[Ann] CoinDL - Buy with Bitcoin: Now only 1% fee on Coupon & Gift Codes

[weex]

Thank you Portnoy for your suggestion on external payment processing and perspective on price.

We can't make any promises about specific future developments but it's true there are many ways to increase sales and serve artists/authors and buyers.

Price on the other hand will probably work itself out via the usual market mechanics.

-weex

[Stephen Gornick]

Is there (or could / will there be) a way to message the seller?

For instance, the following looks to be in the wrong category.  I think it is a graphic, but it is under the Apps category:
 - https://www.coindl.com/page/item/97

The probable reason it was miscategorized is because Apps is the default category when adding a New Item.  These important required fields probably shouldn't have a default, and instead should require the user to select the value.

Incidentally, I noticed I had another sale of my first upload!  CoinDL must be getting decent traffic.  Why there weren't dozens or hundreds of mp3 uploads from all those musicians I keep hearing about complain about money is something baffling to me.  CoinDL got a lot of good press earlier this week, so there were many many musicians who learned of CoinDL.  It costs nothing to list except a little bit of time.   (though, I suppose that time comes from their 24x7 updates of Facebook, so ya, I guess they have priorities.)

[SgtSpike]

Is there (or could / will there be) a way to message the seller?

I'll second this suggestion.  Never know when a buyer might have questions before purchasing, or requests of other similar items they'd like to see.

[weex]

Is there (or could / will there be) a way to message the seller?

For instance, the following looks to be in the wrong category.  I think it is a graphic, but it is under the Apps category:
 - https://www.coindl.com/page/item/97

The probable reason it was miscategorized is because Apps is the default category when adding a New Item.  These important required fields probably shouldn't have a default, and instead should require the user to select the value.

Incidentally, I noticed I had another sale of my first upload!  CoinDL must be getting decent traffic.  Why there weren't dozens or hundreds of mp3 uploads from all those musicians I keep hearing about complain about money is something baffling to me.  CoinDL got a lot of good press earlier this week, so there were many many musicians who learned of CoinDL.  It costs nothing to list except a little bit of time.   (though, I suppose that time comes from their 24x7 updates of Facebook, so ya, I guess they have priorities.)

You caught me as I was updating the site to add more fields for eBooks so I made the default Category and Author 'Please select' while I was at it.

Those listing eBooks will now find fields for ISBN (or ISSN for eMagazines and periodicals), year published, and whether illustrations/photos are included in it.

I realize there are other reasons to message a seller so will put that on the list of features to implement.

Yesterday there was no news but we still had 160 visits so I'm pleased with that start. Working on getting publicity with the upcoming listing of a unique item as well.

[Stephen Gornick]

1,775 views this thread has received now, and there are less than a dozen new songs that have been added since launch.

Whiskey,

... Tango,

.....     Foxtrot!

Seriously?

How many of us play music or know someone who does?    Come on ... I can only listen to Funky Coins just so many times before I need something new in the playlist:
 - https://www.coindl.com/page/item/91

How about taking pledges for certain artists or music genres even.  For instance, let's say I'm looking for dubstep.  I might pledge .2 BTC towards the first dubstep song to be listed on the site.  Or for specific artists -- if some pledges were made that proven revenue might help be what persuades the artist to sign up and upload.

Ok, so I'll do my part to help get this party started.   I'll pledge to buy at least 2.0 BTC worth of new music that appears over the next week.   If there is only one new song (priced at 0.2 BTC for example) then I guess I buy 10 copies it.  Preferably, I'll have my choice of 10 new songs to choose from, or a new album upload, etc.

Is anyone going out tonight?  Consider going to a place that has open mic or has a local band playing.  Pitch CoinDl to the musicians.  It costs them nothing but a few minutes of their time.  For every sale that occurs the seller gets 80%.   Set it and forget it, the coins from sales will arrive without doing anything else. Offer to set it up for them, if they're claiming to not have enough time or don't know how.

CoinDL got headlines in the music world with a story describing it as being the iTunes for Bitcoin.   It's way too early to get that title, but everything big once started small.

Anyone care to lend a hand here and help towards getting some new content on CoinDL?

[payb.tc]

1,775 views this thread has received now, and there are less than a dozen new songs that have been added since launch.

Whiskey,

... Tango,

.....     Foxtrot!

Seriously?

How many of you play music or know someone who does?    Come on ... I can only listen to Funky Coins just so many times before I need something new in the playlist:
 - https://www.coindl.com/page/item/91

How about taking pledges for certain artists or music genres even.  For instance, let's say I'm looking for dubstep.  I might pledge .2 BTC towards the first dubstep song to be listed on the site.  Or for specific artists -- if some pledges were made that proven revenue might help be what persuades the artist to sign up and upload.

Ok, so I'll do my part to help get this party started.   I'll pledge to buy at least 2.0 BTC worth of new music that appears over the next week.   If there is only one new song (priced at 0.2 BTC for example) then I guess I buy 10 copies it.  Preferably, I'll have my choice of 10 new songs to choose from, or a new album upload, etc.

Is anyone going out tonight?  Consider going to a place that has open mic or has a local band playing.  Pitch CoinDl to the musicians.  It costs nothing but a few minutes of time.  For every sale that occurs the seller gets 80%.   Set it and forget it, the coins from sales will arrive without doing anything else. Offer to set it up for them, if they're claiming to not have enough time or don't know how.

CoinDL got headlines in the music world with a story describing it as being the iTunes for Bitcoin.   It's way too early to get that title, but everything big once started small.

Anyone care to lend a hand here and help towards getting some new content on CoinDL?

tbh it's the unwordly sales registration form that got me... i was ready to start selling some tracks but couldn't be F with all that info right now.

i'm willing to bet other musicians have closed their browsers at that point too.

[weex]

Ok, so I'll do my part to help get this party started.   I'll pledge to buy at least 2.0 BTC worth of new music that appears over the next week.   If there is only one new song (priced at 0.2 BTC for example) then I guess I buy 10 copies it.  Preferably, I'll have my choice of 10 new songs to choose from, or a new album upload, etc.

Is anyone going out tonight?  Consider going to a place that has open mic or has a local band playing.  Pitch CoinDl to the musicians.  It costs nothing but a few minutes of time.  For every sale that occurs the seller gets 80%.   Set it and forget it, the coins from sales will arrive without doing anything else. Offer to set it up for them, if they're claiming to not have enough time or don't know how.

CoinDL got headlines in the music world with a story describing it as being the iTunes for Bitcoin.   It's way too early to get that title, but everything big once started small.

Anyone care to lend a hand here and help towards getting some new content on CoinDL?

Looks like you've got a couple purchases to make as two quality albums from a band called Tiny Pupils were just posted. https://www.coindl.com/page/author/62
I will personally match the 2.0 BTC (and having listened to the previews and snippets from a couple songs from Tiny Pupils I can say it'll be worth it).

[Stephen Gornick]

Looks like you've got a couple purchases to make

Done!

as two quality albums

I thought those might be single songs for download as the prices are 0.099 (about $0.50 USD) and 0.1999 (about $1.00 USD).  But it is an entire album.  Maybe there needs to be a subcategory?   Music -> Albums, Music -> Single

Anyways, this was my first music purchase and the experience was slick.  The popup for "buy" an item shows the bitcoin address but as soon as I sent the bitcoin the link appeared for "download" (on 0/unconfirmed).  That's great!  

I also wanted to test usability, so I sent a partial payment.  No response, though I wasn't really expecting one.  But then as soon as I sent the remainder, ... the popup switched to showing the download link instantly.

Another test was what if I somehow navigated away without seeing the download.   After going back to the item and clicking the buy button again instead of being asked to pay (yet again), it just showed the download link  -- it remembered me and knew that I had already paid.

Nice work.

So there's still my 1.7002 BTC remaining for new music!

[Stephen Gornick]

After my payment was received I was able to enter my e-mail address to get a receipt sent (an optional step).

From the receipt that was sent to my inbox, I have the link which I can use to download again at a later time.  (The file may be downloaded up to 5 times, it says).

So CoinDL knows all the downloads that were purchased for my e-mail address.  What might be nice down the road would be the ability to register that e-mail address and login to see all my purchases (with link to downloads) all at once.

[David M]

Nice work.

I had a great experience as a first time user.

Some suggestion (if not already noted)

Add a "copy to clipboard" for the payment address.
Maintain a list of categories on all pages for navigation to encourage "window shopping". (I had to go "back" after my purchase to view other categories: I was in the wallpaper category). 

[weex]

After my payment was received I was able to enter my e-mail address to get a receipt sent (an optional step).

From the receipt that was sent to my inbox, I have the link which I can use to download again at a later time.  (The file may be downloaded up to 5 times, it says).

So CoinDL knows all the downloads that were purchased for my e-mail address.  What might be nice down the road would be the ability to register that e-mail address and login to see all my purchases (with link to downloads) all at once.

You can register for an account and not apply to become a supplier. Later those accounts will be used for other interactions with the site like reviews, listing your purchases, and anything else that a site might require an account for. With the receipt, what we'll probably do is let you enter in the order numbers of your previous purchases though matching up the email addresses is an easier way to make it easy from coinDL's end.

If you want to buy something for a friend, feel free to use the email receipt feature as a way to send them the download link for the gift.

[weex]

Nice work.

I had a great experience as a first time user.

Thanks, come back soon!

Some suggestion (if not already noted)

Add a "copy to clipboard" for the payment address.
Maintain a list of categories on all pages for navigation to encourage "window shopping". (I had to go "back" after my purchase to view other categories: I was in the wallpaper category). 

Some browsers won't let you do a copy to clipboard but after looking into it, it appears we can make it easier for users to do it.

And you're right, all pages should have those category links. Expect them.

[Stephen Gornick]

So there's still my 1.7002 BTC remaining for new music!

With the purchase of Alco, I met my 2.0 BTC committment.

So, the new music (singles and albums) since my post last week:

 - https://www.coindl.com/page/item/127 Alco by Alco
 - https://www.coindl.com/page/item/138 Molly Ringwald Is Dead by Love Supine
 - https://www.coindl.com/page/item/113 Arc by Sean Gill
 - https://www.coindl.com/page/item/110 Tiny Pupils (Album)    by Tiny Pupils
 - https://www.coindl.com/page/item/109 Debut LP (Album) by Tiny Pupils
 - https://www.coindl.com/page/item/111 What is Bitcoin by Leo Treasure

That's just awesome to see!

I have quite a few new additions on my playlist now.  I give Alco an enthusiastic two thumbs up!

[weex]

CoinDL has been updated with better uploading and support for Albums and other types of collections. Changes:

* A new uploader shows progress as the upload is being sent and has an increased upload limit of 500MB.

* We now support Albums and other types of collections. The individual songs in an album can each have their own audio preview and price. It's possible to do bonus tracks as well(making them only available with purchase of the album).

* Albums and other collections can have Cover art which is enabled when an item is tagged as a collection.

Behind the scenes, I'm working on automating the album upload process to create the song sub-items and individual song previews once an album has been uploaded. More details are available at the bottom of the create/edit page for any item.

For an example showing cover art and a few previews see Alco's album: Alco https://www.coindl.com/page/item/127 (this is an amazing album and is still exclusively available for purchase at CoinDL as far as I know!)

Thanks everyone for being so supportive and generous with your suggestions and feedback. If you buy something and you like it, tell a friend!

-weex

[damnek]

Weex, I like the idea of your site, but I think it needs a more professional look. The combination of colors and fonts gives me the feeling I just landed on a typo-squatted page.

[weex]

damnek, for the last time, no you may not buy the template for your typo-squatting enterprise.

Seriously though, are there any specific changes you recommend?

[weex]

Just wanted to let people know CoinDL now supports Bitcoin URIs so a new Buy Now button and QR code format have been added. Thanks to etothipi for highlighting this opportunity.

Also, there appears to be a problem with the Music listing not showing a second page so my apologies to those whose music isn't showing up in that listing. It'll be fixed asap.

[Stephen Gornick]

Gumroad works worldwide with all major credit cards, and can be used for digital content as well as for physical content, since it lets users collect shipping information if needed. Gumroad takes a 5 percent fee for every payment processed, along with a 25 cent credit card fee. So if an item costs $1, Gumroad takes 30 cents; if an item costs $10, Gumroad takes 75 cents.

Gumroad Gets $7 Million Series A From Kleiner Perkins For Indie E-Payment Platform
 - http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/07/gumroad-7-million-series-a-kleiner-perkins/

Comparing CoinDL:

If an item costs $1, CoinDL takes 20 cents;  (versus Gumroad taking 30 cents)  Advantage CoinDL.
If an item costs $10, CoinDL takes $2.00; (versus Gumroad taking $0.75).  Advantage Gumroad.

This difference is something that is noticed.   Example:
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=77691.0

[SgtSpike]

Gumroad works worldwide with all major credit cards, and can be used for digital content as well as for physical content, since it lets users collect shipping information if needed. Gumroad takes a 5 percent fee for every payment processed, along with a 25 cent credit card fee. So if an item costs $1, Gumroad takes 30 cents; if an item costs $10, Gumroad takes 75 cents.

Gumroad Gets $7 Million Series A From Kleiner Perkins For Indie E-Payment Platform
 - http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/07/gumroad-7-million-series-a-kleiner-perkins/

Comparing CoinDL:

If an item costs $1, CoinDL takes 20 cents;  (versus Gumroad taking 30 cents)  Advantage CoinDL.
If an item costs $10, CoinDL takes $2.00; (versus Gumroad taking $0.75).  Advantage Gumroad.

This difference is something that is noticed.   Example:
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=77691.0

CoinDL doesn't have any serious Bitcoin competitors.  If there was one, then prices would likely drop accordingly.  But without one, anyone who wants to sell digital goods for Bitcoins is hard pressed to find another solution that works as well as CoinDL.

[jbob06]

Thanks for everyone that has bought the Alco album so far. We've gotten a lot of awesome feedback from the bitcoin community. If you haven't checked us out yet here is the link to our album on CoinDL.

https://www.coindl.com/page/item/127

Thanks!