Curious if selling digital products on Squarespace is right for you?

If you have an idea for a digital product (or even a shop elsewhere!) and are wondering if Squarespace is a good place to sell it to your audience, this is for you. 

In this post, I’m answering all of your questions about selling digital products on Squarespace. I’ve gone the Etsy route in the past and am now super happy with my Squarespace store and can’t wait to share the info with you. 

If you’d prefer to start on Etsy, check out this article on my site:

How to Sell Canva Templates on Etsy: An Easy Step by Step Checklist

How can I sell digital products on Squarespace

To sell digital products on Squarespace you need to update from the basic website plan to one of their plans that support shopping functionality: Business, Commerce Basic, or Commerce Advanced.

I recommend starting with the Business plan because it has the features you need to get started and you can always upgrade as you grow your store. The image below shows the features you get from Squarespace Business (left), Commerce Basic (middle) and Commerce Advanced (right)

Once you upgrade your plan, it's super easy to add your digital product listings. When you create each new product Squarespace gives the option to select digital product from the options. When you select this it will allow you to upload digital files for sale. 

If you already have an Etsy shop and are moving to Squarespace

You’re in luck! When you start your Squarespace store they will give you the option to import products from Etsy. Yep, you read that right—all your Etsy product listings are imported in one click. You can even import the reviews from your Etsy shop which will help build buyer trust. 

How much does Squarespace take as a fee for digital product sales?

There are two different fees that you'll incur when a customer purchases a digital product from your Squarespace store: a transaction fee and a payment processor fee. 

It's essential to know these fees so that you can price your items appropriately and be sure that you make a profit that you're comfortable with. 

Transaction Fee

The Squarespace Business plan charges a 3% transaction fee on every order. If you have the Commerce Basic or Commerce Advanced plan there is no fee, however, these plans do have a higher monthly cost than the Business plan. You can read about this more in detail here.

Squarespace Payment Processor Fees

The payment processor fee varies based on which payment processor you choose in (stripe PayPal or Square) But on average it is about a 3% fee per order. here's a breakdown of each of the payment processors’ transaction fees at the time of writing:

PayPal - 3.49% + a fixed fee based on your country

Square - 3.5% + 15 cents

Stripe - 2.9% + 29 cents

Is selling a digital product on Squarespace right for me?

If you're just starting out you might be wondering what platform is right for your digital product. This section is to help you decide which platform will work for you based on your needs. 

If you’re a total beginner

You might not have any audience at all and are new to selling online and still have a lot of learning to do. If this is you I recommend checking out Etsy to start. 

Etsy does have a few downsides worth noting, which include the fees that they take off each order, the increasing competition, and the fact that all the traffic you get is going to Etsy vs. your own website. However, Etsy is a Marketplace which means that your products will get in front of more people through Etsy’s algorithm, SEO, and marketing.

If you're just starting out, Etsy is a great way to get your product in front of an audience and see if it works. It's very low-cost to start so it’s a low-risk way to dip your toes in the water. If you’re interested in trying Etsy out you can get 40 free listings through my link here.

If you’ve gained some traction and are ready to call the shots

Squarespace Commerce is a great option for you if you have an audience, experience selling online, and want to bring things to the next level. 

The benefit of selling on Squarespace is that you control the whole experience and can really find tune the whole design. Additionally, you can drive all of your social media traffic to a destination that you own (vs. driving traffic to Etsy’s platform). 

Squarespace is also super intuitive to use and set up your shop. Their Commerce dashboard did a great job of walking me through what I should do next and provided tips to drive traffic, have a sale, and create product features on my website. 

As a designer, I love the design and experience that their templates provide. Part of creating a successful online business is building trust with your audience. Having a website that loads quickly, looks great, and is mobile responsive is key in achieving that. 

If you’re ready to go extra pro

Honestly, Squarespace (the Commerce Basic and Commerce Advanced plans) or Shopify would work for you. 

Shopify does have a more advanced collection of apps that you can use to supercharge your shop, but the benefit of Squarespace is that if you’re already on Squarespace it’s super easy and frictionless to manage your shop.

If you liked this post, save it for later!

I hope this information on selling digital products on Squarespace inspires you to open your own digital product shop to grow revenue for your business! If you liked this post, save it for later by pinning one of the images below.

Have you ever used any of the e-commerce platforms I mentioned to sell digital products? Let me know in the comments below!