How to Quickly Sell Digital Downloads with Stripe
- SS DIGITAL SOLUTIONS
- Mar 15, 2022
- 9 min read
Do you want to quickly get set up for selling digital downloads? Great idea! This is a great way to make money online with passive income. With little up-front costs, you can get started building a small business or side hustle.
In this article we’ll show you how to use Easy Digital Downloads and Stripe to start selling digital downloads for free! You can have a full-featured professional store on your WordPress site in no time.
Get Started
The best way to sell your digital downloads is on your own website.
The best way to do that is to combine three amazingly powerful, yet free, eCommerce tools. WordPress + Easy Digital Downloads + Stripe.
Install Easy Digital Downloads
First, if you have never installed a plugin on your WordPress site, here is a great detailed tutorial. You need to have your WordPress hosting/site all set up.
To install EDD here are the quick instructions…
On your WordPress dashboard go to Plugins > Add New.
Then click the Upload Plugin button.
Locate the Easy Digital Downloads ZIP file you just downloaded and click Install Now.
After that be sure to click the Activate button.
After you install Easy Digital Downloads you’ll have a new menu item called Downloads on your WordPress dashboard menu on the left side.
Configure Stripe
Before we start, be sure to make sure Stripe is available in your country. If not, we suggest PayPal as another great option. Click here to learn more about setting up PayPal.
Next, integrating EDD with Stripe is easy. Especially if you already have a Stripe account.
Have a Stripe Account?
If you have a Stripe account it’s almost as simple as hitting a magic blue button.
On your WordPress dashboard go to: Downloads > Settings > Payments > Stripe.
Click on the almost-magic blue button that says Connect with Stripe.
You’ll log in with your Stripe email address and password
You probably have two factor authentication so you’ll have to enter a code
Then you’ll be able to choose your account and click Connect → to link it to EDD.
You’re pretty much done. You’ll see a green notification box that confirms your connection status.
Don’t Have a Stripe Account?
No worries if you don’t have a Stripe account. Stripe makes it easy to create a new one (for free) and connect it to EDD all in one place.
This process will look a bit different depending on which country you are in. We’ll walk you through what a typical setup looks like from the United States. These screenshots may change slightly over time, as Stripe tweaks their interface.
On your WordPress dashboard go to: Downloads > Settings > Payments > Stripe.
Click on the blue button that says Connect with Stripe.
You’ll be taken to the Stripe Connect screen
Be sure you see our logo and ‘Easy Digital Downloads’ on the left side. You’ll be taken through a multi-page form. It’s simple to use. It’ll ask for your contact information, business information, and guide you through setting everything up. Like we said, it varies by region. But you’ll probably have to provide things like:
Name, address, phone number
Personal information, like the last 4 digits of your social security number in the US
Business information, contact, type of business
The last step in most regions will be connecting a bank account for Stripe to deposit your money into when you make a sale!
Configure Webhooks
Next you need configure something called a webhook. Most things just work ‘right out of the box’ with Stripe and EDD. However, you have to do this configuration so that refunds are communicated between Stripe and your EDD store.
On your Stripe Dashboard go to Developers > Webhooks. Or use the direct link below (you must be logged in to your account):
Click on the Add Endpoint button.
Add your domain name with ‘/?edd-listener=stripe’ at the end of it. It should look like this:
https://yourwebsite.com/?edd-listener=stripe Replace ‘yourwebsite.com’ with your website’s domain name. Or you can copy and paste it from the screen located at: Downloads > Settings > Payments > Stripe in the Webhooks section.
On the Stripe Dashboard use these settings:
Make sure the box “Listen to events on Connected accounts” is unchecked
The API version should be “Latest version”
Select the following events:
charge.succeeded
charge.refunded
customer.subscription.deleted
customer.subscription.updated
customer.subscription.created
invoice.payment_failed
invoice.payment_succeeded
review.opened
review.closed
You find these events in this set of drop-downs and select them. Here is the Review one being selected:
Once completed, your webhooks page should look like this.
Hit Add Endpoint and you’ll save these settings. Your integration with EDD will complete.
Set Stripe as Default Payment Gateway
To finish up, head over to Downloads > Settings > Payments > Gateways.
Under Payment Gateways check the Stripe box
Make sure Stripe is set as your Default Gateway via the dropdown
And choose which credit card brands to accept under Accepted Payment Method Icons.
Not sure which ones? Choose Mastercard, Visa, American Express and Discover unless you have a reason not to use these popular brands. Credit card availability will vary by country/region.
Be sure to hit the Save Changes button
Free As In Free? Or Fees?
Stripe is free to use, but there are per-transaction fees. This is great if you are just getting started out, because you only pay money when you make a sale.
💳 Pay-as-you-go pricing is a per-transaction fee + Stripe/credit card fees.
Once your online store is humming along, and you are processing a higher volume of payments, you can skip the additional fee by purchasing either:
An Extended EDD Pass (or higher), this gets you Stripe Pro and dozens of other powerful extensions that add powerful functionality like email marketing, upsell/cross-sells, or subscriptions.
Or Stripe Pro as a standalone extension
Create A Product (Download)
Now we’ll walk through setting up a product with your digital file/s. In EDD they are called Downloads.
Step 1
First, unless you have a specific reason not to, we suggest selling your downloads as ZIP files. Bookmark this link to learn why later.
On your WordPress dashboard, hover over Downloads and click Add New. We’ll be uploading a spreadsheet exercise tracker template as an example.
Give the Download a name. Then add a description in the main text area below.
Step 2
Next, give your Download a price under Download Prices.
Step 3
Next, we need to configure your Download File. This is the file (or download link) that the customer will get after purchase.
First, under File Name type in a phrase that describes the product. We suggest, for this example, typing something like “Spreadsheet Tracker”. This is the clickable link text that will be used on the confirmation page and email.
Second, under File URL click Upload a File and upload your ZIP file. It will automatically be protected from search bots and unauthorized file downloads by non-customers.
Step 4
Last, you need to add an attractive Download Image. This is important. It’s what the customer sees as they are shopping. It needs to look appealing.
Free Templates
Not sure how to? Snag one of our free Canva templates below to quickly and easily make a nice graphic.
You can edit the text, pictures, colors and all layers. All you need is a free Canva account!
Once you have an image ready, go under Download Image and upload your PNG or JPEG file.
Great work! It’s ready for display on your site. Click Publish.
Next, look at it as the customer will see it on your website.
Click on View Download on the top notification banner that appeared after you published.
You’ll see your download on the frontend of your site.
This is the ‘download page’. Note that we are using the free WP Astra theme in this example. Your site look will vary depending on which WordPress theme you have.
Checkout
Try adding the product to the cart. Make sure you’re happy with the way everything looks.
Purchase Confirmation
When a customer completes a purchase they’ll get a purchase confirmation email in their email inbox. It looks like this:
The text presets for this email work fine. Or, you can customize this email text all you want under Downloads > Settings > Emails > Purchase Receipts.
Start Selling!
We recommend running a test before you start going public with your new digital downloads.
🔍 Click here to learn more about Stripe test purchases One way to run a quick test is to temporarily set the price of your product to 1 dollar (or your chosen currency). Then try purchasing it with your own credit card or debit card.
This will allow you to see the entire checkout process from the perspective of the customer.
🎉 If you like everything you see, you’re ready to start selling!
WordPress + EDD + Stripe can get your business or side hustle up and running pretty quickly.
You’re ready to start telling others about you products.
Marketing and Promotion Tips
Share your downloads on Social media
Build an email list with lead magnets to find new customers
Write blog posts about your products so they can be discovered by search engines
Be sure the posts are SEO (search engine optimized), we recommend using All In One SEO to help you with that. We love this WordPress plugin and use it here at EDD.
If you’re not sure where to start, be mindful that have a powerful marketing tool ready and waiting…your blog! WordPress with EDD is the best digital downloads ecommerce platform. Bonus…WordPress is also the best blogging tool.
Write posts about your new products and existing downloads.
The Advantages of EDD and WordPress
Compared to Other Solutions
👎 Other ecommerce solutions, including WooCommerce, are not built for selling digital downloads. While Woo is great for physical goods, selling digital goods are an after thought. You’ll waste time setting up inventory and shipping features that you don’t need.
👎🏿 Many platforms and apps, including Shopify, charge hefty monthly fees, before you even get started.
👎🏽 Marketplaces, including Etsy and Amazon, charge fees, often take a cut of your revenue, and usually have limits on how much you can charge for your own products!
🎓 Smart entrepreneurs take full control of their businesses with WordPress + EDD + Stripe.
Use EDD and Stripe for free. We’re not talking about a free trial. Use them free forever. As your business grows, you’ll find EDD is a robust ecommerce platform. Simply add features if and when you need them with an EDD Pass.
🔑 WordPress + EDD + Stripe = Future-proof
With Easy Digital Downloads you get:
Protected product files, only paying customers will have access to digital downloads
Shopping cart
Full control over pricing
Flexible checkout options
Discount codes
Customer management (basic CRM)
eCommerce reports
Stripe and/or PayPal integration
White label (full control over branding)
What are you waiting for? Get started with EDD today.
Why Should I Sell Digital Downloads?
There are tons of benefits of selling digital downloads. It’s much easier to get started with digital products than physical products. Physical products require:
Expensive raw materials
Supply chain logistics
Manufacturing
Inventory and warehousing
Shipping
Digital downloads (digital products) require none of those things. You can make your product once, and sell it an unlimited number of times. Click here to learn more about all the benefits (there are tons!).
Use your unique mix of skills and experience to craft digital content and create digital products. There are countless types of digital products:
eBooks
Audiobooks
Documents or spreadsheets
Audio or music
Graphic templates for:
Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator or Creative Cloud Express
Affinity Photo or Designer
Canva
Stock photos
Graphics or digital art
Printables
Embroidery cut files
Online courses
Fontss
Or one of thousands of ideas…
Click here for our complete list of product ideas. There are countless kinds of digital downloads you can sell.
🔑 The main reason to be selling digital downloads is because they can be highly profitable💰. They also allow you to help others in unique ways.
Conclusion
There you have it! You’ve learned how to start selling digital downloads. We hope you are able to build a profitable online business as a digital creator!
We have a lot more resources for digital creators like you. What do you want to learn about next?
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