Etsy vs Systeme.io vs Payhip for selling digital downloads

If you sell printables, planners, templates or other digital downloads, three names come up again and again: Etsy (the marketplace), Payhip (a simple storefront) and Systeme.io (an all-in-one funnel and email platform). They solve different problems, so the “best” one depends on whether you need buyers, a shop, or a sales system.

This guide puts their fees side by side for an Australian seller, then looks at the things fees don’t show: traffic, customer data, tax handling and time.

How we compared them: fees and plan details come from Etsy’s fee policy and help centre, Payhip’s pricing page, Systeme.io’s pricing page and Stripe’s Australian pricing page, all checked in October 2026. The worked examples are arithmetic on those published rates. They aren’t sales results.

The quick answer

Etsy brings you buyers. You pay for that in fees, and you have limited contact with customers.
Payhip is the quickest way to get your own shop with checkout and delivery. It’s free to start (5% fee), and handles EU/UK VAT for you.
Systeme.io is for building a sales system: freebie, email sequence, sales page and checkout, with no platform fee on any plan. More setup, more control.
Most sellers do best with Etsy plus one of the others, not one instead of the others.

Fees compared

	Etsy	Payhip	Systeme.io
Monthly cost	None	Free / $29 (Plus) / $99 (Pro)	Free / $17 / $47 / $97
Listing fee	US$0.20 per listing (about A$0.29), renewed every four months or on each sale	None	None
Platform fee per sale	6.5% transaction fee	5% (Free), 2% (Plus), 0% (Pro)	0% on all plans
Payment processing	Etsy Payments: 3% + A$0.25 (domestic), 4% + A$0.25 (international)	Stripe or PayPal standard rates	Stripe or PayPal standard rates
Advertising fee	Offsite Ads: 15% on attributed sales (12% if you’ve passed US$10,000 in a year), capped at US$100 per order	None	None
Who brings buyers	Etsy’s marketplace and search	You	You

Etsy fees as listed for a seller with an Australian bank account. Stripe Australia: 1.65% + A$0.30 domestic cards, 3.5% + A$0.30 international cards (GST included). Payhip and Systeme.io prices in USD. Checked October 2026.

A note on Etsy listing fees for digital items

Etsy charges US$0.20 to publish a listing, and listings expire after four months. If you list multiple quantities of the same item, which is typical for digital downloads, Etsy’s fee policy says the listing renews automatically at US$0.20 when it sells. In practice, each digital sale carries its own listing renewal fee as well as the transaction and processing fees.

Worked example: one A$15 sale

Here’s what each platform costs on a single A$15 printable bundle bought by an Australian customer with an Australian card.

Platform	Fees	You keep	Effective fee
Etsy (no Offsite Ads)	A$0.29 listing + A$0.98 transaction + A$0.70 processing ≈ A$1.97	≈ A$13.03	≈ 13%
Etsy (sale via Offsite Ads, 15%)	≈ A$1.97 + A$2.25 ≈ A$4.22	≈ A$10.78	≈ 28%
Payhip Free + Stripe	A$0.75 Payhip (5%) + A$0.55 Stripe ≈ A$1.30	≈ A$13.70	≈ 9%
Payhip Plus + Stripe	A$0.30 Payhip (2%) + A$0.55 Stripe ≈ A$0.85 (plus the US$29 monthly fee)	≈ A$14.15	≈ 6% + subscription
Systeme.io + Stripe	A$0 platform + A$0.55 Stripe ≈ A$0.55	≈ A$14.45	≈ 4%

Rounded. The Etsy listing fee is billed in US dollars, so the AUD amount moves with the exchange rate. For international buyers, Etsy processing rises to 4% + A$0.25, and Stripe to 3.5% + A$0.30. Etsy’s 2.5% currency conversion fee applies if you list in a currency different from your payment account’s currency.

Two things stand out:

Offsite Ads are the biggest variable on Etsy. Shops under US$10,000 in sales in a 365-day period can opt out; above that, participation is required. Whether the ads are worth 15% depends on whether those buyers would have found you anyway.
On your own store, card processing is most of the cost. Once the platform fee is zero, there’s not much left to save.

When does a paid Payhip plan pay off?

Payhip’s plans trade a monthly fee for a lower transaction fee:

Free → Plus: you save 3% of sales (5% down to 2%) for US$29/month. That breaks even at about US$967 a month in Payhip sales.
Plus → Pro: you save another 2% (2% down to 0%) for an extra US$70/month. That breaks even at US$3,500 a month in sales.

Below about US$1,000 a month through Payhip, the free plan is cheaper. Payhip says every plan has the same features (no feature-gating), so you’re only paying for the lower fee.

Beyond fees

Traffic

This is the big one. Etsy is a search engine full of people looking for printables. Payhip and Systeme.io are not marketplaces, so you’ll need to bring your own buyers through Pinterest, a blog, social media or an email list.

If you have no audience yet, Etsy’s fees are the price of being found. That’s often a fair price.

Customer relationship

On Etsy, buyers are Etsy’s customers first, and Etsy’s rules limit how you can market to them. On Payhip and Systeme.io, buyers can join your email list at checkout or through a freebie, and you can contact them about new products. Over time, that list is usually worth more than the fee savings.

Email and automation

Etsy: no email list tools for marketing to buyers.
Payhip: basic email features for contacting customers; most sellers pair it with a dedicated email platform for sequences.
Systeme.io: email marketing is built in, including unlimited sends on every plan. The free plan allows 1 automation rule and 1 email campaign (sequence); Startup raises that. See our Systeme.io free plan review.

Tax handling

Etsy collects and remits sales tax or VAT for marketplace sales in many regions where marketplace rules apply.
Payhip says it automatically collects, reports and remits EU/UK VAT and US/Canadian sales tax on digital sales, and lets you set up other taxes yourself.
Systeme.io’s pricing page doesn’t describe collecting or remitting overseas taxes for you, so plan to handle that yourself or get advice if you sell a lot overseas.

For Australian GST, registration is generally required once your turnover reaches A$75,000. A tax adviser can tell you how your marketplace and own-store sales count. This isn’t tax advice.

Payout timing

Payhip says it deposits sales to you immediately after a transaction completes (to your PayPal or Stripe account). Systeme.io sales also go straight to your connected Stripe or PayPal account. Etsy pays out on its own deposit schedule.

Time

Etsy: listing, SEO for Etsy search, reviews. Little technical setup.
Payhip: a product page and file upload; quick to set up.
Systeme.io: the most setup (funnel pages, sequences, a domain), but it gives you the most control over the buyer’s path.

Common questions

Can I sell the same printable on Etsy and on my own store? Yes. Nothing in Etsy’s fee policy stops you selling the same file elsewhere, provided you own the rights (check the licences of any fonts or graphics you used). What Etsy does restrict is using Etsy orders and messages to steer buyers away from Etsy, so keep your own-store promotion to channels you control.

Should I price lower on my own store? Not necessarily. Lower fees give you room to offer bundles or subscriber discounts, but undercutting your Etsy listings heavily on identical products isn’t needed, and consistent pricing is simpler to manage.

Is Payhip or Systeme.io better for a complete beginner? Payhip, if you want a shop page live in an afternoon. Systeme.io, if you’re willing to spend a weekend setting up a freebie, a short email sequence and a sales page, because that setup keeps working after you’ve built it.

Do I need a website as well? No. Both Payhip and Systeme.io host your pages and can use your own domain. A separate blog or resource site helps with search traffic later, but it isn’t required to start selling.

What about refunds? Under the Australian Consumer Law, buyers keep their rights if a digital product is faulty or not as described, whichever platform you sell on. You can decline change-of-mind refunds, but don’t publish a blanket “no refunds” policy.

Which should you choose?

Stay Etsy-only if: you’re just starting, have no audience elsewhere, and want to test which products sell. Use Etsy to find your winners.

Add Payhip if: you want a simple shop you own, for bundles and repeat buyers, with VAT handled. It’s free to start, and you can move to Plus once you’re selling around US$1,000 a month through it.

Add Systeme.io if: you want to build an email list with a freebie and an automated sequence, and sell from your own sales pages, with no platform fee and no monthly cost until you outgrow the free plan.

Use both Payhip and Systeme.io? Possible (Payhip for the shop, Systeme.io for email and funnels), but for a time-poor seller, one tool is easier. Pick the one that matches how you’ll find buyers: a shop page you share, or a funnel that starts with a freebie.

A practical setup for a printables seller

Keep your best-sellers on Etsy for discovery.
Open one own-store channel (Payhip or Systeme.io) and list your bundles and higher-priced products there.
Create a freebie that links to those bundles, and collect emails with it.
Send traffic you control (Pinterest, your blog) to the freebie, not to Etsy.
Review your Etsy Offsite Ads costs each quarter. If they’re a large share of fees and you’re under US$10,000 a year, decide whether to opt out.

For the step-by-step version of this plan, see how to sell printables outside Etsy.

Before you decide: Etsy, Payhip, Systeme.io and Stripe all change their fees from time to time. Everything above was checked on their own websites in October 2026. Confirm on each fee page before relying on these numbers.