Selling Ebooks On Gumroad- Tips & Tricks. An Amazon Beater?

Selling ebooks on Gumroad! But what actually is Gumroad?

Gumroad is an online hosting and payments system to sell your ebooks. Most people who have used it state that it is easy and effective. But when you read through the tips, you might find that you should really question that thought and why not other platforms?

So this is going to be the tips and tricks- the 101 of selling ebooks on Gumroad. We’ll also throw in some “is it better than Amazon” thoughts as well.

15 tricks and tips to selling ebooks on Gumroad

1. Gumroad handles all the payment and the taxes regardless of country. They do this automatically.

2. If you want a “free” Gumroad then you have to pay them 8.5% plus 30cents per sale. Free also comes with limited benefits of the actual site (more on those benefits later)

3. Pay per month Gumroad is $10…plus 3.5% and 30cents per sale. This quite hefty so unless you know this is going to be your front end of your sales machine, err on the side of caution and go with the “free” option. It is also worthy to note, if you go down the $10/month route then that is only for 1000 unique customer a year- more and the price increases. However, there are other platforms that charge much less in the big scheme of things (Clickbank at $1 +7.5% of the sale- but has an activation fee, and Amazon has minimal cents per sale which you can adjust your self)

4. Gumroad Discover is Gumroads recommendation engine which recommends your book to relevant buyers so you can sell more ebooks on Gumroad. But there is a tiny catch. This is from Gumroads FAQ:

Products purchased via Discover will be subject to an additional 10% fee. This applies even if the customer has purchased from you before. If they buy a product from you through the Gumroad Discover search, or through a receipt link, or through any kind of referral aspect of the Discover feature, their purchase will be taxed the Discover fees.
So, to clarify: If you have a Gumroad premium account the fees would be 13.5% + $0.30 per sale made through Discover. If you are using Gumroad for free the fees would be 18.5% + $0.30 per sale made through Discover.

5. There are 3 main ways for customers to see your products on your website. Linking. This goes straight to the Gumroad website directly from your page. If you don’t use an”open in new window” link then they go away from your site. Overlay. An obtrusive button looks nice and allows buyers to buy more than one item. At the present time it doesn’t ork on mobile. Embed. Difficult to make blended with your website, works on mobiles and is quicker to use than the Overlay widget, because shoppers don’t have to click the first “buy” button to view and buy your product. Overlay and Embed also recommending the use of TLS (SSL) which Gumroad explains how to set up- it gives shoppers a level of security that is also recognised by Google.

6. Amazon Cons. 70% on $2.99 to $9.99, anything more or less you get 30%. Amazon own the customers.

Amazon Pluses. It is Amazon- it has an amazing amount of trust. It is also recognised through Google.

Gumroad pluses. You keep the customers. You can set the price to whatever you want. You can sell other things than ebooks (anything digital- like MP3s). It has weekly payouts. You can create licenses. It has a lot of analytics. Your Gumroad sales page can be customised.

Gumroad Cons. It is unknown compared to Amazon. The pricing structure seems odd. In the big scheme of things, is it any different from other, well established, platforms?

7. Gumroad has an affiliate link built into the platform which is why people who use Gumroad get successful. However just like everything else, that affiliate program has to be advertised.

8. There is an email system built within Gumroad. This can be used to sell to customers and followers on relevant products. Best used when the second product has something in common with the first. Multi-products also offset the cost of Gumroad if you go down the paid route. Niche topics and making sure that you have a few products within that niche are very helpful. It has been known that the Gumroad email service is not the best in the world. It is best used as follow up to products sold on Gumroad and that is all. So Gumroad allows you to add a third party email platform.

9. Pixel Traffic. Easily add tracking pixels so you can retarget customers off of the Gumroad website. So when someone visits your sales page and doesn't buy? Hit them up with some low cost, cross platform ads on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Google! This is only available on paid Gumroad.

10. You can limit product numbers and allow pre-orders. This could be used in combination and offer a discount on early bird sales.

11. With any sales you have to show the product. What most people do now is show the product on a device, better still multiple devices so people know what it is going to look like. The titles are also a main issue to consider. Graphic and title are the main things that get seen and are the two things that get people to click on the link to know more info about the ebook.

12. Tag relevantly. Do not overlook these. Make sure that they are tags that people would search for and would have the best meaning to your product and the most truthful.

13. Your profile is a lens into your world and it is an advert to get people to follow you. Would I spent time making this awesome? Yes, it is free advertisement and might add some trust. Would I relentlessly focus on it? No. Use your own site to gain followers and push them to buy from Gumroad.

14. Go through Gumroads marketplace and see some of the higher ranked items and see how they look. Most will have a ton of testimonials, some have video embedded within the sales page, others list the chapters and titles.

15. Create free products then upsell them to your paid products. Who says that you have to sell anything on Gumroad? You could use it to gain “buyers” and then sell them another product?

So selling ebooks on Gumroad... good or bad?

I just don't know. Most of me says no because of the various fees that kick in at certain intervals, if you need additional stuff etc.

Now this isn't me whining, it is something that a lot of companies that enter this digital sales platform should understand. There are a ton of companies out there.

offer the same experience for free
offer more add ons for nothing
better value for money

Clickbank would be awesome if it had the bolt ons that Gumroad has. Amazon would be great if they give you a little bit more access to the people who bought your stuff. One company just doesn't have everything that you need. Therefore you need to go with a company that has most of what you need.

If it wasn't for the $10/month fee which kicks into other fees after 1000 customers then selling ebooks on Gumroad would rule. If they offered a flat 8% plus 30cents per sale then I would go over to Gumroad and forget Clickbank.

Here is an example of someone selling 130+ ebooks on Gumroad and how they did it. For more info on ebook selling, check out here. Updates, check out the blog.