I’m trying to find if I can post a product on my store with a unique download link, for example if it is a digital download, I want that person to get a unique download link on e-mail or via website, and after he downloads it, the link can’t work anymore.
I want this pretty much to secure my digital products to not be shared over the internet. I know it can be downloaded and uploaded after, but at least my download link to work just for one IP/person or atleast just once.
It is possible? I usually put google drive links for my digital products.. but maybe I can switch this up 😀
Yes, you can definitely secure your digital products in the way you’ve described. WooCommerce has a built-in feature for digital products which automatically generates a unique download link for each purchase. This link is sent to the customer via email after purchase.
Furthermore, you can set the “Download Limit” and “Download Expiry” options to control the number of times a product can be downloaded or the duration for which the download link remains active.
However, please note that WooCommerce does not support IP-based restrictions for download links. While the link is unique and expires after a set number of downloads or a set period of time, it can still be used from different IPs within its validity period.
Thank you very much for the opportunity for this contact.
I would like to count on your valuable help for the following:
I’m building a website with WordPress + WooCommerce to create an online store selling my own e-books.
The e-books (in PDF format), for download after confirmation of purchase, will be hosted on Google Drive. Since I need to integrate WooCommerce with Google Drive, I will purchase the following tool: Integrate Google Drive.
Needing to provide the best protection for my e-books, as digital products, I found your very relevant information:
“WooCommerce has a built-in feature for digital products that automatically generates a unique download link for each purchase. This link is sent to the customer by email after purchase.”
Since I have no intention of IP blocking, what you say would actually be the security functionality I need, because if WooCommerce automatically generates a unique download link for each purchase, the risk of sharing and disclosing download links e-book downloads would be resolved.
As it was said in the information that this is a “built-in feature” in WooCommerce, I suppose there is no specific configuration to be done, that is, it is a security feature that is part of the operational essence of WooCommerce, but anyway I thank you for sending, please, all extra information pertinent to maximum security regarding the sale of digital products (in this case, e-books).
Thank you in advance for your clarifications and confirmations.
As I understand you are concerned about the link being shared and people who did not purchased the product being able to download it, correct?
If you use the built in feature on WooCommerce you will be able to set the amount of times a link can be used to download the product. You can also set an expiration date for the link. You can also require users to be logged in to their account to download the product. All those options are there to help increase the security. You can find more about this in this guide.
If you need help setting this up, please let us know so we can assist you further.
If you choose to use the Google Drive integration, then, since it is a third-party product, I recommend reaching out to them so they can tell you more about the security options on their plugin.
I hope this was clarifying. If you face any issues or have any questions, please let us know so we can assist you further.
First of all, I would like to sincerely thank you for your quick response and genuine interest in helping to dispel my security doubts.
Since the nature of selling digital products requires the seller and owner of their intellectual property to ensure maximum security in the online marketing process, the focus of my attention in this area is centered on protecting download links and also the e-books in PDF, in order to prevent sharing and misappropriation of digital products.
You have already explained very well the aspect of link security, for which I once again thank you.
Regarding the security of PDF e-books, it is something that I have been trying to find out about a lot.
Based on countless research, I came to the conclusion that DRM protection is the most suitable solution for PDF e-books.
However, I have come across many software companies that are charging hundreds to thousands of dollars for their services.
Since I’m taking my first steps in selling digital products online, with the primary objective of helping my family financially, I need a Woo integration solution that is efficient and affordable.
I saw a solution for DRM security – which is affordable – called “FlickRocket”, and this plugin has integration with Woo.
Below is the information about “FlickRocket” that I have so far and I would like to know, please, your expert opinion on this plugin:
(Note: Using “FlickRocket” I will no longer need to place e-books on Google Drive and, in turn, I will no longer need to use the “Integrate Google Drive” plugin (https://softlabbd.com/integrate- google-drive/).
Thanks for sharing additional context about your needs.
We always strive to ensure our users have the best experience and maximum security when using WooCommerce. However, it’s important to note that while we can provide general advice and guidance, we cannot endorse or guarantee the performance of third-party plugins. That being said, FlickRocket offers DRM protection for digital products, which could meet your needs.
Before you proceed, I recommend contacting FlickRocket’s support team to discuss your specific requirements and ensure their product will work seamlessly with your WooCommerce setup.
Remember, it’s always a good idea to test new plugins on a staging site before implementing them on your live site, to prevent any potential issues.
I hope this clarifies your concern. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
Many thanks for the reply. I will follow the guidelines and when everything is properly operational, both in terms of operation and security, I will come back here to inform you, as the topic “Security for selling Digital Products online” is extremely important but very little covered and detailed, and the people who choose this type of product to sell with WooCommerce really needs valuable information.
Your initiative to inform us once everything is operational is highly appreciated. Feedback from users like you helps us better understand our community’s needs and improve our services.
Remember, we are here to assist you at every step of your journey. So, feel free to reach out with any more questions or concerns you might have. We wish you all the best with your online business.
As promised, here I am to inform you of the new situation regarding the “FlickRocket” plugin. Regarding security protection in the process of selling downloadable products online, the “FlickRocket” plugin correctly fulfills its objective as it uses Adobe’s most advanced DRM tool on its servers. However, there are other factors that did not motivate me to use “FlickRocket”, and the one that caught my attention the most is that the owners of websites with WooCommerce no longer have full personal control over sales. Therefore, they process the payment, retain the amounts for weeks (obviously with the possibility of making investments in the financial markets) and then pass on the sales amounts to the product owners, and not to mention that there are still commissions charged on the quantity of ebooks sold. Since this system didn’t really appeal to me, I’m building the ebook access structure with the “WP File Download” tool – https://www.joomunited.com/wordpress-products/wp-file-download
Having resolved this issue, now I have a peculiar problem in “WooPayments” where even if the payment option via “Google Pay / Apple Pay” is enabled and configured, the buttons do not appear on any page: Product page / Cart page / Checkout page. Except for the credit card payment method, any other payment method available does not appear on any page. Today I will detail the problem and post it so that I can count on excellent help from everyone.
As promised, here I am to inform you of the new situation regarding the “FlickRocket” plugin.
Thank you for sharing your feedback. This will guide other users in making informed decisions about using it.
Having resolved this issue, now I have a peculiar problem in “WooPayments” where even if the payment option via “Google Pay / Apple Pay” is enabled and configured, the buttons do not appear on any page: Product page / Cart page / Checkout page. Except for the credit card payment method, any other payment method available does not appear on any page.
Both Apple Pay and Google Pay use browser and device-specific technologies. For example, Apple Pay requires Safari on MacOS or iOS, while Google Pay works on Chrome browsers. If you’re using a different browser or device, the buttons may not appear as expected. A current list of supported devices and browsers can be found https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208531.
I have discovered an easy way of bypassing all the security that is mentioned above (DRM is not an option for me so apart from that) which is simply to enter the complete path to the product. I’m selling Digital sheet music as PDFs, so while WooCommerce creates a unique link for each sale and limits the number of times that can be used and for how many days, nonetheless if a visitor can work out certain information about your site then simply entering https://yoursite.com/wp-content/uploads/product_folder_name/product.pdf will open that pdf in your browser. So should we store the pdfs in the Uploads folder, or elsewhere on the server and can we set the access rights such that only the server account can read them?
SEt security access rights to the folder containing your PDFs to the ones shown in the image (octal 0750) will result in anyone presenting the full URL of the PDF receives a 403 error (access not allowed).
