Website

[Pete Cofrancesco]

I'm thinking of putting up a website that I let lapse because I never had a tangible return on the money spent. The yearly cost is $48 to host + $12 for the domain for a total of $65yr w/tax for a web presence. I do legal video and amateur dance and theatrical performances. Besides a web presence is there anything else I could offer to add value like dvd ordering or is that better handled through Paypal?

[Ryan Douthit]

My customers stopped buying DVDs a couple years ago. If you have videos to sell, use the site to promote the service you're using, such as Vimeo Pro or whatever.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Ryan Douthit

My customers stopped buying DVDs a couple years ago. If you have videos to sell, use the site to promote the service you're using, such as Vimeo Pro or whatever.

I've revisted online distribution via Vimeo but unfortunately it doesn't fit my business (theatrical and dance video) for a number of reasons.
- parents aren't technically hip and like receiving something physical.

- Once the video is online people are bound to share the link. This could undercut my sales and upset the paying customers that other people got their video free.

- 1-3hr performances make large video files, time consuming to upload, download, steam, store.

- Almost all the performances I film use copyrighted music and other types of intellectual property. If Vimeo takes down a video how would I remedy the situation for paying customers?

- The additional cost of VimeoPro. If it replaced my majority of my dvd distribution it would make sense otherwise if it's just an addon I've got to over come that $200 annual fee.

[Gabe Strong]

Originally Posted by Ryan Douthit

My customers stopped buying DVDs a couple years ago. If you have videos to sell, use the site to promote the service you're using, such as Vimeo Pro or whatever.

Well the question isn't whether your customers are still buying DVDs but
whether his clients are. If you have clients who still mainly buy DVDs
(Like me) then I'd highly recommend putting up a web store where
potential customers can buy them. I did it and sales spiked like crazy.
I get an email with the DVD title, customers name and address, and
confirmation their payment has been processed, and I burn off the DVD from
my saved disc image and mail it. The convenience of buying online with
a credit card is what some customers want, so I'd offer it. I think, its worth the 2.7%
'Hit' to know you have been paid immediately and don't have to chase down
late payers.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Gabe what shopping cart system do you use and how would I easily set it up so they can buy dvds? I'm about to sign up for a host and trying to pick one with that feature in mind. I'm ok with web programming but might use WordPress if that would facilitate a shopping cart.

An unsophisticated online method that doesn't involve a shopping cart is, a customer sends payment via paypal with necessary info, performance name/date and shipping address. Of course a website shopping cart would be preferable as long as it's not too difficult to maintain and too expensive to setup.

[Gabe Strong]

I'm sure there are tons of ways to do this.
I just used eCrater because it was integrated with
PayPal and the price was right (free). It's just like
using the Square credit card reader or sending a Paypal
invoice in that you just pay the 2.7% on any sales and
have no monthly fees. I just added a 'store' button on
my website so it's maybe not the most integrated solution
but it works for me. You can take a look on my site at
www.gforcevideo.com

[Pete Cofrancesco]

I'm giving eckwid a try.

https://creationdreamvideo.ecwid.com

Their free plan lets you sell up to 10 products and a free hosting page under their domain. I will have to remove non current dvds to stay under 10. But it does have nice features like display on moble devices and promotion like facebook link. Seems easy to modify too. But I don't want to pay $12+ monthly fee.

I like your setup too if I want it still to be free and put up more than 10 I'll go with something similar to yours.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Pete

Paypal do a shopping cart too .. I've used them for years and it's free to put on your website. As far as delivery is concerned it's not up to us to dictate what to supply If they want to buy DVD's sell 'em to them!!