How to Price a Digital Product After Platform Fees

The course is recorded, the template is polished, and the only box left empty is the price. You can type $29 or $99, but you cannot yet say what lands in your bank account after the checkout takes its share. That gap is where the worry sits, because a price can look fine on the sales page and still leave far less than you planned once fees and tax come out. Learning how to price a digital product starts with that number, the cash you keep, not the number the buyer sees. Platform fees, payment processing, monthly plans and sales tax can each take a different slice, and they stack in ways a headline percentage does not show. The good news is that every one of them is published, and you can add them up in about twenty minutes. Once you have your own numbers, the price stops being a guess.

What does each platform take from a digital product sale?

Each platform takes a different mix of a percentage, a fixed amount per order, and sometimes a monthly plan. The table below uses each platform's own pricing page for a US seller, a domestic card and a pre-tax price. Fees change without much notice, so open the linked page and confirm the figure before you set your price.

The details behind each row matter. Gumroad's pricing page lists 10% + $0.50 for direct sales and says card processing is extra, and its help page on Gumroad fees sets out how the two stack. Lemon Squeezy's pricing lists $0 a month and 5% + $0.50 per transaction. Shopify's pricing page lists the Basic plan and its card rate, and Shopify Help on digital products says, "There are no additional fees for selling digital products on your online store." Etsy's fee help page covers its listing, transaction and payment fees, which vary by country. Kajabi's pricing and Teachable's pricing list their plans and fees.

App stores are a separate case. The Apple Developer Program costs $99 a year, with a 30% App Store commission normally and 15% for qualifying programs. Google Play's service fees start with a one-time $25 registration, and its rates in the US, UK and EEA depend on the product, install status and billing method. If you sell an app or in-app purchase, those rules apply instead of web checkout math, so calculate them on their own.

A digital product platform comparison is only as good as the setup it describes. The same platform can charge more for a PayPal payment, an international card or a marketplace sale than for a direct domestic card sale, so compare the setup you will actually use.

Is the payment processor fee on top of the platform fee?

Often, yes. On Gumroad direct sales and on Teachable, the platform's share and the card processing are two separate charges. On Lemon Squeezy, the published base fee already includes processing. On Shopify, Etsy and Kajabi, the payment fee is the main per-sale cost, with a plan fee or listing fee around it.

If you run your own checkout with a processor, the processor fee is the whole per-sale cost apart from your hosting. Stripe's pricing lists 2.9% + $0.30 for successful domestic online card payments, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% more when currency conversion is needed. PayPal's US merchant fees list 3.49% plus a fixed fee for PayPal Checkout and Guest Checkout, and 2.99% plus a fixed fee for its standard card rate.

Surcharges on merchant-of-record platforms work the same way. Lemon Squeezy's fee documentation says its fee is charged on the total order value and adds 1.5% for international transactions, 1.5% for PayPal and 0.5% for subscriptions. A seller with a lot of overseas buyers or PayPal customers should run those numbers separately rather than assume the domestic card rate.

The fixed part of the fee matters most at low prices. A $0.30 or $0.50 charge is a noticeable share of a $5 download and a small share of a $99 course. If you plan a very cheap product, count the fixed fee first.

Who owes sales tax or VAT on a digital download?

Sales tax and VAT are not fees and they are not profit. The customer pays them, and someone has to send them to the right government. The question for you is who that someone is.

If a platform is the merchant of record, it acts as the seller for tax purposes. Lemon Squeezy's sales tax and VAT page says it calculates, collects and remits sales tax and VAT on your sales. Gumroad's pricing page says it handles tax obligations as merchant of record from January 1, 2025. That covers the tax on the sale. Your own income tax on the payouts is still yours.

If you sell directly through Shopify or your own Stripe checkout, you are the seller. You need to work out where your product is taxable and whether your sales create a duty to register and collect. Sales tax digital products rules differ from place to place, and they reach past your own country. The European Commission's guidance on electronic services says business-to-consumer electronic services are taxed where the consumer belongs, so a download sold to a buyer in France follows French VAT.

Decide one more thing before you set the price: whether it includes tax or has tax added at checkout. A tax-inclusive $29 price leaves you less than $29 before any fee comes out. If you sell across several regions directly, get advice from a tax professional for your situation rather than relying on a generic online calculator.

What does a $29 and a $99 sale actually leave you?

The same sale runs through three setups below, using only the published fees above. The assumptions are narrow on purpose: a US seller, a domestic card, a price that excludes sales tax, and no refund, discount, affiliate, currency conversion, ad cost, app fee or payout fee.

These are not profit figures. They leave out the monthly plan, refunds, tax on a tax-inclusive price, support, advertising, your own time and income tax. They also are not a like-for-like tax comparison: Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy act as merchant of record, while on Shopify the tax work stays with you.

The monthly plan is where the gap closes. Shopify Basic keeps about $0.81 more than Lemon Squeezy on each $29 sale, so its $39 monthly plan pays for itself only once you pass roughly 48 sales a month at that price. At $99 the per-sale gap is about $2.28, so the crossover is about 18 sales a month. Against Gumroad direct the crossover comes sooner, at about 12 sales a month at $29 and 4 at $99. Those are divisions of the published figures, and they shift if you pay yearly, sell overseas or take PayPal.

Which pricing method should set the number?

The fee math tells you your floor, the price below which a sale does not cover its own costs. It does not tell you what buyers will pay. For that, use a documented pricing method and then test it. The four below are the ones platform and payment companies describe in their own guidance.

Value-based pricing

Value-based pricing starts with the buyer, not your production cost. You estimate what the product is worth to them from the problem it solves, the alternatives they have and the benefit they expect. Stripe's value-driven pricing guidance lays out the steps: map the alternatives, group your customers, test a price, watch the results and adjust. For a template that saves a day of work, the alternative might be doing that day of work by hand.

Tiered pricing

Tiers give buyers distinct levels of access at distinct prices, such as a basic download, a version with extras and a version with support. Stripe's guide to tiered pricing describes tiers as a way to serve buyers who value different things. Teachable documents tiered access bundles for courses, each with its own price.

Bundles

A bundle sells related products together, usually for less than their combined standalone price. Shopify's explainer on price bundling covers the definition and the difference between mixed bundles, where each item is also sold alone, and pure bundles, where it is not. Run each bundle price through your fee sheet, because a discount comes out of the amount you keep, not the platform's share.

Launch pricing

Launch pricing is a temporary introductory price or a time-limited discount. It gives you a defined offer period and a way to test how buyers respond. It is a method for learning, not proof that any particular number is right, and the platform material that describes these mechanics does not promise a set lift in sales.

No regulator or platform publishes an ideal selling price for a course, template or download. No reliable source measures how much creators underprice, so a quoted percentage is not a basis for your price. Start from a method and your own fee floor, then let real sales move the price. Teachable's piece on putting a price on what you know is a useful read if setting a price feels uncomfortable.

How do you run the twenty-minute price check?

You can do this with a spreadsheet or a notepad and the fee page for the checkout you plan to use. It works for any platform, and it gives you two numbers: what one sale pays you, and how many sales cover your fixed costs.

The last step uses published numbers too. On Shopify Basic at $39 a month, each $29 sale leaves $27.86, so two sales a month cover the plan. On Kajabi Basic at $179 a month, each $99 sale with Kajabi Payments leaves about $95.83, so two sales cover the plan there too. Add every other monthly tool before you trust the result.

Record refunds separately. Platforms and processors may keep some of their fees when you refund a sale, and Etsy's payments policy is one place to read how that works for Etsy sellers. Put a reminder on your calendar to recheck your fee page every few months, because a plan change or a new surcharge can shift every number on the sheet.

When is a simple hosted checkout enough?

For a lot of first launches, it is. If you sell one product, to buyers mostly in your own country, at a volume below the crossover points above, a no-monthly-fee merchant-of-record platform such as Lemon Squeezy or Gumroad can be the sensible choice even though it takes a larger share of each sale. It handles the sales tax, it charges nothing in a quiet month, and you do not need a custom store or an app to start.

The twenty-minute check also tells you when that stops being true. Watch for these signs in your own numbers and setup:

• The checkout does not match your brand or offer: Buyers leave a sales page you control for a checkout you cannot shape.
• Tax exposure across regions: You sell directly into several countries or states and cannot say with confidence where you owe tax.
• Fragile file access: Buyers write in because a download link failed or course access never arrived.
• Pricing tests your setup cannot run: You want tiers, bundles or launch offers, and the platform will not support them the way you need.
• Volume past the crossover: Your monthly sales are high enough that a lower per-sale fee would clearly save more than a monthly plan costs.

If none of those apply, keep the setup you have and spend the time on the product and the buyers.

Frequently Asked Questions About how to price a digital product

How much does Gumroad take from a sale?

For direct and profile sales, Gumroad lists 10% + $0.50, plus card processing of 2.9% + $0.30. Sales through its own marketplace carry a 30% share. On a $29 direct sale, that leaves $24.46 before refunds or tax.

Do payment fees come on top of platform fees?

Often, as with Gumroad direct sales and Teachable. Lemon Squeezy's published base fee includes processing, though it adds surcharges for international cards, PayPal and subscriptions.

Does Shopify charge extra for digital downloads?

Shopify says it adds no extra fee for selling digital products. You still pay the plan and the card processing rate, which is 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic with Shopify Payments.

Who collects VAT when I sell a download to Europe?

If your platform is the merchant of record, it collects and remits it. If you sell directly, you are responsible, and the European Commission says consumer electronic services are taxed where the buyer belongs.

How do I work out how many sales cover my monthly plan?

Divide your total monthly fixed costs by what one sale leaves you after fees and tax. On Shopify Basic at $39 a month, two $29 sales cover the plan.

Is there a standard price for a course or template?

No regulator or platform publishes one. Use a documented method such as value-based or tiered pricing, set a floor from your fee sheet, and adjust from real sales.

Final Thoughts

Price a digital product from the cash you keep. Add the platform fee, the processor fee, any fixed per-order charge and your monthly plan, then settle who handles sales tax or VAT. The same $29 or $99 sale can pay out quite differently across Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy and Shopify, and the right choice depends on your volume, your buyers and your tax role. A documented pricing method sets the number above that floor.

Once the fee sheet exists, you can answer questions that used to feel like guesses: whether a monthly plan is worth it yet, what a bundle really pays, and how many sales cover your costs. Your deposits start to match what you expected when you set the price.

If your price check turns up a bigger problem, such as a checkout that does not fit your offer or a direct store you want to own, Web Leveling can help. Our digital product creation service builds the product and a store on your own site, with a checkout that keeps the money and the customer records in accounts registered to you and file access that arrives on its own after payment. We work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas. Tell us about the product you are pricing, and we will look at your setup with you.

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