What the heck is Gumroad and how does it work?
Gumroad is a self-publishing digital marketplace platform to sell digital services such as books, memberships, courses and other digital services. It was created in 2011 by Sahil Lavingia. Back then, Sahil was trying to sell icons online but realized how cumbersome it was to set up an online shop on his own.
As a result, he decided to build a website that would make selling digital stuff on the internet as easy as sharing web content.
What can you sell on Gumroad?
Gumroad is popular among all kinds of digital creators. The bestsellers on the platform are mainly:
- E-Books
- Notion Templates
- Procreate Brushes
- Online Courses
- Audio Files
- Graphics
- 3-D Models
Interestingly, Gumroad is not only a digital marketplace. It also permits the selling of physical goods. However, there are some limitations. For example, food products, medical products, and beauty products are not allowed on the platform.
Can you sell your services?
Yes, selling your services like coaching somebody via video for a specific time is allowed. However, Gumrode states that it is not allowed to sell:
- “Installation or tech support services. Your customer pays you on Gumroad, and you install software for them remotely
- Fixing someone’s roof or redesigning their website or any other kind of in-person or prolonged service contract.â€
In summary, everything where the outcome is not 100% clear. The reason for that is that Gumroad wants to avoid high chargeback rates.
What else can’t you sell on Gumroad?
“We do not allow any activity or content that promotes or encourages discrimination based upon race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age.
This includes any content sent out using our email services, or as part of any products sold on Gumroad in any capacityâ€
Is Gumroad free?
Yes, Gumroad is free of recurring fees. There are no monthly or annual charges, the platform is only taking a cut out of every sale.
How much does Gumroad take?
Interestingly, the percentage of this cut gets smaller as you grow
- $0 – 9%
- $1.000 – 7%
- $10.000 – 5%
- $100.000 – 3%
- $1.000.000 – 2.9%
You see, Gumrod as a platform encourages successful creators. This leads us to the next question:
Is Gumroad safe for creators?
Despite being in operation for more than 10 years many digital creators are still skeptical about Gumroad’s safety.
In my experience, Gumroad is completely safe to use. I have launched more than 20 products on Gumroad in the last year and earned thousands of dollars via the platform. My experience was overwhelmingly positive.
There was just one instance where an order was returned due to credit card fraud, which can happen everywhere.
Is Gumroad safe for buyers?
Yes, also as a buyer your payment is absolutely secure. Gumroad secures payments by SSL with 128-bit encryption and processes them with PCI Compliant service providers.
Just be aware that most creators do not offer a money-back guarantee!
How often do you receive Gumroad payouts?
Gumroad pays you on a weekly basis. The only exception is if you’ve set up Paypal Connect. In this case, you will be paid instantly when buyers use their Paypal account for their purchase.
If your payouts got delayed in most cases this is due to the following 2 reasons:
- Your account is still under review.
- Your account doesn’t have the required US$10 for payout.
10 Hacks that will boost your Gumroad business
How can you transform your low-converting Gumroad page, into a profitable online business?
Follow these 10 hacks:
1) Use Gumroad overlay on your website
Do you have a website or landing page? Then, there is no reason to send people to Gumroad.
As you probably know, every additional click a potential customer needs to click prior to purchase will diminish the chance of a successful transaction.
Therefore, better keep the users on your web property. Simply, add a Gumroad checkout by injecting a short line of code. If the customer is now clicking on the link, a Gumroad overlay will appear.
2.) Create different price options for your product
It is a popular online pricing strategy to set multiple prices per product or offer your products in different variations.
This is how you can set a price anchor: Prices are relative. A $20 e-book or Notion Template might look expensive on its own. But when you put it alongside a $200 bundle that includes the e-book + a consultation, it suddenly becomes a cheap option in the eyes of the customer.
So, offering different bundles will increase your conversion rate
Luckily, this is easily done in Gumroad. When creating your product, just click on “add Version†to create a different version of your product.
By the way: You can also share direct links to your specific product versions. After creating a version, just click on “Share†to copy the link.
3.) Automatically add a discount
In many cases, you want to offer a discount code to increase your sales. But if your customers have to enter it manually, chances are that they will drop out. To avoid this, send them a product URL that automatically applies the specific discount.
How to do this? After creating the discount code, you only have to click on share to copy the URL which contains the discount code.
4.) Track everyone who clicks a specific link
Discount codes allow you to track where your customers are coming from. E.g. in the past, I used the discount code “tw765†for my Twitter audience. If somebody was using it, I knew that this person was coming from my Twitter promotions.
What many people don’t know is that your discount can be $0 or 0%. In this case, you get informed that a customer bought your product using a specific discount code, without giving the customer any discount.
PS: I learned this hack from digital creator Pascio. Follow him on Twitter for Notion-related content,
5.) Organize your Gumroad landing page
Another hack by Pascio;
You can organize the order in which your products are shown on your Gumroad page.
Navigate to settings in your Gumroad profile. Here you can drag and drop your digital products into the right order. Obviously, your bestsellers should appear on top.
6.) Use automatic emails to get more reviews and upsell your customers
You can use Gumroad to reach your customers via email.
Navigate to the Workflow options to create automatic e-mail sequences after a user has bought your template. This way, you can for example automatically ask for a review or upsell your other products.
7.) Build a list with pay-what-you-want products
Every customer will automatically be added to your Gumroad email list. This is an easy way for you to build a list by offering free products.
Important: This tactic is not allowed in EU countries due to GDPR. To avoid legal troubles, use this Zapier automation, that forwards every Gumroad lead to your newsletter provider and allows you to activate a double opt-in in the process.
8.) Re-target old customers with new products
Instead of always searching for new customers, re-target your old customers when creating new products. If you’ve been able to satisfy them, chances are they’ll buy from you again. Simply use the e-mail feature of Gumroad and announce the launch of your new product.
9.) Boost your product visibility on Gumroad Discover
Gumroad is a huge platform generating hundreds of millions in sales every month. Use the integrated marketplace to get a slice of Gumroad’s traffic. Caveat: I would not solely rely on the Gumroad marketplace to get more sales, since most users don’t actively search on the platform for products. Still, the marketplace can generate a fair number of additional sales. Don’t miss out on them!
On your product page go to “Share†and toggle the option “Boost your product visibility on Gumroad Discoverâ€. Now you can increase your product visibility by setting a higher Discover fee. The higher the fee the better the boost. The minimum boost fee starts at 30%.
10.) Take advantage of affiliate marketing
Don’t promote your products just by yourself. Get others on board, who can share your products with their communities. Affiliate marketing works, because the promoter is automatically awarded a fee. This way, they have incentives to do all the boring promo work for you so you don’t have to.
It is easy to set up affiliate marketing on Gumroad and you are free to set any fee. In most cases, it is between 10 and 50 percent of the product price.
Do you want to learn more about selling products online?
Check out The Ultimate Product Launch Guide by Pascio. This E-Book teaches you everything you need to know about creating and selling Notion Templates on Gumroad.