6 best options and features to sell digital downloads on the internet

Find the most important features to sell digital downloads online. This article explains what features to look for and top platforms for selling digital downloads.

The most effective marketplaces for selling digital downloads to various types of creators

If you are deciding on a place you will sell your digital downloads be sure to choose an application that is easy of entry, functionality, assistance, marketing tools as well as low fees and reasonably priced costs.

• Shopify and Etsy are designed for selling physical items, but they allow you to sell digital downloads as well. Their digital product selling options may be less limiting.
• Gumroad provides a variety of features it allows the sale of a wide range of file types with no recurring fees. However, Gumroad charges high transaction costs for each sale.
• Easy Digital Downloads is a WordPress plugin that lets you sell your products directly from your site. Even though it's available for free however, you'll probably require extensions or integrations.
• is easy to set up and allows you to offer any kind of file without limitations. There are advanced marketing features integrated into the platform and our support is superb - or that's what our customers have to say.

When I launched the first of my digital products I thought that the toughest aspect would be turning the thoughts of my mind into an effective product customers actually wanted to purchase.

We do not want this to happen to you.

There are many places where you can sell digital downloads these days, but deciding the right software to use for your products can be a timesink.

What are the reasons to sell digital downloads?

Digital downloads are the files that can be purchased through the web. If you are a creator digital downloads could be an extremely profitable part of your product lineup.

Below are the reasons selling digital downloads could be a good idea for your business:

It is not necessary to worry with inventory or shipping. If taking daily trips at the postoffice sounds like your own personal nightmare, electronic products are the best way to go.

There are 6 things to be aware of in deciding on the best place to sell digital downloads on the internet

Some platforms, however, take it to the next level with sophisticated capabilities, and it's crucial to determine which platform best aligns with the goals you want to accomplish, both today and in the future.

Moving your products from one tool to another can be like a trip to the dentist. You can avoid the toothache by picking the tool that you feel is manageable but also gives you space to expand.

For making the process a bit more simple, here are some features you should look for:

Accessibility:First and most importantly, the site which you are selling digital downloads should be easy to work with for you , as the creator.

Functionality:You're a multifaceted creator So you may want to offer different types of digital items in the future. Be on the lookout for platforms that do not limit the types of files that you upload.

Support:If you're like two-thirds of customers , you expect answers to any support issues within ten minutes of you asking the question. Selecting a firm with excellent support for customers can save the customer from frustration later on.

Fees for transactions:Transaction fees are a fraction of the sale that the platform keeps. They typically amount to 1-10% of the total transaction price. Certain platforms may also charge listing and credit card processing fees and can quickly grow with each transaction.

Cost:Finally, we have to calculate the figures. However, cheaper doesn't mean the best option, as lower-cost platforms usually have higher fees and other hidden costs.

We now know the features to look for, let's compare some well-known options and see what they have in common.

For instance, the creator Emily Connors uses her site to offer the free digital downloads as well as sell live cohort programs online courses, as well as one-on-one coaching programs.

Best of all, has an affordable plan. You can build your website and manage your community online, and offer one download digital as well as one coaching item for free.

Do you want to test it yourself? Sign up for a free account today.

These are some of the benefits for using

The plan for free makes it easy to sell your first digital download without a huge upfront cost.

You are able to offer any type of digital download, with unlimitable file sizes.

Even though we think is amazing, not every software can be right for everybody. There are a few reasons that may not be the right option for you.

Digital is the norm, so if you want to sell physical products, a platform like Shopify or Etsy could be the best choice.

Features

Accessibility: 5 out five. The creator-facing dashboard on is clean and easy to use. With our customizable onboarding process as well as step-by step instruction videos you'll have your products listed in just a matter of seconds.

Functionality: 5 stars out of 5. You can offer files of virtually every type of format and there's no restriction on the size of files. You're free to bundle your products or offer them upsells, and price them as you wish.

Support Rating: 5/5. Have you had a chat with our support team? If not, you should! Visit the chat window located at the bottom of the page and introduce yourself. We have the most helpful, friendly, and speedy chat support in town.

Marketing: 4.5 out of 5. Our goal was to create an all-in-one solution for the needs of your company and features for marketing make up a significant element of the puzzle. You can prelaunch and presell products, issue coupons, or even create your own affiliate program straight out of the box.

I've taken half a point off since we don't offer a marketplace feature although this isn't a requirement for every business We help you create your own fan base using our lead-capture tools.

Transaction fees: 4.5 out of 5. With , there are no transaction fees for paid plans. Users who are on a free plan pay an 8% transaction fee on sales.

This keeps costs low when you're just starting out. And it's always possible to improve and reduce transaction fees as your business develops.

As with most platforms, there are also payment processor charges that aren't associated with . Stripe or PayPal will charge a standard transaction cost of 2.9% + 30Cor. Also, we offer immediate payouts for creators, so you are able to access your money fast.

Price: 's free plan comes with a website, an online community, a digital download and one coaching product. Paid plans range from $39.90 to $199.99/month.

Are you interested in learning more about managing your online business using WordPress ? Join us for a live demo to check it out:

Shopify

Shopify is an e-commerce giant and a household name in the world of creators. The company has more than 1.7 million businesses make use of Shopify to run their online stores, and creators on the platform have generated over 200 billion dollars in sales.

The Shopify platform is well-known for selling physical goods however, it is additionally possible to market digital goods. In recent years, Shopify has also added many international ecommerce features.

If you're an artist who wants to sell digital or physical goods to clients across the globe, Shopify might be a ideal place to begin.

Here are the Shopify advantages:

Shopify comes with powerful marketing tools and integrates seamlessly with various social media platforms.

Shopify is its own payment processor called Shopify Payments. It's user-friendly and it's included with all plans, so you do not have to join with other processors, if you don't want to.

You can create beautiful web pages, storefronts that are customizable and beautiful.

These are the Shopify negatives:

Shopify is oriented toward physical sales of products. You can get premium features that don't require if you're just selling digital goods.

If you don't utilize Shopify Payments, there are additional fees in addition to the month-long subscription cost.

The fee structure generally is complex.

Shopify features

Ease of entry: 3 out of 5. Since Shopify was first built to sell physical goods it is necessary to take additional steps in order to offer digital downloads. The site has videos that will guide users through how to upload your product using the Digital Downloads app, but it's not the most intuitive process.

Functionality 3/5. Again, Shopify loses points because a lot of the features are intended for the sale of physical items.

When selling digital downloads, the maximum file size for sale is 5GB for each file. The seller can only offer just one file for each product variation, but it's possible to include multiple variants, such as diverse resolutions of images, or ebook formats. It is necessary to utilize a ZIP file in order to add many files to a single product.

Support: 3 out of 5. Shopify has 24/7 chat support, email help, and a support community that allows you to get assistance from fellow users. But, many online reviews mention slow response times from Support.

Marketing: 5 out of 5. Shopify excels in their marketing capabilities. The plans they offer include a great web-based builder that lets you build your online store and manage your blog.

There's built-in email marketing with ecommerce templates, and you are able to create coupon codes, create gift cards and show real-life customer reviews. They also integrate with social media sites.

Transaction fees: 2.5 out of 5. The Shopify fee structure is complex. It's hard to know exactly how much your transaction as well as charges for processing credit cards are on purchases.

There are no transaction fees when you make a payment via the Shopify Payments system. However, if you do not use Shopify Payments, there's a fee to use a third-party payment processor.

Additionally, if you use large credit cards you'll pay an additional fee for credit cards for each purchase. The amount of these percentages will change depending on the type of plan you pick.

The basics of Shopify:

Processing fee for credit cards: 2.9% + $0.30

Transaction fee if not using Shopify Payments: 2%

Shopify:

Processing fee for credit cards: 2.6% + $0.30

Charge for transaction if you don't use Shopify Payments: 1%

Advanced Shopify:

Processing fee for credit cards: 2.4% + $0.30

Fee for transactions if you do not use Shopify Payments: 0.5%

Price: $29 -- $299/month. Shopify has three different plans. The monthly cost is as well as the fees that are listed below.

Etsy

A huge number of people use Etsy to buy hand-crafted and original products. Etsy is well-known as the place to buy custom, vintage, and quirky merchandise created by creators and small companies.

Etsy gets almost 400 million visitors per month , which is an impressive amount of people looking at your goods. They also have a robust marketplace where you can sell your goods and be noticed by new buyers.

Plus side:

Etsy is a well-known brand name, which can instill trust in buyers.

On your shop page, you are able to divide your items into categories that will help you organize your products and easier search.

Etsy provides a simple seller dashboard that lets you read reviews, send messages to customers, design coupons and also offer discount coupons.

It's a great location to market items such as designs, templates, presets and vectors, fonts, as well as creative items.

The other side is:

Etsy is designed to allow sellers to sell physical items and digital products. Be sure to state clearly on your listing that the products are digital to prevent confusion.

Although being listed on Etsy's marketplace Etsy marketplace is a nice bonus, it's also a lot of competing products, and those with a lot of popularity could be buried.

Etsy has many features

Easy to use Easy to use: 4 out of 5. Etsy has adapted to the online marketplace very well. The process of setting up an store in a matter of hours, and adding products can be as easy as filling in an online form to describe your product and uploading the images of your products by dragging the images onto the website, clicking the button to publish.

Functionality 3/5. The good thing about Etsy the possibility of selling many different file types, but you are only able to upload up to five files per item. There is a limit of 20 MB per file, this might be limiting to some creators.

Support 3.0 out of 5. One thing is that Etsy is a wonderful user community for creators where you can ask questions. Sellers are also able to access comprehensive help materials and a seller handbook.

However, Etsy support is only available through emails. At present, they have a 1-2 day turnaround time, which isn't great when it comes to urgent inquiries.

Marketing: 4 out of 5. Etsy has some interesting marketing tools available to sellers. Although other platforms might offer a marketplace, none have the presence of Etsy.

It can be a battle to the death However, you can bring in serious customers to your website and products. Actually, there are even other third-party tools for keyword research that specifically cater to Etsy searches. Etsy additionally offers the option of advertising for sellers.

Transaction costs 2/5. There are a couple of fees you should be aware of in selling items on Etsy. The first is the $0.20 listing fee for each item you list in your shop. Every listing will be active for a period of four months or until it is sold.

When you sell a product, you'll pay a 5 percent transaction fee, along with a percentage plus $0.25 payment processing fee.

Price Free -- 10 bucks per month. Making your own Etsy shop is free, however it costs $0.20 to list the product and other transaction charges.

Simple Digital Downloads

It's specially designed to sell digital products, but it needs some additional lifting to achieve the same functions as some of the other systems on this list.

On the upside:

EDD can be a great alternative if you already own an existing WordPress website and to keep your product in the WordPress ecosystem.

This is also a good choice for users who need sophisticated customization, but bear your eyes on the fact that you'll have to feel comfortable with writing code and working with.

On the downside:

For all the functions you need to sell digital downloads you'll have add extensions or integrations with other applications.

Additional enhancements and integrations may be charged separately and technical issues.

Simple Digital Downloads features

Easy to enter 3/5. If you're familiar using WordPress and have previously uploaded plugins previously making the switch to EDD is just like usual. If you've not used WordPress it's not the ideal tool, as you'd need to master two different interfaces.

Functionality 3.0 out of 5. In EDD the ability to sell any type of file that you upload onto WordPress. This gives you a wide range, but be mindful of your hosting bandwidth when you plan to sell large products.

We've already mentioned that EDD is able to be integrated with third-party tools for more features. It's highly customizable, but managing several systems could be complex.

In essence, this is the best option for someone who wants to construct and run their own setup for selling. Building blocks are great but the real question is: are you willing to complete the work?

Support: 2 out five. EDD offers customer support through an online ticketing system. However, there's no live chat. Priority support is available only in higher-level plans.

One thing to keep in mind is that in the event that you experience problems with the integration, you might need contact support for the integration in addition. This could result in unpleasant and tense conversations.

Marketing: 2.5 out of 5. In the box, EDD offers coupons and discounts. They also have a the ability to shop online.

With extensions, you are able to extend your marketing options by including affiliates, emails, star reviews, cross-selling, and upselling Some of these features are only available on higher-tiered plans.

The first step is to have a WordPress site, which is provided with hosting costs and domain registration fees. You'll also have fees for any integrations with premium pricing you want to make use of.

Price is: $999/year for free. The basic EDD plugin is completely free. If you'd like more tools however, you'll need to buy these separately. You can also upgrade to a higher package to get all the features.

Gumroad

Gumroad is an online platform on which creators offer digital downloads in all shapes and sizes. Over the past decade Gumroad's creators have earned over $500 million selling online-based goods.

It's simple to use and is a favorite choice for designers, but is it the right choice for you? We'll look at the benefits and drawbacks.

Here's the place where Gumroad is shining:

Gumroad is a simple way to get started, and you can sell almost any type of item you can think of, even physical products if you so choose.

The platform is free for anyone to use. You'll be only charged for transaction costs when you sell. This is great if in the process of selling digital items and wish to experiment before committing to an expensive instrument.

Creators are able to use Gumroad Discover an online marketplace in which prospective buyers can search for your products.

Here are some Gumroad cons:

There are limited customization options for product pages and checkout pages. It's tough to create a traditional sales page, as there's no builder for websites.

Although it's free to join, there are high transaction fees for each transaction. This can be fine when beginning out, however, as you grow the business, this could reduce your income.

Gumroad features

Easy to use: 4 out of 5. Setting up products for sale on Gumroad is simple and easy. It's possible to publish your first product in a matter of minutesand have everything you need to begin selling.

The functionality: 4.5 out of 5. Gumroad is a great platform for selling products. Gumroad the ability to market physical and digital products, as well as, memberships, product variations rental and variations. Additionally, you can choose a release date for your items, provide key codes for licenses if you're selling software, and make subscriptions available for sale.

If you purchase paid-for products the file size limit of 16GB. In the case of free items the limit for file size is 250 MB. Each product can include as many files as you'd like.

Support: 2.5 out of 5. Gumroad offers a library of resources with helpful articles and videos. The company has lost points due to neither live chat nor contact number, therefore the most effective way to get in touch to inquire about specific issues is via their email address.

Marketing Rating: 4/5. Marketing: 4 out of 5. Gumroad's affiliate system shines. If you are planning to utilize affiliate marketing in conjunction with your product, Gumroad lets you set the affiliate marketing system for you at no cost with their easy-to-use method.

Gumroad offers a variety of integrations, allowing you to integrate your email marketing software and also a Zapier integration.

Transaction costs: 2.5 out of 5. With transaction fees ranging from 9% to 2.9 percent, this is the area in which Gumroad has the greatest loss of points. The fees for transactions is lower as you increase the amount you sell but 9% is a steep price for newer creators. You also have to pay the $0.30 charge for every sale.

Gumroad offers weekly cash payouts so the amount you've crossed the $10 USD threshold.

Cost: No and fees. There's no recurring monthly price, but the fees for transactions will be determined by the amount of per-year revenue.

What should you look out for before deciding on where to sell digital downloads

All creators are unique. That's why it's nice to be able to choose the software that will run your business.

With a reliable and secure digital download system on your partner, you'll be on your way to an improved product lineup and a plethora of earning opportunities.