For digital product sales, what kind of setup can I use to run my customers through a checkout process and have their digital download link or access sent to them? I am a developer and I built my own website . I am hoping I can just work with some sort of API to do this. I really don't want to end up having to create a store or something like that nd get eaten by fees when testing stuff. What is there available? Thanks for the help, really appreciate it.
For solopreneurs selling digital products, the simplest stack that actually works: Gumroad for payments + delivery, ConvertKit (or even a free Mailchimp account) for email capture and follow-up.
Gumroad handles the checkout, PDF/file delivery, and basic analytics. The key thing to add: in your Gumroad checkout flow, offer a bonus (extra template, mini-course, checklist) that requires joining your email list. That converts a one-time buyer into a subscriber you can market to again.
If you want more control over the experience, Carrd for a simple landing page + Gumroad embedded checkout is still under 0/yr combined and looks professional. For early validation I'd skip anything more complex - Shopify, custom dev, etc. Get 10 sales first, then optimize the stack.