Selling digital products is often pitched as the perfect side income for busy parents: make something once, sell it forever, and never post a parcel. There’s truth in that. There’s also a lot of hype, much of it from people who earn their money selling courses about digital products. This guide sets out what works, what it costs and how long it really takes.
What counts as a digital product?
Anything a customer downloads instead of receiving in the post:
- Printables: planners, chore charts, wall art, colouring pages, party invitations
- Templates: Canva social media templates, CVs, budgeting spreadsheets, wedding stationery
- Learning materials: worksheets for teachers and home-schoolers, flashcards, lesson plans
- Guides and ebooks: practical how-to guides on something you know well
- Patterns: knitting, crochet and sewing patterns
The best products solve a specific problem for a specific person. “Toddler potty training reward chart” sells better than “kids chart”.
Where to start selling digital products, and what it costs
Fees change, so check each platform’s pricing page before you start. As of 2026:
- Etsy: $0.20 per listing, a 6.5% transaction fee, plus payment processing (about 4% + £0.20 in the UK, 4% + €0.30 in Ireland, 3% + $0.25 in the US). Etsy brings buyers to you through its search, which is its big advantage. Read our Etsy guide for the full list of fees.
- Gumroad: 10% + $0.50 per sale through your own link, plus card processing; 30% on sales through its Discover marketplace. You bring most of your own customers.
- Payhip: a free plan charging 5% per sale, with paid plans that lower or remove the fee.
- Your own website: lowest fees per sale, but you have to find every customer yourself.
A common approach is to start on Etsy for its search traffic, then add your own shop once people know your brand.
How much can you earn selling digital products?
Honestly, it varies enormously, and most beginners overestimate. A typical printable sells for between a few pounds and £15. To earn £500 a month at £5 a sale, you need about 100 sales a month after fees. That’s very achievable for an established shop and very hard for a new one.
Patterns we see:
- The first sale often takes weeks. New listings rank low in search.
- Income comes from a range. A shop with 50 good products earns more steadily than one with 5.
- A few products do most of the work. Expect one or two best-sellers and many slow ones.
Is it really passive?
Less than the ads suggest. After the product is made, you still need to:
- Answer customer questions (“it won’t print”, “can you change the colour?”)
- Update products when tools or trends change
- Promote your shop on Pinterest, Instagram or a mailing list
- Keep adding new products to stay visible
It is, though, much more flexible than most work. You can make products during nap time and nobody is waiting for a parcel. That’s why it suits many parents.
Watch out for copyright and AI
- Only sell what you have the rights to. Using characters, brand logos, song lyrics or someone else’s fonts and clip art without a commercial licence can get your shop closed.
- AI-generated products have flooded Etsy and other sites. They’re cheap to make, so prices have dropped for generic items like basic wall art and colouring pages. Products built on your real experience, such as a teacher’s worksheets or a nurse’s newborn feeding log, stand out.
- “Done-for-you” PLR packs (bundles you buy and resell) are usually sold to hundreds of people, so you’re competing with identical listings.
Selling digital products: how to start, step by step
- Pick one niche you know well: teaching, parenting stage, a hobby or your old job.
- Search Etsy and Pinterest to see what’s already selling and how yours could be clearly better.
- Make three to five products using free or low-cost tools such as Canva, Google Sheets or Affinity.
- Create clear preview images that show exactly what the buyer gets.
- List them on one platform and write titles the way buyers search.
- Add one or two new products a week and note which ones sell.
- Build a mailing list early so you’re not fully dependent on one marketplace.
Red flags
- Courses promising “£10k a month in passive income” with screenshots but no detail
- Coaches selling you products to resell as your own
- Being told you need to buy expensive software or ads before you’ve made a single sale
Run anything that feels off through our work-from-home scam checker.
Tax
Digital product income is taxable once it goes beyond small amounts. Platforms such as Etsy now report sellers to tax offices once they pass set thresholds. Check when you need to register with our side income tax checker.
The downsides
- Slow start and unpredictable income
- Heavy competition, especially from AI-made products
- Low prices per sale
- Dependence on platform search, which can change without warning
Is selling digital products right for you?
It’s a good fit if you have knowledge or design skills people will pay for, enjoy making things on a computer, and can be patient for six months or more. It’s a poor fit if you need money soon. Not sure? Take our Remote Work Matcher.
Find out when you need to declare what you earn from home.
