Sell digital products online. Keep 100% of every sale.

There are three kinds of places to sell digital products: marketplaces like Etsy and Gumroad Discover, creator platforms like Gumroad, Payhip and link-in-bio tools, and your own store. They differ in who brings the buyers, what they take from each sale, and whether you keep the customer.

Your options at a glance

Marketplaces are the easiest place to get a first sale from a stranger, because shoppers are already browsing. Everywhere else, you bring the buyers yourself, from social media, YouTube, a newsletter or search. If you already have that audience, a store you own keeps more of each sale and lets you email those customers about your next product.

What each platform takes from a sale

Fees look small as percentages and add up quickly. Here's what a single $25 digital product costs to sell, including card processing:

Gumroad: 10% + $0.50 per direct sale, plus card processing of 2.9% + $0.30 (checked 21 October 2026). Etsy: $0.20 listing + 6.5% transaction + 3% + $0.25 payment processing, US rates, excluding Offsite Ads (checked 23 September 2026). Payhip Free: 5% per sale plus Stripe or PayPal processing (checked 26 October 2026). Sellfy charges no transaction fee; Stripe or PayPal processing still applies, shown at 2.9% + $0.30.

The monthly plan is what makes the comparison interesting. Spread over a month of sales, it looks like this:

At $500 a month the gap is small. Sellfy's Starter plan billed yearly keeps you $3 more than Payhip's free plan, and on monthly billing ($29) it costs slightly more. The difference grows with your sales, because percentage fees grow with every sale and a flat plan doesn't. Starter covers up to $10,000 a year in sales; past that, Business covers up to $50,000. To run your own numbers, use the Gumroad fee calculator, the Etsy fee calculator or the Stripe fee calculator.

Can you sell digital products for free?

Yes, but free platforms charge per sale instead. Gumroad has no monthly fee and takes 10% + $0.50 of each direct sale. Payhip's free plan takes 5%. Etsy charges $0.20 per listing plus a 6.5% transaction fee. Ko-fi and Buy Me a Coffee also have free plans.

Sellfy doesn't have a free plan. It has a 14-day free trial, then plans start at $29 a month, or $22 a month billed yearly, with 0% transaction fees. If you're selling your first few products and making less than a few hundred dollars a month, a free plan will usually cost you less. Once sales are steady, a flat plan usually costs less than a percentage of every sale. See Sellfy pricing.

How to sell digital products online

1. Pick a product you can make well. Ebooks, presets, templates, music, courses and printables sell steadily. Browse digital product ideas if you're still deciding.
2. Choose where to sell. Use the comparison above. If you have an audience, start with your own store; if you don't, a marketplace can bring your first buyers while you build one.
3. Set your price. Look at what similar products charge, then price for the value you deliver. Our guide to pricing digital downloads walks through it.
4. Upload and set up delivery. On Sellfy you upload the file, write a description and set a price. Buyers get an instant download link by email after checkout.
5. Promote it. Share your store link on social media, add buy buttons to your website or blog, and email your list when you launch.

Guides for specific products: sell music online, sell photos, sell online courses, sell Procreate brushes, sell WordPress themes and plugins, sell software, sell PDFs and sell subscriptions.

How to protect your digital products

No platform can stop a determined person from copying a file, but you can make casual sharing pointless. On Sellfy:

• License keys. Give every buyer a unique key for software, plugins, presets or any product where a key makes sense. Keys are generated per order or taken from a list you upload, and you can validate, activate or revoke them through the Sellfy API.
• PDF stamping. Each PDF is stamped with the buyer's email address on every page, which stops most forwarding.
• Download limits. Every purchase gets its own download link with five download attempts, rather than a public URL anyone can share.

Taxes on digital products

Digital products sold to buyers in the EU and the UK carry VAT based on where the buyer lives. Sellfy calculates EU and UK VAT at checkout automatically and lets you export VAT MOSS and UK VAT reports. Other tax obligations depend on where you live and sell, so check with a local accountant once your sales grow.

Comparing specific platforms?

If you're weighing Sellfy against a particular platform, these guides go deeper: Gumroad alternatives, Etsy alternatives, Stan Store alternatives and Sellfy vs Payhip.