Any good ideas for how to send a PDF matching a physical item purchase in person?

[joewetzel]

I asked Square directly and didn't really get a good response--not what I wanted to hear (basically, do something manually later).

So has anyone found a good way to automatically send a buyer a PDF of an item (like a book) that they bought in person using the Square Point of Sale App? I'll likely sell 10-50 copies of 50 different products, so I'm hoping for something automatic.  And I see having a way to get the PDFs as a strong way to encourage sales to this group of customers.

My current thinking is I can maybe include a discount code to get the PDF free on from my web store at the end the product name, but of course if 10 people buy that item that day, one of them could post the code publicly and maybe 100 people download it.  I could make the code limited to 1 week maybe... 

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone has a better idea...?

Oh, and I'm not using Square Online (my store is Shopify), but I did set it up hoping that would solve this but I don't think it integrates the digital item's sale when someone buys in person and I'm using the POS app.

[Anthem]

I'll admit, I'm super curious about how this dilemma could be solved but I have no answers for your sepcific situation. I assume you've purchased from someone offering such a solution. Maybe start in that organization and ask if you could talk the e-commerce team into sharing the tools they use to pull it off. My guess is it is similar to some video products I've seen that use a similar approach. I believe it is a 3rd party service that connects through or after the shopping cart experience. The digital files are housed on the 3rd party platform and automatically communicated via a link in a confirmation email upon completion of purchase. The 3rd party manages that relationship.

[joewetzel]

Thanks... everyone I know says, "email us a copy of your receipt and we'll send you a link to get the PDF."  But it just seems like a no brainer that this should be automatic, and might push some folks to buy because of the convenience.

[TheRealChipA]

Hi @joewetzel.  Unfortunately, you were told correctly.  At this time, Square does not have automatic digital item fulfillment of any kind, on any platform.  There have been requests to implement it on Square Online, but so far they are only that — requests.  Also, currently, digital items are not even supported on any POS platform, only on Square Online.

I had hoped that I might find a third-party integration with Square in the App Marketplace that would accomplish your task, but my searches came up empty.  You might have better luck with keywords that make sense to you.

Regards,

[joewetzel]

Thanks for looking!  Maybe someone else will come along with an idea/solution.

[mattwells]

Hi there @joewetzel and @TheRealChipA ,

I noticed this thread about some the challenges with selling digital products natively. I thought I would chime in and share some news that should be helpful. We just released SendOwl app in the Square Marketplace that makes selling and auto fulfillment digital products a breeze!

SendOwl is an all-in-one platform for selling digital products, courses, memberships, and more. It integrates seamlessly with your existing website and provides secure, automated delivery of your digital files.

Here's how SendOwl can help you set up digital products with variations:

1. Install the SendOwl app in your Square account
2. Upload your digital files to SendOwl (supports various formats like PDF, EPUB, MP3, MP4, etc)
3. Connect your SendOwl products to your Square products
4. Start selling! SendOwl handles the automatic, secure delivery for you

The key benefits are:

• Supports all file types and sizes
• Secure file storage & delivery (expiring links, PDF stamping)
• Built-in payment processing & checkout
• Trusted by thousands of online sellers, with over $2 billion in sales powered by SendOwl

I hope this helps point you in the right direction! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Best regards,

Matt Wells