Digital Rules

[Angel Barracks]

When my rules are ready to go on sale I will have 2 options for delivering the PDF’s.
I can e-mail them manually, cheaper for the customer but requires waiting for me to send them.
Or via an automatic download link, but more expensive for you.

I want to get £5.00 in my pocket for each rulesbook I sell, so going via say Wargame Vault I need to take into account the cut they take, but going via my site there will be no extra middle man so they will be cheaper.

However if I sell digital products that are available automatically and with no manual process involved then I need to start paying and collecting TAX and so on, hence making sales via my site a manual process.

What would you be happy with, slower and cheaper, faster and more expensive.

Also, what sites have you sold/purchased PDF rules from?

[Phil Dutré]

A one-stop shop such as Wargame Vault is the way to go.

I am a regular buyer there, and when I don’t find something on Wargame Vault, chances are I will not even bother. Depends also on how badly I want something of course.

[greg954]

I’ve purchased Starport Scum and some expansions. Plus Dungeon Scum from Wargame Vault and found it fine. It would not have bothered me if I would have to of waited a little while for an email. I thought the price represented quite good value all in all. I was specifically looking for that mind.

Also I echo what Phil said. If you went the Wargame Vault route you might get some “passing trade” so to speak. Someone looking for fantasy rules not really knowing specifically what they want. Hence makes sense to go to Wargame Vault for a general browse.

[Ivan Sorensen]

As suggested, the Vault will land you some traffic you never got otherwise, just due to being visible on the site.

I think a lot of people also appreciate having everything in one place.

There’s advantages to being completely your own master of course, but I’ve found the trade-offs to favor using the WGV

[OB]

Depends on who you think your core audience is and how you intend to grow your market.  As a rule in business or in politics you only use a middleman if you have to.  Sometimes it makes sense to do so, as Ivan says above.

As rule writers journeys go Dan Mersey is an interesting case study.  Not that I’d describe Osprey as a middleman.

OB
http://withob.blogspot.co.uk/

[Ivan Sorensen]

Cost vs Convenience right ? 🙂

[MartinR]

If you are selling stuff to people, I would almost always use a third party partner, just for the additional transaction tracking, workflows, auditing and security.

Wargame Vault works fine.

You’ll have to pay tax whatever you do, depending on the tax arrangements of your company.

"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

[Mike]

My bad. I was meaning VAT. Selling digital products via an automated delivery system if you are in the EU means your need to charge VAT.

Using a third party platform means they handle all that.

Or sending them manually means no requirement to charge VAT.

 

[Whirlwind]

Angel Barracks wrote:

Also, what sites have you sold/purchased PDF rules from?

I have bought direct from:

TooFatLardies

Sam Mustafa

Two Hour Wargames

Grand Manoeuvre

 

I have bought through:

Wargames Vault

Drive-thru RPG

Plus, although not strictly just rules, I have sometimes bought issues for the contained rulesets:

Battlegames (think this uses Payhip ?)

[Who Asked This Joker]

I am guessing the cost increase is only going to be a few dollars.  I’m OK with a digital copy of around $10 or less.  Anything higher than that, I’d want to make darned sure I wanted the product.  $5 and slow delivery is very reasonable.  $10 and fast delivery also very reasonable.  I think if you are in that range it really will only depend on how much work you want to do.  Eve the simple tasks in life can become annoying when repeated over time.

I mainly order from Wargame Vault.  I’ve ordered from Wargames Downloads, Too Fat Lardies, Ganesha Games, and Sam Mustafa in the past.

John

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

--Abraham Lincoln

[Darkest Star Games]

I’d say do all of the above.  Put it up on WGV, RPG Now, and DrivethruRPG.  All owned by the same people (OneBookShelf), but somewhat different customer base (I originally bought from DTRPG waaay back before they were bought by RPGNow).  Then you can also sell it direct from your site just to make sure you have ALL of the bases covered.  You can even make it less expensive on your site if you do it the manual way due to the 3rd party fees.

"I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

[cmnash]

I’ve bought from a number of different sites and prefer Wargames Vault, mainly because I’ve had 2 hard drive failures. With WGV’s online library, a HD failure means nothing as you can just download again, but with other sites I’ve had to trawl through old emails trying to find receipts so I could get them to send the pdf again

I now have a portable, seperate HDD ….

.

[McKinstry]

I’ve bought quite a few sets from Mr. Mustafa and Wargame Vault. Both worked just fine for me.

The tree of Life is self pruning.

[Whirlwind]

cmnash wrote:

but with other sites I’ve had to trawl through old emails trying to find receipts so I could get them to send the pdf again

That said, in my experience, the sellers are more than happy to re-send when disaster strikes.

[Ivan Sorensen]

I keep all my purchased PDFs on Icloud as well, just in case some online service poops out.

[craig cartmell]

We sell our digital rules through Sean at SNM stuff ,and get a really good deal from him, as he handles all the various EU VAT rates etc, so all we have to do is give him the PDF and wait for the fat cheques (?) to roll in.

I suggest you message him through his website and have a chat [http://www.snmstuff.co.uk/contact-us/]. Say Craig sent you 🙂

[PaintingLittleSoldiers]

Wargame Vault is how I fund Ivan’s tropical holidays

[Ivan Sorensen]

Well, there’s only so many Jaguars and BMW’s one man can buy before it becomes mundane!

[Russell Phillips]

Is there any reason you can’t offer both options? Personally I’d rather buy from Wargame Vault. Offering to email the PDF manually doesn’t inspire confidence.

Something else to consider is that Wargame Vault also give you the option of supplying paper copies via print-on-demand.

Military history author
Website : Mastodon : Facebook

[cmnash]

Russell Phillips wrote:

Offering to email the PDF manually doesn’t inspire confidence

I didn’t think about this earlier, but I agree with Russell; having to wait for a pdf to be emailed, does put me off making a purchase

.

[Russell Phillips]

It’s not the waiting, so much as it looks amateurish. I know Mike can be trusted, but if it’s a site/person that I don’t know, then having a file emailed to me makes me a bit wary.

Military history author
Website : Mastodon : Facebook

[cmnash]

Russell Phillips wrote:

It’s not the waiting, so much as it looks amateurish. I know Mike can be trusted, but if it’s a site/person that I don’t know, then having a file emailed to me makes me a bit wary.

hmm … I didn’t express myself properly – it’s not the waiting for me either, I feel the same way as Russell expressed in the above quote, although having actually met Mike, I’m no longer so sure about the trustworthiness …  

.

[Russell Phillips]

cmnash wrote:

although having actually met Mike, I’m no longer so sure about the trustworthiness …

Ah, I’ve never met him in real life 😉

Military history author
Website : Mastodon : Facebook

[Mike]

Russell Phillips wrote:

Ah, I’ve never met him in real life

Are you quite sure…

😐

[Russell Phillips]

Well, no. Now that you mention it, you’re obviously a shady figure.

Hmm, I bet you work for MI5 or MI6, and that’s why you have multiple names. Don’t worry, though, I promise not to tell anyone 😉

Military history author
Website : Mastodon : Facebook

[cmnash]

I’ve just used SnM Stuff – first time for a digital product – to buy Craig’s rules in the digital version.  Very slick, no problems at all – I got the download link in the order acknowledgement after paying.

There is a difference to Wargames Vault purchases – each page has ‘Licensed to [name]. Email address: [purchase email address]’ at the bottom
(obviously substitute appropriate values)

TBH, I think this is a good difference

.

[Russell Phillips]

cmnash wrote:

There is a difference to Wargames Vault purchases – each page has ‘Licensed to [name]. Email address: [purchase email address]’ at the bottom
(obviously substitute appropriate values)

TBH, I think this is a good difference

Wargame Vault has a similar thing. At the bottom left of every page, it has “[NAME] (order #[NUMBER])”. It’s optional, so only appears if the publisher has chosen to enable it.

Military history author
Website : Mastodon : Facebook

[OldBen1]

I’d make it as easy as possible.  Having a third party deal with all the hassles leaves you more time to work on the creative stuff.

[Ivan Sorensen]

Russell Phillips wrote:

Wargame Vault has a similar thing. At the bottom left of every page, it has “[NAME] (order #[NUMBER])”. It’s optional, so only appears if the publisher has chosen to enable it.

It’s nice to have it be an option. I’ve released stuff with and without it, but I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone comment on it either way.

[Author]

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