Ko-fi Shop - Sell digital & physical products
What's a Ko-fi Shop?
A Ko-fi Shop is a simple, no-fuss way for creators to sell both digital and physical items. Creators can add a product, share a link, and start making sales in just a few minutes.
What can creators sell?
Creators can sell digital and physical products in a Ko-fi Shop. Here are just a few ideas.
Digital product ideas:
- Art and design: High-resolution files of artwork, wallpapers, or photoshoots.
- Exclusive content: Tutorials, behind-the-scenes videos, or exclusive early access to special recordings.
- Digital files: Software, original music, or templates.
Physical product ideas:
- Merchandise: Physical items like stickers, T-shirts, postcards, and notepads that reflect a creator's personal brand or artwork.
- Crafts: Unique handmade items like jewelry, crochet, or hand-painted ornaments.
- Printed works: Writers and comic artists can sell physical copies of their ebooks, guides, novels, or comics.
For more inspiration, see 40+ product ideas.
How to add a product
Adding a product is easy. In Ko-fi Shop, creators tap Add Product, choose a name buyers will understand, and select whether it's a digital file or a physical item.
Digital and physical products each have a slightly different setup. For digital products, creators can upload or link to files; for physical products, creators can set variants and shipping options. Either way, getting a product live is quick.
Adding product information
Most of these fields apply to both digital and physical products, with a few exceptions noted below.
- Name: A name buyers will understand, e.g. "frog sticker set."
- Description: More detail about the item: sizes, specs, page count, how to use it, and so on. The first few words show to people browsing the shop.
-
Preview images: Up to 20 images, ideally at a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio (e.g. 600x600px or 600x300px). Smaller files upload more smoothly, so a quick compression pass helps preserve quality.
Tip
A GIF can make a product more eye-catching!
- Embed media: Links to videos or audio files; these show alongside the preview images.
- Summary: One clear sentence telling the buyer exactly what they get, e.g. "A puppy-themed acrylic pin" or "10 emote templates in .psd format."
- Categories: Up to 20 categories to help buyers find what they're looking for. When a buyer picks a category, they'll only see items within it.
- Assets (digital only): Uploaded files or a link to them. Buyers get instant access after payment, and keep access even if the creator updates the file later.
- Price: The amount the creator wants to charge.
- Pay what you want: When enabled, buyers can pay more than the minimum price if they'd like to offer extra support.
- Variants: Up to 15 variants for things like size or color, each with its own price.
Shipping rates (physical items only)
Creators set two shipping prices for each physical item: one for solo purchases, and another for when the item ships as part of a larger order.
Shipping costs are calculated using the highest "shipping price" in the order, plus the "price with others" for each additional item.
Learn more about shipping pricing
Shipping destinations
Creators can control where items ship, and tailor prices by location.
- Enable worldwide shipping: Good for global sales at a consistent rate, ideal for lightweight, easy-to-ship items like stickers. Specific destination prices will override this rate.
-
Add a destination: Continents or countries the creator ships to, each with its own rate. If worldwide shipping is off, only buyers from listed destinations can purchase.
Tip
Many creators keep this simple by choosing continents rather than individual countries.
- Add shipping information: Estimated delivery times, the shipping service used, and how buyers will receive tracking updates.
Additional options
A few more advanced settings help creators fine-tune their shop:
- Message for buyers: A custom thank-you note or extra instructions, shown after purchase.
- Limit quantity available: Sets how many units are available. For instance, a creator selling 10 limited edition prints would set the quantity to 10. The product will be marked "sold out" when it reaches zero. Creators can also manually set a product's count to "0" to list it as "sold out."
- Allow buyers to choose a quantity: When enabled, buyers can purchase multiples of the same item.
- Exempt from sales tax: Bypasses the creator's default sales tax settings for this item. Creators should keep their tax info updated, and check with a tax advisor on what's taxable. Learn how to set up tax
- Schedule: Creators who aren't ready to publish an item yet can schedule it to go live later. After picking a date and time, the item publishes automatically on the creator's page. Scheduling only works for brand-new shop items. It won't appear on existing products or drafts. To schedule an existing draft, clone it and set the schedule on the new version.
Choosing an audience for the item
Creators can choose who can buy an item: everyone, members, or monthly supporters. This kind of exclusivity can help boost regular monthly income.
Note
To set an audience, creators first need to activate monthly tips or set up membership tiers.
- All monthly supporters: Accessible to anyone paying the creator monthly.
- Specific tiers: Restricts the item to certain membership levels. Buyers will be encouraged to join the creator's membership to unlock the purchase (or download, if it's free).
Tip
Creators adding lots of similar items can tap Clone to duplicate one rather than starting from scratch.
Shop settings
Contact details
When buyers make a purchase, they get an email receipt with the creator's contact email for any questions. By default, this is the creator's Ko-fi account email. Creators can update it separately under Contact Details in their shop setup.
Request a phone number for shipping
Some couriers might need a phone number for delivery. When this box is ticked, buyers of physical items must provide one at checkout. Ko-fi only recommends turning it on if the creator's courier specifically needs it.
Setting standard terms
On Ko-fi, the creator is the seller, and buyers purchase directly from them. Creators should set clear standard terms (up to 10,000 characters). Buyers need to agree to these before checkout. Good things to include are:
- Delivery or shipping times
- How digital files will be sent
- The refund or returns policy
- What's included (and what isn't)
If a dispute or issue ever comes up, it's handled directly between the creator and the buyer. See suggestions for setting terms.
Offering discounts or promotions
Discount codes are a great way to encourage more sales, and creators can even offer them as a membership tier benefit. A code can apply across the whole shop or target specific categories, which works well for seasonal sales or promoting new product types.
Learn more about discount codes
Changing the product sort order
To rearrange items in the shop, creators visit their shop page and select Sort. They can choose a preset order, or pick Custom Ordering to drag and drop products into a preferred sequence.
Sharing a Ko-fi Shop
Creators can share their Ko-fi Shop by adding "/shop" to their Ko-fi page URL.
Tip
To have supporters land on the shop as soon as they visit, creators can set the Default tab to "Shop" in Settings > Page.
Creators can also upload a custom preview image for when their shop link gets shared. Under Sharing Preview Image, a picture at a 2:1 ratio (1000x500px) replaces the default.
To spotlight one product, creators click Share this just below its purchase button and pick an icon to post about that specific item.
Share a specific category
Sharing a link straight to one shop category helps supporters find what they're looking for fast. This is handy when a shop covers a lot of ground, when highlighting something specific, or during a sale.
How creators get the link:
- Creators go to their shop page at ko-fi.com/username/shop.
- They click the category they want to share.
- They copy the link from the browser's address bar. It'll look like ko-fi.com/username/shop/category.
The link is then ready to share!
What buyers see
After a supporter buys from a creator's shop, they'll see a thank-you screen with the creator's personalized message. For digital items, logged-in supporters can download directly from this screen, while others are prompted to create a Ko-fi account. They also get an email receipt with order details and any digital file links. Plus, if the creator updates an order with shipping info, the buyer is notified about this too.
Fulfilling orders
When an order comes in, the creator gets an email notification and can view it under the Orders tab in the shop setup page.
For digital products, there's nothing the creator needs to do. Buyers are automatically directed to download their files.
For physical orders, creators can use the Shop Orders (not shipped) filter to organize packaging and shipping. Once shipped, creators update the order status and add tracking details, and the buyer is notified by email.
Tip
Creators can use direct messages to keep buyers in the loop about their order.
Ko-fi is always happy to help creators with any Ko-fi Shop questions, and welcomes feedback and feature requests.
FAQ
Creators can set up and start selling in minutes, with no listing fees at all. Ko-fi charges a creator-friendly 5% service fee on sales.
On Ko-fi, payments are immediate. When a sale happens, funds land straight in the creator's PayPal or Stripe account.
It's the creator's shop, their products, and rightfully, their money: no confusing hold periods, no waiting on scheduled payout days.
Yes. Pre-orders are great for covering production costs, gauging interest, and building excitement ahead of release.
Creators should clearly label the item as a pre-order in both the name and description, and keep buyers updated on progress and expected delivery.
Free users can add up to 600 items to their Ko-fi Shop. Standard users (previously called Contributors) can add up to 1,500 items. Learn more about Contributor status.
Free users get up to 25GB of Ko-fi Shop asset storage. Standard users (previously called Contributors) get up to 200GB. Learn more about Contributor status.
Free users can upload up to 2GB of files per shop item. Standard users (previously called Contributors) can upload up to 5GB of files per shop item.
Not right now. Shop sales don't count toward goals yet, but Ko-fi is looking into adding this in the future.
Creators are in charge of their own listings on Ko-fi. Reselling is possible, but it's important to understand copyright rules first. Learn more.
Not yet. Ko-fi has heard lots of requests for shop and item reviews and is looking into adding the option in the future.
The new price applies right away for new visitors or buyers. For anyone who viewed the item just before the change, it may take a few minutes to an hour to update. If a buyer added the item to their basket before the change, they'll be charged the original price at checkout.