Help me sell my Excel spreadsheets!

October 1, 2008 7:55 PM

How can I sell my Excel spreadsheets online?

I create custom, complex, spreadsheets that I would like to sell online. What would be the best way to make this happen? I know enough about how to setup a basic website, but I'm really looking for suggestions on how to handle the transaction side of the business. I have no idea how to take payment and once the payment is received pass them either the file or the activation code for the file automatically.

I am open to using a service etc. but I'm looking for any ideas to make this happen.

Thanks,
J

posted by jseven to grab bag (9 comments total)

I think your best bet is probably eBay, at least initially. It would be a good way to find out if there's any market at all for what you're trying to sell, and to get some sort of practical idea of what the market is willing to pay for it.
posted by Class Goat at 8:12 PM on October 1, 2008

Excuse the tangent but if you do a mortgage calculator spreadsheet for a Canadian mortgage with a floating interest rate (the rate changes on the day the prime rate changes, mid-month), I'll buy it.
posted by winston at 8:28 PM on October 1, 2008

Design a good set for use by students and give them away for free. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to find good free spreadsheet templates; there are dozens of spreadsheet authors out there and they all charge. Make money with adsense and hiring yourself out for more complex custom jobs, but definitely give some of them away for free.
posted by The White Hat at 8:54 PM on October 1, 2008

I only have experience with this from a customer's perspective, but Kagi lets you sell software very easily.
posted by odinsdream at 9:45 PM on October 1, 2008

PayPal is great as they have simple to advanced solutions for selling stuff from your website.
posted by axltea at 9:57 PM on October 1, 2008

Let me offer a little pricing advice. WhiteHat has a good idea. Another, for the ones you want to sell, is to set the price a little low. The key is volume. I paid $9 for a macro-enabled spreadsheet that serves as a checkbook register and I was happy to pay it. If it had been priced at $39 I would not have bothered.
posted by megatherium at 3:59 AM on October 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Seconding megatherium. People are in my experience reluctant to pay that much for templates for existing software.

I think many people feel like they could do the template creation themselves, even if they really couldn't. Therefore, the price they are willing to pay for a template is lower than what they might pay for a piece of new software.
posted by Futurehouse at 7:48 AM on October 2, 2008

whats so good about these spreadsheets?
posted by mary8nne at 8:42 AM on October 2, 2008

mary8nne,
The majority of folks don't really understand the full capabilities of Excel from complex reporting, forecasting, and advanced statistical analysis. Furthermore, what I do, is integrate via VBA Excel into existing applications to create automation opportunities to reduce work cycles. It is certainly not a simple spreadsheet.

J
posted by jseven at 6:48 PM on October 2, 2008