{"id":746,"date":"2026-03-12T10:54:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T10:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/?p=746"},"modified":"2026-04-01T20:06:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:06:29","slug":"what-is-gumroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-gumroad\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Gumroad?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Gumroad was founded in 2011 by a former Pinterest designer, Sahil Lavingia. The platform was created when Lavingia wanted to sell an icon he designed and couldn\u2019t find an easy way to do it. Gumroad was built over a weekend to help simplify the process of selling digital products online.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_77 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-gumroad\/#What_is_Gumroad\" >What is Gumroad?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-gumroad\/#How_does_Gumroad_work\" >How does Gumroad work?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-gumroad\/#What_you_need_to_know_about_selling_on_Gumroad\" >What you need to know about selling on Gumroad<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/hub\/what-is-gumroad\/#Is_Gumroad_the_best_platform_to_sell_products\" >Is Gumroad the best platform to sell products?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_Gumroad\"><\/span>What is Gumroad?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Gumroad is an ecommerce platform for selling digital products online. The platform allows you to sell books, memberships, courses, and software. They offer specialized features for each product type you can sell. For example, if you want to sell ebooks, you can let buyers choose PDF, ePub, or Mobi as their download options.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_does_Gumroad_work\"><\/span>How does Gumroad work?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Gumroad works by allowing creators to upload their digital products to the website. They can choose from digital products, courses, ebooks,&nbsp; memberships, or bundles. Creators will need to set a price for their product. They will also need to customize their website to add their logo and other design elements, creating a branded website. Creators can use their newly created URL to promote their products on social media, helping them make more money online.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_you_need_to_know_about_selling_on_Gumroad\"><\/span>What you need to know about selling on Gumroad<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>One thing you need to know about selling on Gumroad is that it\u2019s considered a very expensive platform in the ecommerce space. Charging 10% plus $0.50 per transaction is more than double what other platforms in the same space are charging. When you\u2019re selling digital products online, you\u2019re putting in hard work to create and sell products, and you deserve to keep more of your revenue in your pocket. There are <a href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/blog\/gumroad-alternatives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gumroad alternatives<\/a> that offer much better pricing and more features.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Gumroad also has a marketplace where you can sell your digital products, similar to Etsy or Payhip. However, Gumroad charges a 30% transaction fee on each sale made through its marketplace. Some platforms don\u2019t even charge any fees to allow you to sell on their marketplace. These high fees eat into your revenue potential, reducing your total earnings from the platform.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Gumroad also has many rules against selling physical products on its platform. For example, dropshipping someone else\u2019s products is against their terms of service. You also can\u2019t resell ebooks that you have the reseller rights to. It\u2019s even against their terms to sell jewelry, one of the most popular items to sell online. Their strict rules about what you can\u2019t sell aren\u2019t standard, since food and beauty products are commonly sold on some of the most popular ecommerce sites. If you\u2019re looking to sell physical items, you should consider an alternative platform that\u2019s more accepting of allowing most product types.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Gumroad has delayed payouts once you start getting sales. While most platforms have instant payouts, Gumroad only pays out customers every Friday. To receive an instant payout, you\u2019ll need to pay an additional 3% transaction fee, capped at $10,000.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Another thing to note about Gumroad is that they don\u2019t refund fees if a customer refunds an order. So that 10% transaction you paid them, they\u2019ll still keep, causing you to experience a loss from the sale. Plus, there are payment processing, marketplace, and affiliate fees that also aren\u2019t refundable. So, if a customer refunds a marketplace order, they\u2019ll still keep that 30% transaction fee. Overall, even when customers request a refund, they keep their share of the earnings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_Gumroad_the_best_platform_to_sell_products\"><\/span>Is Gumroad the best platform to sell products?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>No, Gumroad isn\u2019t the best platform for selling products online due to its 10% plus $0.50 transaction fee. The best platform to sell products is Payhip, which charges a 5% transaction fee per sale and no additional fees for inclusion in the Payhip Marketplace. This platform also has instant payouts via Stripe and PayPal, unlike Gumroad, which typically pays every Friday. In addition, they allow you to create a storefront with customizable themes and pages rather than just generating a checkout page to sell. To start selling products online, <a href=\"https:\/\/payhip.com\/auth\/register\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sign up today<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n  \"@type\": \"FAQPage\",\n  \"mainEntity\": [{\n    \"@type\": \"Question\",\n    \"name\": \"What is Gumroad?\",\n    \"acceptedAnswer\": {\n      \"@type\": \"Answer\",\n      \"text\": \"Gumroad is an ecommerce platform for selling digital products online. The platform allows you to sell books, memberships, courses, and software. They offer specialized features for each product type you can sell. 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The platform was created when Lavingia wanted to sell an icon he designed and couldn\u2019t find an easy way to do it. Gumroad was built over a weekend to help simplify the process of selling digital products online.&nbsp; What is Gumroad? Gumroad is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-platforms"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Gumroad? - Payhip Resource Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wondering what is Gumroad, how it works, and what you need to know before selling on the platform. 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