Abstract: An on-line electronic commerce transaction for facilitating purchase of digital products (softgoods) after enabling a user to preview the softgoods. Creators of the softgoods enter into an agreement with an e-commerce agency in which the agency agrees to handle sales of the softgoods and to return a portion of the revenue to the creators. Creators are provided with a softgood authoring tool that automates the softgood creation process. Before the softgoods are distributed, a unique identifier is included in the softgood by this authoring tool. To play a softgood, a prospective purchaser downloads or otherwise acquires a player program. The player program enables a prospective purchaser a limited preview of each softgood. If a user decides to purchase a softgood, the player program communicates with the e-commerce agency over the Internet to facilitate the purchase transaction. During this transaction, the prospective purchaser is prompted to enter a financial account number.