and link to it through gumroad. Then, you give out the Gumroad link on Twitter: "Need a sweet Fireworks iPhone UI template? Buy it for a buck: gumroad.url" Your twatting friends click it, give you a dollar, get redirected to your website. They download the templat…

Good example. Makes more sense to me now. :)

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#26

Post by barredo » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:22 PM UTC

Is the redirect-link unique in any way? I mean.

If anyone buys the access to a a non-unique-link (ie: http://mybook.com/book.pdf), and then shares the redirected URL to a third person, this third person could load the link without paying, right?

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#27

Post by gavinballard » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:23 PM UTC

evoltix wrote: post #10

Seriously? I'm not sure I could take anyone seriously that tried to sell me a link of "value." Why not just share the link for free like people have been doing since the beginning of time? Don't get me wrong. You did a great job getting this rolled out over a weekend and it looks nice. I must need some enlightening because I really don't get it.

What's being sold isn't the "link" but ability to access what it points to - an image, a blog post, etc. I think it's a great idea with oodles of potential - a link-based mini-paywall :).

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#28

Post by sahillavingia » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:23 PM UTC

barredo wrote: post #26

Is the redirect-link unique in any way? I mean. If anyone buys the access to a a non-unique-link (ie: http://mybook.com/book.pdf ), and then shares the redirected URL to a third person, this third person could load the link without paying, right?

Yup. For now, there is no security built into the link once you get through that payment wall. I'm thinking about how to do that without hurting UX - though it's low on the priority list anyways.

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#29

Post by aw3c2 » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:24 PM UTC

jeffclark wrote: post #14

evoltix wrote: post #10

Seriously? I'm not sure I could take anyone seriously that tried to sell me a link of "value." Why not just share the link for free like people have been doing since the beginning of time? Don't get me wrong. You did a great job getting this rolled out over a weekend and it looks nice. I must need some enlightening because I really don't get it.

Imagine you have a Fireworks iPhone mockup template. Instead of setting up a store somewhere to list your ONE item, you put the template up on your website and link to it through gumroad. Then, you give out the Gumroad link on Twitter: "Need a sweet Fireworks iPhone UI template? Buy it for a buck: gumroad.url" Your twatting friends click it, give you a dollar, get redirected to your website. They download the templat…

And 2 minutes later the "secret" link is shared on Twitter.

Re: Show HN: my weekend project, Gumroad

#30

Post by sahillavingia » Mon, Apr 04, 2011, 3:24 PM UTC

evoltix wrote: post #21

sahillavingia wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are some links that do have value. For example, if I wanted to release a new web app to my Twitter followers but wanted some sort of barrier (without having to set it all up myself) - I would use Gumroad. If I had a bunch of files laying around my FTP that I never sold and would like to sell off for $5 a pop without the overhead of creating a store - I would use Gumroad. Does that make it any better in…

This makes more sense to me now and I see the potential. Perhaps you should put this example on your website to make it a little more clear.

I definitely will. Thanks for bearing with my crappy copy. It'll get better :)