How to Sell Digital Downloads on WordPress (Step-by-Step)

You’ve already done the hard part. You’ve made the thing.

Maybe it’s an ebook you spent four months researching and writing. Maybe it’s a Lightroom preset pack you stayed up until 3:00 AM fine-tuning, or a video course you finally found the courage to record. 

But setting up a digital storefront? That’s something else entirely. 

Many traditional eCommerce plugins are bloated with shipping settings, inventory counters, and warehouse logistics you don’t need as a digital creator. Meanwhile, simpler alternatives are often so bare-bones that you end up giving up and manually emailing files to customers, one by one.

I’ve sold many different digital products across multiple sites over the years, and I’ve tried just about every plugin you can use to sell digital items. Today, I’m going to walk you through the exact combination I keep coming back to.

By the end of this tutorial, you’ll have a beautiful, live online store that’s designed specifically for promoting, selling, and securely delivering digital files. 

Your digital download is ready to sell. Let’s get your store up and running in less than an hour.

Step 1: Install and Activate Your Digital Storefront

Before you can upload your first file, you need to install a plugin that handles the shopping cart and securely delivers your downloads. For this, I’m using Easy Digital Downloads (often called EDD). 

If you’re just starting out, you can download the free version of EDD directly from the official WordPress plugin repository. It includes everything you need to follow along with this guide, so you can sell as many products as you want and process unlimited transactions with zero upfront cost.

However, the free version of EDD adds a 3% platform fee to every Stripe transaction. While this is a great, risk-free way to launch your store, you’ll want to keep an eye on the numbers as your business grows. Once your store is making more than $3,300 per year, upgrading to a premium EDD license actually becomes cheaper than paying that 3% fee.

No matter which path you choose, installing EDD is just like setting up any other WordPress plugin.

If you’ve never done this before, don’t worry. We have a complete beginner’s walkthrough on how to install a WordPress plugin that will get you up and running in minutes.

Pro Tip: If you decide to purchase the premium version of EDD remember to enter your license key in the plugin settings right away. Activating your license is the secret to instantly removing that 3% transaction fee.

Step 2: Enter Your Business Info (and Skip the Rest!)

Upon activation, the Easy Digital Downloads setup wizard will launch automatically. The wizard has five screens: Business, Payment Methods, Emails, Tools, and Products.

This wizard is perfect for launching a site quickly. However, there are some settings you’ll typically want to invest more time in, so you can make them perfect for your online store.

Because of that, we’re going to complete Stage 1 (Business), and then have you skip the rest of the setup wizard. Each of those remaining stages has its own dedicated step later in this tutorial, so you can give it the attention it deserves.

On the first screen, enter your business details starting with your store name. This is what your customers will see on their receipts, so enter something clear and descriptive like your personal name or your brand.

After that, select your country and state or region from the dropdowns. Don’t skip this part, because EDD uses this information to calculate accurate tax rates and set your default currency.

Below that, the Currency section sets your store’s default currency, the symbol position (before or after the number), and your thousands and decimal separators. To make things easier, EDD changes the defaults based on your location, but you can adjust them if you want.

When you’re happy with these settings, click the ‘Save & Continue’ button at the bottom.

On the very next screen (Payment Methods), click ‘Skip this step.’ You can then go ahead and keep skipping each step until the wizard finishes. 

If you accidentally close the wizard before entering your business information, don’t panic. 

Simply head over to Downloads » Tools in your WordPress menu and click the ‘Restart the Setup Wizard’ button.

Step 3: Connecting Stripe and PayPal

This is where you make sure you can actually collect money from your customers.

A payment gateway is the service that securely processes your customer’s credit card and deposits the funds right into your bank account. EDD supports a few excellent options straight out of the box.

You can use any methods you want, but I highly recommend connecting both Stripe (for credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay) and PayPal (for customers who prefer to pay using their PayPal balance).

From your dashboard, go to Downloads » Settings and select the ‘Payments’ tab.

Here, you’ll see an ‘Active Gateways’ section with toggles for Stripe, Square, PayPal, and Store Gateway.

You can simply select any of these options along the top of the screen and follow the onscreen instructions to connect the payment gateway to your WordPress website.

While the process is straightforward, there are a few specific recommendations I always make for a new digital marketplace, so let’s look at the two big players in more detail.

Adding Stripe as your Primary Gateway

To connect Stripe, click the ‘Stripe’ tab and then select the ‘Connect with Stripe’ button.

This redirects you to the Stripe website, where you can either log in to an existing account or create a new one.

Simply follow the onscreen instructions to link EDD to your Stripe account.

Adding PayPal as a Second Option

While you can absolutely run a successful store with only Stripe, I always recommend adding PayPal as a second option. In my experience, some shoppers won’t complete a checkout unless they see that familiar PayPal logo. If you don’t add PayPal, then you could be missing out on sales.

Note: If you’re using a personal PayPal account, you will need to switch it to a business account first. It’s completely free, takes only a few minutes to do within your PayPal dashboard, and ensures your store can process payments smoothly.

To get started, click the ‘PayPal’ tab and click the ‘Connect with PayPal’ button.

A popup will appear where you can log into your account and authorize the connection. Once again, just follow the onscreen instructions to connect WordPress to PayPal.

Step 4: Setting Download Limits and Link Expiration

When you’re selling digital products, there’s always a worry that customers might share their download links with friends or leak them on a public forum. This could allow hundreds of people to download your hard work for free.

Thankfully, EDD has built-in protections designed for exactly this scenario, so it’s worth setting them up before launching your first product.

From your dashboard, go to Downloads » Settings and select the ‘Misc’ tab.

After that, click the File Downloads sub-tab near the top of the page.

On this screen, you’ll see the File Download Limit field. This setting controls exactly how many times a single customer can download the file from their unique link.

I usually set this download limit to three or four. This gives genuine buyers plenty of attempts if their initial download gets interrupted by a patchy internet connection, but effectively stops people from abusing or sharing the link.

Below that, you will find the Download Link Expiration field. By default, EDD sets all links to expire automatically after 24 hours.

This 24-hour window typically gives real buyers more than enough time to safely download their file, even if they have a slow connection or accidentally close the browser tab. At the same time, it shuts the link down before it can be widely shared online. However, you can always change this number to give your customers more or less time, depending on your store’s specific needs.

Step 5: Creating Your First Digital Download

Once you’ve connected a payment gateway, you’re ready to start adding digital products to your WordPress website. In EDD, every product you sell is called a Download, which keeps things nice and consistent no matter whether you’re selling an ebook, a software license, or a stock photo pack.

To get started, go to Downloads » Downloads and click the ‘Add Download’ button.

You’ll now see a screen that looks very similar to the standard WordPress block editor, but with a few extra sections specifically designed for digital products.

Here, type your product’s title into the field that says ‘Add title.’

This title will appear to potential customers, so I always recommend choosing something that clearly communicates exactly what the product is, such as ‘WordPress Plugin Developer Handbook (PDF).’ 

In this way, customers can see exactly what they’re buying at a glance. It also helps your products stand out in search engine results by targeting the specific keywords your audience is looking for.

Below the title is the main content area where you’ll write your product description. This is essentially your sales page, so it’s important to give potential customers all the information they need to confidently click the ‘Buy’ button.

When writing your descriptions, it’s best to cover:

• What the product is and the problem it solves.
• Who the product is specifically designed for.
• Exactly what is included in the download, like file formats or bonus extras.

I usually break this content into short paragraphs with a few bullet points so it’s easy for visitors to scan and understand this information.

Next, you’ll want to add a featured image for your product. This is the main visual that appears whenever your download is displayed across your site.

When you’re selling digital items, it can sometimes be tricky to find an image that represents your product since you can’t take a physical photograph of it. Because of that, you might need to get a little creative:

• For an eBook: You could create a professional 3D book cover mockup.
• For a Template Pack: You can use a preview screenshot showing the template in action. 
• For a Photo Bundle: You might create a grid of thumbnails that showcases multiple images at a glance.

When you’ve decided what image you want to use, find the Download Image section in the right-hand sidebar and click the Set Download Image button. 

You can then either select an existing image from your WordPress media library or upload a new file from your computer.

Step 6: Setting Your Price

After adding your product imagery, scroll down to the Download Details section. This is where you will set the product’s price and decide whether you’re selling a single product or offering multiple options using variable pricing.

Variable pricing is excellent for selling things like personal versus commercial licenses, or offering starter, standard, and pro bundles of the same product.

I use variable pricing for a lot of digital products because it lets buyers self-select the version that best suits their needs. Even if most buyers pick the middle tier, simply having a higher option tends to naturally increase the average order value.

If you want to create a single, set price for a product, then simply type that number into the ‘Price’ field. 

If you want to offer multiple pricing tiers, then click to enable the ‘Create price variations for this download’ slider.

This adds a new ‘Prices’ tab, so go ahead and select this tab. 

By default, EDD creates a ‘Variation Name’ field and an accompanying price box. 

This is your first variable price. Simply type in the variation name and then enter its price into the accompanying price box. 

To add more pricing options, click the ‘Add Variation’ button and then repeat the process of typing in a name and a price. 

You can repeat these steps to add as many different pricing tiers as you need.

Step 7: Upload Your Digital Files

Now that you’ve created a product, you need to tell EDD which file it should deliver to the customer after they complete their purchase. EDD supports a wide range of file types, including PDF, EPUB, ZIP, MP3, WAV, MP4, MOV, JPG, PNG, DOC, XLS, PSD, and AI files. If WordPress lets you upload it, then EDD can securely deliver it.

In the ‘Download Details’ box, click the ‘Files’ tab. This is where you upload or link to the file that buyers will receive.

Once you’re there, type in the file name you want to use.

This is the name that appears in the customer’s purchase receipt and inside their account area, so use something descriptive like “Plugin Developer Handbook v1.pdf” rather than the original, messy filename on your computer (such as “final_FINAL_v3_THIS_ONE.pdf”).

After that, click the upload icon inside the File URL field.

This opens the standard WordPress media library. You can either drag your file directly into the upload area or pick a file that’s already been uploaded to your library.

If you’ve created multiple pricing tiers, then open the ‘Price Assignment’ dropdown.

Then, choose the price you want to apply to this file.

Are you offering multiple versions of the same file, such as a basic guide versus a deluxe package with video extras? In that case, click the ‘Add File’ button.

This adds a new section where you can give the file a name, upload the file, and set the price. 

Simply keep repeating these steps until you’ve uploaded every version of the file.

Step 8: Publishing Your Digital Product

There are plenty of other settings you can explore, but this is all you need to create a functional, downloadable product. 

Once you’re happy with how everything looks, click the ‘Publish’ button to make your product live.

EDD automatically creates a beautiful, dedicated product page for every download you publish, using a clean URL based on your product title, like yoursite.com/downloads/plugin-developer-handbook.

You can easily find this direct link in the right-hand menu, next to ‘Slug.’

You can share that direct URL with customers right away, and they’ll be able to visit the page and buy your digital product instantly.

However, most store owners want to feature their products in a more prominent location, such as their homepage, a dedicated shop page, or right inside a related blog post. Thankfully, EDD makes it incredibly easy to embed your products anywhere, which is exactly what we will tackle next.

Step 9: Displaying Your Products with the EDD Downloads Block

EDD comes with a range of ready-made blocks, including the versatile ‘EDD Products’ block that you can add to any page or post. 

This handy block lets you display one or more of your items and control exactly how they look. For example, you can show or hide the featured image, display the price, or arrange your products across multiple columns.

To get started, open the page or post where you want to display your downloads and then click the ‘+’ block inserter icon. In the popup that appears, type in ‘EDD Products.’

When the right block shows up, simply click to add it to your page or post.

You can now configure the block using the settings panel in the right-hand sidebar. From here, you have total control over your product layout, including the number of items displayed, the sorting order, and pagination options.

I usually start by selecting a clean two- or three-column layout and enabling the product excerpt. I find that displaying a brief, scannable summary of what each product does is an excellent way to encourage clicks and boost conversions. 

The best part about using this block is that you can see your changes instantly, right inside the WordPress block editor. I highly recommend spending a few minutes playing around with the different settings until you find the layout that looks perfect for your online store.

If you’re using a page builder like Elementor, Divi, or Beaver Builder, the standard EDD block might not always play nicely with your custom layouts.

In that case, EDD provides a flexible [downloads] shortcode that you can paste directly into any ‘Shortcode’ block. 

Once added, it’ll automatically render your digital products into a clean, responsive grid that perfectly matches your custom layout and WordPress theme. 

Step 10: Customizing Your Purchase Receipt Email

Immediately after a purchase, EDD automatically emails customers a receipt containing their secure download link. 

While the default email works perfectly out of the box, it is fairly generic. Taking a few minutes to customize it allows you to reinforce your brand, add a personal touch, and answer common customer questions right away.

To customize this message, go to Downloads » Emails in your dashboard. From here, hover your mouse over the ‘Purchase Receipt’ email and click the ‘Edit’ link when it appears.

You’ll see a template editor filled with the default email content alongside a list of merge tags.

These are placeholders like {name}, {download_list}, and {receipt_link} that EDD replaces with real customer data when it sends each email. 

When I’m setting up a new store, I always make three specific changes on this screen:

• Add a friendly opening: I start with a warm greeting that thanks the customer by name using the appropriate merge tag.
• Include a troubleshooting line: I add a single sentence directly below the download link explaining what the customer can do if they have trouble downloading their file, such as “If your link doesn’t work, please reply to this email and we’ll resend it right away.”
• Leverage the footer: I add a short P.S. at the very end inviting the shopper to follow my newsletter or join my community. The moment right after a purchase is exactly when your buyers are most engaged, so this is the perfect time to encourage them to take action. If you want to grow your newsletter, our list of the best email marketing services will help you choose the right provider.

When you’re happy with how everything is set up, click the ‘Send Test’ button. This lets you check how the formatting looks in your own inbox and verifies that your website is sending emails properly.

If the test email doesn’t appear in your inbox, don’t panic. This is actually a very common problem.

By default, WordPress sends emails through the basic PHP mail function, which is often unreliable. In fact, major providers like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo often flag these automated messages as spam or block them entirely. 

If that happens to your purchase receipts, customers won’t be able to access their downloads, and you’ll likely get a flood of emails from frustrated shoppers.

Thankfully, you can easily fix this issue by installing WP Mail SMTP. This free plugin routes your WordPress emails through a proper email service like Gmail, SendLayer, or Microsoft 365.

If you’d like to explore some different options, then you can check out our roundup of the best WordPress SMTP plugins. Alternatively, our WP Mail SMTP 101 course shows you exactly how to set up and use this plugin.

Step 11: Testing Your Checkout Before You Go Live

Before you start promoting your new online store, I recommend testing the entire purchasing process yourself. 

I’ve seen far too many store owners skip this step only to realize weeks later that their email receipts were going to spam, their Stripe setup was still stuck in test mode, or they’d uploaded the wrong version of their file. It takes around 10 minutes to complete a test purchase, and it can help you catch major problems before they impact your customers.

To help you do this safely, EDD comes with a built-in test mode.

With test mode enabled, EDD will accept fake card numbers and won’t charge real money, but every other part of the checkout flow behaves exactly like it would during a real purchase. This is the perfect way to check the entire experience without risking a real charge on your own card.

To activate test mode, go to Downloads » Settings » Payments.

If it isn’t already selected, then click on the ‘General’ tab. 

Here, find the ‘Enable Test Mode’ toggle and give it a click to enable. 

To test your store like a real customer, open your site in a private or incognito browser window so you’re not logged in as an administrator.

From there, go to a product page, click the ‘Purchase’ button and proceed to checkout. 

When the payment form appears, use Stripe’s test card number 4242 4242 4242 4242, any future expiration date, and any three digit CVC.

If everything works as expected, then you can go ahead and disable test mode. Simply head back to Downloads » Settings » Payments » General, but this time click to deactivate the ‘Test Mode’ toggle.

With that final step done, your store is officially open for business!

Bonus: Going Further With Your Digital Store

If you’ve been following along, your store should now be live and running smoothly. However, there are a few extra steps you can take to get even more out of your new online business:

• Recover lost sales with OptinMonster: It’s not unusual for a chunk of visitors to browse your product pages, get distracted, and never come back. OptinMonster is an excellent popup and lead generation plugin with a powerful exit-intent feature. It detects exactly when someone is about to leave your store and then shows them a last-minute offer or discount to keep them engaged. To help you get started, we have a step-by-step walkthrough on how to add a WordPress popup form, or you can read our full OptinMonster review to see exactly what it can do.
• Get your product pages ranked on Google with AIOSEO: This plugin optimizes your product pages for search engines, adds proper product schema, and helps you build sitemaps that get your content indexed faster. This drives more targeted organic traffic to your store, which naturally means more potential customers. For a deeper look, see our full AIOSEO review or jump into our AIOSEO 101 course to set it up the right way.
• Bring abandoning visitors back with PushEngage: Browser push notifications are small messages that appear on a visitor’s desktop or phone even when they’re not actively browsing your site. PushEngage lets you create these notifications, and even features an automated cart abandonment campaign that specifically targets shoppers who started the checkout process but didn’t finish.
• Track which products are actually selling with MonsterInsights: I’ve seen too many store owners simply guess which products their customers like. MonsterInsights is a Google Analytics plugin that displays comprehensive statistics directly inside your WordPress dashboard. This means you can track things like your top sellers, conversion rates, and traffic sources without ever leaving your admin area. To get up and running, take a look at our walkthrough on how to add Google Analytics to your WordPress site, and if you want to compare alternatives, browse the best WordPress Google Analytics plugins.

You don’t need to worry about adding all of these plugins straight away. I usually start with OptinMonster so I can generate leads and grow my mailing list from day one, and then layer in the other tracking and SEO tools as your store starts generating consistent revenue.

Frequently Asked Questions About Selling Digital Downloads

Building an online store can feel like a massive undertaking, and it’s completely normal to have questions along the way. Over the years, I’ve noticed that the same handful of questions come up repeatedly from store owners when they’re first starting out.

The following answers are designed to clear up the most common stumbling points so you can move past the technical hurdles and launch your store with total confidence:

Is it safe to connect Stripe to your site?

This is the question I always get from first-time store owners, and it makes complete sense. Before giving any third-party service access to your site, it’s always a smart move to pause and check whether it’s genuinely safe.

When you click ‘Connect with Stripe,’ you’re simply authorizing EDD to create charges on your behalf and read transaction data from your Stripe account. Stripe securely collects the card details directly on their own servers, which means your site only receives a token confirming the payment went through successfully. 

This is the industry-standard way that modern payment processing works, and it means you don’t have to worry about complex PCI compliance or storing sensitive card data yourself.

If you ever want to disconnect, you can revoke the connection from inside your Stripe dashboard at any time.

Can I start selling digital downloads for free with Easy Digital Downloads?

Yes, you absolutely can! The free version of EDD available on WordPress.org lets you sell as many products as you want, process unlimited transactions, and deliver files securely to your customers with zero upfront costs.

For many creators, the free version includes everything they need to run a successful online storefront. In fact, many digital sellers choose to stay on the free tier because it already does everything they want.

However, the premium upgrade does add a ton of powerful features that can help scale your online business. This includes the ability to collect recurring revenue via subscriptions, sell software licenses, and restrict access to premium content. 

The premium version can also help you recover lost sales by automatically emailing customers who abandon their shopping carts mid-checkout.

If you do decide to upgrade, then EDD’s premium plans start at $99.50 per year. It’s an investment that becomes incredibly easy to justify once your store starts generating consistent sales and you find yourself needing more advanced automation tools.

Does EDD charge a fee on top of Stripe’s normal processing fees?

The free version of EDD adds a 3% platform fee to every Stripe transaction. You can remove this additional fee completely by upgrading to any of EDD’s premium plans, including their entry-level Personal plan ($99.50/year).

Just be aware that Stripe’s own standard processing fee (typically 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction in the US) still applies no matter which version of EDD you’re using. 

Personally, I think this fee structure is incredibly fair because the free version lets you start selling with zero upfront costs. 

However, it’s still important to factor these numbers into your ongoing budget. It usually makes sense to upgrade the moment your store starts generating more than about $300 a month in sales, at which point the 3% savings easily covers the cost of a premium license.

How do I test my checkout before accepting real payments?

EDD has a built-in test mode that lets you run a full purchase without charging real money. To enable it, go to Downloads » Settings » Payments » General and click to enable the ‘Test Mode’ toggle.

With that done, you can complete a checkout using Stripe’s test card number 4242 4242 4242 4242 with any future expiration date and any CVC.

What file types and file sizes can I sell with EDD?

EDD can deliver almost any file type that WordPress lets you upload. That includes ebook formats like PDF and EPUB, image formats like JPG and PNG, audio formats like MP3 and WAV, video formats like MP4 and MOV, design assets like PSD and AI, and archives like ZIP if you want to bundle multiple files together.

Just be aware that the supported file size can vary depending on your WordPress host’s upload settings. Most managed hosts cap local uploads somewhere between 64MB and 256MB by default. 

If your file is larger, you have two options: you can ask your web host to raise your server’s upload limit, or you can host the file on an external cloud service like Amazon S3 or Dropbox and paste the direct URL into EDD’s file field. 

EDD treats these external links just like media library files, so you get exactly the same secure download delivery.

Does EDD work with Elementor and other page builders?

Yes, EDD is compatible with Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, and other major page builders. Just be aware that you may need to use EDD’s shortcodes with your chosen page builder plugin, rather than the ready-made EDD blocks. 

Can I also sell physical products alongside my digital downloads?

You can, but it’s important to note that EDD is specifically designed for selling digital files, and isn’t optimized for managing a physical inventory.

If you’re mainly selling physical items that require shipping, then I recommend using an alternative solution like WooCommerce instead. 

Wrapping Up

If you’ve been following along, your store is now fully up and running, your payment gateways are connected, and you’ve published at least one digital product. Essentially, you’ve launched a real digital business, and you’re ready to start taking orders from real customers.

However, in my opinion, the hardest part of running a digital storefront isn’t the initial setup. It’s all the small improvements you’ll need to make as you continuously learn, optimize, and grow your brand.

If you want to keep expanding your skills, our complete video library covers everything from the foundational fundamentals of WordPress to the specific, powerful plugins you can use to scale your business:

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