Knowledgebase/Tips & Tricks

Getting Started Selling with DPD

Jason Chance
posted this on May 04, 2010 23:14

DPD is a service that automatically delivers downloads while providing a number of valuable services to the vendor. DPD is designed to be easy-to-use for non-technical types- we have everything from artists, to day traders, to professional writers and game developers using DPD.

At no point during DPD setup do you need to write any code- we give you everything you need to simply copy-and-paste to your web page; we handle the rest!

The 3 Basic Steps to getting started selling with DPD:

Set up your website profile
Set up products to sell on your website
Create and copy Cart and Checkout buttons

To get started selling with DPD, you’ll need to do a little basic configuration for each level. DPD asks some basic questions in plain English and has in-line help and instructions at every step along the way. We’ve worked real hard to keep having to look at the formal documentation at a minimum.

All the setup pages in DPD are arranged like this:

All options are clearly marked, and when you select a field to enter your information additional help pops up to better explain what goes in each blank. As needed, additional information is provided right on the form to make sure you know exactly what’s going on.

That said, getting DPD set up is a quick and easy process that has most people selling in just a few minutes.

Step 1: Set up your Store Profile

DPD products are arranged under store profiles. Store profiles are where options like which processor you would like to use, email / cart customizations, and checkout settings are stored. It might help to think of stores in DPD as a container, and all products in that container use the store's settings during sales and checkout.

To set up your first store, go to the "Store Setup" in the left navigation menu.

The Settings page is the only required, critical page you must set up to activate a new store profile. The settings page also features inline help and tooltips so setup should be straightforward for most, but there is a detailed explanation of all store setup options for those who have questions about a specific setting or option.

More information about advanced areas of website setup:

Processor specific setup guides:

Step 2: Set up your products to sell on your store's website

Once you have your store set up the next step is to set up some products to sell and upload the product files to the DPD servers for delivery.

Click New Product from the left menu.

This will open up the product setup wizard and guide you through a few basic options for your product.

First, you'll select the product type. There are a number of product types to choose from, including download products, tangible goods (with no download), keycode product types (with and without downloads), and combo products made up of other DPD products. Select "Download Product" to create a new download product for automatic sales and delivery.

Next, you'll upload your product file (unless you picked a non-download product type). The first time the product upload page loads you’ll be asked to allow the Java based uploader to access your browser. You must grant the uploader permission to upload files to DPD.

Once the uploader appears on your page you simply need to drag and drop your product file in to the uploader and click the big green upload arrow to start the upload.

Once the upload is complete DPD will automatically save your product and mark it as “Active” and ready to sell. It will then forward you to the details page where you can create prices and buttons.

You’ll be asked to set your product’s name, default price, and other product information such as SKU/Stock Number, and an optional product description and image. Once you’ve entered this information click Save to finish creating the product.

If all goes well, you’ll see something like this:

Additional Product Setup Related Information:

Troubleshooting Upload Errors
Allowed Product Types (anything)

Step 3: Creating Product and Cart Checkout Buttons

When your first store and product are set up, you’ll see something like this in DPD (hopefully your names will be a bit better than the ones I used in this example):

Notice the yellow warning symbol next to one of my products. This means that I skipped an important step when configuring my product. In the case of the Amazon Jungle Poster, I skipped uploading the file. If you don't see this icon, then your product is ready to go! All that's left is to pick your buttons and copy and paste the bit of HTML that DPD provides to your own web pages.

Generating a Vew Cart / Checkout Button:

On the Products page, you'll notice that there is a link called Button Creator.

When you click it, you'll be given an option to choose cart based buttons, or instant checkout buttons. Pick the one that suits your needs.

When you choose Use Shopping Cart, you'll see a new page with two sections: View Cart/Checkout Buttons and Add to Cart Buttons.

Generating a View Cart/Checkout Button:

The View Cart/Checkout Buttons are what allows your customer to see whats in her cart.

Browse through the buttons until you find one you like and click on it- DPD will automatically generate the button code in the box to the left for you to copy and paste. Copy and paste this button code in to your website's HTML to install the DPD cart in your website.

It is critical that you place a checkout button on every page of your site where you place buy buttons. This is because the checkout button code contains a very important piece of javascript that makes the cart display properly in your website.

Generating an Add-to-Cart Button:

Generating an add to cart button works the same way as an add to cart button- you pick your graphic and then copy and paste!

Browse through the buttons until you find one you like and click on it- DPD will automatically generate the button codes for all of your products in your current store and display them in the table to the left for you to copy and paste. Only active products will show in the list of products, so if you can't find one of your products there, its most likely in a different store, or still needs to be set up.

You can also over-ride your store's continue shopping URL setting by entering it in the text field. Doing so will update the code that is generated for your buttons.

Alternately, you can choose Instant Checkout for your deployment type.

This is a single item checkout button that goes directly to checkout with only the product for that button. The process is the same as creating an Add to Cart button. The only difference is the button code that DPD will generate.

Please note, with buy now buttons you can not use coupons, sell multiple items with one transaction, or use some advanced branding and customization features afforded by the DPD cart system.