2 Annoying Problems With Selling E-Products

It’s only 9am in the UK, I’ve already been in the office a couple of hours and I’ve already had to deal with 2 of the really annoying problems that can crop up when selling e-products online. If you ever get in to selling then chances are that you’ll come across these, and you know what, there is nothing you can do! You grin, you bear it, then you post about it (whilst smashing your head into a wall).

1. “It doesn’t work” - I’ve written a number of e-books, all of them have been very simple how-to affairs. Do this, do that, do another thing and woo hoo, magic happens. Well something like that anyway. The thing is that they aren’t subjective or opinion, they are very factual and whatever it is does work. Every single thing I’ve wrote about is something that I still use today so I know it works. When it stops working I stop selling it. But, (a big BUT) there is always a percentage of people who will swear blind it doesn’t work for them. I don’t want to name names here but there is one country in particular that counts for less that 5% of my sales but counts for over 80% of my refund requests. They even had me doubting myself. That was until I got a friend that was back packing through that same country to test it for me, surprise, surprise the method worked perfectly! The trouble is that once you agree to do refunds (and even if you don’t depending on your payment processer), once somebody asks you are obliged, even when you KNOW they are lying. What makes it even more frustrating is that a lot of the time it is so blatant. When somebody is genuinely struggling they will usually ask for help first. I do my best, if they just don’t “get it” then I’m the first to offer them a refund. On the other hand the piss taker will usually start contact with “I downloaded xxxxx, doesn’t work for me, can you send refund?” . Grit teeth, write polite reply and refund. You are allowed to swear a lot though, just not in your reply.

2. I’ve Broken All Your License Terms But Now Want Support Or A Refund - I get this with software, but I suppose it can apply to any e-product. My best example that crops up several times a year is the “home use only” problem. The software is designed for and licensed for home use only, not business. However, somebody buys it and then installs it on their 17 user Windows Small Business Server “home” network and it isn’t quite what they expected. Well no shit Sherlock. Then just to top it off this “home user” adopts the professional get it sorted now attitude as if he’s just bought £30,000 pounds worth of bespoke software development (as opposed to just paid $10 for a small of the shelf home application). Rather than get into a debate over this the only solution here is to refund and then ignore any further e-mails. Well maybe it’s not the only solution but I’m afraid I don’t do bespoke for a single $10 payment.

The recurring theme here is the rights of the person selling an e-product. Without the delivery of a physical product (why so many developers love to ship a CD) we are pretty much up shit creek without a paddle. We are reliant on the people we sell to being honest and to be fair in my experience 99% are fantastic! They understand that it’s an exchange and are brilliant to deal with. I was just unlucky today that 2 “problems” for 2 totally different products arrived on the same day. This is all part of the fun of selling online, in this regard I’m for more of a techy than customer relations. Anyway, just writing it down has made me feel better so thank you for being part of my therapy session.

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Paul Barlow - Over 18 years writing software combined with extensive SEO experience has meant that I've been able to make a good living online for many years! This blog covers the money making schemes I have and still use.

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