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Recently I talked about protecting your digital products with Paypal IPN. Using Paypal IPN is the simplest way to protect your digital products that you sell online. Without something like Paypal IPN, you are exposing your product to unauthorized downloads.

Towards the end of that article, it seems that I talked very highly of DLGuard.

I started using DLGuard starting with my second product in 2006. Ever since, every product that I rolled out, I use DL Guard. Of course, that is with the exception of my viral list building projects, where I use a membership site script.

I started using DL Guard from version 2. And now they are at version 4 already. At first Sam Stephens (the creator) used his own data storage system. So no MySQL database is required. There are pros and cons to that. The good thing is you don’t have to mess with difficult MySQL settings. But the bad thing is his own data system is not the best solution to the problem.

That is why now, Sam has started using MySQL in DLGuard, starting from version 3. And you thought that it’ll be difficult. Actually no. With the MySQL version, Sams also took some drastic steps by using better software development tools, IonCube. With IonCube, you Sams is able to deliver DLGuard with an easy to use installer software. All you need to do is run that EXE software, define a few settings and you are done.

Ever since having installed DLGuard, life has been easy… at least in this one area.

Let me tell you about the life before DLGuard…

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HOW IT WORKS

If you sell ebooks or software, you need a way to protect your download page from prying eyes. Many of us use Paypal. It’s easy and it’s convenient. I use them too. And the easiest way to use start using Paypal to accept payment is to create a Buy Now Button from within your Paypal account.

But to protect your digital product, you need to do something extra.

The sad truth is, Paypal’s Buy Now Button doesn’t actually protect your downloadable products. By viewing the HTML source code of your website, people can see where they will be redirected after making a payment using Paypal. And knowing this information, people can just type that address in the browser, skipping the part where they make the payment.

But Paypal has implemented (since years ago) a mechanism that you can use to verify and approve orders before allowing access to your download page. And all that can be automated, so you don’t have to do it manually.

This is known as the Paypal IPN (Instant Payment Notification). You can get a manual at Paypal at Paypal’s IPN page.

Before I tell you about how to implement this with your product, let me first tell you how it works.

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