Where to Launch a Digital Product: Storefronts, Marketplaces and Where Buyers Look First
Launch a digital product on a storefront that handles checkout and file delivery for you: Gumroad for the most flexibility, Etsy if shoppers already search it for your kind of file, Kit if you also run an email list, or itch.io for game-related assets. Pick by who finds the product, because fees differ by route: Gumroad’s pricing page lists a lower rate for your own traffic than for sales through its marketplace. Then share a free sample where your buyers talk.
Does the product find buyers, or do you?
A digital product is a file behind a payment page, so the choice of storefront is really a choice about discovery. Some storefronts bring you their own shoppers and take a larger share for it. Others only host the page and leave all traffic to you. Know which you are buying before you compare fees, because a lower fee on a page nobody visits earns less than a higher one on a page that is found.
| If you sell | Buyers usually look in | Start with |
|---|---|---|
| An ebook or short guide | Their own inbox, search and social feeds | A storefront plus a free chapter on your own page |
| Photo presets or design assets | Marketplaces that organise by type | Etsy digital listing or a design marketplace |
| Game assets or tools | A games platform’s asset sections | itch.io |
| A code kit or boilerplate | Developer communities | A storefront and a Show HN |
| A paid mini-course | Your newsletter or creator audience | A storefront with your own link |
Fees and rules below were read on each service’s own pages on 13 November 2026. They change, so confirm before you list.
Which storefronts and communities should a digital product use?
The first four are places to sell. The last two are places to be noticed.
01 Gumroad
A storefront for digital products that you can use as your own page or embed on your existing site.
- Own-link sales
- 10% plus 50 cents per transaction, per its pricing page
- Marketplace sales
- 30% when a new customer finds you through Gumroad’s discover section
- Pricing models
- Fixed price, pay what you want, memberships and subscriptions are described on its features page
- Tax
- Says it has acted as merchant of record and handled tax for sellers since 1 January 2025
Its pitch is simplicity: upload a file, set a price and start selling, with an embeddable store or a custom domain. If you already have an audience, the direct rate applies to those sales, which is the case for most first products.
Because Gumroad handles tax collection and remittance itself, a seller outside the big markets avoids registering in each one. Weigh that convenience against the fee, and tell buyers clearly what they get in the file.
02 Etsy digital listings
A marketplace where an existing crowd of shoppers searches for printable and downloadable files.
- Listing limits
- Up to five files per listing, 20 MB each
- Listing fee
- A flat 20 cents per listing, charged whether or not it sells
- Types
- Instant downloads, or made-to-order files sent when you finish them
- Rule
- Digital items must be made or designed by you
File names are limited to 70 letters, numbers, periods, underscores or hyphens, and buyers see them as you typed them. Name each file the way a buyer will want to find it on their computer.
You cannot offer variations on a digital item, so separate sizes or colour sets must be separate listings. That multiplies listing fees, so bundle sensibly.
03 Kit (commerce for creators)
An email platform for creators whose menu lists selling digital products among its features.
- Described as
- Simple product pages, automated fulfilment and low transaction fees, per its own menu
- Best when
- You already send email to a list that will see the product
- Our check
- We did not read its product pricing page; confirm fees and plan requirements
Selling inside the tool you email from keeps the buyer list in one place and lets you tag purchasers. That matters if the product is the first step of a series.
It is a poor choice if you have no list yet, because it brings no shoppers of its own. In that case start on a storefront with its own discovery.
04 itch.io (assets and creator goods)
A marketplace that calls itself a place for creators of all kinds, with game development assets and comics among its sections.
- Pricing
- Free, paid or a minimum price; you choose the share that goes to the site, from 0% to 100%
- Best for
- Sprites, sound packs, tools and templates for game makers
The audience is people making games, so a general ebook does not belong there, but a tileset or a shader pack does. Its page shows analytics on views and downloads and lets you hand out download keys.
See the indie game places to launch for how its game side differs.
05 Show HN
Hacker News’s section for things you made that other people can try.
- Fits
- Developer-facing kits, where readers can try a free sample or inspect the code
- Books
- Its guidelines say a sample chapter is acceptable for a book
- Off topic
- Sign-up pages, newsletters and lists
A paid product on Show HN needs a real free part: a chapter, a demo or open sample code. A page that only sells will be treated as promotion.
Lead with what you learned making it and what is unusual inside. The Show HN post templates give openers.
06 Post your build ideas (our board)
A free launch board with no account and no queue; the listing links to wherever the product is sold.
- Fits when
- The product is aimed at builders, makers or people with a project
- Limit
- Not a store; a small audience; four images at most
Put the product’s job in the tagline and the contents in the description. Link the storefront page, and say plainly whether there is a free sample.
You can also read the ideas board to find a topic people lack material on. The side project ideas guide is another source.
What should the free sample be?
A sample is the cheapest way to prove the product works. Make it a complete small thing, not a teaser: one chapter you could sell on its own, five presets from a pack of fifty, or one full component from a kit. Put the sample where the buyers are, with the paid link inside it, and track which link they used.
- Give the sample its own page, so the link you share leads somewhere that works without a purchase.
- Tag each place you post it, so you learn which one brought readers; the UTM tagging guide shows how.
- State what the paid version adds in one sentence, and the licence in another.
The digital product playbook covers timing, and the Notion template places to launch show how a specific product type adds platform rules to the same storefront choice.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Gumroad take?
Its pricing page lists 10% plus 50 cents per transaction for sales through your profile or direct links, and 30% when new customers find you through its discover marketplace. That is what it said on 13 November 2026, so check the page before you set a price. It also says it is merchant of record and handles tax obligations.
Can I sell more than one file on Etsy?
Yes, up to five digital files per listing, each up to 20 MB, according to Etsy’s help page. Digital listings cannot have variations, so offer different versions as separate listings. Each listing carries a flat fee, charged whether or not it sells, so bundle related files into one where it makes sense.
Where do I sell if I have no audience?
Start where the shoppers already are: a marketplace such as Etsy for printable or downloadable files, or a creator marketplace for design and game assets. You pay a larger share for discovery, but a storefront with no traffic earns nothing. Pair it with one free sample posted in a community that fits your buyers.
Post your build ideas publishes this page and runs a free launch board that competes with some of the sites it names. Facts about other sites came from their own pages on the date shown above; terms, queues and prices change, so confirm on their sites before you decide. About the publisher.