WordPress eStore Plugin - Complete solution to sell digital products from your wordpress blog securely

1. Do you sell, or want to sell, digital content from your WordPress site while maintaining the security of your digital assets?

2. Are you frustrated with the e-commerce WordPress plugins you’ve looked at? Do you want a plugin with reliable customer service (where your questions get answered and issues get addressed)?

3. Do you hate the thought of paying ongoing fees and commissions to sell via a third party web site?

If you are still reading, then the WordPress eStore plugin may be just what you need!

Plugin Summary

In a Nutshell… this sleek WordPress shopping cart plugin allows you to sell any form of digital products and services from your wordpress blog securely with complete automation. What I mean by complete automation is that once you set it up the whole process (The buying and the delivering of the product without revealing the real URL of the product) works on its own. An overview of the WP eStore plugin operations can be found here.

Yes, you can sell physical products with this plugin too as long as you don’t need complex shipping options.

Plugin Features

Below are just some of the notable features of the WP eStore Plugin (you can find a full list of features here):

Security of Your Digital Asset

Automatic instant digital product delivery upon payment through dynamically generated encrypted download link. This way the actual location of your digital product never gets revealed. The link expires after a configurable amount of time or specified number of downloads which ensures the security of your digital asset.
Easy Checkout

Simplest one-click checkout through PayPal, 2Checkout, Authorize.net or Manual Payment. Customers can pay using a credit card or PayPal account. Benefits of an Express Checkout System.
Ease of Design and Usage

Very easy to use and the freedom of placing an “Add to Cart”, “Buy Now” or “Subscribe” button for a product or service anywhere on your blog. Read the design overview here.
Autoresponder Integration

It can be integrated with Autoresponders (AWeber, MailChimp, GetResponse). This way the customers automatically get signed up to your list/campaign for email marketing purpose.
NextGen Gallery Integration

Can be integrated with the NextGen Gallery Plugin to create a Digital Photo Store from the NextGen Gallery.
WP eMember Integration

Can be integrated with the WP eMember plugin. Creating a membership site with the WP eMember plugin is very easy.
Affiliate Software Integration

Can be integrated with the WordPress Affiliate Software Plugin. So if you decide to boost your sales by introducing an Affiliate Program later then you just have to activate the other plugin.
Light Weight Shopping Cart

WP eStore is a light weight shopping cart solution. This ensures that the plugin will not slow your site down.
Multi Site License

When you buy the WP eStore plugin you can use it on as many sites as you own (you gotta love that!). More details on the eStore license can be found here.
Detailed Documentation

Scared of getting worthless product documentation after you purchase the product? Checkout the shopping cart documentation before you make a purchase.
Great Support

Tired of listening to fake support promises? Checkout our forum to see how we handle product related issues (usually within 24 hours).

You can read more on the WP eStore features here. Please see the documentation site to get a feeling for what this plugin can do (this will help you determine if this plugin will meet your needs).

WP eStore Plugin Demo

See the WP eStore plugin demo page to see how the ‘Add to Cart’/'Buy Now’ buttons work. You can watch these set of video tutorials to see how easy it is to setup and use this plugin.

You can also try the WordPress PayPal Shopping Cart Plugin to get a feel for how the shopping cart works. PayPal Shopping Cart plugin is similar to this plugin except it doesn’t have a database and some of the other cool features.

Purchase Demo Video

WP eStore Shopping Cart Screenshot

There are a few different ways to display the shopping cart. The following screenshot is one example of how the shopping cart looks when customers add product(s) to the cart.

Example WordPress eStore Sites

Integration with the NextGen Photo Gallery Plugin

NextGEN Gallery developed by Alex Rabe is a fully integrated Image Gallery plugin for WordPress with a Flash slideshow option. A live demo of the NextGen Gallery Integration and How to do it is explained here.

Squeeze Page Type Form

The WordPress eStore Plugin can be used to insert a squeeze page type form in a post, page or sidebar to offer a free product for list building for internet marketing purpose

Selling Large Files

If you plan to sell large files then you must read the Selling Large Files with eStore post.

Documentation & Technical Support

The WordPress eStore plugin is simple and easy to use but if you are having any issue with this plugin then feel free to post it on the support forum or leave a comment in the comment area below or on the documentation site.

Get the WordPress eStore Plugin Now

You will be automatically redirected to the checkout page once you add a product to your shopping cart. you can also find the shopping cart on the sidebar.

Frequently Bought Together

I am not going to tell you that the WordPress eStore is the best WordPress shopping cart plugin ever but for what this plugin does makes it gold. If you want a WordPress Shopping Cart plugin that is being actively developed and has someone behind it to offer support and troubleshoot issues then feel free to purchase this plugin. When you buy this plugin you also indirectly support all my other free wordpress plugin development.

Become an Affiliate

Like the WP eStore plugin? Why not sign up for an affiliate account and promote it to make some money?

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

#1 by Darren (Green Change) on March 18, 2009 - 7:48 am

This is very cool. I don’t need it just yet, but once I get a couple of eBooks written this will be an ideal way to sell them from my site.

I’ve been keeping an eye out for something like this for a while (with selling my eBooks in mind), and haven’t seen anything that’s quite the same. It’s a nice mix of light-weight (not the full-blown online store solution that wants to take over your whole site) and powerful (site-wide shopping cart, can put buy buttons anywhere, supports purchasing multiple items).

Can’t argue with the price, either.

Keep up the great work!

#2 by Ralph on March 18, 2009 - 4:16 pm

I’ve been looking for a decent WP Store plugin for so long. Thanks a load.

#3 by Edwin on March 18, 2009 - 5:45 pm

This plugin is just what I’ve been looking for. We’re looking at potentially selling ebooks and training programs and one of the hurdles we faced was finding a shopping cart tool to do so. We couldn’t find anything suitable until now! Thanks heaps!

#4 by Korin on March 18, 2009 - 6:52 pm

Hi, Just the kind of plugin I was looking for. I have a few eBooks that I sell through your WordPress shopping cart plugin but this one is exactly what I need as it automatically emails the buyer an encrypted download link after payment!

Regards,
Korin

#5 by Dave on March 19, 2009 - 4:35 pm

Hi, I entered the following URL for the download link and the link that I get in the email didn’t work when I did a test run to see how everything works.

/downloads/ebooks/tips/150_tips.pdf

I get the following error

“Requested File Could Not Be Found”

What am i doing wrong?

#6 by admin on March 19, 2009 - 4:59 pm

@Dave, when you enter a relative URL you don’t use the forward slash (/) at the beginning. So just edit/update the products URL to the following and it will all work perfect

downloads/ebooks/tips/150_tips.pdf

Remember you can always use the full URL if you are in doubt and that will work too. Refer to my WordPress eStore Startup Guide for step by step setup instructions. Let me know how you go.

#7 by Dave on March 19, 2009 - 6:39 pm

Thanks! I updated the url and its working now.

#8 by Charles on March 22, 2009 - 2:09 am

Can I still use this plugin even if I don’t have digital products?

#9 by admin on March 22, 2009 - 2:26 am

Yes you can still use the WordPress eStore plugin even if you don’t sell digital prodcuts.

There are a few simple shipping options available in the pluign. Checkout the following URL to learn more on the shipping side of things:

http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/ecommerce/how-the-shipping-cost-calculation-works-in-wordpress-estore-50

#10 by Harris on March 22, 2009 - 10:37 pm

Will this plugin support any theme?

#11 by admin on March 22, 2009 - 11:03 pm

Hi Harris, with thousands of wordpress themes out there it is impossible for me to guarantee that it will work with every theme without testing it but I have never had a complain from any user regarding the plugin not working for a particular theme and there are quite a few number of users. So I am pretty sure it will work on any theme.

However, if you are unsure a good way to find out if the plugin will work on your theme is to install the WordPress Simple Paypal shopping cart plugin and see if it works. The paypal shopping cart plugin is similar to the WP eStore plugin except it doesn’t have the automatic secure digital product delivery after payment option. The script that handles the product delivery gets executed after the buyer has paid for the product in PayPal and that has got nothing to do with the wordpress theme you are using.

So bottom line… if the wordpress paypal shopping cart plugin works on your theme then the WP eStore plugin will work too.

#12 by Josh on March 23, 2009 - 3:38 am

Does the WordPress eStore pluign work on WordPress MU install?

#13 by admin on March 23, 2009 - 5:54 pm

Hi Josh, Yes the WordPress eStore Plugin works on a WP MU installation

#14 by Jon on March 25, 2009 - 2:51 am

Hi, How long will it take to receive the email with the link after I purchase the plugin?

#15 by admin on March 25, 2009 - 3:11 am

@Jon, the answer is almost instantly. The email is sent using php mailer from the server as soon as the Instant Payment Notification (IPN) from PayPal is verified.

#16 by Chiaki Takasaka on March 25, 2009 - 6:41 am

When I push the button of Paypal,such message become as follows;The link you have used to enter the PayPal system contains an incorrectly formatted item amount.

Could you kindly advise me?

#17 by admin on March 25, 2009 - 6:51 am

Hi Chiaki,

Don’t use comma (,) in the price field. Paypal doesn’t understand comma. So instead of using 3,780.00 as the price just use 3780.00

Update the price of the item by editing it and then it will be fine. Let me know how you go.

#18 by Chiaki Takasaka on March 25, 2009 - 7:28 am

Great! I can do it. Thank you very much for your kind prompt reply.

Chiaki

#19 by Chris on March 26, 2009 - 10:27 am

Can you input the download delivery location as a http link rather than a relative path?
I host my digital products on 4shared file sharing server, this helps with keeping my bandwidth low.

Chris

#20 by admin on March 26, 2009 - 4:19 pm

@Chris, yes you can use any http link.. as long as the link is valid and accessible. The way it works is that the buyer gets an encrypted link (the link to the download validation script and an encrypted key) of the product that looks similar to the following:

http://www.your-domain.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-cart-for-digital-products/download.php?file=kz35q4ZymGtoPBPyZx25a3BcQQk1maoPpoix

When the buyer clicks on that link the download validation script (download.php) decrypts the key and retrieves the true URL of the product from the database after validation (if the link hasn’t expired already). This URL can be any link.. for example http://www.some-other-site.com/products/music/awesome.mp3

#21 by Francis on March 27, 2009 - 9:50 pm

Very effective and simple script!!
I notice that you made some changes to the free script, like images, etc. Are the same changes available in the paid estore plugin?

I used the plugin to deliver digital downloads. Is it possible to configure it such that in a single purchase there will be 2 download links? The reason is that some fils may be very large and splitting it may be easier for the customer to download.

Thank you.

#22 by admin on March 27, 2009 - 10:13 pm

Hello Francis, Yes anything that’s available in the free version is also available in the paid version. I will check your email address against my paid customers database and if you have already bought the WP eStore plugin then I will email you the latest version of the WP eStore.

No, It is not possible to configure the plugin to send two different download links for one product at the moment. You can maybe make two separate products like part1 and part2 then when someone buys both they will get two links.

#23 by Francis on March 27, 2009 - 11:31 pm

Thank you for the fast reply. Updated plugin received.

#24 by Alex on March 30, 2009 - 10:32 am

Hello Admin ,

Is it possible to allows the customer to download my psd files only one time and not
several times ?if yes how can I do it ?.

Best,

Alex

#25 by admin on March 30, 2009 - 11:13 pm

Hi Alex, The answer is no. The reason I used a time based link expiration rather than click based is because click based restrictions have the potential to cause a lot of hassle. Let me explain a little bit more on that… say for example a customer purchased a digital product that is 10 MB in size. After the customer starts the product download, somehow the download gets interrupted (eg. computer crashed or restarted). Now the customer already used up his one download quota so can’t download the file anymore but he didn’t get the file in the first place! That was just an example… there are more ways a click base expiration can go wrong so I chose the time based expiration.

#26 by Alex on March 31, 2009 - 10:42 am

Thanks Admin for you prompt reply.

#27 by Richard Shuttlewood on March 31, 2009 - 10:20 pm

I’m testing the WP eStore on my site, but although everything appears to work, the email is never arriving.

Everything seemed to work OK – paypal notifications fine, return URL also worked fine. Note that password is needed to view/access any directory or page on my site. Could that be the problem?

Using WP 2.7.1

Any thoughts please?

#28 by admin on March 31, 2009 - 10:34 pm

Hi Richard, The way this plugin works is that… as soon as the customer clicks the “Pay Now” button on the PayPal site, an IPN is sent to a script in the ‘wp-cart-for-digital-products’ plugin directory. The script then verifies the IPN and a few other things then sends the email with the download links to the buyer

In your case, it looks like when trying to access the script (which PayPal is trying to do after the payment has been processed) it’s getting a password prompt and getting stuck at the prompt. Is there a way you can configure your site so it doesn’t ask for a password when browsing/accessing the “http://www.your-domain.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-cart-for-digital-products/” directory or the files under it?

#29 by Richard Shuttlewood on March 31, 2009 - 11:22 pm

Thanks – that was the problem. I didn’t know about IPN. That is also very reassuring – I assume by using IPN the transaction remains intact even if the user doesn’t use the return link. Cool.

Once I’d fixed the password issue the email arrived almost immediately.

Thanks for a really excellent plugin.

#30 by Superfist Funk on April 1, 2009 - 8:17 am

@Admin, I have been away for a while and need to catch up, looks like you have been busy cooking up some amazing plugins for word press.
I shall say it; http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/ is THE place – right now.
You are amongst the very best – if not the VERY best!

#31 by Superfist Funk on April 1, 2009 - 9:58 am

@Admin,

Regarding:
“…Automatic Link Expiration (The encrypted link the buyer receives also gets expired after a configurable amount of time (eg. 12 hours) so the link doesn’t get passed around)”

So you think you could possible add two more options like:
- Check IP, so that the link cannot be passed around…
and/or for those with dynamic IPs
- Download “X” amount of times, so “if” they do want to pass the link around, you can always limit to say two or three download.

I think that most people who purchase digital products are most likely to download straight away anyway, so “check IP” feature is quite good, i.e in case of dynamic IPs and download glitch/failure, they would probably stay connect and try again (same IP), so then comes the other option into play, and they can try again… be good to be able to set it to unlimited too.

What do you think?

#32 by Superfist Funk on April 1, 2009 - 11:23 am

PS: I read the whole thread – so I’ll make a little amendment.

@Admin + Francis – regarding splitting big files by offering several links for a single product… how to? That’s a very good question.
Please Admin, check the private email + link I sent you, I think there is an answer there somewhere.

@Admin + Alex. Admin has got a good point, of course, but how about offering both options anyway, and which ever expires first. Say you time limit at 24 hours and offer 4 downloads *within* 24 hours. Makes sense? Of course, splitting big files would help, as discussed above by Francis.

#33 by Andrea J. Stenberg on April 1, 2009 - 1:56 pm

Does the cart work with Canadian dollars (CAD)? or do I need to use USD?

Also, can I set it up to add buyers to my aweber email list?

Love this cart!

#34 by admin on April 1, 2009 - 5:51 pm

Hi Andrea, The cart works with any currency that is accepted by PayPal. so yes the Cart works with Canadian dollars (CAD). This plugin won’t add buyers to your aweber email list. It will email you the buyers details and what products they purchased though.

#35 by admin on April 1, 2009 - 6:05 pm

Hey SuperFist, welcome back! I was wondering where you went. Some good suggestions there. I will go through all your entries and see what I can do

#36 by Cameron on April 3, 2009 - 11:02 pm

Hi,

Congratulations on a great plug-in it’s worth every penny, well done!

I have small problem with my install it seems to break the theme.

I’ve tested on the default WP theme with same result.

When you Add to Cart, the Shopping Cart wants to display in the (page/post) area breaking the sidebar.
with: http://www.co-innovations.com/#wp_cart_anchor (loads properly in a fresh session)
see: http://www.co-innovations.com/images/add_to_cart.png

Properly loaded (in a fresh session)
I’m using IE7
see: http://www.co-innovations.com/images/cart_reloaded.png

Thanks.

#37 by admin on April 4, 2009 - 3:29 am

Hi Cameron, Just a quick question.. are you using the “Allow Shopping Cart Anchor” option? IE seem to have a little issue with that option (I am not gonna go into the whole discussion of how bad IE sucks but try ticking that option off and let me know how you go.

#38 by Cameron on April 4, 2009 - 9:56 am

YES..YES..YES, damn you IE,

Thanks heaps, love your site!

#39 by Franz on April 7, 2009 - 8:37 am

Dear Sirs,
automatically emails to the buyer with an encrypted download link after payment
are not running. Payment OK; the buyer received not an email.
What can I do?
Thanks and Greetings from Vienna, Austria
Franz

#40 by admin on April 7, 2009 - 9:01 am

Hello Franz, I sent you an email but apparently you didn’t receive the email. Here are some common causes for not receiving the email after paypal paypment:

1) You didn’t tick the “Allow Auto Product Delivery” option from the settings menu.

2) The plugin directory is protected – if the plugin directory is under password protection then Paypal won’t be able to communicate with the plugin and you won’t get the email.

3) The Paypal email address used to receive the payment is different than the one configured in the settings menu. Make sure you are not using an alias email for paypal (This check is in place to stop anyone trying to scam the system)

Lets turn on the debug on the “paypal.php” script (this is the file that sends the email after verifying a few things) to see what it’s doing after the plugin receives the IPN from paypal.

To turn debugging on, just select the ‘Enable Debug’ option in the settings menu.

Now make a transaction and this time it will write the debug information to a file called “ipn_handle_debug.log” in the plugin directory. Send me that file and I will be able to tell you exactly why you are not receiving the email. Let me know if you are having any trouble with this.

#41 by mhehworld on April 8, 2009 - 9:09 pm

Hi,
I’m very new in this, just wondering whether this plug in have the inventory count in place?
Thank you

#42 by admin on April 8, 2009 - 10:50 pm

Hello Mhehworld, a little bit more information on the question would help me answer better… what kind of inventory count are you looking for?

#43 by Sacha on April 9, 2009 - 7:57 pm

Hello,

I just want a plugin with “buy now” button “(i have only one digital product to sell) without cart. So if my user press buy now, he is redirected on Paypal and not add the product in cart.
Can i do that with your script ?

Thx

#44 by admin on April 10, 2009 - 4:32 am

@Sacha, I am implementing what you just asked for… it should be released in the next version within a few days.