How to Sell Digital Products on Payhip (Without a Big Audience)

There’s a very specific kind of joy in waking up to a sale you didn’t have to be awake for. No invoice to chase, no client call, just a notification that someone found your template, liked it and paid for it while you were asleep.

That’s the whole point of digital products. You make something once and sell it on repeat. My own template shop runs on Payhip, and in this guide I’ll show you exactly how to sell digital products on Payhip, step by step.

We’ll cover setting up your store, what you can actually sell, which Payhip plan makes sense (with the maths), how it compares to Gumroad, and the honest bit nobody puts in the sales page: how to get people to your store in the first place.

How to Sell Digital Products on Payhip: Step by Step

Payhip is an online store builder made for digital products. It hosts your files, takes payment, and delivers the download to your customer automatically, so you don’t need a website or a developer to start selling.

Prerequisites: a finished digital product (a PDF, a template link, a zip file) and a PayPal or Stripe account for payouts. Check which of the two is available in your country before you start.

1. Sign up for a free account at payhip.com. You don’t need to pick a paid plan to start.
2. Connect your payment method. Link PayPal, Stripe or both in your settings. Money from sales goes straight to these accounts.
3. Add your first product. Choose the product type (a digital download for most bloggers), upload your file and give it a clear, searchable name.
4. Write a description that sells. Say who it’s for, the problem it solves and exactly what’s included. Add preview images, because buyers want to see what they’re getting.
5. Set your price. A fixed price works for most products. You can also let buyers pay what they want, or offer it free to collect emails.
6. Brand your store. Add your logo, colours and a short store description so it feels like part of your brand, not a generic checkout.
7. Share your product link. Put it in your blog posts, Pinterest pins, email newsletter and Instagram bio. This is the step that actually makes sales.

The whole setup takes an afternoon. The product itself is the bigger job, and if you’re still at that stage, start there.

Related: How to Create a Digital Product for Your Blog (Even If You Think You Have Nothing to Sell)

What Can You Sell on Payhip?

You can sell almost any digital product on Payhip, plus online courses, memberships and physical products. For bloggers and creators, the best sellers are usually the ones that save your reader time on a problem your blog already talks about.

• Templates: Canva templates for Pinterest pins, Instagram carousels, lead magnets, email graphics or websites.
• Guides and ebooks: a deeper, organised version of what you already teach on your blog.
• Planners and workbooks: content planners, launch checklists, printable trackers.
• Notion templates and swipe files: content calendars, email sequences, prompt libraries.
• Online courses: video lessons hosted inside Payhip.
• Memberships: recurring access to a library of resources, billed monthly or yearly.

My shop is mostly Canva templates, because Canva is what my readers already use every day. That’s the filter I’d use for your first product too: sell the thing your readers keep asking you how to do.

Related: How to Sell Canva Templates and Make Money as a Side Hustle

Payhip Pricing: Which Plan Should You Choose?

Payhip has three plans, and every plan includes every feature. The only difference is how you pay: a bigger cut per sale, or a monthly fee in exchange for a smaller one.

Those break-even points come from simple maths. Plus costs $29 a month but saves you 3% on every sale, so it only pays for itself once you sell more than about $967 a month. Pro saves another 2% for an extra $70, which only wins above $3,500 a month. Until then, the free plan is the smarter choice, because you only pay when you actually make a sale.

One thing to budget for on every plan: PayPal or Stripe charge their own processing fee on each sale, on top of Payhip’s fee.

Payhip vs Gumroad: Which Is Better for Bloggers?

For most bloggers selling their own products, Payhip keeps more money in your pocket. Gumroad charges 10% + $0.50 per sale with no monthly fee, and 30% on sales that come through its Discover marketplace.

On a $20 template, that’s a $1 Payhip fee on the free plan versus $2.50 on Gumroad. Sell 50 a month and the difference is $75, every month, before you’ve changed a single thing about your product.

Gumroad’s Discover marketplace can put your product in front of new buyers, which Payhip doesn’t really do. But if your traffic comes from your own blog, Pinterest and email list, you’re paying for discovery you don’t need.

Payhip is the till, not the shop window. Your blog, Pinterest and email list are the shop window.

Do People Actually Make Money on Payhip?

Yes, but Payhip won’t bring you customers on its own. It’s the checkout, not a marketplace, so people only find your products through the links you share. That’s why creators with a small but engaged audience often out-sell people with huge follower counts: their traffic is already interested in the problem the product solves.

The setup that works is an ecosystem, not a single tactic. A blog post solves a problem and ranks in search. A Pinterest pin sends new readers to that post. A freebie turns readers into email subscribers. Then your emails introduce the paid product to people who already trust you.

How to Get Your First Sales on Payhip

Your first sales come from putting the product exactly where your readers already are. These are the moves I’d make first, in this order:

1. Link it from your best blog posts. Find the posts that already get traffic on a related topic and add the product where it genuinely helps.
2. Pin it on Pinterest. Create pins for the blog posts that feature the product. Pinterest traffic keeps coming for months, long after a social post has disappeared.
3. Email your list. Your subscribers are your warmest buyers. A short launch sequence of two or three emails is plenty.
4. Use Payhip’s coupons. A launch discount or a subscriber-only code gives people a reason to buy now rather than later.
5. Turn on the affiliate programme. Payhip lets you pay other creators a commission for every sale they send you.

Related: How to Create Lead Magnets that Convert – 15 Lead Magnet Examples

Key Takeaways

• Payhip lets you sell digital products for free, and only takes a fee when you make a sale.
• Stay on the free plan until you sell about $967 a month, then do the maths on Plus.
• Payhip handles the checkout, but your blog, Pinterest and email list bring the buyers.

Learning how to sell digital products on Payhip is the easy part: an afternoon of setup and you’re open for business. The real glow-up happens when your blog, pins and emails all point to that shop, so every piece of content you’ve already made starts working as a sales channel too. Pour yourself something spicy and go list that first product. 🍹