Marketplaces For Digital Products
Marketplaces make it easy and effective to sell digital products by giving you a platform with lots of customers already. These platforms handle things like taking payments, delivering products, and marketing, so you can focus on creating great digital products. Here’s a simple guide to some popular marketplaces for selling digital products.
Marketplaces give you a ready-to-use solution where you just need to set up your profile, upload products, and add some information about yourself, and you are ready to sell.
Here are some marketplaces I recommend and use. At first, they might seem the same, but they offer different things and different audiences. Make sure your product is a good fit for the marketplace and that it reaches your target audience.
Overview:
• Specialty: Digital products such as ebooks, courses, music, and software.
• Ideal For: Independent creators and small businesses.
Key Features:
• Simple Setup: Easy to create and manage product listings.
• Payment Options: Supports multiple payment methods, including credit cards and PayPal.
• Subscription and Membership: Sell subscription-based products and memberships.
• Analytics: Detailed sales and customer analytics.
Pricing:
You can also create your own store on Etsy. Each product gets its own page, so it can work like your own website. Etsy handles everything from storing products to delivering them through email after someone buys.
It's important to look closely at what products are already on Etsy. See if your product fits in or if it's better for a site like Gumroad.
I think Etsy is mostly for beginners with simple, lower-quality products. When you look for digital products, you often see the same things over and over. It feels very crowded, and nothing really stands out. The mockups and designs aren’t very high quality either.
But this can be a good thing because it might be easier to sell to beginners who are just getting started.
So, think about who you want to sell to and choose the best place for your products based on that.
Overview:
• Specialty: Design assets like graphics, fonts, themes, and templates.
• Ideal For: Designers and creatives selling digital design products.
Key Features:
• Marketplace Visibility: Access to a large community of designers and buyers.
• Product Bundles: Sell products in bundles to boost sales.
• Payment Processing: Secure payment options for buyers.
• Marketing Tools: Promotional tools to increase visibility.
Pricing:
• Creative Market takes a 50% commission on every sale. While this is a big chunk, the millions of active users on the platform can make it worth the cost.
(I found this article that can answer your general questions):
• Created a store on the marketplace
• Created a homepage
• Created product pages
• Created a lead magnet
• Set up a payment system
• Set up automated delivery after purchase
• Uses built-in email marketing for engagement
• Uses built-in analytics to track sales and engagement
Besides Gumroad, Mike decided to test another marketplace—Etsy. He followed the same steps to create his store and list all his products. He plans to test it for a few months and see the results. He also uses Zaap.bio, which is listed on his social media channels. It drives traffic to his Gumroad product pages and makes his social media more effective.
