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How to sell printables online, meaning PDF planners, worksheets and Canva templates rather than 3D-print files, without giving Etsy a listing fee, a transaction fee and a processing fee on every $5 sale: put them on your own sales page with a checkout that delivers the file and keeps the buyer’s email. systeme.io does that on a free plan at 0% platform fee. The honest structure for most sellers is to keep Etsy for discovery and move repeat buyers to your own store.
Where to sell printables online besides Etsy
Three routes. A marketplace (Etsy, Creative Market) brings browsers and takes fees. A simple storefront (Payhip, Gumroad) is quick to set up and takes a percentage; Gumroad’s is 10% plus 50 cents per sale. Your own page on systeme.io takes 0% and includes the email list, which is the asset a marketplace never hands over.
The fees on a $5 printable, tool by tool
Etsy charges a fee to list each item, a percentage of the sale, and a payment-processing fee on top, and once a shop passes a revenue threshold its Offsite Ads fee becomes mandatory on ad-attributed sales. Etsy’s fee page blocked our capture, so the percentages are not quoted here; on a $5 sale the three together are a noticeable share. Gumroad keeps $1.00 of the same $5. systeme.io keeps nothing; Stripe or PayPal takes its card fee, about 45 cents, on any route.
How to sell printables without Etsy: the four-step move
- Upload the PDF or ZIP as a digital product. Storage is unlimited.
- Build one sales page from a template with a mockup image, what is inside, and the price.
- Connect Stripe or PayPal and put the order form on the page. Delivery is automatic on the thank-you page and in the confirmation email.
- Send Etsy buyers there: a thank-you insert in the download with a coupon for your store, and a free printable in exchange for an email. Check Etsy’s current rules on off-platform links before adding one to a listing.
How to sell templates without Etsy
Canva templates are share links, not files. Put the link on the thank-you page and in the delivery email, one template per product or several per bundle, and state the licence (personal use, commercial use) on the sales page. Notion and Google Sheets templates work the same way.
Keep Etsy for discovery, own the repeat buyer
Etsy’s search sends traffic; your own store does not, until Pinterest, Instagram or the list does. Sellers who leave outright usually miss the browsers. Sellers who run both keep the shop as a window and sell the second, third and tenth printable from their own page at 0%.
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Frequently asked questions
How do I sell printables online without Etsy?
Upload the PDF to systeme.io as a product, build one sales page with an order form, connect Stripe or PayPal. Delivery is automatic and the platform fee is 0%.
How do I sell Canva templates without Etsy?
Deliver the Canva share link on the thank-you page and in the confirmation email, and state the licence on the sales page.
Should I leave Etsy completely?
Usually not. Keep it for discovery and move repeat buyers to your own store with a coupon insert and a free printable for their email.
Does systeme.io protect printables from sharing?
No. It has no PDF stamping. Payhip does, at a per-sale fee.
Related: how to set up a checkout page without Shopify, Etsy alternatives for digital products, Gumroad alternatives.