The digital age opens up many new earning opportunities for main and ancillary income. If you want to improve your finances, you can sell digital products. You can market your own digital goods, but also the products of other providers. In order not to experience a nasty surprise, you should deal with some things in advance. Tax and legal aspects also play a role.
What are digital products?
Digital products are goods that are not physical and that you cannot touch. The term is far diverse because it is media and services that can be distributed online. These digital goods are not tangible, but they encounter you everywhere in everyday life. You meet Software, e-books, but also on music that you can stream, as well as films. The bandwidth is much larger. As a rule, these products can be copied indefinitely and therefore appear endlessly, since they are not limited in their number or in their scope like the physical products. Nevertheless, you have to consider a few things, because copyrights or limits can limit the possibilities for copying.
What digital products are there?
Digital products are available in numerous species:
- Photos that you offer on stock platforms, but can also drive it out yourself
- Templates as templates for emails, presentations or homepages
- Laser files that you can create and sell in many variants
- E-books on the various topics, for example as non-fiction, cookbooks or novels
- Films on a wide variety of topics such as feature films or documentaries
- Music and audio files as individual songs or audiobooks
- Podcasts on various topics
- non-physical computer games that run exclusively via the computer/ game console and for which no additional hardware is required
- Checklists on the various topics such as emergency care, travel lists or shopping lists for infants, often combined with product suggestions and suggestions for providers
- Sample templates, for example for embroidery or crochet
- Software and apps on a wide variety of topics
- Presets for photos
- Texts on various topics
- Online services, for example creation of websites or editing for website texts
- Webinars and online seminars on various topics.
So you can see that digital goods can be sold in a variety of forms. You can create digital products yourself By writing e-books, developing software, creating checklists or composing your own music and putting online. You can also resell digital goods from other providers. Many are lurking here, because you can quickly because of Violation of copyright be prosecuted.
What are the advantages of selling digital products?
Are you looking for an attractive one Ancillary income Or do you want to be your own boss at some point with independence, you can Sell digital products. They offer some advantages:
- low manufacturing and sales costs
- no storage capacity required because you only sell the products online
- No or only little equipment required for the production of production
- unlimited stock
- Possibility of high income due to a high profit margin
- Passive income is possible if you automate the process and use the correct sales models
- High total profit possible because you can keep most of the income for yourself if you create digital goods yourself
- High flexibility because you can divide the time freely if you want to sell digital products
- You don't have to invest a lot of time in shipping, saving packaging and postage
- Depending on the customer requirements, digital products can be changed quickly
- good immeasurability of your success
- Sales process can be optimized well.
It depends on the respective digital product from what you can actually earn and what advantages the sale has for you.
How can you sell digital products?
If you want to sell money with the sale of digital products, you first have to think about what you want to sell. You consider whether you offer your own or strange digital products for sale. To offer your customers added value and to lift you from the competition, Should your product have a unique selling point (USP). It shouldn't be a mayfly and therefore survive for a long time. To make the right selection, you should ask yourself a few questions:
- What about the need and demand for the product?
- Are there already similar digital products that are sold and how well do they sell?
- What competition is there?
- How do my products differ from those of the competition?
- Which target group do you want to achieve?
- What should your products cost?
Once you have answered all of these questions and have found a product, it is time to create it. You have to consider whether you are able to produce such a product, that offers its buyers added value. The product must be characterized by high quality.
Own website or platform?
If you have decided to manufacture and sell digital goods, the next consideration is due. You think about How to sell digital products. You can create your own website with your own shop, but you need a web host that requires costs. If you use the help of a web designer to create your website, there are additional costs. The website must be maintained constantly. The sale via a platform can therefore be easier. There are different platforms for the different types of digital products. That doesn't have to be Amazon or Ebay, because there are also smaller platforms like Etsy, Digistore or Elopage. These platforms require fees for use. Find out which platform is best suited. You can set digital products to the platform and then sell. In our blog we already have an article about that Online marketplace or your own online shop released.
Sell digital products - you should think about that
If you want to sell digital products, it depends on whether you belong to the freelancers or the trader. There are differences between freelancers and traders. If you are a trader, you have to go to the commercial office Register business. It is best to inquire in advance at the tax office or tax advisor, What your digital goods fall under. Depending on how high your sales for digital goods are, you can make use of the small business regulation. You then drive with the handbrake attracted, as you are not allowed to exceed a certain income a year. If you no longer fall under the small business regulation, you have to calculate sales tax. Depending on the product, it is 7 or 19 percent.
Digital goods and right of withdrawal
A Right of cancellation also applies to digital products. The customer has 14 days to revoke his purchase. The right of withdrawal only falls out under certain conditions.