pdf's as automatic reply/email for buyer on website -tips?

[jcalcina]

Wondering what the general steps are for sending an automatic email and/or pdfs to email of user/purchaser? I know there are two issues, the purchase and email to me, and more importantly, the automated email return to them with the pdf's. I have a php validation form on my site, which I found pretty easy to do. Can someone please point me in the right direction? I use cs5. Thanks, much appreciated.

[Jon Fritz]

Automatic response emails with attachments will fire off spam filters like crazy.

I would stay away from adding any attachment to an automated response to reduce the risk of your email going to a junk/spam folder, especially if it's a receipt.

[jcalcina]

Ok what is typically done then? Would it be non-automated, would someone reply manually to a purchase order? Or I suppose, how does one enable access to download a file, as a response to payment? Isn't that a common server-side application?

[Jon Fritz]

I'm sorry, I was only cautioning against adding an attachment to an auto-response email. An automated email response is pretty normal and is usually part of a php form to mail script.

Are you planning on taking actual orders with CC info, or is this more of an email papertrail for offline transactions?

[jcalcina]

Thanks Jon,

This would be to offer 3 academic pdf docs of mine for a small fee, about $20.00. So the purchaser would then be able to automatically download after paying. I'm guessing MySQL and PHP?

[Jon Fritz]

Yep, sounds like a perfect job for mySQL and PHP.

Personally, I would look to set it up where you're essentially selling a username and password to gain access a given file so the customer can download it. The auto-responder would then only need to have the link to "get your download" that's in a password protected area that uses the password they set up while placing the order.

There should be someone here that can point you in the right direction as far as either writing the code or using a third party store application.

[sudarshan.t]

DLGuard is a great tool that can be just what you're looking for: http://www.dlguard.com/dlginfo/index.php

It ensures your downloads are encrypted and that buyers dont by-pass the payment system to go to the download page.

If you're not really worried about encryption, you could use Paypal. Works for both your requirement. Collects payment and sends you an e-mail, sends the user a receipt and most importantly, you can customize where the user is redirected to once the payment is made. You can put your download page here.