Gumroad Gets $1.1 Million To Turn Any Link Into A Payment System
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
So... thanks! :)
Keep up the good work.
I understand that with a traditional online store, a customer could upload the downloaded file as a torrent and share it on Facebook, however, the ease of sharing a link compared to creating a torrent is pretty large.
I guess the idea is to use this for content that you never really expected to make much money from, so if it is shared you are okay with that.
I almost feel like the service should have a pay what you want option. Some people may use the stolen free link if the only pay option is $10 but would be willing to pay $5 if it was an option.
The technical solution I assume (which actually goes against what appears to be the idea of Gumroad -- simple for everyone) would be a Paypal IPN type system.
You can upload directly to Gumroad and that has no issue of unauthorised sharing, but if you use the pay wall for a link type then you do risk it.
either way, i'm curious as to how he handles it.
(1) Provide a trial mode where I can sell stuff (like real) for $0, so I can validate the whole experience.
(2) Provide an API where I can create new sellable objects dynamically and programmatically.
As a seller my only issue is the sales link has a Gumroad logo that is kind of big and would be better listed as "powered by Gumroad" instead of just Gumroad as not to confuse users, but I have a feeling that will be a premium feature :)
The rest of the product is extremely simple to use.
[Q: How do you stop a download link from being shared?] A: We don't. We bet on the god will of mankind.
[Q: Are links screened for copyrights, fakes, etc?] A: No. Gumroad isn't a marketplace so we don't need to do this as much as others do.
[Q: How are disconnected downloads handled?] A: Working on improving this. We do OK.
Thanks for posting this!
I see this not for the first time, that a really simple and straight forward project get much attention just because of nice design. Such kind of projects is easly copycated, don't they? So, that means that whenever you have a nice idea but your design skills sucks, then don't publish it before you haven't polished it, otherwise it will be copycated with much nicer look'n'feel and you sucked. Is this is not a contradiction on its own (that we were told to publish as eary as possible) ?
Not sure this is in the works or not: affiliate codes will absolutely rock on this platform.
My system allows the users to use their own stripe account keys, so we dont take a % or 30c.
> He asked for some help around meeting investors. I was very happy to do this. I sent a few intro emails that were really short — “hey, you gotta meet this kid, kick ass front end engineer and designer with a lot of ambition, ready to go out on his own.” My emails were returned within hours, and in a few weeks, he had his pick of some of the best early-stage and VC investors in the area.
Nice job turning a weekend project into $1.1m in investments! It seems like the payments industry will support new approaches into perpetuity.
Congratulations Sahil!
'Gumroad monetizes by taking a 5% cut and 30 cents out of every transaction'
From the HN launch thread:
'I think something like "5%, but at least $0.30" would make more sense'
Good on ya for listening to your potential users :)
So your first user buys the link. Say to a mp3 or a pdf. Now has the link in plain text.
What's stopping the user from posting that very link all over twitter, facebook, etc? "omg check out kanye's new single!1!!"
Seriously at a loss on how this will work in real life, with real customers.
Any protection, including DRM, link obfuscation or IP filtering, makes user's life harder. If they want to post it, they will post it. But once you started the war with a customer by putting those little obstacles in their way, you can't stop it.
Imagine a different scenario, where it's easy not to pay but you only have to deal with your conscience.
Imagine _why posting a new chapter of the Poignant Guide. Randall Munroe releasing a charity comic. Stephey Fry kickstarting a funny ebook (http://unbound.co.uk/books/how-to-have-an-almost-perfect-mar...). Radiohead releasing a new album.
There are million cases when you can pirate easily but it's more fun to pay. Because you respect the artist or want to support the cause. I guess this is exactly the use case for Gumroad that I see.
easy beats free. piracy/copyright infringement means free.
you want to get people pay for something - you can't do this by optimizing the payment method. who really gives a crap about that outside of the techies who build that stuff?
example: first one to make tv episodes globally simultaneously available, with local ads embedded or whatever will win over piracy. just look at the most popular torrents on pirate bay, etc - how i met your mother, etc.
itunes (as an example, same goes for netflix, hulu, amazon,...) is broken in that regards. non-us credit card and/or IP address? you're fucked. welcome to being a third-rate customer. well, fuck you then, pirate bay it is. movies, series, even apps are being restricted. even though the fucking majority of people (consumer!!) live outside the US.
That's in Firefox 10 on Ubuntu 11.04
It's also inappropriate for the flow this app wants. You click a link, enter your CC#, get your content. Takes 5 seconds.
With Dwolla: click a link, sent to Dwolla, create a username, password and PIN, add an address, wait to receive a phone call or SMS, click a link in a verification mail, add your bank account, wait 2-3 days to verify your bank account, go back to the site and finish your payment...
Being paid by ACH through PayPal is free and has been free for the past 13 years. PayPal only charges once you upgrade to a Premiere or Businesss account, which is what allows an account to accept credit card payments. It also lets you pay someone having to deposit money in advance like Dwolla -- PayPal calls these payments eChecks. The merchant is notified immediately about the payment then again when the transfer clears.
Is Sahil very well networked?
Gumroad's design is also a bit more inviting.
I hadn't heard of either of them until today, but one is definitely in a place where I would share the link with buddies, and the other I wouldn't.
You ask about "buzz" and I definitely think launching a working product is more newsworthy than a beta sign-up page. That said, Kout seems interesting as an idea.