This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Here's an interesting problem. What if you were selling a digital product and people are stealing it? People are just, you know, Googling or otherwise accessing it, there's probably some other forums and such where they're downloading these products, software, apps, whatever the case may be. How do you fight this kind of piracy without actually making it more difficult for honest people to purchase from you? That's what today's caller is wondering about.
She's kind of walking a tightrope because she's from Ireland. She is selling these presets for photographers where she's actually making money, but some people have not been very nice and have posted those products where anybody can go and download and access them. And so it's like, how much do you need to pay attention to this? You probably shouldn't ignore it entirely, but of course you want to focus on the fact that most people are honest and the dishonest ones aren't going to buy from you anyway. That's always been my philosophy, but nevertheless, let's consider might there be something she can do?
She's tried watermarks, for example. Can we craft a piracy speed bump perhaps that is cheap, friendly, but also again without limiting access to legitimate buyers? That's the question. You're going to hear the detailed version from her and my answer right after this quick shout out to our sponsor. Hey team, it's Selena here.
I sell premium Lightroom presets for photographers at $39 each. Sales are decent, but I keep finding my files posted on free download forums within days. Watermark overlays ruin the user experience and restrictive download limits create angry emails when buyers switch computers. Is there a middle ground that discourages piracy yet keeps legitimate customers happy? I don't want to spend more on tech than I am on presets, but I'm tired of seeing my work shared for free.
Thanks. Selena, I tend to fall on the side of don't worry about these things too much just because as I said in the introduction, most people are honest and the dishonest people are not going to suddenly become buyers. So I will give you some options here, but I think the most important thing is just in terms of your mindset focused on creating new products, you know, serve your existing customers, ask them what they need, make something for them and so on. I think that's ultimately the way to be the most fulfilled and ultimately profitable as well. However, a couple of things you can do platforms like Gumroad or lemon squeezy, they auto stamp each preset file with the customer's email in the metadata.
So it's basically like an invisible ownership. It's not like a loud watermark. It doesn't disrupt anything for the buyer like the actual buyer will never notice. This is something that will only negatively affect the pirates. You can also offer a lifetime re download through a logged in portal.
So it's not just a one time download link to re download the product. Customers have to go and log in somewhere. If they get a new laptop or something, they need to do that. It's not a huge hassle, but it also just means that the pirates can't take a public URL and share that everywhere. Let's see what else.
It's an email like you want to have an email list and only your buyers, your legitimate buyers are going to be on the email list. So leakers are not going to be able to distribute future updates unless they keep buying. So that's one thing just to reward loyalty. And then one thing that might be worth doing for those existing sites that are out there with your products, you can set up a Google alert for your brand. And whenever you see a leak, you can file what's known as a DMCA takedown with the website host.
And most hosts are pretty good about that. They actually comply within 48 hours. And so that'll take care of the easy links, it won't stop everything, but it might help with some of the problem. Most importantly, keep making your art, keep making your products and services and serving people you're doing good work. So don't be deterred by a few bad buyers or I guess, bad pirates who are not buyers.
Listeners always happy to have your input as well, as well as your questions, sidehustleschool.com will continue to feature notes from our listeners. We've got new episodes out every day, all different formats, seven days a week, always completely free. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School. The Onward Project.
