Selling downloads — PDFs, audio, video
No packing, no courier, no address: the customer pays and the file is theirs.
4 min readUpdated 14 Sep 2026
In this guide
What people actually sell this way
Setting one up
Add the product as usual
Name, price, a cover image and a description — exactly like a physical product.
Mark it digital
Open More options → Digital Product on the product and switch it on. The delivery and weight settings disappear, because none of them apply — and leave stock tracking off, since a file never runs out.
Upload the file
The file is stored privately. It is never served from a guessable address, so nobody reaches it without buying.
Buy it yourself once
Place a real order for it and check the download works. This is the one thing worth testing before you advertise it.
What the customer gets
- They orderNo address asked for
- They pay onlinePayment must clear first
- Download appearsOn the order page and in their messages
- It stays availableIn their account, to download again
A cart with only digital items skips the address step entirely. Mix a digital item with a physical one and the order behaves like a normal delivery — because something still has to be posted.
Why cash on delivery is refused
There is no delivery to collect cash at. A digital-only cart therefore requires an online payment, and COD is not offered. This is not a setting you can override — handing over the file before being paid has no recovery path.
How much protection is realistic
The link is private to the order and the file is not publicly addressable, which stops casual copying. Nothing stops a buyer forwarding a PDF they legitimately bought — that is true of every platform on earth.
Do this
- Put your name and contact inside the file — a forwarded copy then advertises you
- Price for the value, not the file size
- Say clearly on the product page that it is a download, not a parcel
- Keep the file under a size a phone can download on mobile data
Not this
- Promising a refund policy you cannot enforce on a delivered file
- Uploading a 900 MB video and expecting it to download on 4G
- Selling something you do not own the rights to
Example · Anjali, a coaching teacher in Kota
She sells last-year question papers with solutions as a ₹149 PDF. Students pay by UPI at 11pm and download immediately; she is asleep. Her name and phone number are in the footer of every page, so forwarded copies keep bringing her students.
Google Shopping and the Instagram & Facebook catalogue only accept physical goods sold on your own website, so digital products are kept out of those listings automatically — nothing for you to switch off.
Selling access rather than a single file
If what you sell is a library rather than one download — a course, a monthly pack of study material, a template collection — sell it as a plan instead. The buyer pays through your normal checkout, your website gets a plans page, and their files appear under My Account with the download limit you set. Buying again simply extends it. Set it up in Repeat orders & subscriptions→ Plans & digital library.
Common questions
Can I sell a digital and a physical item together?
Yes. The order is treated as a delivery, and the download appears alongside the tracking.
Can the customer download it more than once?
Yes — up to ten times, from their account, for 30 days after the order. Buying a file and losing it on the same evening should not cost them again. If someone comes back later than that, open the order and send them the file yourself; nothing about the purchase is lost.
What file types and sizes can I sell?
Anything you can upload — PDF, spreadsheet, document, zip, audio, video, design files — up to 5 GBeach, and very large files upload in pieces so a dropped connection does not start you over. You can also paste a Google Drive or Dropbox link shared with “anyone with the link” instead of uploading.
Do digital sales appear in GST reports?
Yes, exactly like any other sale, at the rate you set on the product. Ask your CA which rate applies to what you sell.
Can I update the file later?
Yes — upload a new version on the product. Anyone who buys after that gets the new one.
What if the payment fails halfway?
No payment, no link. The download is only created once the payment is confirmed — see Accept payments.
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