Selling digital products: the checklist

Start with the buyer's first task, not the file type. "Fill in the budget sheet on my phone" and "print the planner" need different files. Pick the format that does the job, then say what a buyer needs to use it.

Make the file easy to use

Choose a format for the buyer's task

A PDF suits reading and printing. A spreadsheet or document template suits editing. An EPUB reflows on small screens. Presets, brushes and project files only work in a specific app, so name the app and version.

Say what it works with

• The apps and versions you tested, and any that do not work.
• Whether it opens on a phone, or needs a computer.
• Fonts, plugins or accounts the buyer must already have.

Open the delivered file on a device that has never seen it before. If a common app cannot open it, say so before checkout rather than after.

Describe accessibility honestly

List what you checked, such as real headings, alt text on images, text that can be selected and read aloud, or captions on video, and name the known limits. A scanned PDF of a handwritten page is an image, so do not call it screen-reader friendly. Add a way to ask for an accessible copy.

Decide whether to include editable source files

Source files make a template more useful, but they bring promises of their own: the right app, the fonts and images inside, and what a buyer may change or resell. Include them only if you can package everything they need, and say what the license allows. Canva templates have their own rules about Pro elements and file types; see how to sell Canva templates.

Name and organize the files

Use names a buyer understands ("01-Start-here.pdf", "Planner-2027-A4.pdf"), put the version in the name, and add a short start-here file that lists what is in the package and which file to open first. Large bundles are easier as one ZIP than as twenty separate downloads.

Write a page that tells the truth

What the sales page needs

• What arrives: the files, pages, presets or videos, and the format.
• What it helps with, in words you can back up. No "guaranteed results".
• What the buyer needs: apps, devices, skill level.
• When it arrives and how long they can download it again.
• How to get help, and how refunds work.

Keep the important limits next to the claim they qualify, not in small print at the bottom.

Free samples

A sample earns its place when it lets a buyer judge the fit: one page, one preset, a short preview. Make the free part useful on its own, and say plainly what only the paid version adds.

Presells

Taking money before the product exists creates a delivery promise. Only presell when you can name what arrives and the date, and have the time to finish it. Otherwise collect a waiting list. If you will be late, tell buyers before the date passes and offer a refund if they would rather not wait.

Price, discounts and bundles

Discount codes

A discount should change a real buyer decision, such as a launch window or a returning supporter, and still leave enough to deliver and support the product. Work out what you keep after fees at the discounted price, set an end date, and do not let a "sale" become the normal price.

Bundles

Bundle products when they solve one job together and are easier to buy as a set. If one item is an optional extra, an add-on is clearer than a bundle. Check that the bundle price still covers the support and updates every item in it needs.

Test checkout and delivery before launch

A payment that goes through does not prove the buyer got the right file. Test the whole route the buyer takes, using the platform's test mode rather than a real purchase of your own product.

1. The page shows the right price and what the buyer gets.
2. Checkout completes, and a failed or pending payment does not deliver the file.
3. The receipt arrives with the right product, amount and date.
4. The download link works and opens the current version.
5. The buyer can find the file again later.
6. The help route reaches you.

The receipt email

The receipt is the buyer's record of payment and their way back to the product. It should name the product and amount, link to the download, and say where to ask for help. Check the link works from the email itself, on a phone.

First-use instructions

A buyer can have every file and still not know where to start. Include a short start-here note: what is in the package, what to open first, what they need installed, the first two or three steps, and where to get help.

How long buyers can download

Decide before you sell, write it on the page, and make sure it holds. If links expire, say how a buyer gets a new one. On Loresta, buyers find their purchases under My purchases.

Sales tax and where you sell

Sales tax

Whether a download is taxed depends on where you and the buyer are and how each place treats digital products; states and countries differ. Sales tax is also separate from income tax on what you earn. Loresta is the seller of record for Page purchases and handles applicable sales-tax collection and remittance in supported checkout countries. If you also sell elsewhere, check that platform's rules, and ask a tax professional about your own situation.

Do you need your own website?

Not to start. You need a page that explains the product, a checkout, delivery, a way for buyers to find their files again, and a way to reach you. A hosted Page covers all of that. Build your own site later if it solves a specific problem, such as a large catalogue or a custom layout you truly need.

After the sale

Set up support

Decide where buyers ask for help, how fast you answer, and who answers when you are away. Keep a note of each problem and its fix; the same question twice means the page or the start-here note should change.

When a buyer cannot open their download

Reply privately, and never post a download link in public comments. Find which step failed: the payment, the receipt, the link, or the file itself. Fix it, send the buyer a working route, and test the same path again so the next buyer does not hit it. Never ask for a password or full card details. If the buyer has already asked their bank for the money back, follow the chargeback steps instead.

Updating a product people already bought

Corrections should reach existing buyers. A bigger change, such as new chapters, a new format or a new tool, is a new promise: decide what earlier buyers get, keep what they were promised, and tell them what changed and whether they need to do anything. Put the version in the file name so everyone knows which one they have.

Retiring a product

Stopping new sales and taking away what people already bought are different things. When a product goes stale, first ask whether a small fix would restore it. If you do retire it, stop new sales, keep existing buyers' access and any support you promised, and make the old page say clearly that it is no longer for sale.