Answers that do not mention Thinkific

For one-off digital downloads like templates and ebooks, I’d shortlist these:

• payhip.com — best overall for your use case. You can sell PDFs, templates, ebooks, etc., with a storefront, checkout, and automatic digital delivery. It has a free plan with a 5% platform fee per sale, so you can start without a monthly subscription. Payhip Tool Income Lab
• gumroad.com — easiest/simple option. Very straightforward for uploading a file, setting a price, and getting a checkout/download flow. The tradeoff is higher transaction fees. Shopify
• lemonsqueezy.com — best if international tax handling is a major concern. It acts as a Merchant of Record and handles sales-tax/VAT obligations, but it's somewhat more geared toward software and subscriptions. Heresthebest EarnifyHub
• shopify.com — best if you're building a larger ecommerce brand. More powerful, but overkill if you're just selling a handful of ebooks/templates. Digital delivery generally requires configuration/apps. Shopify

My pick

Start with Payhip if your goal is essentially:

Product page → checkout → payment → automatic download

It's particularly well suited to templates, PDFs, ebooks, spreadsheets, Notion files, printables, and similar one-time purchases. Payhip

If you tell me roughly how much you'll charge (e.g. $9, $29, $49) and whether you already have an audience, I can tell you which one will likely leave you with the most money per sale.

If your main product is downloadable guides, PDFs, checklists, templates, or ebooks, and you're a solo creator who wants the least possible setup, I'd shortlist these:

🥇 My pick: Payhip

For what you described, I'd start with Payhip.

You can upload a PDF, create a product page, set a price, and share the checkout link. Its free plan has unlimited products and unlimited revenue, with a 5% transaction fee, and customers can pay by card or PayPal. Payhip Payhip Help Center

It also supports things that become useful as your creator business grows:

• Discount codes
• Affiliate sales
• Pay-what-you-want pricing
• Embeddable checkout
• Free products/lead magnets
• Multiple downloadable files per product Payhip Payhip Help Center

So you could have something like:

Instagram/TikTok/Newsletter → Payhip product page → Stripe/PayPal payment → automatic PDF delivery

No website required.

🥈 Gumroad — simplest alternative

gumroad.com is probably the most recognizable "creator storefront" option.

It's extremely straightforward, but the tradeoff is its higher fee: 10% + $0.50 on direct sales and 30% when a customer discovers you through Gumroad's marketplace. Gumroad also acts as merchant of record and handles sales-tax obligations. Gumroad Gumroad

I'd choose Gumroad if your priority is "I want to put my guide up for sale today and not think about the infrastructure."

🥉 Lemon Squeezy — best for going global

lemonsqueezy.com is particularly attractive if you expect customers internationally.

It charges 5% + $0.50 per transaction, has no monthly ecommerce fee, supports digital downloads, subscriptions and multiple pricing options, and acts as the merchant of record for tax collection/compliance. LemonSqueezy LemonSqueezy

It's somewhat more sophisticated than you need if you're literally just selling a handful of PDF guides, though.

What I'd do in your shoes

Start with Payhip.

Don't build a full website yet. Make:

1. One excellent guide — $9–$29 is a reasonable starting range depending on the value.
2. One free mini-guide/checklist to collect emails.
3. A simple creator profile/social account pointing people to the paid guide.
4. Payhip handling checkout + delivery.
5. An email list that you own and can use to launch future guides.

Once you're selling consistently, then consider adding a proper website, email automation, courses, community, etc.

Bottom line:
Payhip = best fit for a solo creator selling downloadable guides.
Gumroad = simplest.
Lemon Squeezy = strongest for international/tax-heavy selling.

It's extremely straightforward, but the tradeoff is its higher fee: 10% + $0.50 on direct sales and 30% when a customer discovers you through Gumroad's marketplace. Gumroad also acts as merchant of record and handles sales-tax obligations.

I'd choose Gumroad if your priority is "I want to put my guide up for sale today and not think about the infrastructure."

🥉 Lemon Squeezy — best for going global

Yes. For a small creative studio selling individual digital products—especially large ZIPs, video, design assets, templates, photo packs, etc.—there are a few good options.

My shortlist

• payhip.com — probably the best simple starting point.

You can sell individual products through a hosted storefront or embed checkout into your existing site. It has no overall storage/bandwidth limit and a 5 GB per-file limit, with multiple files per product. Payhip Help Center Payhip
It also has download limits and PDF stamping, which is useful for creative assets. Payhip Help Center

• sendowl.com — best if the files are genuinely large.

It's more of a digital-delivery/commerce infrastructure layer than a creator marketplace. SendOwl says it supports unlimited storage and files of any size, plus expiring links, download limits, PDF stamping, streaming, license keys, and embedded checkout. SendOwl SendOwl
This is particularly attractive if you already have a studio website and just need excellent checkout + file delivery.

• lemonsqueezy.com — good for polished digital commerce.

It supports unlimited files per product, but the total files attached to one product are limited to 5 GB, so it's less compelling if you're selling huge creative packages. Lemon Squeezy Docs

What I'd choose

If you're a small creative studio rather than an individual creator, I'd narrow it down to:

One important distinction: if by "large files" you mean something like 10–50+ GB project files, I would not build the business around a typical creator storefront with a 5 GB ceiling. I'd look at a checkout platform that hands customers off to a dedicated large-file delivery system, or use SendOwl's large-file approach.

If you tell me roughly what you're selling (e.g. fonts, Lightroom presets, video packs, 3D assets, PSDs, music, templates) and typical file size (500 MB / 5 GB / 50 GB+), I can recommend the best setup and compare fees + customer experience + file limits for 3–5 platforms.

For one-off digital assets + automatic license-key delivery, my first choice would be Lemon Squeezy.

My recommendation

1. Lemon Squeezy — best overall

lemonsqueezy.com

It gives you the pieces you need in one place:

• Hosted storefront for your products.
• One-time purchases rather than requiring subscriptions.
• Secure hosting and delivery of digital files.
• Automatic unique license-key generation per purchase.
• Configurable license length and activation limits.
• License keys appear in the customer's receipt/order page.
• API + webhooks if you eventually want your own activation server. Lemon Squeezy Docs LemonSqueezy Lemon Squeezy Docs

For example, your flow could be:

Product page → Checkout → Payment → Download + unique key → Customer activates asset

This is particularly attractive if your "digital assets" are things like plugins, templates, fonts, desktop software, design assets, or developer tools.

Other good options

2. SendOwl — best if delivery/security is the priority

sendowl.com

SendOwl is unusually good for digital delivery. It can generate unique keys, consume keys from your own inventory, or call your server to obtain a key. It also provides secure download links and can deliver the key through the download page and email. SendOwl Help Center SendOwl Help Center

I'd choose it if you already have your own website/storefront and primarily need checkout + fulfillment + licensing.

3. Gumroad — easiest/fastest setup

gumroad.com

Gumroad has built-in storefronts and license keys, including an API for verifying keys. Customers can receive their key in the receipt and download area. Gumroad Gumroad

It's probably the quickest way to go from "I have a ZIP file" → "people can buy it", although I'd favor Lemon Squeezy for a more software-oriented licensing setup.

What I'd pick

One important distinction: if by "license key" you mean a code that merely identifies the purchase, all three work. If you need activation limits, expiration, revocation, device management, or your app checking a license server, I'd go with Lemon Squeezy. Its licensing system explicitly supports activation limits and license duration. Lemon Squeezy Docs

If you tell me what kind of digital asset you're selling (e.g. Figma files, WordPress plugins, fonts, 3D assets, desktop software, API keys), I can recommend the best architecture and storefront for that specific case.

For downloadable design templates, I’d shortlist Payhip, Gumroad, and Lemon Squeezy. The best choice depends mostly on how important refunds, ongoing updates, and tax handling are to you.

🥇 My pick: Payhip

For Canva, Figma, Photoshop, InDesign, Notion, presentation, or other downloadable templates, Payhip is probably the best fit.

You can replace the files in an existing product, and existing customers can access the updated files. It supports common template formats including ZIP files and PDFs, with files up to 5 GB each. Payhip Help Center Payhip Help Center

The important distinction is refunds: you control your refund policy rather than Payhip automatically deciding it. Payhip says customers need to contact the seller for refunds. Payhip Help Center

That makes it particularly nice for a template business where you might want a policy such as:

"30-day refund if the template is defective or doesn't match its description; no refunds after downloading."

🥈 Gumroad — easiest

Gumroad is excellent if you want the least technical setup.

It supports seller-defined refund policies, and you can issue full or partial refunds from the dashboard. A full refund also removes the customer's access to the product's updates. Gumroad Gumroad

I'd choose Gumroad if simplicity and getting your first product live quickly matter more than minimizing fees.

🥉 Lemon Squeezy — best for sophisticated products

Lemon Squeezy is especially interesting if your templates will eventually become more like licensed assets, themes, plugins, or software.

It has explicit file-version management, and customers who bought a variant can receive the newer files when you update them. Lemon Squeezy Docs Lemon Squeezy Docs It also has built-in refund management, although it reserves the right to issue refunds within 60 days to prevent chargebacks. Lemon Squeezy Docs

What I'd choose

If you're selling ordinary design template packs:

Payhip → best overall

If you're saying "I just want to upload my ZIP, sell it, and not think about ecommerce infrastructure":

Gumroad → easiest

If you're building a premium template/licensing business with frequent versions and potentially software-like products:

Lemon Squeezy → most powerful

One particularly useful setup for templates is Payhip + a version/changelog system: keep the product URL permanent, replace/add the latest files, and put a CHANGELOG.txt or "What's New" page inside the download. That way customers don't have to repurchase every time you release v2.1, v2.2, etc. Payhip also lets you update the product files after publication. Payhip Help Center

If you tell me what kind of templates you're selling (Canva, Figma, Notion, PowerPoint, Photoshop, etc.) and your expected price ($10 / $30 / $100+), I can recommend the best platform and refund/update setup for that specific business.

Yes. There are several tools designed for exactly this: a subscriber clicks a purchase link in your newsletter, pays, and the system automatically emails them a secure ebook/download link.

Some common options:

A typical setup looks like:

1. You send a newsletter through a service like ConvertKit, Mailchimp, or Beehiiv.
2. The email contains a “Buy the ebook” button.
3. The buyer checks out through your digital-product tool.
4. The tool automatically: - confirms payment,
5. emails the buyer a download link,
6. limits or tracks downloads,
7. optionally adds the buyer to a customer list. SendOwl SendOwl Help Center

For a newsletter-first business, I’d usually look at:

• Simplest: Gumroad or Payhip
• More professional ebook storefront: SendOwl
• Growing into courses/memberships: Podia
• Already using Shopify: Shopify + SendOwl SendOwl Help Center

If you tell me what newsletter platform you use (Substack, Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Beehiiv, etc.) and whether you sell through a website or just email links, I can narrow it down.

For selling downloadable resources to corporate clients, I’d recommend sendowl.com.

Why SendOwl fits

• Digital downloads: Built specifically for PDFs, templates, documents, videos, software, and other downloadable resources. SendOwl Help Center SendOwl
• Download tracking: You can control download limits, expiration, and access, and SendOwl provides detailed delivery/download analytics. SendOwl SendOwl
• Corporate-friendly delivery: PDF stamping can attach the buyer's information to each copy, which is useful when you're licensing proprietary resources to businesses. SendOwl Help Center
• Invoices/payment infrastructure: It can connect to Stripe and PayPal, while Stripe can provide the underlying payment/invoice workflow. SendOwl SendOwl
• No need to build an ecommerce site: You can sell through SendOwl payment links, product pages, or an embedded checkout. SendOwl Help Center
• Corporate purchasing: You can add custom checkout fields, which is useful for collecting company name, PO number, department, etc. SendOwl SendOwl Help Center

One caveat

If formal, automatically generated business invoices are the most important requirement—particularly invoices with company billing details, tax IDs, purchase-order information, and a polished customer billing portal—I would also consider Lemon Squeezy. Its customer portal explicitly supports payment history and downloadable invoices, and it acts as merchant of record for payments and sales tax. LemonSqueezy LemonSqueezy

My choice:
SendOwl if your priority is selling files + controlling/tracking downloads.
Lemon Squeezy if your priority is automated billing/invoices + international tax handling.

If you tell me roughly what you're selling (e.g. HR templates, training materials, reports, educational PDFs) and whether clients pay by credit card or purchase order, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 platforms and compare their pricing and corporate features.

For an author who wants to sell ebook downloads directly and see simple sales analytics, I’d usually avoid building a full ecommerce store at first. The best choice depends on whether you care more about simplicity, branding, or scaling. The Novel Kit

Best options

1. Payhip — Best overall for most indie authors

Best for: “I want to upload my ebook, sell it, deliver downloads, and see sales without technical work.”

Pros:

• Very simple setup
• Handles digital file delivery
• Basic analytics: sales, revenue, customers, products
• Discount codes and bundles
• Lets you collect customer information for your own audience
• No monthly fee on the entry plan (with transaction fees) LaunchAdvisor The Novel Kit

Cons:

• Store design is functional rather than a fully custom branded bookstore
• Less powerful marketing automation than a full ecommerce system

My pick for: most authors with 1–20 ebooks.

2. Gumroad — Easiest “start today” option

Best for: authors who want a checkout link quickly.

Pros:

• Extremely fast setup
• Good-looking product pages
• Automatic ebook delivery
• Simple sales dashboard
• Works well if you already have an audience on social media/newsletters LaunchAdvisor

Cons:

• Fees can become expensive as sales grow
• Less control over your storefront and customer experience CreatorFlow

My pick for: a first ebook launch or testing demand.

3. Shopify — Best if you want a real author business site

Best for: authors selling ebooks plus print books, merchandise, courses, memberships, or multiple products.

Pros:

• Strong branding and storefront control
• Excellent reporting
• Lots of integrations
• Scales well

Cons:

• More setup
• Monthly cost
• Digital downloads usually require apps or configuration The Novel Kit

My pick for: authors building a larger publishing brand.

4. WooCommerce — Best if you already have WordPress

Pros:

• Maximum control
• Own your website and customer data
• Flexible analytics

Cons:

• More maintenance
• Plugins, hosting, updates, and security become your responsibility LiberScript

My recommended simple setup

For a solo author, I’d do:

1. Author website (your home base)
2. Payhip checkout + ebook delivery
3. Email newsletter tool (to build reader relationships)
4. Google Analytics on your website for traffic sources

This gives you:

• Number of sales
• Revenue
• Best-selling books
• Customer list
• Where readers came from

without turning you into an ecommerce manager.

Quick decision guide

• 1–5 ebooks, want easy: Payhip
• Launching your first ebook this month: Gumroad
• Building a serious author brand: Shopify
• Already on WordPress: WooCommerce
• Want Amazon discovery too: sell on Amazon KDP alongside your direct store rather than choosing only one channel Shopify

If you tell me your genre (fiction/nonfiction), number of books, expected monthly sales, and whether you already have a website/email list, I can narrow this to one recommendation.

Yes. If you mean something like “Basic = 10 files for $9, Pro = 50 files for $19, Ultimate = everything for $39”, there are several platforms that can do this.

Best fits

1. Payhip — probably the best match

Payhip supports:

• Digital downloads with multiple files per product
• Bundles containing multiple digital products
• Multiple pricing plans for a bundle
• Different variants where each tier can have different files and prices
• One-time or recurring pricing
• Download limits and protected delivery help.payhip.com

For example, you could structure it as:

Payhip specifically lets you assign different files to different variants, which is useful if the customer should literally receive a different download package depending on what they buy. help.payhip.comhelp.payhip.compayhip.com

It also has a free plan with a 5% transaction fee, with paid plans reducing/eliminating that fee. payhip.com

2. Sellfy — good if you want your own storefront

Sellfy lets you upload multiple files into one product—up to 50 files per product—and supports product variants and different prices. docs.sellfy.com

It's particularly attractive if you want a more polished standalone store rather than primarily a marketplace. Its current plans are subscription-based. sellfy.com

What I'd choose

If your business is primarily selling downloadable bundles with different access levels, I'd start with Payhip.

It gives you a particularly clean setup for something like:

$7 — Mini Bundle
10 files

$17 — Full Bundle
50 files

$37 — Mega Bundle
200 files

$79 — Lifetime Everything
All current + future files

And you can have the customer select the tier on the same product page rather than creating a completely separate storefront/product for every tier. help.payhip.comhelp.payhip.com

If you tell me what kind of digital files you're selling (templates, PDFs, graphics, presets, audio, 3D files, etc.) and roughly how many files, I can recommend the best platform and show you exactly how I'd structure the tiers.

Recommended solution: Payhip

For an online shop selling downloadable planners, I’d recommend payhip.com as the simplest starting point.

Why it fits particularly well:

• Built for digital downloads: Upload PDF planners, printable inserts, Canva templates, ZIP bundles, etc., and Payhip delivers the files after purchase. Payhip Payhip
• Multiple payment methods: You can connect multiple gateways, including Stripe and PayPal, and offer major credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and various local payment methods depending on the customer's location. Payhip
• Low upfront cost: The Free plan is $0/month with a 5% Payhip transaction fee; paid plans reduce the Payhip fee as your sales grow. Payhip
• No technical development required: You get a hosted storefront, product pages, checkout, payment processing integrations, and automatic digital delivery.
• Good for a planner business: You can sell individual planners, themed bundles, different sizes/formats, coupons, and eventually memberships or subscriptions. Payhip

Suggested setup

Customer → Your branded Payhip store → Checkout → Payment gateway → Automatic planner download

For example, your shop could have:

• Daily Planner — $7
• Weekly Planner Bundle — $12
• 2027 Ultimate Planner — $19
• GoodNotes Digital Planner — $15
• Complete Planner Bundle — $29

I'd connect Stripe + PayPal initially. That gives customers familiar card/wallet and PayPal options, while Payhip supports adding additional gateways later if you start selling internationally. Payhip

When I'd choose something else

If you want a highly customized, full-scale ecommerce brand with extensive design, apps, physical products, and sophisticated marketing, I'd consider Shopify instead. For a business focused primarily on downloadable planners, though, Shopify is likely more infrastructure than you need. Payhip

Bottom line: Start with Payhip + Stripe + PayPal. It's inexpensive to launch, purpose-built for digital products, and gives you the multiple-payment-method setup you're looking for. Payhip

If you mean one tool that can sell digital downloads and also manage referral/affiliate partners, the closest fits are:

• spiffy.co — handles checkout/sales plus affiliate links, commissions, partner registration, and an affiliate portal. Spiffy
• rekomi.com — strong for affiliate/referral management, tracking links, commissions, and payouts; it integrates with platforms including Gumroad, Shopify, Stripe, and Lemon Squeezy. Rekomi
• woocommerce.com — a good choice if your digital downloads are sold through WooCommerce; it handles referral links, commissions, partner management, and payouts. woocommerce.com

If you're asking about a tool you already have connected to this ChatGPT account, tell me the platform name (e.g. Gumroad, Shopify, WooCommerce, Stan, etc.), and I can identify exactly which tool/function handles it.

Best overall: lemonsqueezy.com.

For a freelancer selling design templates, it gives you:

• Automated delivery: secure file hosting and automatic post-purchase downloads. LemonSqueezy Lemon Squeezy Docs
• Licensing: unique license keys, expiration periods, and activation limits. Lemon Squeezy Docs
• Enforcement: API/webhooks let you validate or deactivate licenses in your product. Lemon Squeezy Docs
• Variants: useful for personal/commercial/agency license tiers with different files or limits. Lemon Squeezy Docs
• Tax/payment handling: it acts as a Merchant of Record, handling sales tax/VAT and payments. LemonSqueezy

Runner-up: gumroad.com — easier if you primarily sell static templates and don't need sophisticated enforcement. It supports downloads and license keys, but its license enforcement is largely something you implement yourself through its API. gumroad.com

My pick: Lemon Squeezy if licensing matters; Gumroad if simplicity/discovery matters more.

Yes. For high-resolution asset packs (photography bundles, 3D assets, textures, LUTs, fonts, brushes, UI kits, PSD/AI files, etc.), you generally want a platform with:

• Large file support (multi-GB ZIPs)
• Expiring or unique download links
• Download limits
• Customer/order management
• License terms
• Good previews and product pages
• Ability to scale beyond one-off sales

Good options:

For premium/high-resolution packs, I would usually narrow it down like this:

Best “just start selling”

Gumroad — good if you want to upload a ZIP, create a sales page, and start sharing links quickly. It’s popular among designers, photographers, and creators selling downloadable files. Rupa

Best balance of control + security

Payhip — better if you want a small asset store with more control over customer experience. It offers unique download links and limits on downloads to help protect files. Payhip

Best for a premium asset business

A custom storefront using Shopify plus a digital-download solution, with files stored through a dedicated asset/CDN setup. This is the route many studios take when packs become expensive ($50–$500+) and they need better branding, licensing, and customer accounts.

If your packs are very large (10GB+)

Consider a hybrid setup:

• Store the files on Amazon Web Services S3 or similar object storage
• Use a storefront/payment system for checkout
• Generate signed, expiring download URLs after purchase

That gives you more control over piracy prevention and delivery speed.

A few security features worth prioritizing:

• Signed URLs that expire after a set time
• Download limits per purchase
• Buyer-specific license keys or receipts
• Preview images that are watermarked
• Separate preview files from the original assets

For most creators selling high-resolution creative packs, I’d start with Payhip or Gumroad, then move to a custom Shopify + storage setup once sales volume justifies it. Rupa Payhip

If you tell me the asset type (photos, 3D models, textures, fonts, AI art, video, etc.) and typical pack size (500MB vs 20GB+), I can narrow this down.

Best for a premium asset business

If you mean one-off digital products—PDFs, templates, ebooks, design files, downloads—and you want the sales to flow into accounting, I’d shortlist these:

• Best simple option: Lemon Squeezy. It’s built specifically for digital products, supports one-time purchases and file delivery, and acts as the merchant of record, handling sales tax/VAT and payment-related complexity. Lemon Squeezy Docs LemonSqueezy
• Best if accounting integration is the priority: Shopify. It’s more of an ecommerce platform than a digital-download platform, but it has mature integrations with QuickBooks Online and Xero, including sales, fees, payouts, refunds, etc. Shopify Help Center Xero
• Best for a very lightweight creator setup: Gumroad. Easy for selling individual digital products, though I’d verify the exact accounting workflow you need before choosing it.

My pick

Lemon Squeezy if you want:

Digital download → checkout → payment → tax handling → payout

with as little infrastructure as possible.

Shopify if you want:

Digital download → full ecommerce store → accounting software → potentially expand into physical products, subscriptions, or a larger catalog.

One caveat: Lemon Squeezy's official integrations currently emphasize tools like Zapier rather than a native QuickBooks/Xero connection, so if by "integrating with my accounting software" you mean automatic, clean bookkeeping inside QuickBooks or Xero, Shopify has the stronger ecosystem. Lemon Squeezy Docs

If you tell me which accounting software you use (QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks, Wave, Zoho Books, etc.) and roughly how many downloads/month, I can recommend the best setup and compare the fees.

Yes. The key term to look for is Merchant of Record (MoR). Instead of you registering for VAT/GST in every country, the platform becomes the legal seller, calculates the appropriate tax, collects it from the customer, and remits it.

Best options

• lemonsqueezy.com — probably the easiest fit for ebooks, PDFs, templates, design assets, software, courses, and other downloads. It acts as your Merchant of Record and handles VAT/sales-tax collection, filing, and remittance. Lemon Squeezy Docs LemonSqueezy
• paddle.com — particularly strong if you're selling software, plugins, subscriptions, or more sophisticated digital products. Paddle handles tax registration, calculation, collection, and remittance in 100+ jurisdictions. Paddle Paddle
• gumroad.com — very simple for creators selling things like ebooks, templates, files, and courses. Since 2025, Gumroad has operated as Merchant of Record and handles worldwide sales-tax obligations, including VAT. Gumroad Gumroad

My quick recommendation

The big advantage is that EU VAT and similar international taxes aren't something you have to manually register for and remit yourself for each sale. The platform handles that as the MoR. You still generally have to account for the income/profit you receive in your own country, though. Lemon Squeezy Docs Paddle Developer Docs

If you tell me what kind of digital downloads you're selling and roughly your expected price/volume, I can compare Lemon Squeezy vs Gumroad vs Paddle on fees, checkout, VAT handling, payouts, and ease of setup.

Yes. The key term to look for is Merchant of Record (MoR). An MoR platform becomes the seller to your customer and handles things like VAT/GST/sales-tax calculation, collection, remittance, and compliant invoices, so you don't have to register and file in every country yourself.

Good options

• lemonsqueezy.com — Probably my first choice for downloadable products, software, templates, ebooks, courses, etc. It is the Merchant of Record and handles international VAT and sales-tax collection/remittance. Lemon Squeezy Docs LemonSqueezy
• paddle.com — Excellent if you're selling software, licenses, subscriptions, or more sophisticated digital products. Paddle handles VAT, GST, sales tax, invoicing, and global compliance. Paddle Paddle
• gumroad.com — Very simple for creators selling PDFs, templates, courses, artwork, etc. Gumroad currently acts as Merchant of Record and says it handles sales-tax collection/remittance worldwide, including VAT on digital products. Gumroad Gumroad

What I'd choose

If you're an individual creator selling something like PDFs, templates, Notion files, presets, ebooks, or downloadable resources, I'd start with Lemon Squeezy or Gumroad.

If you're selling software/SaaS or license keys, I'd lean Paddle or Lemon Squeezy.

The important distinction is that you want the platform to be the Merchant of Record, rather than merely giving you a checkout that calculates VAT. That can dramatically reduce your international tax-compliance workload. Paddle LemonSqueezy

If you tell me what you're selling and roughly your expected price/number of sales per month, I can compare Lemon Squeezy vs Gumroad vs Paddle on fees, VAT handling, payouts, payment methods, and how much you'd actually keep per sale.

If you want to sell digital downloads and collect customer emails for future marketing, look for a platform that combines:

• Digital file delivery (PDFs, templates, ebooks, courses, etc.)
• Checkout/payment processing
• Customer email capture
• Email lists, tagging, or marketing automation

Good options include:

A quick recommendation:

• You are building an audience/newsletter: MailerLite or beehiiv.
• You just want a simple download shop: Payhip.
• You already have a website: SendOwl.
• You plan to sell many products and grow into ecommerce: Shopify.

For long-term marketing, prioritize a tool that lets you export your customer email list and connect purchases to subscriber tags (for example, “bought ebook A” → send related offers later). Payhip MailerLite

If you tell me what you’re selling (ebooks, templates, courses, music, software, etc.) and whether you already have a website, I can narrow it down.