Selling digital products is a lucrative business idea because the internet is a large market and gives you access to an audience in need of your products.
This endeavor also lets you earn higher revenues as there are no overhead costs, and you can sell unlimited product types.
Besides knowing which digital products to sell, it’s also crucial to determine which digital platform to use.
Knowing where to sell digital products for free or without a website can significantly impact your long-term success in the industry.
How to Sell Digital Products
To determine which digital products to sell, you need to brainstorm and research ideas first. This will help you niche down and define a target market.
After validating your idea and ensuring that it’s a winner, you can proceed by creating your digital product.
Next, choose a platform to sell digital products. Once set up, implement digital marketing strategies, like paid ads, social media marketing, and influencer marketing, to drive traffic to your chosen platform.
The more people who visit your site, the better chances you’ll have in getting customers and earning profits.
Best Platforms to Sell Digital Products on
1. Sellfy
Sellfy is the answer if you want to learn how to sell digital products without a website. You can integrate this platform with different social media platforms without paying hosting and transaction fees. However, Sellfy lessens your creative freedom as it has limited customization options.
2. Shopify
Often used by physical retailers, Shopify also has digital product selling features. This platform offers many customization options, hundreds of ready-made templates, and 24/7 customer support via email, phone, chat, and social media.
Some digital creators hesitate to use Shopify as it’s more expensive than most platforms (you need to pay at least $29 per month) and requires technical knowledge to set up.
3. Podia
Podia allows you to create and sell digital products. It doesn’t require transaction fees and allows you to design your site and sell courses and memberships. Additionally, you can integrate Podia with other email providers.
The biggest downside of Podia is that it’s more expensive than most platforms, as you need to pay $33 a month to use its basic features.
4. SendOwl
If you want to monetize your existing blog or website by selling digital products, use SendOwl. This platform allows you to sell various digital products — from photography and software to audiobooks and online courses.
This platform also supports discounts and coupons and has flexibility on different payment models.
Two of the biggest drawbacks of using SendOwl are that it doesn’t have any live emergency support and offers limited customization for checkouts.
5. Payhip
Payhip is one of the best platforms to sell digital downloads and online courses. It has a simple interface where you can use different templates and process payments.
It offers a free forever plan to help you get started and gives you access to powerful tools for managing sales.
The limited feature set of Payhip can be a deal-breaker for some digital creators.
6. Squarespace
Squarespace allows artists and designers to sell digital products without a website. This platform is popular for building digital experiences as it has ready-made templates.
Other features of this platform include having backups for your site and 24/7 support via chat and email.
To sell digital products on Squarespace, you must pay $19 monthly to sign up for its business package.
Related: Here are the best websites to make money online.
7. BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a reliable platform for selling digital products and physical products. It’s easy to use, doesn’t require transaction fees, and offers excellent marketing integrations, making it a great choice for small and new sellers.
Accessing more features on BigCommerce can be costly. Additional payments are required to use themes for customization and access abandoned cart functionality.
8. MemberPress
If you’re looking for the best WordPress membership plugin, use MemberPress. This platform lets you integrate many major payment gateways, gives you access to many reports, and is fairly easy to use. You can also use this platform with any WordPress theme.
Since the platform is focused on selling memberships and subscriptions, MemberPress might not be the best option if you want to profit from one-off downloads.
9. Easy Digital Downloads
Easy Digital Downloads has 4 million downloads, making it one of the most popular platforms for selling digital products.
This platform is an excellent choice for beginners as it’s easy to set up and use, offers solid analytics and reporting options, and supports third-party tools integrations.
However, using Easy Digital Downloads will give you little design freedom on your checkout process or landing pages.
10. Gumroad
Gumroad is one of the best platforms to sell digital products among digital creators as it doesn’t require signup or membership fees, has an easy onboarding process, and provides many creator resources.
However, this platform offers limited analytics on traffic and engagement and will charge a 10% fee every time you make a sale.
11. Thinkific
Through Thinkific, you can design custom courses and sell them to users worldwide. This platform doesn’t require transaction charges, offers a 30-day free trial program, and provides a custom domain to use. It also gives you instant fund access.
Thinkific doesn’t have built-in email marketing tools and only offers phone support, with no chat or email options.
12. E-junkie
E-junkie has become a favorite among many digital creators as it simplifies the process of selling digital products.
The platform makes it easy to manage your store in one place and offers many analytical tools to help you understand your sales.
However, to access and use custom integrations on E-junkie, you need to make additional payments.
13. FastSpring
FastSpring is a cloud-based eCommerce platform that enables you to create a website to sell digital products and customize shopping experiences.
This platform also accepts international orders and payments and shows customers product prices based on their location.
The pricing of FastSpring is quote-based, meaning there’s no transparency about their fees and rates. Navigating through the platform can also be overwhelming.
14. Teachable
Teachable has everything you need to earn profits from your online courses — this platform allows you to create and sell online courses and set up payment plans. You can also integrate this platform with major email providers.
If you’re not going to sell online courses, consider options. Teachable isn’t as flexible as other platforms, as it’s highly focused on selling online courses.
15. DPD
Selling writing content and other downloadable materials will become a breeze through DPD. It’s easy to use and allows you to copy and paste cart buttons for easy promotions. But unlike other platforms, DPD only supports limited third-party tools.
16. PayLoadz
PayLoadz is another excellent platform to sell digital products as it’s easy to use — you can set up your site and sell products in less than five minutes! Its help section gives you access to 200+ articles about the platform’s features.
Compared to other platforms, PayLoadz has an outdated interface and lacks major features like custom product pages.
17. ClickBank
Aside from being one of the biggest platforms for selling digital products, ClickBank supports multiple languages, offers higher commissions, and follows a quick payment schedule. Users can also access several training resources through the platform.
However, there’s a lot of competition when you use ClickBank, and the platform doesn’t allow users to use their links directly in emails.
18. Creative Market
Creative Market is an online marketplace for selling digital products online. This platform has a simple interface where you can add products with ease and offer excellent customer support.
The major drawback of using Creative Market is that it takes a 40% commission on each sale. This means when you sold $50 worth of products, you’ll only make $30 as profits.
19. Selz
Selz stands out from other platforms because it has a wide range of pre-built templates, supports multiple languages, and allows you to sell in more than 100 currencies. It’s also easy to set up and has unique integration options.
However, Selz doesn’t offer advanced features like a built-in email platform and complete site customization.
20. Flickrocket
Flickrocket is the leading shop system for Digital Rights Management or DRM. This platform has everything you need to get your content ready for sale — you can encode, encrypt, and upload your content here.
It also has front-end features, allowing you to present trailers about your content.
Some users reported that the platform’s user interface is slow, and its customer support is unresponsive.
Choose The Best Platform
Want to sell digital products but still don’t know which platform to use? Use this article as your guide in choosing the best platform to sell digital downloads and products.
By weighing the pros and cons, you can pick a platform that best fits your needs and budget!
Related: How To Sell CDs and DVDs Fast
FAQs
What platform is the easiest to sell on?
Choose to sell digital products on Amazon, as this platform is undoubtedly the easiest to use.
Can you make money selling digital products?
Selling digital products is profitable as you don’t need to hold inventory or pay for overhead costs associated with selling physical products. As a result, you can earn bigger revenues without the need to allocate a huge capital.
What types of digital products sell?
Presently, educational materials, like online courses and e-books, exclusive membership communities, repurposed art and music, digital templates, and licenses to sell digital assets, are in-demand.
What are some digital product ideas?
There are plenty, depending on your chosen niche. If you’re a designer, you can sell wallpapers, business card templates, comic templates, and icon sets. Writers can sell self-publishing guides and e-books, while business startups can sell business podcasts, masterclasses, and online resources.
