So, you have created a digital product and it’s ready to sell but you don’t know where to sell it. And you don’t know anything about creating a website. If you’re going through the same situation, then you’re at the right place.
In this post, I’ll share 4 of my personal favorite platforms to sell digital products.
Best Platforms to Sell Digital Products:
1. Payhip
2. Etsy
3. Systeme io
4. Gumroad
Before we get into this post, you need to understand one thing. There are two types of platforms where you can sell your digital products. One is marketplace like, Etsy and Gumroad and the other is website builders like, Payhip and Systeme io.
If you’re an absolute beginner to selling digital products, then I would suggest you to sell your products on marketplaces. You can easily create a product listing and start selling right away. And marketplaces have good flow of traffic so, your product has a good chance to get sales even without you yourself promoting your product. Remember, as a beginner, listing a product is not a problem but getting traffic to your product definitely is. So, marketplaces can help you a lot in this instance.
But if you’re not new to selling digital products and if you think your digital product has a potential to rack in thousands of dollars every month, then go with website or store front builders like Payhip or Systeme io. You can create your storefront in less than 10 minutes and start selling your products.
The main advantages of using website builders instead of marketplaces to sell your digital products:
1. Customization: By using a website builder, you can fully customize your store. You can add your own theme colors and branding materials to give it a fine touch of branding. You can use the font you like, colors you like, and much more. There is no limitation to what you can do and what you can’t. In marketplaces, you don’t have these options. The only option you have is to list your product, set its meta data and that’s it. You’re set!
2. Fees: Marketplaces charge higher fees compared to website builders. For example, Etsy charges a fee of 6.5% + VAT per sale which comes to around ~10% of the sale amount whereas, Payhip charges 5% per transaction on their free plan and no transaction fees if you purchase their subscription.
3. Custom domain: With website builders, you can add a custom domain to your store. But with marketplaces, you can’t. Using a custom domain helps a lot in branding.
4. Additional Features: There are many other features that you get with websites builders that marketplaces don’t provide. Like, affiliate management – you can hire affiliates to promote your product, upsells, discount coupons, etc. and much more.
Please Note: This post contains affiliate links to products I use, trust, and recommend. If you choose to purchase a product using these links, I may receive a small commission for referring you – at no extra cost to you. These funds help me keep this blog up and running.
Now, let’s see all 4 platforms one by one.
1. Payhip
Payhip is a website builder that let’s you create a website to sell your products. You can sell both digital and physical products using Payhip. Over 130,000 creators use Payhip to sell their products.
You can create a website in minutes using their drag and drop website builder tool. So, you don’t need to have knowledge of coding to build a website.
You can sell digital downloads like ebooks, softwares, templates to courses, coaching, memberships, and more using Payhip. Yes, even memberships! You can build a paid community using Payhip.
The main feature of Payhip is, it is completely free. You can use every tool and feature Payhip has for free. All you need to do is, sign up and create your account. With the free plan, Payhip takes 5% of your sale amount. That’s it! No other charges. Or you can get Payhip’s subscription if you don’t want them to take any percentage of your sale amount. Here’s the link if you want to check their pricing plans.
Additional Features of Payhip:
1. Whenever someone buys your product, Payhip instantly transfers the sale amount to your Paypal or Stripe account. So, you don’t have to wait weeks or months to get paid.
2. You can add a custom domain to your store.
3. You can create your own affiliate program and hire affiliates to promote your product.
4. Payhip handles every kind of taxes including VAT on your behalf. So, you don’t need to worry about taxes.
5. You can create upsells and discount coupons.
6. You can integrate your email marketing software with Payhip. So, whenever someone purcahses your product, they get added to your email list automatically. Then, you can use the power of email marketing to sell them other similar products.
2. Etsy
Etsy is probably the most popular marketplace to sell digital products and handmade goods. According to Statista.com, Etsy had over 9 million sellers and 96 million active buyers in 2023.
Etsy is a marketplace so, all you need to do is list your product on the platform to sell it. Etsy charges $0.2 to list an item for sale on its platform. To list your product on Etsy, you need some photos of your product, name of the product, product description and its price. If you have these all, you can list your product for sale in minutes.
There is no limit to what you can sell on Etsy. You can sell both digital and physical products on it. Digital products like gift cards, posters, planners, etc. sells the best whereas in case of physical products, art and crafts, handmade goods and clothing items sells the most.
If you’d like to find out some good digital products to sell, then check out my blog post on 16 best digital products to sell.
Talking about fees, Etsy takes 6.5% + VAT which in total comes to around 9-10% of the sale amount. And you have to renew your listings every 4 months which costs $0.20 per listing. In my opinion, the charges Etsy takes per sale is fine but charging listing fees is quite unnecessary. But I believe, listing fee helps to eliminate spammy products.
Additional Features of Etsy:
1. Etsy works on SEO. So, if your product listing has relevant keywords spread throughout it, then the chances of your product getting recommended to the buyers increases. Thus, you can get more sales if you do SEO properly.
2. You can add both photos and videos to showcase your product.
3. Etsy handles the sales tax on behalf of sellers within The United States and some other selected countries.
4. Etsy has their own ads platform called Etsy Ads. So, you can run ads on Etsy itself to promote your products.
5. You can create discount codes to give discount to your customers.
3. Systeme io
Systeme io is an all in one marketing tool. You can use it to build sales funnels, email marketing, sell products and so much more. Over 11,000 businesses and individuals use Systeme io to manage their business and sell products. In recent time, it has been getting a lot more popular because of its ease of use and pricing.
You can create a website in minutes on Systeme io to sell your products. Just like Payhip, you don’t need to have knowledge of coding to build a website. You can use its drag and drop feature to create a stunning website. After setting up your website, you can integrate Stripe & PayPal to collect payments. It takes a few minutes to integrate these services and its really really easy to connect them.
You can sell any type of digital products on System io. Not just digital products, you can sell physical products too.
The best part about Systeme io is, it is completely free, for lifetime. You don’t have to pay a single dime to use it. Yes, there are some features that you have to pay for, but to create a website and sell your products, you don’t have to pay anything. It does not even charge a per sale fee, which makes it a god’s gift for every seller out there.
Additional Features of Systeme io:
1. You can create an affiliate program and hire affiliates to promote your product.
2. You can add a custom domain to your store.
3. Systeme io can be used for email marketing. You can collect emails and build an email list.
4. You can create discount codes and upsells.
5. You can create a blog in Systeme io.
6. You get hundreds of free templates to create your website.
7. You get tens of other marketing tools to manage and grow your business, etc.
4. Gumroad
Gumroad is a marketplace just like Etsy but less popular. You can sell both digital and physical products on it but it is mostly popular for selling digital products. There are nearly 194,000 sellers on Gumroad. According to them, sellers have generated over $1B+ on their platform.
You need to list your product to sell on Gumroad. Just like Etsy, you need photos of your product, name, product description and price to list your product for sale. It takes just a few minutes to create an account and list your product on Gumroad.
You can sell anything from ebooks to courses, printables, resource packs, memberships, merchandise, etc. on it.
Listing a product is absolutely free on Gumroad.
Gumroad takes 10% of the sale amount. But they haven’t mentioned if that is inclusive of VAT and any other charges or not. I have heard from several sellers that, they have a lot of hidden fees that they don’t display publicly. Especially, the withdrawal fee. On Reddit, a user said, he had to pay 15% withdrawal fee to withdraw his money. I can’t say if that is 100% true or not but make sure to do your research before joining it.
Additional Features of Gumroad:
1. You can hire affiliates to promote your product.
2. You can list and sell unlimited products on it.
3. You can create discount codes for your customers.
4. Gumroad pays the VAT and other taxes on your behalf.
5. You can get paid via PayPal and Bank transfer.
So, there were 4 best platforms to sell digital products. Find out the one best for you and start selling to add an extra source of income. If you’re planning to sell digital products, which platform will you choose out of these four? Tell me in the comments below.
