In a word: Yes.

There are three different ways that you can sell digital products using the Shop Kit Plus.

1. The first way is to setup the digital product just like you would your physical products. Then when you receive an order, email the digital files to the buyer.
2. The second method is to use the Products For Download section of Mals. Premium account holders can upload a maximum of 350 digital product listings. The products themselves are stored on your server.
3. The third option is to purchase Linklok for Mals. This system provides secure digital downloads to your customers.

I don’t recommend any of these methods.

1. The first methods is a pain in the rump if you get more than the occasional sale. And if you’re only getting the occasional sale, is it really worth it?
2. The second method is not secure, because you are sending direct links to your products.
3. The Linklok method is secure — but is a pain in the rump for me (or you!) to setup and update.

So what do I recommend?

I discovered WAHMcart a few months ago and have been using it myself for my information products (Presenting Your Products and Mals Advanced Shipping) . It is perfectly suited for the secure sales and internet marketing of digital products, such as ebooks or patterns.

You can use WAHMcart on more than one site. You can also use it in conjunction with your existing Shop Kit Plus installation, enabling you to sell physical and digital products on one site.

For example, you would add your digital products to the Shop Kit Plus, just like you would a physical product, except you would leave the price set to zero.

Then you would change the order button settings in Catalog Setup to only show when a price is set.

Finally, in the product description for your digital products, you’d include the order button code generated by WAHMcart. You and your customers would have the best of both worlds.

WAHMcart also comes with a built-in email marketing system that includes sequential autoresponders. You can even have a newsletter for each product. Or a newsletter for people who are interested in a specific product — and when they order, the system can move them over to the customer list for that product.

The downside? WAHMcart is $30 per month.

In my opinion, as a happy WAHMcart and SKP, user: It’s well worth it.

But don’t just listen to my opinion: Try out the 14-day trial for $1 yourself…

UPDATE: If you are just starting out, you may wonder why you’d need the SKP and WAHMcart. The reason I recommend these two is because the SKP includes a WYSIWYG HTML editor that makes it a breeze to manage your pages. You can even use the category and product system as a online catalog. Just turn off the cart features in the SKP and include the WAHMCart order buttons in the product description.

Now, if you want to use HTML pages or a Wordpress blog to power your site, with a WAHMcart backend, you can do that, too. You’ll just need a plain jane hosting account, like the ones we offer at Watersweb Hosting.