Easy Digital Downloads was founded by Pippin Williamson in 2012. Williamson was known for creating specialized WordPress tools, and this tool made it easier for people to sell digital products on WordPress. In 2022, it was acquired by Awesome Motive, which was also founded to create WordPress plugins.
What is Easy Digital Downloads?
Easy Digital Downloads is a WordPress ecommerce plugin that allows creators to sell digital products. You can choose from over 100 integrations, like Stripe, PayPal, and Mailchimp, to help you build and manage the processes of running an online store.
How does Easy Digital Downloads work?
Easy Digital Downloads only works for existing WordPress sites. For instance, if you’ve built a WordPress site but want to sell digital products, you’ll need to go to WordPress’ plugin directory to find Easy Digital Downloads. From there, you’ll install the plugin on your website.
You’ll be able to start selling products, such as ebooks, software, templates, audio, music, photography, documents, and any other digital downloads. You can even bundle digital products together with no listing fees. After you’ve created the digital download, you can upload it to your website. This tool lets you add a fully customizable checkout block to drive sales from your products.
What you need to know about selling on Easy Digital Downloads
One thing to know about selling on Easy Digital Downloads is that it doesn’t offer the functionality of selling physical products online. For instance, you’ll have to use a second plug-in to sell physical goods. Sometimes, the digital product is only one piece of the customer experience. For instance, a fitness trainer might sell meal plans as a digital download and gym equipment to help people train.
This platform is also quite expensive, as they don’t offer a monthly subscription but instead an annual one. The sticker shock of paying $199 to $499 up front when you haven’t even made a sale yet can be overwhelming for bootstrapped sellers.
Another challenge with this plugin is that it can only be used on a WordPress website. For instance, if you wanted to build it on another website builder instead, you wouldn’t be able to access this tool. WordPress is a very popular platform for building websites, but it’s not very beginner-friendly. Many people find it difficult to connect all the pieces together, as you need to add hosting, SSL certificates, and more to create a secure website on the platform. Plus, on WordPress, you’ll be responsible for website maintenance, such as regular backups, as you’re self-hosting.
You’ll also have limited theme options with this ecommerce plugin. Other tools offer a more extensive selection of themes for their sellers. Each theme costs an additional fee, which can increase your startup costs. There are Easy Digital Downloads alternatives that offer free themes to help you design a beautiful website.
Is Easy Digital Downloads the best platform to sell products?
No, Easy Digital Downloads isn’t the best platform to sell products; Payhip is. Payhip allows you to build a website for free with only a 5% transaction fee after you’ve made a sale, with no upfront costs. Plus, you’ll have a hosted, secure website on this all-in-one platform. In addition to selling digital downloads, like courses, books, and memberships, you can also sell physical products and coaching services. To start selling products online, sign up for free today.