Using the disabling method would be most appropriate for those ebook authors/sellers that do not intend to offer any type of resell rights along with the purchase of their products. Even though this system can also be used for those products that are intended to be resold to other parties with some efficeincy. This step should be utilized by those that do not offer any type of reselling rights to gain maximum effectiveness.
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While there are many digital product authors who do not offer any type of reselling capabilities in conjuncture with their own originally created digital products, making use of some sort of "resale rights" actually improves your chances of making more sales. On the same token, it also increases the chances that your product will be one that is "lifted" by Internet thieves.
Add to that the fact that IF your product does have some type of resale rights, the thief in question may simply lift the product from you, and then turn around and resell it, stopping them from giving it away, but still losing YOU profits. It's a double-edged sword I'm afraid.
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In most cases, the disabling of a digital product occurs when an "end-user", or buyer, breaches the author's terms in one way or another. Disabling can also be used most effectively when a customer asks for a refund, or a charge-back is made. Once the product has been disabled, the customer can no longer make use of the product. Nor can anyone else. Therefore free "sharing" or reselling of the disabled product would be pointless.
That's the beauty of disabling digital products! But, how, exactly does one go about disabling their digital product? It requires certain systems or software of course.
ClickLocker(http://www.clicklocker.com/masterre ) seems to be, by far, the most superior product available for this. It can lock any software or ebook, make it possible to license only one copy of your product to run on any one computer system, let you charge a monthly fee for access to your product, can be used with any payment processor, auto collects identification info, and of course disable your product remotely without the need to contact the customer.
Plus, it's easy to use. Beyond that, the author, Dale Woodward, offers step-by-step instructions on how to use his program. That's awfully good. The best part is that the product(s) you're trying to make "disable-abled" don't have to be newly created. They can be any existing product. Now, as far as audio or video goes, that is unclear. But if your product is either software or an ebook, you're in business.
"ProductCart allows you to issue specific licenses for each of your products to each of your customers after they purchase. They break your terms, and BOOM! You disable their product through a simple module contained within their script. And, since this is a "shopping cart" script, obviously more than one product can be purchased at once by your customers. That's okay. Because with ProductCart's Downloadable Products Module, you can set a separate license for every product your customers purchase, even in bulk!
Now, it is imperative you understand that ProductCart will have a much higher price tag attached to it because unlike other online services, this is a script you will OWN. Therefore, no other fees will be applied past you purchasing this handy script from the start.
So, to follow up, if you ARE someone that is reselling digital products that come with some type of resell rights, the BEST action you can take is to keep close watch on who you are selling your products to, if you get several refund requests from the same person, then ban them from shopping with you in the future. And ProductCart can help you achieve all of that as can ClickLocker.
With that said, there is one other way you can keep an eye on your customers.
The best way to do that is to require your customers to provide you with all their information prior to downloading anything from you. And I have to say in all honesty that JVManager Fantasos is by far the greatest tool for just this type of job. Of course, JVManager won't be able to disable any products mind you, but it WILL give you control to keep track of every purchase made by every customer for the life of your business. Plus many other useful tools that are too numerous to list here. Just check it out from the main page and you will see everything it can do for you. This is one tool that every single Internet Marketer who is serious about doing business online must have in their personal arsenal. Bar none.
What else can you do?
Short of taking legal action against someone you find that is redistributing YOUR originally written and created digital products without permission from you to do so, or doing it in a way that breaks your pre-determined terms of that product, there is not much more that can be done once this has begun. I know, an extremely bitter pill to swallow, but such is the risk you take when you become a digital product reseller.
As stated earlier, this is a step, or option, that would be most suited to those that create their own digital products and DO NOT offer any type of resell rights to them. Even though there are a few solutions to successfully implement this step for everyone else.
