Payhip is a UK-based platform. It handles EU VAT on digital products automatically, which matters if you are selling to European customers. The free plan takes 5% per transaction. It has a clean storefront and good affiliate tools.
Gumroad is US-based and more established with a larger built-in discovery audience. It charges a flat 10% fee. Discovery through their marketplace is a genuine traffic source for products that gain traction.
Listing is free on both platforms. They take a percentage only when you make a sale. Payhip free plan: 5% per transaction. Gumroad: 10% per transaction. No monthly fee required on either.
Both platforms support PDF, ePub, ZIP, video, audio and software. For our products — a prompt workbook, an AI tools directory and a gaming guide — PDF is the natural format. It is universally accessible and easy to produce from any design software.
48 views at a standard 1-3% conversion rate was never going to produce a sale. The honest diagnosis is that traffic is the constraint, not the product.
The next phase of this test focuses entirely on driving traffic — through SEO blog content, Reddit community participation, and Pinterest as a long-tail source.
In theory yes, in practice — not meaningfully for new sellers. Gumroad has a discovery feed and Payhip has a marketplace, but new products from unknown sellers get very little organic platform traffic. You need to bring people to your product before the platform's algorithm will surface it to others.
Think of the platform as a checkout and delivery system, not a traffic source. You build the audience; the platform handles the transaction.
Price anchors to perceived value. A £1.99 product feels throwaway; a £14.99 product needs to feel worth it. For reference guides and workbooks in the £7–£15 range, you are competing on depth and specificity rather than impulse purchase.
- 150+ ChatGPT Prompt Workbook — £9.99
- 800+ AI Tools Directory — £12.99
- Whiteout Survival Strategy Guide — £9.99
We would test lower price points if conversion data suggested price was the barrier. Until we have meaningful traffic we cannot draw that conclusion.
The products that sell well solve a specific problem that people are already searching for. Generic content does not convert. Specific, well-organised, immediately usable content does.
Microsoft Word and PowerPoint for layout and design, exported to PDF. No specialist design software required. The Whiteout Survival guide was written in Google Docs then formatted in Word. Total production cost: £0.
EU VAT on digital products sold to EU customers is a requirement — but Payhip handles this automatically on your behalf. If you are below the UK VAT threshold (£90,000 turnover) you do not need to register for UK VAT. For US sales, Gumroad handles applicable sales tax.
For a new seller this is not something you need to worry about day one — but it is worth knowing the platforms handle it for you.