It wasn't all that long ago that selling digital products online required a lot of technical know-how. Today, anyone can set up a store and sell ebooks, courses and memberships, or even physical products.

There are numerous platforms out there to help people get started with selling online, and Payhip is one of them.

Is Payhip worth using as an online creator? Let's explore the platform and find out.

What is Payhip?

Payhip was one of the earliest entries into the world of digital commerce. It's a UK-based company that was set up in 2011. The founders bootstrapped the company and it quickly found a passionate user base among content creators and online coaches who wanted an easy, reliable way of selling their products online.

Over a decade later, the core of the platform remains the same. It offers easy ways to sell both digital and physical products.

What is Payhip used for?

Payhip's target audience is anyone who wants to sell online. The platform markets itself as a simple way to get started with ecommerce, while promising to be able to grow and scale as your business evolves.

Today, there are dozens of SaaS platforms targeting specific niches, such as course creators, podcasters, or social media influencers. Payhip can cater to those individuals, but the platform works best as a fully-featured online store.

Getting started with Payhip

As a seller, it's easy to get started with Payhip. You can sign up for the platform for free and without having to provide any payment information. All you'll be asked for on registration is your name and email address.

After registration, you'll be asked to provide a name for your store. This will be used as part of your store's address in the format https://payhip.com/STORENAME, so if you're not planning on using a custom domain when you launch your store, choose the name carefully.

Custom domains are available to all users, and Payhip doesn't charge you anything for configuring one, although you will have to purchase the domain from a third party such as GoDaddy or FX Domains.

The annual fee for a domain name isn't particularly expensive, however, and they make your store appear far more professional, so it's worth spending the money if you're serious about running an online store.

Adding products

Once you've picked a name for your store, you'll be taken to a setup page that asks you to do three things:

  • Add your first product
  • Set up your payment options
  • Customize the layout of your store

You will then be asked to upload your product. Payhip supports several products, including:

You can also bundle multiple products together to sell for one price. Once you have chosen your product type, you simply upload it, enter a title and price, upload a cover image, and choose the visibility of your product.

After choosing your product type, Payhip walks you through a tailored setup process for each format. For digital products, you'll upload your files and set basic details. Course creators get access to a curriculum builder for organizing lessons and modules. Membership sellers can create different tiers with varying access levels.

Managing products

Payhip makes it easy to manage products directly from your dashboard. You can upload digital files, set prices, and even bundle products together. For physical products, you can track inventory levels and get alerts when you're running low. 

You also get the flexibility to customize your shipping options. Whether you prefer flat-rate shipping, offering free shipping for certain order values, or calculating rates based on weight and total value, Payhip lets you tailor everything to your business needs.

Customizing your store

With Payhip, you can also configure the look and feel of your store. The default store theme is a minimalistic one with a white background and black text. It's quite neat and easy to use, but may not match your brand. To customize your store, click on the banner that reminds you to complete your store setup, and choose the Customize your store option. 

The store builder helps you organize your products into collections for easier browsing. You can create blog posts to share updates, add custom pages for business information, and adjust your store's appearance with different fonts and colors.

Your store automatically adapts to mobile devices, making it easy for customers to browse and buy from their phones.

Configuring payments

To get started with accepting payments on Payhip, you can easily link your store to PayPal or Stripe. These two popular payment processors give your customers the flexibility to pay using credit cards, debit cards, or their PayPal accounts. Payhip walks you through the connection process, so it’s quick and straightforward. 

Once set up, you can manage your payment settings directly from your Payhip dashboard. This includes configuring your preferred payment methods and reviewing transaction details.

Payhip also handles all the security for you. Keep in mind that Payhip charges a transaction fee based on your plan, which is in addition to any fees from PayPal or Stripe.

Managing delivery and access

Payhip automates the delivery process for everything you sell. Each product type has its own delivery setup:

  • Digital products: Instant download access after purchase
  • Courses: Login details to access curriculum
  • Memberships: Secure access to member-only content
  • Physical products: Tracking information for shipments

The platform creates specific spaces for your customers based on what they've purchased.

Digital products go into a secure download area, courses get a dedicated learning space, and memberships have their own access zones. The whole system runs automatically, letting you focus on running your business.

Payhip features and capabilities

Getting your store set up is just the first step. Now let's explore what you can actually do with Payhip. From essential ecommerce features to marketing tools, the platform offers various capabilities to help you sell and manage your digital products. 

Payhip ecommerce tools 

Payhip's ecommerce tools are quite comprehensive. It supports most common product types and has an intuitive store builder. It also offers some other useful features, including:

  • Affiliate programs
  • Flexible pricing with bundles, discounts and subscriptions
  • Integrate the Payhip checkout with your existing website
  • Cross-selling and other marketing features
  • Third-party integrations for email marketing

However, the platform has some limitations.

For one, the customization options are quite limited. You can change the color scheme and have a reasonable amount of control over how products are grouped together, but there aren't many options for customizing the layout of your store. Some other store platforms, such as WooCommerce and Shopify offer a far higher degree of control over how the store looks and feels.

If you want a lot of control over your store's branding, you might find Payhip disappointing.

Memberships and subscriptions

If you’re looking for an easy way to generate recurring revenue, Payhip’s memberships and subscriptions feature has you covered. It’s simple to set up and designed to help you build a loyal customer base while keeping payments hassle-free. 

With Payhip, you can create multiple membership tiers or subscription plans, each with its own pricing and perks.

For example, you might offer a basic monthly plan with access to exclusive content or a premium tier that includes one-on-one coaching. Billing is automated through Stripe or PayPal, so you don’t need to manually process payments. Subscribers also get the flexibility to manage their plans directly, which reduces administrative headaches for you. 

This feature works well for creators offering ongoing services, like private communities, newsletters, or educational content. You can also tie subscriptions to digital products, like courses or downloadable resources, creating even more value for your subscribers.

Marketing and SEO 

Payhip gives you basic tools to start selling, but you'll need to drive your own traffic to your store. While you can create blog posts and embed products on your existing website, the platform has limited SEO capabilities. You can't customize URLs or set meta descriptions, which might affect your store's visibility in search results.

The platform works well if you already have an audience through social media, email lists, or your own website. You can embed Payhip's checkout on your existing site or share product links directly with your followers.

Analytics and reporting

Understanding how your digital products perform helps you make better business decisions. Payhip provides an analytics dashboard that shows your daily views and sales at a glance. You can select specific products or view your entire store's performance over different time periods.

The platform shows you where your customers come from by tracking your top visitor sources. You can see which marketing channels drive the most traffic and sales to your store. For each product, you'll find key metrics like page views, number of orders, and total revenue generated.

Payhip also includes a visual map showing where your customers are located globally. While the analytics features are basic compared to some ecommerce platforms, they cover the essential metrics you need to track your store's growth and make informed decisions about your product strategy.

Customer communication 

Payhip sends automated emails after each sale with purchase details, access instructions, and welcome messages. You can customize these communications to include the information your customers need to get started with their purchases.

The platform provides dedicated areas where your customers can access their purchases. Course students can use their dashboard to work through lessons, membership holders can access their exclusive content, and digital product buyers can find their downloads in one place. This organization helps your customers easily find everything they've bought from your store.

Security and tax compliance

Running a digital product business comes with important considerations around keeping your content secure and managing taxes properly. Payhip has built-in features to handle both, reducing the time and effort it takes to manage these tasks.

The platform automatically stamps every PDF you sell with the buyer's email address. This helps you track where your files go and prevents unauthorized sharing.

For software, Payhip generates unique license keys that restrict access to paying customers only and help protect your product. You can also set download limits and expiration dates to control how your digital files are used.

Creators using Payhip also benefit from automated VAT calculations and reporting for EU and UK sales. The platform collects and remits the correct amounts directly to tax authorities. For other regions, Payhip provides tools to set up custom tax rates and collect taxes based on your customer's location, though you'll need to handle the actual tax reporting yourself.

Contacting Payhip: Customer service avenues

When you join Payhip, you'll be ushered through a simple onboarding process and sent some links to introductory videos to help you learn the platform. If you run into any problems, you can contact support by email.

To the company's credit, their contact details are easy to find, being displayed prominently on the welcome banner, and as a link in the footer on all pages of the website. Still, there is no option to call Payhip, meaning that you have to rely on email support, which is not ideal when you're running a business through the platform.

Unfortunately, customer feedback is mixed, with a 3.1 out of 5-star review on Trust Pilot. Many customers report slow page loading times and other minor issues with the platform.

More worryingly, there are reports of creators investing time to set up a store or create a course, then having their store removed without warning.

It's possible some of those users violated the terms of service, but the lack of communication from the support team is still cause for concern. Then, there are complaints of the lack of customer service and not being paid out funds.

How much does Payhip cost?

Payhip is in the minority in the ecommerce space in that it offers a free forever tier. Users on this tier can access all of the platform's features and upload an unlimited number of products. The platform then takes a 5% transaction fee on all sales made (note: this is on top of any fees charged by the payment processor).

This free tier is ideal for smaller creators and those who are just testing the waters with their online store. If you start selling a lot of products, you may wish to upgrade. There are two premium tiers:

  • Payhip Plus: Costs $29/month, with a 2% transaction fee
  • Payhip Pro: Costs $99/month, with no transaction fee

In addition to the plans listed above, Payhip offers native video streaming, which costs $5 a month for up to 16 hours of video being uploaded. This is an optional feature, and if you choose not to use it you can still embed video from third-party platforms such as Vimeo or YouTube.

If you need to upload a lot of video files or expect to have extremely high bandwidth use, you can contact the support team to negotiate a bespoke plan.

PayHip pros and cons

Still unable to decide whether Payhip is right for you? Here's a look at its main strengths and limitations based on our testing:

Payhip pros:

  • No technical knowledge required: The platform's simple interface lets you set up your store and start selling without any coding or design skills.
  • All features on free plan: Unlike many platforms, Payhip gives you access to all features regardless of your plan level.
  • Automated tax management: The platform handles EU/UK VAT calculations and reporting automatically, reducing administrative work.
  • Built-in security features: PDF stamping and license key generation help protect your digital products from unauthorized sharing.
  • Integration flexibility: You can embed Payhip's checkout on your existing website or share product links directly with your audience.

Payhip cons:

  • Limited store customization: Basic design options restrict how much you can customize your store's appearance and layout.
  • Basic analytics: The reporting tools provide essential metrics but lack advanced features for detailed business insights.
  • Additional transaction fees: The platform charges 5% on the free plan and 2% on Plus plan on top of payment processor fees.
  • Limited support options: Email-only support means you might wait longer for help with urgent issues.

Limited SEO capabilities: You can't customize URLs or set meta descriptions, which affects your store's search visibility.

Payhip alternatives

Payhip is a good option for newcomers to the world of ecommerce. It handles issues such as shipping fees and taxes very well, and requires no technical knowledge to get started, especially if you're happy using a Payhip address for your store. If you want to use a custom domain, you'll need to configure that, but the documentation for doing this is clear and easy to follow.

Unfortunately, the platform's limited customization options and slow performance is not ideal for those looking to grow their businesses to high levels of success. Fortunately, there are plenty of alternatives out there:

Gumroad

Gumroad is a popular platform with digital content creators. On paper, Gumroad costs more than Payhip, with the platform taking a higher commission out of any sales. It also has even more limited customization options.

However, it offers some nice extra features, including a busy marketplace and free online marketing features.

If you don't have a lot of reach to market directly to your target audience and want the discoverability that comes with being part of a large, popular marketplace on a trusted platform, choosing Gumroad could work out well for you.

Gumroad vs. Payhip: Which platform is best for digital products?

Shopify

Shopify is primarily designed for entrepreneurs who want to sell physical products or do dropshipping. It can be used for digital downloads or courses but requires plugins for this.

Shopify is far more expensive than Payhip and while it's easy to get started with, the learning curve for customizing the store is steep.

Discover more Payhip alternatives in this article

🥇Whop - The ultimate Payhip alternative

Whop is a versatile social commerce platform that offers all the core features of Payhip, along with more modern tools for community building and subscriptions. The platform also offers a marketplace (Whop Discover page) for those who wish to use it, but the core of the service is its whops.

Creators can build a whop that they invite their followers to join. whops can be free, or you can charge for a membership.

Like Payhip, Whop is free to join and there are no monthly fees. Commission on sales starts at just 3%, and the platform handles payments for you, making it quite an affordable option even for those who have fairly high sales volume with lower fees than Payhip (and no charge for live video in whops).

Because Whop was built with digital creators in mind, it offers unprecedented flexibility. You can sell almost anything, including:

  • Ebooks and videos
  • Online courses
  • Access to forums and live chat
  • Communities
  • Newsletters
  • Webinars
  • Masterminds
  • Software products
  • Trading signals

You can do all of this in your whop. This keeps all of your customers in one place, for one low fee. If you're a creator, why not create a whop where your customers can chat, share advice in forums, take a course, access ebooks, watch a live webinar in the whop, and more?

The platform also has built-in analytics features, and collects email addresses and other details from your customers. If you have an existing mailing list or CRM platform, it's easy to export the data from Whop and use it in that platform. Also, Whop has 24/7 customer service, so you can get the help you need when you need it, not days later.

Getting started with Whop is easy. Why not sign up today, create your first whop, and see firsthand why so many online entrepreneurs have joined the Whop community?

Sell With Whop