In this video we are discussing the Download Manager Micropayment integration, which adds a virtual currency layer to your WordPress Downloads Directory infrastructure.
This means that when a user downloads or uploads a file, such as a music file or software zip file, they will be charged a specific amount of points that will be deducted from their digital wallet.
Setting up your Virtual Currency
After installing both the Micropayments and the downloads manager plugin, the first thing you will need to do in order to complete the integration is go to the Micropayments settings and add point values. Here you can determine exactly how many points are worth a certain amount of any currency. The default is US dollars.
For example, we have points values at 100 for 1 us dollar and 500 for 5 us dollars. You can also easily add as many other points values as you like. This is the virtual currency that your sites users can use to either gain or charge points for downloading or uploading files with the downloads manager, our WordPress file sharing plugin.
The ultimate WordPress plugin for managing uploads and downloads to your WP site. Allows WordPress users and visitors to preview media files before downloading. Admins can manage member permissions and moderate upload settings.
After you have established points values in the micropayment settings, you can head over to the downloads manager settings. You should see a micropayments tab appear.
Under the micropayments settings, you can decide what kind of micropayment transactions will accompany either downloads or uploads by users.
For downloads, you can choose to disable the micropayment platform, to grant points to the users wallet, or to withdraw or charge points from the users wallet. You can also set up a specific amount for individual downloads.
Below, you can define the default amount of points to be withdrawn or added to the users wallet. The same settings apply for when users upload a file to the download repository, except that you cannot define a specific points value for uploads.
WordPress Downloads Directory from the User Point of View
When Downloading a File
Lets see what this looks like for the user when they visit the downloads page on your site. When they click on a particular download of interest, they can preview the file as usual, but the user will be notified of the pricing of the individual download and will not be able to download the file unless they have enough points. If the user doesn’t have enough points in their wallet to download the file, they can easily access their individual wallet in order to purchase enough points to download the file.
In their wallet page, they can see all of their transaction history, and purchase more points. At checkout, the user will be able to choose from among the points values that you have assigned and they can charge their wallet this way.
When the user has sufficient points in their wallet to purchase the download, under the download button on the download page, it will alert the user of the price of the download and the user can go ahead and download the file.
When Uploading a File
Now let’s see what it looks like for a user when they want to upload a file. On the “my downloads page,” a user can choose to add a new download. For example, I will add a download here.
You can give it a name, version, upload one or more files, enable single file download, a preview or media player if applicable, assign it to one or more categories, give it one or more tags, provide a description, a screenshot, among all of the other options available with the download manager plugin. Then when you go to add the download, you can see that 300 points have been added to my wallet, because that is the point value we set for when users add a new download to the repository.
Once you have added the download, you can view it and see that other users will be charged 500 points to download it. You can also view your wallet for proof that the 300 points were added to your wallet in your transaction history.
Custom settings
If you choose to set the points value for each individual download, then when the administrator goes to create a new download, you will have an option at the end of the form to either disable, grant or charge a certain number of points to the user that is catered to that specific download. For example, this download will cost a user 1,000 points.
