Alternative for Commerce to sell files?

[Black Tiger]

I ask this for a friend of mine who can not write English very well.

He would like to release some things he made himself, via the download section of his forums, or via another way, but users have to pay a little amount for his work.

Now he could buy Commerce, but he does not have a lot of money and Commerce has lots of options he doesn't even need.

So he's looking for a cheaper alternative than Commerce, so he can sell his files the way it's done in the Marketplace here, or via his downloadsection.

It would be nice if payments could be done via Paypal.

Is there an exising addon or extension here on Invision or maybe on a trustworthy other site?

[Jim M]

You would need both Downloads and Commerce to sell downloadable files like our Marketplace.

[Black Tiger]

Yes I know that and I stated that myself already.

But I also found an alternative for payed subscribtions like is present in Commerce.

So I wouldn't wonder if there would also be an alternative (addon, extension or something) to sell files, either via Downloads or another way to forum users.

Hence my question.

[SJ77]

Hi, 

tell your friend if he wants to avoid problems that he should pay for commerce and downloads. It’s the only thing that’s going to integrate correctly.
Also it’s amazing! 
Waste time trying to cheap out here and you will regret it later. Build your platform with a good foundation and you will be able to scale. 
PS, it’s really not that expensive if we are being honest. 
thank you

[Black Tiger]

Well sorry, but my friend does not have the money for it. $100,- is a real amount of money for him, renewals not even counted, so he won't buy that anyway. He would, if he could, so Commerce is definately no option. I can't be more clear, some people just don't have that kind of money and are glad they can pay the forums, downloads, pages and updates every 6 months.
It's different if you make enough money or have a business.

22 minutes ago, SJ77 said:

PS, it’s really not that expensive if we are being honest. 

If I'm really being honest, that totally depends on the way you look at it and the use of it.

To do a few things and for a hobbyist with not a lot of money, it's really expensive, it costs as much as the forum itself.

From a commercial point of view, if you use most things of Commerce and it's really to earn some nice money on a regular time, then it might nog be expensive, provided you can easily ern it back, which my friend can't.

From a programmers point of view, it's a great piece of software with lots of options, so looking at it this way, it's not that expensive either.

If I understand correctly the answer is "we don't know of any existing alternative".

If that is the case, he will just use paid memberships via usergroups for access to downloads as alternative. It costs some more manual work, but it's not like he's releasing files every day. He makes maps which takes months to create, so the selling of the files is maybe 2-3 times a year and very cheap. So he won't get near a 100 dollar, which he earns with this.

I don't ask this for him with no reason, we've really thought and discussed about Commerce,.

But even from a commercial pont of view a business does not buy things which they can't earn back. And he's not even a business but a hobbyist. 😉
Thank you.

[Joel R]

@Black Tiger He might be able to do a custom page or a forum topic, with manual instructions.  

It's a cheap, low-cost and manual method, but it might be sufficient for him :)