How to sell online: services, physical products and digital products

1. Three things you can sell

None is better than the others. There is, however, a sensible order: almost everyone starts with the service, which needs no investment and puts you in front of real clients, and adds the rest once they know what people ask for.

2. Selling services: your time, well packaged

A service sells online when the client can do three things without talking to you: understand what is included, see when you are free and pay. It is almost always the second that breaks.

• Give every service a name, a length and a price. "Physical therapy session, 50 minutes, 90" gets booked; "let's talk about your case" does not.
• Booking with payment or a deposit. It turns an intention into a commitment.
• Packages. Five or ten sessions paid in advance: you get paid sooner, the client commits and your average revenue goes up.
• Memberships for anything recurring: weekly classes, maintenance, ongoing support.
• Gift cards. Money received today for a future service, and they bring new clients who were not looking for you.
• Quotes for anything without a fixed price: the client accepts and pays the deposit from the same document.

If you work at the client's home, include travel in the length. If it is a video call, the link should arrive automatically with the confirmation.

3. Selling physical products

Here the work is not on the website but in everything that happens after payment. Before listing your first product, decide four things:

1. How it gets there. Shipping, local pickup or both. Pickup costs nothing and brings the client to your door.
2. What shipping costs and who pays. Say it before checkout. A surprise cost at the last step is the top reason for abandoned carts.
3. How much stock you have. Selling what you do not have is the fastest route to a bad review. Stock should count down by itself.
4. How returns work. Time limit, who pays return shipping and in what condition items are accepted.

For a service business, the shop usually starts as an add-on: the shampoo you recommend, the class materials, a print of your work. Start with a few products you already sell in person and add more when you see what moves.

If you sell one-off or used items, describe the condition clearly and show real photos of that exact item, not catalog shots.

4. Selling digital products

A digital product is packaged know-how: a guide, a template, an exercise program, a video course, editing presets. You create it once and it delivers itself, with no stock or shipping.

For anyone who lives on their hours, it is a way to earn without adding appointments. And it works better the more specific it is: "a twelve-week plan to get back to running after a knee injury" sells; "health guide" does not.

It has its own rules —protecting the download, refunds, tax when you sell abroad— so it has its own guide: how to sell digital products.

5. How to get paid

To take card payments online you need a payment processor: the service that receives card details securely and pays the money out to you. You never see or store the card number, and that is how it should be.

• Cost. Processors charge a small percentage plus a fixed fee per transaction. On small amounts the fixed part weighs a lot: keep it in mind when pricing cheap items.
• Where the money goes. It is usually paid out to your bank account within days. Check that the payment account is in your name, not an intermediary's.
• Platform fees. On top of payment processing, some platforms and marketplaces keep a percentage of every sale or every new client. Read it before you choose: it changes the maths a lot.
• Methods. Cards and phone wallets cover almost everything; ACH or bank transfer and paying in person still make sense for large amounts or regulars.
• Refunds. They must be possible from the same place you took payment, and be recorded.

6. The rules when you sell online

Consumer rules are where the two markets differ most.

In the US:

• Your refund policy sets the terms. There is no general federal right to return online purchases, but whatever policy you have must be clear, shown before purchase and honored; some states require it to be posted.
• Shipping promises. Under the FTC's mail order rule, if you cannot ship within the time you stated, you must tell the buyer and offer a refund.
• Sales tax. You collect it in the states where you have a presence, and also where your sales pass that state's threshold, even without a physical presence.
• Implied warranties under state law apply to products unless validly excluded.

In the EU (for example, Ireland):

• Pre-contract information: who is selling, what, the total price with VAT and shipping, and the terms, before payment.
• Right of withdrawal: as a rule, consumers have 14 days to cancel a distance purchase without giving a reason.
• Legal guarantee of at least two years on new goods.
• Confirmation of the order in writing, usually by email.

In the EU, withdrawal has exceptions that matter a lot for services and content:

7. Combining all three: examples by trade

The typical mix: the service is the front door, the physical product lifts every visit and the digital product sells outside opening hours.

Do not build it all at once. Add one line, watch it for two months and decide with numbers in hand. You can see how it looks on real websites for hair salons, physical therapists or photographers.

8. Your website or a marketplace

Marketplaces and booking platforms give you visibility from day one, and in return set their own terms: commission, your listing next to your competitors and, sometimes, client data that belongs to them rather than you.

Your own website starts with no traffic, but every client who arrives is yours: you can message them, offer a package and you do not pay for them to come back. The sensible path is often to use platforms to get discovered and bring clients to your site for repeat purchases, within the platforms' rules.

If you depend on one right now and want your own booking site, we explain what moving from Booksy, Fresha or Treatwell looks like.