Guide
Where to sell an ebook, and what each place takes
The fee tables are easy to compare and they matter far less than they look. What you are really choosing between is a place that brings you buyers and takes a third, and a place that takes almost nothing and brings you nobody.
Short answer
On a $10 ebook Amazon pays you about $6.85 on the 70% rate, Gumroad leaves about $8.21 after its 10% plus 50 cents plus card fees, and Payhip on its free plan leaves about $9.20. Amazon is the most expensive and the only one with a shop full of people in it. Sell direct where you already have an audience, and on Amazon where you do not.
The fee table, on a $10 ebook
| Where | What they take | You keep | Who finds the book |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Kindle | 30% + delivery | ≈ $6.85 | Amazon, and it is the only one that does |
| Apple Books, Kobo | 30% | $7.00 | A little; far less than Amazon |
| Gumroad (own link) | 10% + $0.50 + card | ≈ $8.21 | You |
| Gumroad (via Discover) | 30% | $7.00 | Gumroad |
| Etsy | $0.20 + 6.5% + card | ≈ $8.50 | Etsy, for some categories |
| Payhip (free plan) | 5% + card | ≈ $9.20 | You |
| Payhip (Pro, $99/mo) | card only | ≈ $9.70 | You |
| Your own site + Stripe | card only | ≈ $9.70 | You |
Card processing is roughly 2.9% plus 30 cents in most of these and is unavoidable wherever the money moves. Fees change; each row links to the platform's own page and that is the number to trust.
The comparison almost everyone gets wrong
Read that table as a fee comparison and Amazon looks terrible: it takes four times what Payhip does. Read it as a business decision and the ranking inverts, because the right-hand column is the only one that generates revenue.
Thirty percent of a sale that happens is worth infinitely more than five percent of a sale that does not. If you have no list, no following and no traffic, a Payhip page is a shop on an empty street. Amazon is a shop inside the largest bookshop in the world, and the rent is 30%.
The decision is therefore not "which is cheapest" but "who is bringing the buyer":
- Nobody knows you yet. Amazon, and put your effort into the cover, the category and the first page of the sample.
- You have a newsletter, a following or a client base. Sell direct. You are bringing the buyer, so pay 5% instead of 30% and keep the customer's email address, which is worth more than the margin.
- Both. Common and sensible: direct to your own people at a fair price, Amazon for the strangers.
The thing direct selling gives you that Amazon never will
Amazon does not tell you who bought your book. Not their name, not their email, nothing. Every sale is anonymous and the relationship belongs to Amazon.
Sell direct and the buyer is yours: you can email them when the second book is out, which is the entire economic engine of self-publishing. One list of two thousand readers who bought book one is worth more than any single book's royalties, and you cannot build it on Amazon.
That is the real argument for direct selling, and it has nothing to do with the fee table.
Practical notes
- Delivering the file. Every platform above handles delivery and download links. Do not email files by hand; you will spend your life resending them.
- VAT and sales tax. Digital goods are taxed where the buyer lives in the EU, UK and many other places. Amazon, Gumroad and Payhip handle this as merchant of record; a plain Stripe checkout on your own site does not, and that is a real liability.
- Refunds. Expect a few percent. Set a plain policy and honour it without argument; the money you lose is less than the reviews you save.
- Format. Give both EPUB and PDF. Some readers want a Kindle-compatible file, some want something they can print, and arguing about which is correct costs more than including both.
Neubook gives you EPUB, print-ready PDF, DOCX and Markdown for the same one payment, so the same book can go to Amazon, to Payhip and to your own list without being remade.
Write a book, freeSources
- Amazon KDP royalty rates
- Gumroad pricing
- Payhip pricing
- Etsy seller fees
- Stripe pricing, the processing fee underneath most of these
- KDP Select terms and the exclusivity requirement
Common questions
What does Amazon take from an ebook sale?
Thirty percent if the list price is between $2.99 and $9.99, and sixty-five percent outside that band, plus a small per-megabyte delivery charge inside the 70% band. So a $9.99 ebook earns about $6.85 and a $12.99 one earns about $4.55.
What are Gumroad fees in 2026?
Ten percent plus fifty cents on sales through your own links, and a flat thirty percent on sales Gumroad sends you through its Discover marketplace, with card processing on top. Check their pricing page before relying on this; it has changed several times.
Is Payhip cheaper than Gumroad?
Yes, on every tier. Payhip takes five percent on its free plan, two percent on a $29 monthly plan and nothing on a $99 one, against Gumroad at ten percent plus fifty cents. On a $10 ebook that is roughly a dollar of difference per sale.
Should I sell on my own website?
Only if you already have traffic. Your own site or a Payhip page keeps almost all the money and sends you zero customers. It is the right answer for a newsletter audience and the wrong one for a first book nobody has heard of.
Can I sell the same ebook in several places?
Yes, unless you have enrolled it in KDP Select, which requires ninety days of Amazon exclusivity for the digital edition. Print editions are never exclusive.