Ecommerce

Selling Products Online: Digital Goods The Best Way To Sell Tools and Tricks

September 16, 2020

Blogs and online stores often need the ability to sell digital goods online. This requires completely different software that is simpler and more acceptable to send links to customers via digital content downloads.

Compared to real products, these digital items are not really tangible. So you host it on your site and then notify your customers with some kind of file.

Also Read: Dropshipping to Facilitate E-Commerce

For example, some digital products commonly sold include:

Ebook
Music track
Photo
Exclusive podcast
Webinar
Video training courses
software
Web service
Templates such as email and website
Web graphics and vectors

This decision remains ESD- free (excluding extension and payment provider fees) and can be integrated with virtually any site, the report provides on-site metrics to assess the health of the store, and the user interface is straightforward for both users and users. (Products are neatly displayed on the site, and customers receive an instant email with a link after purchasing a digital product.)

Other digital sales solutions serve a variety of purposes. For example, some of these are now integrated with your website, while others are pre-built solutions that require you to pay a monthly fee for a complete online store system.

Some plugins and software support the actual item, but others do not. One of the main attributes we looked at was flexibility. AKA was an overall feature for expanding your site, selling other platforms, and customizing your own website.

One of the main attributes we looked at was flexibility. AKA was an overall feature for expanding your site, selling other platforms, and customizing your own website.

Good example: One of our recommendations is Sellfy.

Not our first or second recommendation, but why? Sellfy serves those who don’t want to spend a lot of time on design. It’s really great for beginners who spend more time developing new items to sell than web design work. Here is an in-depth review of Sellfy.

However, since the sites are all similar in appearance and templates run through Sellfy, Sellfy limits its users to their own community. (Like making a store in Amazon).

It opens up all the possibilities for selling digital goods on the runner-up SendOwl CMS or website building platform. It costs more than an EDD, but the pricing plan depends entirely on the number of products on the site and the amount of download storage space. So you won’t write more than you need.

SendOwl is one of the easiest ways to sell your digital products. Since this product is primarily designed for selling digital items, it provides a simple button that can be placed anywhere, and allows you to upload a variety of product files. The shopping cart with no pop-ups and no installation required looks neat and minimal. You can also use powerful tools such as discount management, shipping and tax calculations, simple payment processors, many product options, and more.

Secondly why the interface to EDD is better than SendOwl’s interface, and EDD has a nice extension library. SendOwl has a vast set of built-in features, but you can use all the features you provide. So minimal integration. Also, EDD is free (no extension).

Details

Why should you trust us
Who is it for?
How to choose and test how to sell digital goods online
Picks for selling digital goods: easy digital downloads
Runner-up: E-Junkie
Competitive comparison
Some final thoughts and things to remember

Why should you trust us

I started my career in marketing and web design, but over time I started reviewing, roundups, and tutorials on e-commerce platforms, allowing me to get a glimpse of the industry. At that point, I mainly published and sold digital products online (e.g. marketing webinars and educational eBooks for freelance writers). So, through my research, WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads and Shopify.

Most of my digital book and video sales went through WordPress sites, but mainly because I started blogging a year ago and then attached the store to my blog.

Selling my services and digital products online allowed me to start my business, but e-commerce platforms have always taken me to the world of thinking of selling online.

For example, I’ve been meticulously testing the best ecommerce platforms online for over a week and comparing them to pricing, payment gateways, templates, support and marketing tools. Understand the complexity of the payment processor and what sellers need to look for to keep their costs down.

In addition, you have learned the skills of building online marketplaces and more complex online stores where thousands of sellers sell their products.

Overall, the people of e-commerce platform have a lot of experience with regards to e-commerce website design, payment gateway versatility, app integration, quality of customer support, and ease of use of shopping carts. The eCommerce platform site receives thousands of views and comments per month, so there is user feedback for every review. Thus, many people’s opinions are shaped by what others say.

Finally, I am known for comprehensive comparison of platforms for selling physical and digital products. Top ten e-commerce platforms of all time . These comparisons take a lot of time, effort, and money that most people don’t want when looking for a single platform. So, I’m done and summarized the information in order to present it in a format that readers can read.

Who is it for?

At some point, anyone can sell digital products online. Hardware stores can create video training programs on how to maintain a new home after purchase. Web design bloggers can create great ebooks to sell to developers and designers around the world. Real merchandise e-commerce stores may realize that they can make more money by selling digital add-ons (like clothing stores selling style guides or videos to resell their own clothes).

Web design bloggers can create great ebooks to sell to developers and designers around the world. Real merchandise e-commerce stores may realize that they can make more money by selling digital add-ons (like clothing stores selling style guides or videos to resell their own clothes).

Digital sales platforms also do the trick when trying to offer digital items. Take, for example, a fictional clothing store. Fall style guides can work better as an incentive for people to buy in the store. So, when someone buys a shirt or pants, you can give it for free. Tools like EDD and SendOwl can automatically send files to customers

Fall style guides can work better as an incentive for people to buy in the store. So, when someone buys a shirt or pants, you can give it for free. Tools like EDD and SendOwl let you automatically send files to your customers without charging.

I also recommend this guide to those who want to break the window whenever they see their bills on their current digital sales platform. The same goes for those who find the user interface too difficult.

Recommendations take into account both user experience and cost. That’s why EDD is at the top with no cost at all, and SendOwl is perfect for those who want a monthly fee instead of some percentage or transaction fee.

If you are new to digital selling games, this article will help you find your ideal product. If you currently have a way to manage your digital goods and are happy with the design tools and prices you pay for, it’s a good idea to stick with the old one without going through the conversion process.

How to choose and test how to sell digital goods online

Now that we have discussed the reasons for choosing a digital sales platform with someone who should consider one of these systems, you can take a look at these five tools:

Easy digital download
SendOwl
Gumroad
Sellfy
Electronic addict
WooCommerce
Shopify and digital download apps
pulley
DPD
FetchApp

When evaluating all of the above tools, we put all the tools in the arena, picked from scratch. None of them were prejudiced, so I started looking at the features I thought were the most important in platforms that help sell digital products.

These are the more obvious tools, but I’ve decided on three essential features to narrow the scene. We also looked at the user-friendliness of each platform’s features, so we removed some of the recommendations from the start.

The three essential features are:

Powerful Digital Storage and Delivery -This is interesting because many tools don’t offer unlimited storage space for your digital files. When discussing powerful file transfers, it’s all about automation and simplicity. The goal here is to automatically send an email with a link from the system right after the user makes a purchase. You will also need a custom tool for that email or download page. The main area to separate the candidates is how easy it is to save the files. This is because the self-hosted platform can run out of space.

Clean Shopping Cart -I understand this is a bit subjective, but I think most people can reasonably decide whether it provides a clear and short path to purchase by clicking on the shopping cart. It involves only minimal steps in the checkout process, and it seems like no one clicks three buttons to make a purchase. Also, I don’t want any type of branding (other than my store) in the checkout lane. I also like the idea that there are no pop-ups, minimal distraction, enough white space, and a form that clearly describes what needs to be filled in. Along with this, it’s a good idea to keep a guest checkout option and a shopping cart/checkout. Website instead of being redirected elsewhere

Integration with Best Payment Gateways- Digital selling platforms that only connect with Stripe or PayPal should do the trick, but some companies want to avoid using those options due to price or geographic restrictions. So, we found it important for the tool to support all of the most popular payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, 2Checkout, Authorize.net, etc. This gives more options for selling and puts research power in the hands of the trader.

So, what system is still running after looking at these three essential features?

Easy digital download
SendOwl
WooCommerce
Electronic addict
Shopify and digital download apps
DPD
FetchApp

Dropout:

Sellfy -payment gateway options are limited. You can only access PayPal Standard, PayPal Express and Stripe. Also, PayPal checkout isn’t ideal, giving Sellfy a few dings right away. However, Sellfy is one of the best options for embedding a shopping cart on any type of website. Most of the features covered below are included in Sellfy, so they’re not the most impressive.
Gumroad-Payments are beautiful and storage is strong, but Gumroad only offers PayPal for accepting credit cards. That said, we’ll be talking about which niche traders should consider Gumroad a little lower in their article.
Pulley-PayPal is the only payment gateway option.

Now that you have a look at the core features, it’s time to evaluate which features really shine in terms of add-ons, marketing potential, and interesting little tools that you can use on almost any website.

The following features focus on flexibility and control, preferring how you can scale your website to your liking, and instead of focusing on a platform that is limited in terms of design and functionality, it’s better to have full control.

Some of the following features are more important than others, but overall, we’ve looked at each feature and made sure that the tool or feature is available through each platform, and then we made a final decision on the most promising arsenal for all types of digital. Online seller.

So, the other features I checked out are:

The ability to integrate with any website -for many merchants who can use the platform, the ability to implement the tool on an existing site using a digital sales tool is enormous. If you need to sign up for an entirely new account, it’s a hindrance if people who already have an existing website want to switch to an online store.
Store for add-ons or extensions -Additional apps come in all shapes and sizes, but the main goal is to get extra areas to expand the functionality of your online store. This way you won’t get stuck with websites that don’t allow commissions or more obscure payment processors. For example, you can integrate with MailChimp or sell some digital products for free. This is often done easily with the help of add-ons, apps and extensions.
Advanced User Features (Wishlist, Save Cart, Create Profile) -Add-ons allow you to include many of these features, so you can see the power of the App Store as you explore these features. That said, creating a simple digital merchandise site doesn’t mean that your customers have full control over their profiles. In fact, the opposite is true because buyers may have to download the file later. So, you need to provide a profile that allows you to log in to find recently purchased files. Wishlists, shopping cart savings and other natural things are bonuses.
Simple and Intuitive Customer Management -Which customers have visited your site and can you see items that have recently been purchased? If not, you may have issues with target marketing and complaint handling. Let’s say someone tries to tell you that too much money has been charged for a purchase. If they can’t see again the amount they have spent, they basically have to repay without any knowledge. More importantly, understanding which customers are buying will shape your future marketing and sales strategy.
Discount Codes and Promotions -Discounts come in all shapes and sizes in the world of e-commerce. When it comes to digital sales, it’s not that different. There are times when you want to market a promotion during the holiday season, especially during the holiday season. It’s most likely you’ve paid for all of your digital products in the making process, so you can focus on your business without getting a discount. Some promotional tools include discounts on defined terms, rules on how many discounts a person can use, digital discount codes to punch in, and promotions that expire after a certain amount of time.
Advanced Reporting –Generating product sales reports will enhance your knowledge of what’s going on in your store, but it should be simple and intuitive using reporting software that serves as benchmarks when comparing different platforms. What to look for includes total earnings based on time period and category. You also need filters for downloads, reports monitoring the number of sales, taxes, exportable data, and graphs.
API Access -For some users, the provision of access to the API is huge. But others don’t think about it. We haven’t put much weight on the available APIs, but we know that advanced users understand what options are open to integrating and developing external apps.
File Access Control -Maintaining download control not only prevents theft and sharing, but also requires users to return to the store for new digital downloads. Overall, with File Access Control, we configure the expiration date of downloads purchased by the user along with the download limit so that each user cannot download the file multiple times and share it with friends. Essentially, file access control prevents unauthorized access to digital content.
Marketing tools (email marketing and affiliates, etc.) -In most cases, you can find an online app that can fill the gap with a marketing tool like Adding MailChimp to your website. However, most people agree that integrated marketing options make the life of an online business person easier. Promising marketing strategies, for example, include social media share buttons and a store on your Facebook page.
Shipping and Tax Calculator -The calculator reinforces trust between buyers and buyers because if you do not disclose shipping or taxes at the beginning of the calculation process, the user is known to discard the shopping cart.
Variety of Product Options -Most vendors only think of variant products when selling real items. Nevertheless, digital products may have variations. For example, you can sell multiple packages for an online video training course. In this case, you can implement product variables for quick drop-down and selection.
Subscription and Membership Sales -Subscriptions and Memberships collect recurring payments. Not all digital sales platforms are the same in this area. In fact, some systems are primarily suitable if you have a membership or signup site. This includes running out of content or slow distribution of content to users who pay for membership. For example, online courses may not release all content in advance. So, content shedding only provides some of the course material until people complete each section.

Picks for selling digital goods: easy digital downloads

After evaluating each of the features above, Easy Digital Download came out above all the rest. It’s not that others aren’t useful in other situations, but overall EDD has the best features, the cleanest front-end interface, an onslaught of cool features, and almost any type of business can use it to sell digital content.

You also need to be cautious looking at the pricing that is another reason to choose EDD. This is the way I see it. EDD can be downloaded for free, but webmasters often spend money on add-ons, many of which are rarely needed by e-commerce stores.

For example, Stripe Payment Gateway is $49 and MailChimp is $29. Overall, you don’t have to spend money on basic sales of digital goods. In fact, most simple stores only pay for hosting and installing WordPress and EDD for free. However, you may incur additional costs depending on how much you want your site to evolve.

Read on to see how the EDD has maintained each of the more important features.

The ability to integrate with any website- EDD has one of the most intuitive interfaces, especially when installed on a website. One of the main reasons you can skip EDD is because it only integrates with WordPress. For many, this is a good thing (WordPress is easy to learn and many are already using it). However, others may not want to get this training or your site may not be on WordPress right now.
Stores for add-ons or extensions -EDD offers impressive stores, but you have to pay for advanced tools. This means you have access to options like subscriptions, frontend submissions, payment gateways, reservations, reviews, commissions and more.
Advanced User Features (Wish List, Save Cart, Create Profile) -Both user and guest checkouts come with an EDD and users can save their shopping cart while shopping. You can also save your shopping cart and create a simple profile so you can come back later. Overall, the profile is basic and doesn’t confuse users. In my tests, the user is unable to generate a wishlist and there is no extension to do this.

Simple and Intuitive Customer Management -Track every customer individually. You can go there and download the full list or click to see what John Doe did on the site. Customer edits and deletions are allowed, and by generating reports on customer lifetime value, you can focus more on those who spend more money.
Discount Codes and Promotions -Discount codes are built right into the system, allowing for flat rate or percentage based discounts. Some products can be excluded, the start and end dates are managed in the dashboard. There is also a module that specifies the minimum total number of carts required for an ESD discount code to work. For example, after someone puts a $100 worth of digital downloads in their shopping cart, you can offer a small discount.

Advanced Reporting -Reporting has its own tab under the digital download area in WordPress. Thanks for this brief report, the main areas focus on earnings over a specific period. All the essentials are included in the report, such as data export, download monitoring, tax tracking, and some filters to create your own reports based on specific products.

API Access -Sales and product information is provided in JSON or XML format. Developers have full API access to extend the EDD platform and integrate with specific applications.
File Access Control -Everyone seems to be stealing digital content from music to e-books. You can’t do much about it, but there are ways to block it at your best. EDD has file access control enabled by default, so the only person who can download the file is the one who bought the file. You can also set file download limits to prevent crazy downloads by one person.
Marketing tools (email marketing and affiliates, etc.) -Extensions are required to connect your favorite email marketing tools. When it comes to affiliates, you have one choice: Affiliate WP. This works by default, but if you don’t want to pay any fees, you can also try other affiliate WordPress plugins.
Shipping and Tax Calculator -Both are calculated if necessary. I think I’m primarily selling digital products that don’t require shipping, but a simple shipping extension supports shipping of smaller basic packages.
Variety of product options and prices -the variable price converter is a major extension of this. According to my research, the product does not have a built-in solution.

Selling Subscriptions and Memberships -It took me some time to realize that the Membership and Subscription feature was in the EDD, but in the end it was under the extension. Therefore, you will have to pay recurring payments potentially elevating the Content Pro member discount limit . If you want to hide some content like video courses and collect monthly or weekly payments, it’s a good idea to combine the two.

Runner-up: SendOwl

My favorite SendOwl WordPress gives you a powerful tool to bring your digital products online and sell them to your customers with minimal options than the way you don’t need to know anything about WordPress. The main reason I really enjoy SendOwl is because it’s a perfect solution for beginners.

Let’s see what keeps SendOwl at its peak (along with some advantages):

The ability to integrate with any website- One of the main reasons SendOwl stands out compared to its other competitors is: It is also a great alternative to EDD. SendOwl works with most websites, so you can create an existing site or create a new one. For example WordPress or Shopify site. It’s mainly about installing a bit of code, so most content management systems or e-commerce platforms won’t have a problem.
Store for add-ons or extensions -SendOwl doesn’t have an app store, but it seems like the company wants to include most of the features they need into real platforms.
Advanced User Features (Wishlist, Save Cart, Create Profile) -SendOwl saves your cart with a beautiful responsive checkout and gives your customers the option to checkout again. It’s managed mostly without the user’s knowledge, so I was a bit confused as I couldn’t find the cart icon along with the number of products. I don’t really have a wishlist, but if you add a product to your cart and then add another product, they both sit at checkout.
Simple and Intuitive Customer Care -Customer care has been slightly reduced compared to EDD, but you still need to keep a list of people who have purchased from you. Implementing the membership feature starts true customer care.
Discount Codes and Promotions -Discount codes can be limited to a specific period, product, or amount spent and you can go into those codes and track which codes work fine. What I like the most is that you can use discount codes to target individuals or groups of customers depending on how you shop.
Advanced Reporting -There is not much to say about reporting except that it gives you the numbers you need. The report is quite advanced so you can test which products you sell and which ones you don’t. In addition, several metrics are provided for affiliate programs.
API Access -All developers have access to APIs that can integrate with other systems and make the backend more powerful for your organization.
File Access Control -SendOwl really stands out. File access tools range from limited downloads to content restrictions for membership and subscriptions.
Marketing tools (email marketing and affiliates, etc.) -Affiliate programs are built in, so there is no need to look for plugins Management tasks, reporting and commissions are all handled by SendOwl, so your main goal is to find new affiliates. Yes, it can integrate with services like MailChimp.
Shipping and Tax Calculator -Actual products are accepted, but shipping options are slightly weaker A tax calculator is provided to automatically display taxes for customers.
Variety of product options and pricing -this is all done through custom checkout fields. Basically, you can add additional fields that ask for the product version you want.
Sell Subscriptions and Memberships -SendOwl has an impressive subscription and subscription, along with a drip feature that allows you to share some content for free and give people a little more functionality as they pay or progress through the program. For example, you may want to offer additional courses as someone progresses through your training program.

Competitive comparison

Let’s go back to our list of digital sales solutions.

Best choice

We found it easiest in terms of setup and extension after going through the digital download store.

Simplicity and choice for those who don’t want or like WordPress

SendOwl has most of the features you need, but it doesn’t have items like more powerful variable product controls and shipping calculators. However, I recommend it for companies that skip EDD because they don’t have a site on WordPress or new webmasters don’t like WordPress.

E-Junkie is also a great way to build a digital store on your website without using WordPress. I don’t like the backend interface (though it looks old-fashioned and quirky), but it’s affordable and offers subscriptions, marketing and other tools.

Our choice for creatives like artists and writers

Gumroad is a service built around the idea of having to spend more time creating new content such as books or art. Since Gumroad does most of the work, you incur a cost per product sold. Prices start at $10 per month, but you have to pay 3.5% + 30¢ per sale. This is a big part, especially if the product price is not that high. But the point is to help those who don’t want to spend a lot of time developing and selling.

It is an alternative to Sellfy Gumroad, but serves as a marketplace like Etsy. So, although you can configure your site through Sellfy (which can be very easy), the pages all have similar branding and you have no direct control over it. (Update: The Sellfy team now offers the ability to customize your store using the WYSIWYG editor. You can now redesign your store and match it with your existing brand). The transaction fee for the basic plan starts at 5% and decreases when you choose the Prop and Pro Plus plan. If you pay $99 a month, you can’t pay a transaction fee.

Pick without transaction fees

In terms of cost savings and pricing for the transaction fees tackle the solution is you. On the eye. You don’t have to pay any transaction fees except what PayPal charges, it’s a simple option for artists of all shapes and sizes. The plan starts at $6 per month (25 products sold). The backend tools water more than Sellfy and Gumroad, but sometimes that’s all. Buttons are still available, for example social media sell buttons, auto-send, download history, customizable emails, and integration with BigCartel.

Picking for those who have a lot of physical products to sell

Sometimes there may be stores with both physical and digital goods. For most small stores, you can use EDD or SendOwl. If you want to choose more physical products along with digital ones, WooCommerce (or Shopify and digital download apps provide better support. These platforms would be better suited for quickly launching your site with shipping tools and real product variants). Not only that, both are basically used in real products.

For example, you can choose from hundreds of Shopify themes. You can connect payment gateways, adjust settings and delivery, and start selling real items. Then install the Digital Downloads app and it will allow any digital goods you want in your store. In the screenshot, you can see a site that sells both real and digital works.

Pick for sale in multiple stores

There is also no DPD transaction fee. So that’s a big plus. However, the great features revolve around individual dashboards across multiple stores. So, if you want a music selling site and want to sell a few eBooks on different websites, they are all managed in one DPD dashboard.

It makes sense for prices to start at $10 per month. It comes with exciting tools like real product support, built-in shipping and tax calculations, API support, and multilingual checkout and upsell capabilities. Subscriptions are beautifully handled and they also support PDF stamping to prevent people from sharing your content.

Yes, you can integrate DPD with almost any platform imaginable. Offers custom product widgets and buttons. This task is generally easy, but we know that some creative entrepreneurs spend as little time coding as possible. So it can seem a bit intimidating to an absolute beginner.

Our choice for the most flexible plan

Some of the digital sales platforms described above are not expensive. Easy Digital Downloads, for example, are completely free. However, it’s a bit silly to assume you’ll never spend any money. On the other hand, most systems either charge monthly or pay transaction fees.

Instead of avoiding transaction fees, FetchApp offers a wide range of pricing plans to increase flexibility while expanding your store. For example, the lowest plan is completely free, but you only have access to 5MB of storage space. It works fine for a small store, but a lot of people will want to expand beyond that.

They set it at $5, $10, $20, $30, $50, $100, $150, $200, $300 and $500 per month. Get a little more storage space each time you plan. So you can have all the products you want, take advantage of all the features, and pay more when your products take up too much storage space.

Some final thoughts and things to remember

As you can see, choosing the best way to sell digital goods online is no simpler than you think. My main recommendation is to check out Easy Digital Downloads first. You don’t have to pay to download it and it works just fine on a free WordPress site. I would also like to recommend a solution with a free plan such as FetchApp. You usually don’t use the extensive features found in EDD or SendOwl, but you should at least save a bit on the testing process.