How to Sell PDFs on Wix with PDF Protection [Pro Tips]

What do I need?

• A Wix website (for the website frontend)
• Shopify $5 plan (for the eCommerce and product backend)
  • Install the “Buy Button” app (free)
  • Install the “Fileflare” digital product delivery app (free plan available, or $9/m for PDF Stamping)

How does it work?

This will work by using Wix as your website’s frontend (visual side) and then using Shopify for your backend (for building products and taking payments).

This is the best workflow because Wix has no PDF protection features. Plus, you will get access to Shopify’s amazing eCommerce capabilities, such as International Pricing, best-converting checkout, and much more.

Price

All it costs is $5/month for the Shopify plan to integrate buy buttons to Wix.

In short

1. Create Shopify account
2. Create products
3. Install two free apps
4. Upload your PDFs & attach them to products
5. Add your Buy Buttons to Wix site
6. Done!

Why we’re using Shopify integrated with Wix to sell PDFs

First of all, Wix has zero file protection for PDFs.

Shopify is the leading platform for eCommerce for many reasons. It’s by far the best method to sell products online, even if you host them on a different platform, such as Wix. To name a few reasons why we are using Shopify integrated into Wix:

• Top-level support for digital products – much more branding customization
• No limitations when selling worldwide and digital products
• More file protection features for digital products
• Global tax rules
• International pricing and sales
• Secure, responsive, one-click checkout experience
• Shopify has a brilliant mobile app to track sales and analytics for orders. It dings every time you get an order 😉

If you want to learn more about how this works, read Shopify’s guide on using Shopify with Wix.

Wix’s whole digital product solution is weak. Using Shopify as the commerce and PDF delivery on your Wix site will allow you to unlock these:

• PDF Stamping (stamps customer’s details onto PDF pages to protect PDFs from file sharing)
• Lock the PDF so they cannot remove their personal details
• Set IP address download limitations (to prevent more sharing)
• Download links don’t expire
• Sell any file size and type
• Customisable download email templates
• Email tracking
• Send downloads from your business email address
• & more

There’s a reason why digital products sell better with Shopify’s system hooked up to Wix. Here they are below:

How to sell PDFs on Wix

I assume you already have a Wix site and are ready to add the products once you have set them up in Shopify.

Video walkthrough

This is a video walkthrough of integrating Shopify with Wix. It does not include the PDF Stamping setup, but you can see that further down in this guide.

The written guide is located below the YouTube video.

1. Sign up for Shopify

What you need to do is sign up for Shopify’s $5 plan. This allows you to use Shopify, but you won’t be able to create a storefront there. You will essentially be integrating it into Wix.

Install the apps to your Shopify store

Next, you will need to install the below apps. You can do this by:

1. Go to your Shopify dashboard
2. Click “Apps” > “App and sales channel settings“

3. Click the “Customize your store” button

4. Search for the below apps, or simply click the links.

Install the Buy Button app

Click the “Add app” button and follow the steps to accept.

Get the Buy Button app.

Install the Fileflare app

Click the “Add app” button and follow the steps to accept. When you get to the pricing page, choose a plan 7-day free trial, or scroll down and click the continue button to use the free plan.

Get the Fileflare app.

2. Create your products in Shopify

1. Go back to your Shopify dashboard and go to “Products“.

2. Here, you will click the “Add your products” button. If you have already created a product, it will show a green “Add product” button.

3. Now, enter your product details, including the name etc.
4. Scroll down to the “Shipping” section and choose “Digital product or service“.

5. Because it’s digital, it’s best to uncheck the “Track quantity” box too.
6. Click “Save” once you are complete.

Because it’s digital, it’s good to uncheck the “Track quantity” box too. Click “Save” once you are complete.

3. Upload your digital products & attach them

Now, to add digital products to those Shopify products that you created, all you need to do is:

1. In your Shopify dashboard, click the “Apps” button that is on the left
2. Click “Fileflare“. A new tab will open.

3. Now, go to the “Assets” page
4. Click the “Upload new asset” button and upload your digital products

Next, attach the file to the Shopify products

1. Click on the digital file that you just uploaded (blue text)
2. Enter the name of your Shopify product in the search box, select the relevant one and press the “Attach” button.

This will mean the digital file is now attached and armed. If someone purchases this product, a download email will be delivered.

4. Add the product Buy Buttons to your Wix site

At this point, you have fully set up the digital files to be delivered. All you need to do now is add the buy buttons to your Wix page.

Now, here is the fun bit! This is where you are going to add the Shopify products to your Wix pages. This one is more of a fun step for you to be creative.

1. Go to Shopify and click “Apps” > “Buy Button“
2. Now, click the “Create a Buy Button” green button

3. Click “Product Buy Button” > select your product and continue.

4. Now, customize your button to your style! You can be creative and use a few options.

You can change the colours, layout style, the cart, the button border, the text and much more.

Feel free to change the actions such as once the customer clicks the button, you can direct them to checkout instantly or just add the product to cart.

5. Once you are done, click the “Next” button in the top-left of the window. If you make any style adjustments, you will need to copy and paste this code again into Wix.
6. You will be promoted to copy the code. Click the “Copy code” button.

Go to your Wix site

1. From your Wix account, click on the site you want to edit.
2. In the Wix Website Editor, click the + button on the left > “Embed Code” > “Embed HTML“.

3. Paste the copied embed code for your Buy Button in the code box.

4. From here, you can drag & drop the button anywhere on your page to suit your style.

5. Set up PDF Protection in Fileflare

Now, you need to set up the protective part of selling PDF files. This is called PDF Stamping. You will need the Basic plan to use PDF Stamping, or you can continue to use the free plan without it.

1. Go to the Fileflare app
2. Go to “Settings“
3. Click on “Edit PDF Templates“
4. Click on “Edit” on the default template

5. Now you can customize what your PDF Stamp will look like.

6. Now, you will need to apply it to the PDF that you uploaded. Go to the “Assets” page.
7. Click on your PDF
8. Now use the drop-down to select your PDF template, and click “Update“

Done!

It’s really that simple to sell PDFs on Wix with file protection!

Remember, you still need to finalise some other things, such as your payment gateways and business data in Shopify.

Set up your payment gateway in Shopify

I recommend using Shopify Payments & PayPal as your gateways. It gives users two options, and sometimes they feel more comfortable using PayPal.

You will also get the best rates this way too. Shopify Payments have the best transaction costs compared to other gateways.

1. Go to Shopify
2. Click “Settings” > “Payments“
3. Here you can set up Shopify Payments, PayPal or any other gateway you choose.

Customize the Fileflare app

I recommend that you load up the Fileflare app and customise the settings more. There are a bunch of cool features that I think you would benefit from.

Features & tutorials:

• PDF Stamping
• Email tracking
• Add URs as assets
• No limits on file size or type
• Set IP Address limitations
• Order bandwidth & download tracking
• Set pre-order release dates
• Update assets & notify customers
• Fraud protection
• Add download limitations
• Attach unlimited assets to products
• Use your own email to send downloads
• Email customisation templates
• Downloads show in customer accounts
• Connect your own Amazon S3
• Sell personalised digital products

If you need any help, just contact us and ask anything you want! Also, feel free to check out our new app coming soon on how to sell films and videos on Shopify.