SendOwl

Fantastic app. I've been using another Digital Downloads app for a couple of years and after finally getting fed up with poor service, server outages over weekends, missing download emails and the inability to post a download link to the order confirmation page, I finally made the switch to SendOwl. 3 days later I can honestly say it's the best decision I've made with regard to my store.

I initially had a few issues with installing to my custom template but the SendOwl team were incredibly helpful and got me up and running quickly with tailored instructions.

The easy to use interface makes the app a dream to use and almost guarantees you'll never receive a "where's my download link" email from a customer ever again.

Highly recommended.

I don't ever leave reviews, but I am very disappointed in the app and even more disappointed in the customer service. There is a page within the app that states there are unlimited downloads. I based my whole store around this and paid my assistant to set up my store using this app. Well come to find out, they don't actually offer unlimited downloads. When I contacted customer service I was given the run around and told that no where on their site do they advertise this (essentially implying that because it's not advertised this way, the incorrect wording within the app shouldn't matter). Super disappointed, but even more upset by the response. Sorry, but don't say you have something and then treat your customers in a dismissive way when they ask where the feature is. Will be removing every bit of my store because I'm not giving money to an app that falsely advertises and then tells me it's my fault for actually reading about the features they falsely claim to have.

I've used 20+ apps and this is the first negative review I've left. This app is complete garbage. Installing is a nightmare, managing your files is basically impossible and updating your files is literally impossible. I wish I had just built something from scratch instead of wasting my time/money.

So much for the claims of fast customer service. On free trial, emailed support directly, after 2 days, crickets. I've searched all my Gmail, including trash folder. Nothing. Disappointed.
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UPDATE1. Warning. I have only about 2000 products, maybe closer to 2500, and Send Owl has a warning built into their software saying they can't load my "large" number of products into their dashboard so I tragically can't use the dashboard. It says I have to use the pull down dot dot dot apps function within Shopify alone. Big bummer. Not going well so far. I wonder if I will be able to even do Drips without dashboard access? DRIPs r only reason I am interested in this app.
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UPDATE2. So working on single product level within Shopify, good news is that selecting Send Owl app in Shopify on the single product level does successfully launch you back into Send Owl app dashboard with that singular product identified and selected. Good news also that Drip is available along this path. Bad news is that the Drip file DELIVER is absolutely not working. It is basically inert. Says no matches found. No indication whatsoever as to how to attach a digital file and it really does appear to be non functional. I work strictly over my smartphone in Android environment as I despise Windows. I have already checked "request desktop site" in Android Chrome browser but no dice. Am heading to local shop to get on a desktop to do the exact same thing on Windows to see if it works there and thus see if Send Owl just isn't up to snuff in Android environment.
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UPDATE3: So here I am now, sitting in front of a desktop computer running Windoze. And the same "inert" Drip DELIVER functionality is present, so I conclude it's definitely not an Android operating problem, seeing that the same problem exists in Windoze. And then I find this bombshell under DRIP online help instructions at SendOwl:

Attention Shopify users!

While SendOwl links to your Shopify account to help you sell and securely deliver digital products, bundles, software and much more, we are not able to integrate our ‘File Access’ or ‘Drip’ subscriptions with the Shopify checkout process.

>>>Egads. Sigh. So disappointing. This is obviously a very high quality product as long as your parameters fit within THEIR parameters. And their parameters are fairly wide, better than any other Shopify app I know of with regards to digital downloads. But unfortunately, if you want to do DRIPS, it's just not going to work within the Shopify environment. Which shocks me, seeing as it seems like this is designed to be a Shopify-friendly app. I'm keeping the 1-star rating because, for me, without the DRIP functionality available as a Shopify-centric merchant, this app is not valuable to me. It is doubtless valuable to others but make sure it will do for you what you expect/want it do as it's not a given, obviously. That's what free trials are for, clearly. And reviews.

Here's the link where you'll find the warning that DRIP doesn't work with Shopify products:

https://help.sendowl.com/help/drip-subscriptions

PS Basically, Shopify's Digital Downloads is offering to me for FREE what SendOwl wants to charge astronomical monthly sums. We've been using Digital Downloads for 2+ years and it works flawlessly for simple 1-time digital downloads associated with single product purchases. Don't see the need for SENDOWL with this limitation that they bury deeply in their DRIP help files.
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UPDATE4. Looked at Fetch, have message into them as to whether they can do anything similar to DRIP on Shopify. Waiting to hear back from them but see no evidence on their website that they have a DRIP-like function. However, a combination of CHARGERABBIT and SKYPILOT (both from the same developer, they're designed to be companion apps) looks VERY promising to accomplish DRIP-like functionality ON SHOPIFY. Will update as soon as I know more. I've got messages into them as well. And no, I don't work for CHARGERABBIT/SKYPILOT, I'm just a Shopify merchant looking for solutions for Shopify merchants and sharing what I find. I do tons of reviews here on Shopify, always evenhanded and straightforward and FAIR.
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UPDATE5. So after writing this review Send Owl finally contacts me. So it is clear that Send Owl does NOT use the Shopify checkout process which is why its DRIP function doesn't work on Shopify. This also means that Send Owl does NOT update the Shopify order register when an order is placed. Instead, Send Owl only updates the Send Owl order register since this is where the order actually transacts. This is a HUGE problem if u r running an affiliate program like LeadDyno that MUST have all of ur orders registering in Shopify in order for ur affiliates to get correctly and fully paid for their sales. Or any other app dependent on the Shopify order register actually registering your orders as a Shopify merchant. Charge Rabbit, unlike Send Owl, has already indicated to me that they DO register their orders under the Shopify orders register so I am going to try Charge Rabbit. Send Owl says they may or may not improve Send Owl to register orders in the Shopify orders register. I can't wait for this possible but not promised indefinite date improvement. It's a deal killer for me. Easy call. 1-star still.
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UPDATE6:

George and company in Feb of 2017 did eventually make the DRIP process register in the Shopify order register. That should, in theory, cause apps like LeadDyno to pick up those DRIP transactions to pay affiliates. And help any app like LeadDyno that relies on the Shopify order register to work properly.

I looked at it briefly at the end of my free trial and it looked good on paper. But I've yet to try it out in the real word yet cuz I'm not ready to start the paid sub yet.

I may eventually upgrade to 5 stars, but for now, raised from 1 star to 4 stars.

Great so far! Worth the monthly fee as well! I appreciate the added features like link expiration limits, putting the customer's names on the PDF's for security, and that they DON'T automatically mark certain purchases as fulfilled when the digital downloads are sent in addition to physical products that are not yet fulfilled. My only issue is that by having the customer name automatically put on the PDFs, it takes away the interactive feature from the PDF.

Terrible experience.
The response from Paul at SendOwl was fine....
But the App is extremely limited....in that I could not set it up for more than one format (i.e., either landscape or portrait).
When Paul offered me the opportunity to open a second account at a 50% discount ...just to get the 2nd format -- I took advantage of that ....
but only found out that the SendOwl app account only connects to ONE Shopify store ... which was crazy and cumbersome. If all your files are in one format ...this might be a viable option for you. But it did not work for me and the SHopify gurus who sent me to SendOwl did not know of its limitations....
Bob Abramms
https://manywaystoseetheworld.org/

If you want to add subscriptions to your shopify you will need to be able to understand coding. I contacted help desk and they couldn't help me so I just used the paypal subscription button. Works so much easier

MESSED UP MY SHOP! wish I could give this 0 stars. Customers couldn't download the free e book without doing a whole check out with their shipping address and billing address etc. I asked the help about this and they seemed like had no idea how their app worked. It was a pain in the ass to delete the app. and when we finally did our shop got messed up and our add to cart disappeared. really pissed off with this app. terrible experience.

The support was for me a horrible experience. Never had the correct answers to my questions.
Moreover if you have apps like receiptful already installed this will be complicated to setup.

We are not happy about the experience we had.
First of all, be careful Sendowl is changing a lot of liquids and after de-installation, you have to release it manually. It took a couple of hours to find out where they change the scripts.
Finally, for our purpose, it was not usable. Especially, the checkout and the subs page are dominated with the big owl. No CI possible. etc.
Also, we think that the bypassing of the checkout procedure of Shopify is not confirm to Shopify rules.
So we decide to use another system selling for movie subs.
Emil Brunner
brain-friendly.com