Disclosure: We sell our own digital products on Gumroad and make free tools for sellers. We have no partnership with Lemon Squeezy, Payhip, Sellfy, Etsy or Stripe and aren’t paid for any link.

Most selling platforms are a checkout: they take payment and deliver the file, and every buyer is someone you sent there yourself. A few also run a marketplace, a place where shoppers browse and search across many sellers, so a stranger can find your product without ever hearing of you. That reach usually has a price, and the price is charged per sale, not up front. Here’s which of the five platforms bring you buyers, what it costs when they do, and how to get listed.

We read each company’s own help pages, docs and pricing pages on October 20, 2026. Rules and fees change, and where a company’s own pages disagree or don’t say something, we tell you, so check the linked pages before you rely on them.

The short version

  • Gumroad Discover: a marketplace sale costs a flat 30% (card processing included), against 10% + $0.50 plus 2.9% + $0.30 processing on your own links. Your account needs $100 in genuine sales and a risk review (about 3 weeks on average), and each product needs one non-refunded sale, a category and ratings turned on. Products are on Discover by default once eligible; delete the category to take one off.
  • Etsy: search is free and is the whole point of Etsy, but every sale pays the normal $0.20 listing, 6.5% transaction and (US) 3% + $0.25 processing fees. On top, Offsite Ads take 15% of an order a buyer reached through an Etsy ad on another site within 30 days, or 12% once your shop has made $10,000 in any 365-day period, capped at $100 an order. Under $10,000 you can opt out; at or over it you can’t, for the life of the shop. Etsy Ads inside Etsy are optional and charged per click from a daily budget (minimum $1). Sales from your own links can earn fees back through Share & Save: 4% normally, 6.5% from October 20 to January 4.
  • Payhip has a marketplace too, and it costs nothing extra: marketplace sales pay your usual plan fee (5%, 2% or 0%) plus Stripe or PayPal. Your store needs $10 in sales (self-purchases don’t count) and a review, then each product is approved, usually within 10 days. Digital products only.
  • Lemon Squeezy’s docs describe an opt-in, curated marketplace with a flat 30% fee on marketplace sales, open to products with 3 sales or $50 in sales. Its pricing and fees pages don’t mention it, and we couldn’t find a public marketplace page, so check the Products » Marketplace tab in your dashboard before you count on it.
  • Sellfy has no marketplace. Its own help center says so: buyers see “only your products”. What it gives you instead is a free Google Merchant Center connection (free product listings on Google, ads paid per click) and SEO settings; indexing your store needs a paid plan.

Marketplace discovery compared

  Gumroad Etsy Payhip Lemon Squeezy Sellfy
Buyer marketplace yes, Discover yes, the whole site (search, categories) yes, Payhip Marketplace in the docs (opt-in, curated); no public page found no
Fee on a marketplace sale flat 30%, processing included normal fees: $0.20 listing, 6.5% transaction, 3% + $0.25 processing (US) no extra fee: your plan’s 5% / 2% / 0% plus Stripe or PayPal flat 30%, replaces the standard fee n/a
Fee on a sale from your own link 10% + $0.50, plus 2.9% + $0.30 processing same normal fees, minus a 4% Share & Save refund if enrolled (6.5% Oct 20 to Jan 4) same plan fee 5% + $0.50 (+1.5% outside the US, +1.5% PayPal) none from Sellfy; Stripe or PayPal fees plus the plan ($29/mo, or $22/mo yearly)
To get listed $100 in genuine sales, risk review (~3 weeks), payout settings; per product: 1 non-refunded sale, a category, ratings on open shop (one-time set-up fee may apply) and active listings $10 in sales, store review; per product: category chosen, approval (~10 days) product in your store with 3 sales or $50 in sales; listing approval (a few working days) n/a
On by default? yes once eligible; remove the category to opt out yes no; you submit each product by picking a category no; opt-in listing n/a
Paid ads none described Etsy Ads (per click, daily budget from $1) and Offsite Ads (per sale, 15% or 12%) none described none described Google Shopping ads through Merchant Center, paid to Google per click
Other discovery help tags; Gumroad Affiliates (on by default for Discover products, 10% commission, can opt out) search visibility page in Shop Manager tags categories and at least 3 tags Google Merchant Center free listings; SEO settings

What to watch on each platform

Gumroad. Discover “recommends your products to prospective customers” beyond your own audience. Your account qualifies once your payout settings are filled in, you have at least $100 from “enough genuine sales” (no self-purchases or sales to your partner or housemates) and Gumroad’s risk team has verified you, which “can take on average 3 weeks” after you pass $100. After that, a product shows on Discover if it has one successful sale (refunds don’t count), a category, and ratings enabled. Discover is on by default for every product; the only switch is deleting the product’s category on the Share tab. Use specific tags, since Discover groups products by tag inside each category. The cost is in the fee article: “discovery sales via Gumroad.com” pay a flat 30% “which includes all processing fees”, while sales on your own links pay 10% + $0.50 plus 2.9% + $0.30 card processing (or PayPal’s fees). The high-volume rate (5% + $0.50 after $20,000 in a month) doesn’t apply to Discover: those sales stay at 30%. The pricing page words it a little differently, 30% “when new customers find and buy from you through our discover marketplace”, and doesn’t say whether a returning customer who comes back through Discover pays 30%; the fee article doesn’t mention “new” at all. One more thing the Discover page points out: products on Discover are automatically opted into Gumroad Affiliates, where anyone can share a link and earn a fixed 10% commission (7-day cookie), and fees are split with the affiliate in proportion to the commission. You can opt out in your Affiliates dashboard; it applies to all your products.

Etsy. Etsy is a marketplace first, so search placement is free, but every order pays the standard fees: $0.20 per listing (charged again when an auto-renewing listing sells), 6.5% of the order total, and payment processing of 3% + $0.25 for a US bank account (it varies by country). New shops also pay a one-time, non-refundable shop set-up fee during onboarding; the help page doesn’t state the amount, which is shown at checkout. Etsy’s search visibility page lists what helps a listing get “priority placement”: at least one image, a high-resolution, single, well-lit primary photo (2000 pixels or more recommended), the most specific category, a return policy (even “No returns”), a shop logo, and meeting the customer service standards.

Then the two kinds of ads. Offsite Ads are Etsy’s ads for your listings on Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Bing, publishing partners and the Google Display Network. You can’t choose which listings run and there’s no budget: you pay only when a buyer clicks one and buys from your shop within 30 days, and every order in that window can be charged. The fee is 15% if your shop has always made less than $10,000 USD in any consecutive 365-day period, and you can opt out (Shop Manager, Settings, Offsite Ads). Once you’ve made $10,000 or more in any 365-day period, the fee drops to 12% and the ads are “required for the lifetime of your shop”, even if sales fall later; Etsy checks your sales each month. The fee never goes above $100 per order. Etsy Ads are separate and optional: they place your listings in Etsy search and category pages, you set a daily budget (minimum $1; all sellers start with a $25 maximum, and there’s a 15-day wait after opening a shop), and you pay per click. If the buyer’s last click was an Etsy Ad, only the Etsy Ads cost applies, not Offsite Ads. Last, Share & Save pays you back 4% of the order total (before tax) when a buyer orders within 30 days of clicking a link you shared outside Etsy; from October 20 to January 4 enrolled sellers get 6.5% back. Links in Etsy Messages or listing descriptions don’t count, and an order whose last click was an Offsite Ad doesn’t qualify.

Payhip. Payhip runs a marketplace with categories from 3D and Roblox assets to crafts, music, design, business and fiction books. To submit a product, open its edit page, go to Category & Tags and pick a category. Your store becomes eligible once it has made at least $10 USD in total sales (self-purchases don’t count) and Payhip’s accounts team has reviewed it; then each product is approved one by one. Payhip aims to finish approval “within 10 days of submission”. Only digital products are supported for now. On cost, the help page is clear: “There is no additional fee for sales from the marketplace.” You pay your usual plan fee (5% on Free, 2% on Plus at $29 a month, none on Pro at $99 a month) plus PayPal or Stripe at their standard rates. The pricing page itself doesn’t mention the marketplace.

Lemon Squeezy. The help docs describe an opt-in Lemon Squeezy Marketplace: a product must already be in your store and have at least 3 sales or $50 in sales, and then it shows up under Products » Marketplace for you to list. Every listing is screened; the guidelines require English, one category and at least 3 tags, a 4:3 thumbnail and at least one detailed paragraph, and forbid links, coupon codes, promotions and referral links in the listing. A marketplace sale costs “a flat 30% fee” that “replaces the standard Lemon Squeezy platform fees”, and Lemon Squeezy stays merchant of record. Here’s the catch: the Fees page (5% + $0.50, +1.5% international, +1.5% PayPal, +0.5% subscriptions) and the pricing page don’t mention the marketplace or its 30% fee, and lemonsqueezy.com/marketplace returned “not found” when we checked. So the docs describe it, but we couldn’t confirm it’s open to shoppers today.

Sellfy. No marketplace, by design. Sellfy’s own help article puts it plainly: “Etsy functions as a marketplace whereas Sellfy is built for creators who sell products through their own custom storefront”, where customers see “all of your products and only your products”. Every buyer comes from your own store, website, embeds or social links. What Sellfy does offer is a free Google Merchant Center connection that syncs your products to Google, where listings are free and you “only pay per click for ads” (print-on-demand items can’t be synced), plus SEO settings for each page. Indexing your store needs a paid plan, not the free trial. Sellfy takes no transaction fee; you pay the plan ($29 a month on Starter, or $22 a month billed yearly) and your Stripe or PayPal fees.

A $20 digital product, a buyer in the US paying by card, no sales tax, no discount. Fees rounded to the cent, monthly plan prices not included. Payhip and Sellfy use your own Stripe account, so we used Stripe’s published US rate, 2.9% + 30¢.

  Sale from your own link: fees You keep Marketplace or ad sale: fees You keep Difference
Gumroad (direct 10% + $0.50 + 2.9% + $0.30; Discover 30%) $3.38 $16.62 $6.00 $14.00 $2.62
Lemon Squeezy (direct 5% + $0.50; marketplace 30%) $1.50 $18.50 $6.00 $14.00 $4.50
Payhip Free (5% + Stripe, same on the marketplace) $1.88 $18.12 $1.88 $18.12 $0.00
Sellfy (Stripe only; no marketplace) $0.88 $19.12 n/a n/a n/a
Etsy, found in search (no ad) $2.35 $17.65 $2.35 $17.65 $0.00
Etsy, Offsite Ads order at 15% $2.35 $17.65 $5.35 $14.65 $3.00
Etsy, Offsite Ads order at 12% $2.35 $17.65 $4.75 $15.25 $2.40

How the rows add up:

  • Gumroad: direct $2.00 + $0.50 + $0.58 (2.9% of $20) + $0.30 = $3.38. Discover 30% of $20 = $6.00, processing included.
  • Lemon Squeezy: direct $1.00 + $0.50 = $1.50 (a buyer outside the US or paying with PayPal adds 1.5% each). Marketplace 30% of $20 = $6.00.
  • Payhip Free: $1.00 Payhip fee + $0.88 Stripe ($0.58 + $0.30) = $1.88 either way. On Plus it’s $0.40 + $0.88 = $1.28; on Pro just the $0.88.
  • Sellfy: only Stripe’s $0.88; the plan costs $29 a month (or $22 billed yearly) whatever you sell.
  • Etsy: $0.20 listing + $1.30 (6.5%) + $0.60 (3%) + $0.25 = $2.35. Offsite Ads add 15% of $20 = $3.00, or 12% = $2.40. If the buyer came through a Share & Save link instead, you’d get 4% back ($0.80, keeping $18.45), or 6.5% ($1.30, keeping $18.95) until January 4.

Etsy’s Offsite Ads page gives the 15% and 12% base two ways: “the amount you made from your sale before the advertising fee was applied” in one place and “the order total” in another. With no shipping or tax, both are $20 here; on an order with shipping, check your Payment account. The $100 cap only matters on big orders: at 15% it starts above $666.67.

The pattern: a marketplace sale on Gumroad or Lemon Squeezy keeps about $14 of $20, against $16.62 or $18.50 from your own link, but it’s a buyer you didn’t have to find. Payhip charges nothing extra for its marketplace, and on Etsy the search traffic is already in the normal fees; only Offsite Ads add a per-sale cut, and only until you can’t opt out any more. To run your own numbers, use the Gumroad fee calculator, the Etsy fee & profit calculator or the seller fee comparison calculator.

Best for

  • Free marketplace reach on top of your own sales: Payhip (no extra fee for marketplace sales, digital products only, $10 in sales to qualify).
  • Shoppers who already search for what you sell: Etsy, if your product fits Etsy’s rules; opt out of Offsite Ads while you’re under $10,000 if 15% is too much.
  • A big audience with no upfront cost: Gumroad Discover, once you’ve passed $100 in genuine sales and the risk review.
  • Keeping every buyer on your own storefront: Sellfy, with Google Merchant Center for free product listings on Google.

Downsides

  • Gumroad: 30% per Discover sale; the $100 threshold and a review of about 3 weeks before anything shows; turning Discover off means deleting the product’s category; Discover products are opted into Gumroad Affiliates unless you opt out.
  • Etsy: fees on every sale whether you found the buyer or Etsy did; Offsite Ads become mandatory for life at $10,000 in a 365-day period; a one-time set-up fee for new shops.
  • Payhip: each product needs approval; the marketplace isn’t mentioned on the pricing page, so its rules live only in the help center.
  • Lemon Squeezy: 30% per marketplace sale; strict listing rules (no promotions or links); the marketplace isn’t on the pricing or fees pages and we couldn’t find it live.
  • Sellfy: no marketplace at all; every buyer has to come from your own marketing.

Tools and kits for sellers

Sources

All checked 2026-10-20 on each company’s official site.

  • Gumroad, Gumroad Discover (eligibility: payout settings, $100 USD from genuine sales, risk review on average 3 weeks; per product: one successful non-refunded sale, a category, ratings enabled; on by default, remove the category to turn off; tags; auto opt-in to Gumroad Affiliates): https://gumroad.com/help/article/79-gumroad-discover ; Gumroad’s fees (10% + $0.50 per transaction, plus 2.9% + $0.30 card processing or PayPal fees; discovery sales a flat 30% including all processing fees; high-volume 5% + $0.50 after $20,000 a month, Discover stays 30%): https://gumroad.com/help/article/66-gumroads-fees ; Pricing (10% + $0.50 on your profile and direct links; 30% “when new customers find and buy from you through our discover marketplace”): https://gumroad.com/pricing ; Affiliates on Gumroad (Gumroad Affiliates: fixed 10% commission, 7-day cookie, opt out for all products; fees split in proportion to commission): https://gumroad.com/help/article/333-affiliates-on-gumroad
  • Etsy, How Etsy’s Offsite Ads Work (15% if always under $10,000 USD in any consecutive 365-day period, can opt out; 12% and required for the lifetime of the shop at $10,000 or more; 30-day attribution, each order in the window can be charged; capped at $100 USD per order; no budget, can’t choose listings; last-click Etsy Ad means only the Etsy Ads fee; fee base given as “the amount you made from your sale before the advertising fee” and as “the order total”; channels): https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000338367-How-Etsy-s-Offsite-Ads-Work ; How to Set Up and Manage an Etsy Ads Campaign (Etsy search, category and Market pages; minimum daily budget $1; $25 starting maximum; 15-day wait after opening; charged per click; Offsite Ads opt-out rules): https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033701174-How-to-Set-Up-and-Manage-an-Etsy-Ads-Campaign ; How to Use the Etsy Search Visibility Page (priority placement requirements: image, primary photo quality, specific category, return policy, shop logo, customer service standards): https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/25869947521175-How-to-Use-the-Etsy-Search-Visibility-Page ; How to Save on Etsy Fees with the Share & Save Program (4% of the eligible order total within 30 days of a click on your link; 6.5% from October 20 to January 4; not for links in Messages or listing descriptions or Offsite Ads last clicks): https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/16981332744087-How-to-Save-on-Etsy-Fees-with-the-Share-Save-Program ; Etsy Fee Basics ($0.20 listing and auto-renew fee; 6.5% of the total order amount): https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360035902374-What-are-the-Fees-and-Taxes-for-Selling-on-Etsy ; Payment Processing Fees (US 3% + 0.25 USD of the total sale price): https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015628847-What-are-Payment-Processing-Fees-for-Selling-on-Etsy ; How to Open an Etsy Shop (one-time, non-refundable shop set-up fee): https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015672808-How-to-Open-an-Etsy-Shop
  • Payhip, Marketplace (submit by choosing a category; no additional fee for marketplace sales; $10 USD in total sales, self-purchases excluded, and an accounts-team review; per-product approval aimed within 10 days; digital products only; tags; last updated May 13, 2026): https://help.payhip.com/article/307-marketplace ; Payhip Marketplace (categories): https://payhip.com/marketplace ; Pricing (5% free plan, 2% Plus $29/mo, 0% Pro $99/mo; PayPal and Stripe fees on all plans): https://payhip.com/pricing
  • Lemon Squeezy, Lemon Squeezy Marketplace (opt-in; flat 30% fee replacing the standard platform fees; 3 sales or $50 in sales; approval in a few working days; Lemon Squeezy stays merchant of record): https://docs.lemonsqueezy.com/help/marketplace ; Marketplace Guidelines (English only; 1 category and at least 3 tags; 4:3 thumbnails; no links, coupons, promotions or referral codes in listings): https://docs.lemonsqueezy.com/help/marketplace/guidelines ; Fees (5% + $0.50 example; +1.5% international, +1.5% PayPal, +0.5% subscriptions; no marketplace fee listed): https://docs.lemonsqueezy.com/help/getting-started/fees ; Pricing (5% + 50¢ per transaction; no marketplace mentioned): https://www.lemonsqueezy.com/pricing
  • Sellfy, Moving from Etsy to Sellfy (“Etsy functions as a marketplace whereas Sellfy is built for creators who sell products through their own custom storefront”; “only your products”): https://docs.sellfy.com/article/250-moving-from-etsy-to-sellfy ; Google Merchant Center (free connection; free listings, pay per click for ads; no print-on-demand): https://docs.sellfy.com/article/330-google-merchant-center-integration ; SEO settings for products (indexing needs a paid subscription): https://docs.sellfy.com/article/120-how-to-make-my-products-appear-on-google-search ; Pricing ($29 or $22/mo yearly Starter; no transaction fees): https://sellfy.com/pricing/
  • Stripe, Pricing (2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction for domestic cards): https://stripe.com/pricing