Selling Video through MindBites: What does it take?

“I periodically get an open-ended, what does it take to sell videos through MindBites” email, so in the interest of saving a bit of time for myself, I figured it was high time that I pull together my semi-stock answer in a single concise blog post.

1. What can I sell through MindBites?

MindBites is a marketplace and platform that we built to enable you to sell access to videos that you create. It’s free to upload videos to the main MindBites video marketplace and sell access to them there. If you have an existing site, though, you may want to consider selling through a custom store that can easily be built and bolted onto your existing site or blog (you can see some custom store examples here or in the featured custom stores carousel midway down this page).

There are two types of products that can be sold through MindBites or a MindBites powered custom store: videos and series (bundles of videos). For any products you release into the marketplace, you, as the content creator, control all of their core settings and parameters (title, description, pricing, thumbnail, category, access period restrictions, downloading constraints, optional file attachments, optional transcript, etc).

2. I want to sell my videos! What next?

First, we’ll need to get you to sign up (as an “author” - meaning that you’re signing up to sell access to videos rather than signing up as someone who is only there to buy videos). The first decision at sign-up is what platform level (basic, pro, business, premier, or enterprise) is appropriate for you and your business.

The Basic level has no monthly costs, but you’ll be constrained a few different notable ways.  First, videos sold through  MindBites must all be instructional/educational in nature.  Second, you won’t have the option of creating a custom store to bolt onto your existing site such that you can sell access to your videos through your own site rather than having to direct your customers to MindBites, where the branding is all MindBites branding and there may be competing products.  You’ll also only be able to upload individual video files that are up to 250MB (each).   Further, you’ll be capped at 10 videos.

The Pro level bumps up the individual file size limit to 350MB and gives you the ability to upload up to 100 videos.  Even more importantly, you’ll be able to create and customize a custom store at this level.  And, as an added bonus, at the Pro level and above, you’ll get access to all of our bulk upload and bulk edit tools at this level (since uploading and customizing 100 different videos individually can be tedious and slow).

The Business level takes all of these things one step further.  The file size limit goes up to 500MB, and you can upload and sell access to up to 250 different videos.  You’ll also be able to create up to 2 custom stores under this plan.  For many, the main reason to bump up to the Business level is that you’ll get control of an additional parameter on all of your uploaded videos: you’ll be able to restrict downloads of the content.  Thus, you can set your content to be “stream-only” meaning that folks that purchase access can only watch it while they’re logged into their account online - they cannot download an MP4 version of the videos to save locally and access from their hard drive offline.

Needing additional functions, contact us about the Premier level (which comes with more stores, more videos, larger file sizes, etc) or Enterprise (which are generally custom plans that involve large content bases or special features) options.

3. How do I make money? What does it cost me?

The Basic platform level is free on a monthly basis.  We cover the costs of your account by keeping a share of your revenues.

Your earnings on each sale are determined by the price you set.  We take the price you set and remove a $0.29 transaction fee.  Then, we divide the remainder between you and us.  You get 65% on marketplace sales (and we keep 35%).  For sales through a custom store, you’ll earn anywhere from 70-75% depending upon your selected platform level (70% at Pro and 75% at Business and above).  We cover all financial processing costs, all media processing costs, all bandwidth costs, all storage and hosting costs, all affiliate payouts (for the MindBites affiliate program on the Main MindBites marketplace) out of our share of your gross revenues.

You’ll be able to track your earnings real-time on your author dashboard (accessible through the ‘My MindBites’ tab once you’re signed up as an author).  Anytime your earnings balance exceeds $25, a “Request Payout” button will pop up next to your available earnings balance.  Simply clicking that will trigger the payout request, which usually takes a few business days.  We pay you out via PayPal, and the PayPal payment confirmation email goes to the email address associated with your account with us.

There is a small flat monthly fee associated with each platform level above the Basic level, all of which give you the option of offering a custom store and all of which offer higher payout rates on all sales made through your custom store (Pro is currently $14/mo and Business is currently $29/mo).

Soooo, what are you waiting for?  Go sign up… or Contact us with more questions!

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