I got a Ebay Exec to curse!

[peeder]

Originally Posted by Ken Lewis

walk over to the mirror and you'll have your answer

I'm flattered to have your attention, at least, Ken.

[GearBit]

Originally Posted by CDS

It is ok that you do not get the concept right away, it is up to me to make sure we try our best to provide an understanding to what is offered.

It is in your best interest to utilize every point of digital distribution.

RZ allows you to move full quality WAV files of an album per say, at less the cost it is to sell a web quality file on services such as iTunes or even Amazon MP3.

RZ is instant digital retail where your WAV album is sellable in 8 minutes, opposed to waiting weeks for posting on the other services.

RZ offers fast turnaround of payment from buyers directly from a MySpace/Facebook page, email blast, blog ect.. without redirection.

Payments are direct to your PayPal or Amazon Payments account. Amazon Payments is a new service Amazon launched that allow any established customer of amazon.com to recieve payments (it works just like PayPal).

RZ offers patent pending methods like split payments at the point of sale for you and your partners, so if you want to split a $10 purchase between 249 people, RZ will do it for you at the point of sale. Well you can set up 249 with PayPal but only 5 with Amazon Payments (AP is in beta and we got into an advanced grant to include the service in our product:)

RZ offers your first generation of buyers to become resellers, so if you want to offer your buyers $2 to resell your $10 package, at the point of sale to their contacts they recieve $2 and you receive $8 all in real time.

There are more features but to simply put it, when you sign up for RZ, we are licensing you our technology, if you want to start a digital retail empire in which you can sell and deliver up to 100GB of secure hosted data per 1KB RZ file, by all means do so :)

Simpler way to put it, you open up the RZ app, drag and drop the files you want to sell (up to 100GB) and press "Save Zip" and we take care of the rest, after upload you just distribute the link we give you and nothing else to worry about. Everything is included inside a 1KB zip file to instruct your buyers how to buy and redeem your products.

Wow. That should shut some people up!
Hey peeder....ya listenin?

[malditoyanki]

The "make everyone a re-seller" idea is to avoid them ripping and uploading to pirate bay I take it?

But is human greed enough to make it work...

[CDS]

Originally Posted by Neruk

Dude, I am wickedly stoked for this to launch.

COOL! This makes me feel good as I feed off the excitement of users.

How exactly do the kode key plastic cards work? How do you get one of the generated passwords ON the plastic card?

Will sellers just be able to print out these codes onto ANYTHING and then sell them? ie business cards and such?

yes, anything you can do Variable Data Printing with... including making "paper units" from your home computer using whats called the "mail merge" process. RZ generates a .csv file in your save path... this is a standard Excel compatible file format. Just give the .csv to any VDP (plastic gift card) and thats it :)

Some example vendors we have tested:
Check out the prices of 4colorprint! Now you see why it was important for us to add KodeKey for users :)
Silkcards - like business cards and can do Variable Data for extra $40 (and scratch offs but you have to call to request this)
Plastic Cards 12mil White -12mil thin like a transit card
Plastic Cards 30mil White - 30mil thick like a credit card
(4colorprint printing is done and drop shipped from China, thats why the low price but great for anyone looking to start a service)

Plastic Cards by Duracard® Plastic Card Printing - These guys are a bit more expensive but printing is done in USA and they can get you small emergency units (like 200 units) overnight domestic U.S.

Check out The Alternative Online Payment and Shopping Cart Platform for Merchants - you can use KodeKeys and RZ urls to easily set up Trialpay campaigns which allow blue-chip advertisers to pay for your product for customers conversion of a 3rd party offer... Basically if a user may not want to pay for your product, they click your Trialpay product badge (which you place on your site next to your RZ offer) and they can select from interesting offers from reputable 3rd parties (like eBay, Amex, Netflix ect) and if they take to a 3rd party offer, they get a e-mail some time later with your RZ and KodeKey... and Trialpay pays you for the conversion... In some cases you can make more.. if you set your price acceptance minimum to $10 then you will never get a conversion less than that, but some conversion could pay you out $20 or $30! This is really a cool setup and as you can see adding KodeKey is crucial to expose such selling innovations :)

Also, from a sellers standpoint, it seems like it would be more beneficial that 2nd generation sellers could also resell and make X amount. The way I see it.. whichever buying that makes a sale should get ~20%(or whatever). It may not be grand for the 1st generation buyer, but it would be A LOT more exposer if EVERYONE that has made a purchase was also reselling. (If you change your mind about these resales and use this idea - I get the credit HAHA)

There are 2 reasons why we only allow first generation buyers... 1) We need to be fair to your direct fans/first contacts because with the Viral Retail feature, they can really go hard to promote and market your package because the money they can make is seriously potentially profitable... of course you as the seller set exactly how much you want resellers to receive. We see some situations where a seller may release a RZ to a private fan base just so they can buy and resell, without making the original RZ public... this mimics the traditional business model of brick and mortar wholesale retail. 2) We have a very great relationship with the PayPal guys, and what we are doing they consider to be the "edgiest" of all PayPal developments.. PayPal has a terms of use that prevents "Pyramid Schemes" and "Multi Level Marketing (MLM)". We do not ever want a seller's activity to get confused with such burnlounge'esq tactics and get their account (or our relationship with PP) cut off. Anyone that seek to resell your package will need to buy it directly from you. We will keep an open ear about multi gen reselling and see what the consensus is. BTW: KodeKey recipients can also set up reseller packages if you armed it :)

[CDS]

Originally Posted by malditoyanki

The "make everyone a re-seller" idea is to avoid them ripping and uploading to pirate bay I take it?

But is human greed enough to make it work...

We really hope so. Those savvy enough to be torrent seeders we hope will be interested in setting up RZ reseller sites.

[Neruk]

This may seem like a stupid question, as I am totally unfamiliar with variable data printing... but if I order cards from any of those places, HOW do I get the keykode onto the card? Do they print different numbers on each card? If so how do they become activated? Do I need something that electronically scans the keycode from my computer onto the card?

[CDS]

Originally Posted by Neruk

I am totally unfamiliar with variable data printing... but if I order cards from any of those places, HOW do I get the keykode onto the card? Do they print different numbers on each card? If so how do they become activated? Do I need something that electronically scans the keycode from my computer onto the card?

When you generate KodeKeys in the Retail Zip storage manager (in the app) the keys are saved to a .csv file (text file format) and uploaded to your personal RZ KodeKey server associated with your service plan. When the RZ app finnish adding the keys, they are instantly activated and ready to be redeemed by your end users.

When you deal with any of the VDP providers, just give them the .csv file you generated for the package and they will print each key per unit on the cards for you. As with 4colorprint, they charge an extra fee for VDP but when you get your card order, each card will have a unique KodeKey on it.

At launch we will provide a PSD card template that you can use with any card printer.. and a pdf "instruction guide" to also pass on to your printer so they understand exactly what RZ users expect from the job.. for instance we suggest that codes are placed under a "KodeKey" logo to properly identify to your end users for easy reference with the instructions we provide them that teaches how to redeem your goods. You can design the cards and place the codes on them any way you like, but you will need to reserve a blank area of the card which you intend the codes to be printed and just translate that to your VDP agent. You will receive a proof by all VDP printers to sign off on before any actual printing is done so the process is really solid. We will have examples of this in the style guide section of our user manual which can be accessed through the RZ Creator interface at anytime by pressing the "Help" button.

[CDS]

Originally Posted by dogma

This guy has obviously spent a lot of time on R&D

Did you see the Iron Man movie when he was creating the suit and the follies that followed.. lol that is so me..

I had to come post on the above just to give the readers here an understanding of the care going into the RZ release:

I just noticed that on KodeKeys we were generating (16 characters long) includes the "0" and "O" (number zero and letter O) characters embedded in them... So I just told the team to omit all "0 and "O" characters from KodeKey lists so users redeeming them will not have to go through the trouble figuring out on printed material if a 0 is a 0 or a O is a O.

[PoorGlory]

I'm liking this idea a lot. Good luck with it, I think you might be on the cusp of something killer.

[paultools]

If I buy the $5 bag of apples, don't I eat today and for a lifetime?
Gotta eat the apples to get the seeds.
Otherwise, I'll starve waiting for my harvest.

[ProducerBoy]

I just shot the info over to some independent artists and producers. I'm really loving the direction you've taken here. Really dig the reseller option.

[CDS]

Originally Posted by paultools

If I buy the $5 bag of apples, don't I eat today and for a lifetime?
Gotta eat the apples to get the seeds.
Otherwise, I'll starve waiting for my harvest.

Those who are fixated on eating first end up too slow and lazy to strive to prepare the harvest.

[CDS]

Originally Posted by ProducerBoy

I just shot the info over to some independent artists and producers. I'm really loving the direction you've taken here. Really dig the reseller option.

Double thanks.

[paultools]

Originally Posted by CDS

Those who are fixated on eating first end up too slow and lazy to strive to prepare the harvest.

Depends on what you eat, I guess.
Which came first, the fruit or the seed?

[CDS]

Originally Posted by paultools

Depends on what you eat, I guess.
Which came first, the fruit or the seed?

Logically I would have to say the seeds, who is to say the earth wasn't created in the winter :)

[CDS]

As an update to some of the info written previously in this thread,

Retail Zip release is now September 2008;

The PayPal Newsletter profile has been moved from September to November.

[CDS]

We are testing screen capture applications for our video tutorials and we found the app we are going to use.

To help readers understand how the Retail Zip app work, here are 2 video examples of creating a ready-to-sell 80mb MP3 package and 1000 KodeKeys in less than 3 minutes:

Retail Zip 80mb MP3 album demo
KodeKey Demo
The Buyer's Experience
We are going to release the Windows version to our corporate users and to the public as a pre-release. Pre-release meaning we are not sending out press releases or doing advertising yet, we will wait until the Mac version is done before any PR. We have a few enterprise clients that are PC only and need to get started.

New feature: we will allow you to upload your own KodeKey lists (we are adding this now) and you can apply the same KK lists across multiple packages! So if you want to create your own passwords you are welcome to do so :)

We will not make the announcement in the "New Product" section here in GS until the Mac version is ready. The Windows and Mac version uses the same Java source code, it's just the Mac needs a little more care with the GUI Aqua interface programming. If anyone here has a PC handy and want to start using RZ, it is ok as the Mac version is identical and will allow access to your RZ pool.

Pre-release will be available next monday.

[CDS]

As of today, Retail Zip® is now a certified registered trademark.

[drewharris]

I read the thread a few weeks ago and checked the website and didn't find anything about the costs. What kind of costs are associated with Retail Zip?

[CDS]

Originally Posted by drewharris

I read the thread a few weeks ago and checked the website and didn't find anything about the costs. What kind of costs are associated with Retail Zip?

This will be available at launch. There will be 5 plans total.

We have a "Pay-as-you-Go" plan which gets you started and only charges for resources as needed, and a "Commercial" plan that offer 20GB global storage, 20GB transfer in monthly, and 40GB outbound bandwidth at only $19.99 monthly.

As mentioned previously, signing up to Retail Zip is similar to signing up for web hosting and you then do with the technology as you wish to meet your business model/needs.

[CDS]

I wanted to give an update to fellow GS asking in the PM about the status of RZ.

We needed to add 3 more features in before we launched, which is now in October.

1 of which I can reveal is:

Unlimited file and package sizes - We want to deliver what no other digital retail system in the world could and I am happy as of today to say.. well I will just show you a screen shot:

We are having fun and everyone is excited to get this thing into the world to do some magic.

[CDS]

Hi Everyone,

I am editing this because we decided to go for it all :). Look at my new avatar to get a hint at what we decided to add early :)

The last thing I want is to release the most powerful digital retail system in the world just to have the issue of copying to overshadow our effort. This issue has come up plenty of times in every discussion about digital distribution.

To prove we will be the best system, we will deliver the holy grail of digital content distribution on day 1. And you will have a choice of how you want to deliver to your buyers.

Do not make any big investments in DVD or Blu-ray disc manufacturing in the new year :)