01 / 06Watermarking
PDF stamping — per buyer, every time.
Every delivered PDF is stamped at download time with the buyer's name, email, and order number. The stamp sits in a configurable footer, survives copy-paste, and makes the file traceable. If a stamped copy surfaces on a piracy forum or LibGen, the author knows which order leaked it, can block any remaining downloads for that buyer, and has evidence for a DMCA takedown.
An invisible forensic marker is embedded alongside the visible footer — even a leaked copy with the footer cropped traces back to the original customer. Position, opacity, colour, and font size are configurable, with {customer.email} and {order.name} tokens.
02 / 06Fraud
Stop chargeback-prone orders before the file leaves.
Ebook PDFs are small, high-margin, and frequently targeted by stolen-card buyers scraping for resale. Alva scores every order against 40+ signals via Shopify's Risk API — AVS mismatch, device fingerprint, email age, CVV outcome, VPN/proxy flags. High-risk orders auto-hold before the file is delivered. The author approves or rejects in one click. False-positive rate across Alva's merchant base: 0.4%.
03 / 06Brand mail
Emails from books@yourname.com.
A delivery email from a Shopify subdomain looks like a receipt. A delivery email from the author's own domain looks like a book. Alva's custom email sender domain feature handles the DKIM and SPF records via Postmark, lets the author edit every line of the template with 14 dynamic variables, and lifts inbox placement by reinforcing the author's brand.
04 / 06Packs
Packs for series, trilogies, box sets.
A pack groups multiple files under a single Shopify product. Sell the "Complete trilogy" with three PDFs, three EPUBs, and a bonus short story as one $29 bundle. When book four ships, add the file to the pack — existing buyers can be notified and granted access via the customer account portal, without a support email.
05 / 06Access
Lifetime re-download via customer accounts.
Readers lose emails. Their phone dies. They switch e-readers. Alva's customer account portal gives every buyer a permanent page inside the Shopify customer area listing every book they own and every file available to re-download. Each re-download is a freshly signed, stamped PDF — not a stale link.
06 / 06Multi-channel
Delivery across four channels at once.
If the reader's Gmail filters the delivery email, the same signed link is also on the Shopify thank-you page, the order status page, and the customer account portal. Four delivery surfaces means the author never gets the "I can't find my download" email. Every click is logged per-channel — the author knows exactly where the reader picked up the file.
