The listing has to do the support
Nobody is there when the file opens. Formats, versions, dependencies and a read-me on the page do more for your refund rate than any reply you can write afterwards.
Templates and assets
Build it once, sell it while you are working on the next one.
A template is work you already finished. Selling it well is a matter of saying exactly what a buyer receives, delivering it without you, and getting the update to everyone who already paid.
14-day free trial. No card required.
Template pack
Delivered instantly
Delivered instantly
Payment received$420
How do I sell design templates online?
Package the template in Crate as a single file, say precisely what is inside it and what software opens it, price it and publish it. Payment triggers delivery: the buyer gets a private link tied to their order, with a download count and an expiry you choose. State the licence on the listing, because a template used once by one person and a template used on client work forever are different products at different prices. When you improve the file, replace it on the product and every existing buyer can take the new version, which is the thing that turns a one-off sale into a template people recommend.
How to start selling templates.
Getting started
Four steps, in order. Each one is a screen you can open on the first day, not a project.
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Package it so it opens first time
One archive, a sensible folder structure, and a short read-me inside. Most refund requests on templates are confusion rather than dissatisfaction.
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Say what is in it and what opens it
File formats, software versions, fonts included or not. A buyer who has to ask before purchasing usually does not purchase.
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Publish the licence you actually mean
Personal, single commercial project, or unlimited client work. Price each one for what it allows and put the terms on the page.
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Ship updates to the people who already bought
Replace the file and existing buyers can fetch the new version. That is what makes a template worth recommending rather than merely worth buying.
What is different about selling templates.
What is different here
Every kind of product has a detail that decides whether the software fits. These are the ones that decide it here.
The licence is the price ladder
The same file sold for personal use, for one commercial project and for unlimited client work is three products. That distinction is what lets a template earn beyond its first market.
Updates are the retention
A template that keeps working after a software release is a template people come back to. Free re-delivery to existing buyers is what makes that possible without a mailing list exercise.
There is no stock, so the work is all up front
Once it is packaged and priced, the hundredth sale costs you nothing. What deserves your attention is the listing, the licence and the update, not the fulfilment.
Your buyers are already in a thread.
Where you sell
Templates sell on a demonstration. Put a real product behind the post that shows the thing working, so somebody impressed by it can buy it in the same minute rather than asking where.
In your market that usually means Your store, Instagram and In person.
Every channel above runs off the one catalog you set up once.
Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and bank transfer.
Getting paid
Buyers pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or bank transfer and delivery follows automatically. Automatic payouts to your bank. With nothing to ship, the payment rails and the payout are very nearly the whole operational side of this business.
Money from card sales lands in your bank account on a rolling two-day schedule. Nothing to claim, nothing to withdraw.
- Card
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
- Bank transfer
How the file reaches the buyer.
Delivery
Delivery is a private link tied to the purchase, carrying a download count and an expiry you choose. Nothing sits at a guessable address, and replacing the file re-delivers it to the people who paid for the old one.
- The moment the payment clears, the buyer gets a link of their own. Nothing waits on you being awake.
- The link is tokenised and limited. It belongs to that order, it expires, and it cannot be forwarded around indefinitely.
- Upload a new version and the same buyers can fetch it again, so an update is a re-upload rather than twenty five emails.
- Large files are served directly, so a slow connection resumes rather than starting the download again.
What it costs.
One subscription covers the store, the catalog, the order queue, the customer records and the counter. There is no separate charge for selling in chat, and no charge per kind of product.
Priced and paid in US dollars. Every plan opens with a free trial and no card.
You have the price and the plan now. Standing the shop up is about fifteen minutes of work.
What you would actually use.
The product
Named plainly, and each one has a page of its own if you want the detail.
Selling design templates, answered.
What file formats can I sell?
Any file you can upload. Most sellers ship one archive containing the working files plus a read-me, so the buyer gets everything in one download.
How do I stop the file being passed around?
Cap how many times the link works and when it expires. That does not stop a determined copy, and it does stop a link being casually useful to someone who did not pay.
Can I charge more for commercial use?
Yes. Publish the same file once per licence, at its own price, with the terms stated on each listing.
What happens when I update a template?
Replace the file on the product and existing buyers can take the new version. There is nothing to send by hand.
Can I sell a bundle of templates?
Yes. A bundle is a product with more files attached, and it delivers through the same single link.
Where does the money land?
In your own payout account, in US dollars. Money from card sales lands in your bank account on a rolling two-day schedule. Nothing to claim, nothing to withdraw.
Still have a question?
Every answer above was written by the people who build crate. If yours is not among them, the Help Center goes deeper, and a person reads what you send.
Selling something else?
Nearby
The same platform underneath, told in the language of the thing you make.
