Selling videos online - better option needed?

[Reed Hewitt]

Is there a really great way to sell your videos and independent films online without setting up your own e-commerce website? And more importantly, is there a need for one?

I've been thinking lately that something like that ought to exist -- not another YouTube clone with a pay-to-download option, but a website designed specifically for independent video and film professionals. (A quick Google search produced no viable options.)

Ideally, here's how something like this might work:

Lets say the service is called MyFilmStore.com (just pretend it's a really cool and clever name). Independent producer Joe Smith goes to this website and creates a free account. He now has is own dedicated storefront at "myfilmstore.com/joesmith". He adds products, writes descriptions, uploads trailers and video clips, and customizes the look of his storefront. His online store is completely customized and branded, and it only contains his products. There would even be an option to mask the URL so it reads "joesmith.com/store".

Now Joe's customers can go to his professional-looking store and browse his products, watch trailers, and make a purchase (DVD, BR, directly download, etc.) MyFilmStore.com sends Joe the customer information and routes the money into his bank or Paypal account, minus a small percentage as a service fee. (If he doesn't sell anything, he doesn't pay anything.) Joe can login to MyFilmStore.com to track sales and manage his account.

Does something like this exist? Is there any demand for it? I'm a video producer and a web developer, and I would love to see an e-commerce option created specifically for the independent media professional. If there was a real demand for something like this, I would throw myself into the development. Features and options would be prescribed by the user base. "By video pros, for video pros."

So, feedback. Is this a good idea or am I off my rocker?

[Tim Polster]

I think if you think it is a good idea, you need to pursue it. If you are a web designer then what is stopping you?

Reading your post, it sounds as if you are wanting somebody else to take all of the risks and you get the benefits.

Register a domain and see if the idea has merit. It does not cost very much to get a site up and running and if people are interested you can expand it and make it better.

But the problem is getting traffic on the site. That is what makes or breaks any internet venture.

So no, you are not off your rocker.

[Andrew Smith]

I've been to a demo evening which included EditShare as a solution for this sort of thing. I was so impressed I grabbed a business card from the guy.

Handles all the subscription, streaming and payment stuff with properly scalable infrastructure. I'm pretty sure you can embed the video in your own web site etc.

EditShare web site

Unfortunately the web site doesn't go in to the streaming service product, just their storage and workflow solutions. You'll have to contact the guy directly via email etc. I'll attach his card as an image.

Andrew

[Rick L. Allen]

Originally Posted by Reed Hewitt

Lets say the service is called MyFilmStore.com. Independent producer Joe Smith goes to this website and creates a free account. He now has is own dedicated storefront at "myfilmstore.com/joesmith".

Try www.createspace.com. Pretty much everything you wanted.

[Reed Hewitt]

Originally Posted by Tim Polster

Reading your post, it sounds as if you are wanting somebody else to take all of the risks and you get the benefits.

Well that's the general idea! Just kidding. : )

Honestly, though, creating a website like this would be a MASSIVE undertaking. It may be very easy to put a website online, but it is a tremendous amount of work to build in custom interactive features, e-commerce, back-end data processing, video transcoding, etc. I just thought I would seek the wise counsel of my fellow DVi-ers before embarking on such a journey. But in the end, no guts no glory, right?

@ Andrew and Rick - Thanks for the links. I had not seen EditShare before. CreateSpace is right along the lines of what I'm talking about, but I'm not crazy about how you have to let them handle your disc duplication and inventory. Also, I don't think they provide the kind e-store creation and management tools that I would like to see. That said, it does look like a pretty good service and the things I don't like about it may be very beneficial to others. CreateSpace is probably executing the general idea of my first post well enough to suit the needs of anyone looking for that kind of solution.

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

[Norm Kaiser]

I agree with Rick. CreateSpace is exactly what you're describing. It's owned and operated by Amazon, so once you've posted your content (video, book, movie, or whatever) through them, it becomes available for sale on Amazon.