I spent two weeks choosing my first payment processor. Two weeks of comparing feature lists, reading Reddit threads, and overthinking a decision that should’ve taken an afternoon. Don’t repeat my mistake. The best payment processor is the one that lets you start selling today.
But there are real differences between platforms that matter depending on what you’re selling, where your buyers are, and how much you want to handle yourself. This chapter covers the options, setup, delivery, refunds, taxes, and payment plans.
Payment Platforms for Bloggers
Four platforms handle the vast majority of blogger transactions. Each has a different philosophy and fee structure.
Stripe is the developer’s choice and the standard for anyone serious about selling online. It’s not a marketplace. It’s a payment processor. You plug it into your website, and it handles credit card transactions. Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. No monthly fee. You get paid directly to your bank account on a rolling 2-day schedule. Stripe works in 46+ countries.
PayPal is the platform your customers already have. About 400 million people have PayPal accounts. For some buyers, PayPal IS how they pay for things online. The fees are similar to Stripe (2.9% + $0.30 for domestic transactions), but PayPal adds currency conversion fees for international sales. The interface is clunky. The merchant dashboard feels like it was designed in 2008. But your buyers know it and trust it.
LemonSqueezy is the all-in-one option built specifically for digital creators. It handles payments, product delivery, subscriptions, email receipts, license keys, and (this is the big one) sales tax worldwide. Fees are 5% + $0.50 per transaction. That’s higher than Stripe, but LemonSqueezy acts as your Merchant of Record. That means they handle all sales tax, VAT, and compliance so you don’t have to. For a solo blogger selling internationally, that’s worth the extra percentage.
Gumroad was the original platform for creators selling digital products. It’s simple. You upload your product, set a price, share a link, and people buy. Gumroad charges 10% per transaction. That’s steep. For a $50 product, you’re paying $5 per sale to Gumroad vs. $1.75 to Stripe. If you’re selling 100 units a month, that’s $325/month in extra fees. Gumroad makes sense for your first product when you want zero setup friction. It stops making sense once you’re doing real volume.
The Quick Decision Framework
If you’re just starting and want the simplest possible setup, use Gumroad or LemonSqueezy. You’ll be selling within an hour.
If you’re doing more than $1,000/month in sales and you want lower fees, use Stripe (with a delivery tool like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, or a course platform).
If you’re selling internationally and don’t want to deal with VAT or sales tax at all, use LemonSqueezy regardless of volume. The peace of mind is worth the 5%.
If you want maximum customer trust at checkout, offer both Stripe and PayPal. Some people only buy through PayPal. Don’t lose those sales over a technical preference.
Setting Up Stripe
Stripe is what I use for most of my own products, and it’s what I recommend for bloggers who plan to sell seriously. Here’s the practical setup.
Account creation takes about 15 minutes. Go to stripe.com, sign up with your email, and you’ll need to verify your identity (government ID, tax number, bank account). Stripe is strict about verification because they’re handling money. Don’t skip this. Incomplete accounts get limited.
Integration options depend on your website setup:
- WordPress + WooCommerce: Free WooCommerce Stripe plugin. Works out of the box. Best for selling multiple products.
- WordPress + Easy Digital Downloads: Built-in Stripe gateway. Perfect for digital products specifically.
- Course platforms (Teachable, Podia, Thinkific): Stripe connects with one click in your platform settings.
- Stripe Payment Links: You don’t even need a website. Stripe lets you create a payment link for any product. Share the link. People pay. This is the fastest way to test a product idea.
- Stripe Checkout (hosted): Stripe builds the checkout page for you. You just redirect people there. Clean, professional, and handles all the security stuff.
For most bloggers, I recommend WordPress + WooCommerce for physical/digital products, or a dedicated course platform (connected to Stripe) for courses. Don’t build custom checkout flows unless you’re a developer. The pre-built options are better than anything you’d cobble together.
One thing to set up immediately: Turn on Stripe Radar for fraud protection. It’s included free with every account. It catches suspicious transactions before they become chargebacks. I’ve seen Radar save clients hundreds of dollars in fraudulent charges.
Digital Product Delivery
You sold a product. Now you need to deliver it. This should happen automatically, within seconds of payment, without you lifting a finger.
For downloadable products (templates, ebooks, guides):
- WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads both handle this natively. Upload the file, connect it to the product, and buyers get a download link in their confirmation email.
- LemonSqueezy and Gumroad do this automatically. Upload, price, sell, deliver. It’s their core feature.
- Stripe doesn’t handle delivery. You need a separate tool for fulfillment if you’re using Stripe directly.
For courses and memberships:
- Dedicated platforms like Teachable, Podia, or LearnDash (WordPress plugin) handle access automatically. Payment triggers account creation, and the student gets immediate access.
- WordPress membership plugins like Paid Memberships Pro or Restrict Content Pro work well if you want everything on your own site. They integrate with Stripe and unlock content based on payment status.
For services:
- Delivery isn’t automatic. You need to follow up personally. But you can automate the booking and onboarding. Tools like Calendly (connected to Stripe) let clients pay and book a time slot in one step. That saves three emails back and forth.
The key principle: the buyer should have what they paid for within 5 minutes of purchasing. If there’s a delay, even an hour, the excitement fades. Refund rates go up. Questions flood your inbox. Automate delivery so it’s instant.
Course Access and Drip Content
If you’re selling a course, you need to decide: do students get everything at once, or do you drip content over time?
All-at-once access is simpler. Students buy, they see all modules, they go at their own pace. This works well for self-paced courses where the material doesn’t build sequentially. It also means fewer support tickets because nobody’s emailing you asking “when does Module 4 unlock?”
Drip content releases modules on a schedule. Week 1: Module 1. Week 2: Module 2. And so on. This works for cohort-based courses or when you want to prevent overwhelm. When someone sees 12 modules dumped in their lap, some people freeze. Dripping content gives them a manageable pace.
My recommendation: drip for courses over $200. All-at-once for courses under $200. The reasoning? Higher-priced courses benefit from a structured experience that feels like a guided program. Lower-priced courses are more like a reference, and people want to jump to the part they need.
Most course platforms (Teachable, LearnDash, Podia) have drip scheduling built in. One thing I always do: even with drip content, I unlock the bonus materials immediately. Templates, checklists, resource guides. Give people something they can use right away while they wait for the next module. It keeps them engaged and reduces “I bought this and got nothing” refund requests.
Refund Policies
You need a refund policy. Not having one makes you look untrustworthy and, in many countries, is actually illegal.
The standard options:
- 30-day money-back guarantee. This is the industry standard for digital products. It removes buying risk and increases conversions. Yes, some people will abuse it. In my experience, refund rates with a 30-day guarantee run 3-8% for a good product.
- 14-day guarantee. A shorter window that still gives people enough time to evaluate. Works well for lower-priced products where a longer guarantee feels unnecessary.
- No refunds. I don’t recommend this for most bloggers. It scares buyers and increases chargebacks (people dispute the charge with their bank instead). The only time “no refunds” makes sense is for live events or 1-on-1 services where you’ve already committed your time.
Handling refund requests:
Don’t make it hard. Don’t require a phone call. Don’t ask for a detailed explanation. A simple email reply of “Refund processed, you’ll see it in 3-5 business days” is all you need.
Some bloggers require proof that the person “tried the product.” I think that’s adversarial and not worth the damaged reputation. If someone wants a refund, give it to them quickly and move on. The goodwill you generate is worth more than the $47 you saved by fighting.
I’ve had people refund a course and then buy a different product from me months later. They remembered that I was easy to work with. They came back. Being gracious about refunds is a long-term strategy that pays off.
Track your refund rate. If it’s above 10%, your product has a problem. Either the product doesn’t match the sales page promise, or the wrong people are buying. Fix the root cause, don’t just tighten the refund policy.
Tax Handling
Nobody wants to talk about this, and I’m not going to pretend it’s exciting. But if you sell digital products, you need to handle sales tax and VAT. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. It makes it a bigger problem later.
The short version:
- US sales tax varies by state. Some states charge sales tax on digital products, some don’t. If you sell enough in a state, you might need to collect and remit sales tax there. This is called “nexus.”
- EU VAT applies to all digital products sold to EU customers. The rate varies by country (17-27%). You need to collect VAT at the buyer’s local rate and remit it.
- Other countries have their own rules. India has GST. Australia has GST. Canada has GST/HST. It’s a mess.
The practical solution:
Use a Merchant of Record platform. LemonSqueezy and Paddle handle all tax collection, reporting, and remittance for you. They’re the seller on paper, and they deal with every tax authority worldwide. You get your payment minus fees. Done.
If you’re using Stripe directly, you’ll need Stripe Tax (an add-on that calculates and collects the right tax) or a service like TaxJar to handle compliance. This adds complexity. For bloggers earning under $50,000/year from digital products, I’d seriously consider just using LemonSqueezy to avoid the tax headache entirely.
I’m not an accountant. I’m not giving tax advice. But I am telling you that the platforms exist to handle this, and pretending it doesn’t apply to you is not a strategy. Talk to an accountant in your country for specifics.
Payment Plans
Higher-priced products sell better with payment plan options. This isn’t a marketing gimmick. It’s basic accessibility. Not everyone can drop $497 at once, even if they want your course.
How payment plans work:
You offer the option to pay in installments. Instead of one payment of $497, they pay 3 monthly payments of $187. Or 6 payments of $97. The total paid is slightly more than the one-time price. That premium covers the risk of people stopping payments before completing the plan.
The math I use:
- Price your product at the one-time rate: $497
- Offer a payment plan that totals 10-20% more: 3 x $187 = $561
- The premium covers the 15-20% of people who will drop off mid-plan
Platform support:
- Stripe handles recurring payments natively
- Teachable and Podia have built-in payment plan options
- LemonSqueezy supports installment plans
- WooCommerce has subscription plugins that work
My recommendation: Offer payment plans on anything priced above $150. Below that, a single payment is fine. Above $150, you’ll lose sales from people who want the product but can’t pay full price upfront.
One warning: payment plan customers have a higher refund/dropout rate. Budget for about 15-20% of payment plan customers to stop paying before they complete all installments. This is normal. Factor it into your pricing.
Invoicing for Services
If you sell services (consulting, freelance work, coaching), you need a clean invoicing system. Sending a PayPal request with “please pay me” in the note field isn’t professional. It works for your first client. It doesn’t scale.
Tools that work well:
- Stripe Invoicing: Clean, professional invoices sent directly from your Stripe account. The client clicks a link and pays with card or bank transfer. Free to use with standard Stripe fees.
- FreshBooks: Full invoicing and accounting tool. Best if you have multiple clients and want to track time, expenses, and project profitability. Starts at $17/month.
- Wave: Free invoicing and accounting. I’ve used it. It works fine for basic invoicing. The interface isn’t as polished as FreshBooks, but the price (free) is hard to beat.
- PayPal Invoicing: Free. Sends a professional invoice to the client’s email. They pay through PayPal or card. Works but PayPal holds can be annoying.
My invoicing rules: send the invoice the same day you agree on the work (delayed invoices get delayed payments), require 50% upfront from new clients, include the payment link directly in the invoice, and follow up on day 16 if unpaid. After 30 days, stop all work until paid.
The Tech Stack for Selling: Keep It Simple
I’ve seen bloggers sign up for 8 different tools to sell one $39 ebook. A payment processor, a landing page builder, an email marketing tool, a course platform, an analytics tool, a tax calculator, a checkout optimizer, and a CRM. Monthly cost: $200+. Monthly revenue: $150.
Don’t do that.
The minimal stack for selling digital products:
- Payment processor: Stripe (or LemonSqueezy if you want tax handling included)
- Website: WordPress (you already have this)
- Product delivery: Easy Digital Downloads (free plugin) or WooCommerce (free plugin)
- Email marketing: Your existing email tool (ConvertKit, Mailchimp, whatever you’re already using)
Total additional monthly cost: $0. Stripe charges per transaction, and the WordPress plugins are free.
The minimal stack for selling courses:
- Course platform: Teachable (free plan available) or LearnDash ($199/year for WordPress)
- Payment processor: Stripe (connected through your course platform)
- Email marketing: Your existing tool
Total additional monthly cost: $0-39 depending on your plan.
The minimal stack for selling services:
- Invoicing: Stripe Invoicing (free) or Wave (free)
- Scheduling: Calendly (free plan)
- Email: Your existing email tool
Total additional monthly cost: $0.
You can always add tools later as your revenue justifies the expense. But starting with a bloated tech stack is one of the fastest ways to burn out before you make your first sale. Every new tool is a login to remember, an interface to learn, and a potential point of failure. Start lean.
My own stack for selling: WordPress, WooCommerce, Stripe, and my email marketing tool. Four things. They talk to each other, and everything runs without me babysitting it. I added complexity slowly, over years, only when the revenue demanded it. You should do the same.
Chapter Checklist
- [ ] I’ve chosen a payment processor (Stripe, LemonSqueezy, or Gumroad to start)
- [ ] My payment account is verified and connected to my bank
- [ ] I’ve set up automated product delivery (download links or course access)
- [ ] I have a clear, published refund policy
- [ ] I’ve considered tax implications and chosen a solution (MoR platform or tax tool)
- [ ] I offer payment plans for products over $150
- [ ] I have an invoicing system set up for any service work
- [ ] My total selling tech stack is 4 tools or fewer
- [ ] I’ve tested the full purchase flow myself (buy > receive > access)
- [ ] I offer at least two payment methods (card + PayPal)
Chapter Exercise
Run a complete test purchase on your own product.
- Set up your payment processor (Stripe or LemonSqueezy are my recommendations). Complete the full verification process.
- Create a test product. Price it at $1. Upload a sample file for delivery.
- Buy your own product using Stripe’s test mode (or a real $1 purchase if you want the full experience).
- Track the entire flow: Did you get a confirmation email? Was the product delivered instantly? Could you access the download or course? How long did each step take?
- Fix anything that felt slow, confusing, or broken.
If the experience felt smooth to you, it’ll feel smooth to your customers. If you hit friction anywhere, your buyers will hit the same friction and some of them will give up. Better to find the problems now with a $1 test than later with real sales.