Why Gumroad is Expensive for Indian Creators (And What to Use Instead)

*By Vijay Anand, Founder — Selliqon*

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Let's do the math nobody talks about.

You're a course creator in India. You sell a ₹5,000 course. Gumroad takes 10%.

That's ₹500 per sale. Gone.

Sell 20 courses a month? ₹10,000 to Gumroad. Every month.

₹1,20,000 per year. To a US company that provides you a checkout link and a product page.

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The Gumroad Fee Problem for Indian Creators

Gumroad was built for US creators selling to US buyers. Their 10% fee made sense in 2011 when there were no alternatives and most transactions were in USD.

But for Indian creators selling at ₹999–₹9,999 price points, 10% hits differently.

At ₹3,000 per course:

10 sales/month = ₹30,000 revenue, ₹3,000 to Gumroad

50 sales/month = ₹1,50,000 revenue, ₹15,000 to Gumroad

100 sales/month = ₹3,00,000 revenue, ₹30,000 to Gumroad

At ₹30,000/month to Gumroad, that's almost a full-time employee's salary going to a fee.

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What Indian Creators Actually Need

Gumroad gives you:

A checkout page

File delivery

Basic sales analytics

What it doesn't give you:

Lead capture before checkout — if someone visits and bounces, you know nothing

CRM — no way to track interested buyers who didn't purchase

INR-native checkout — Gumroad converts INR via Stripe with additional fees

Follow-up system — no reminders to contact warm leads

Email campaigns — you'd need Mailchimp on top

Indian creators typically end up paying:

Gumroad: 10% per sale

Mailchimp/Brevo: ₹1,300–₹1,800/month for email

Notion/Coda: ₹800–₹1,000/month for product pages

WhatsApp: ₹0 but your time and memory as the "CRM"

Total: 10% + ₹2,100–₹2,800/month.

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The Alternatives

Option 1: Razorpay Pages (2% + GST)

Cheapest option. Razorpay Pages lets you create a payment link for ₹0 with 2% + GST per transaction.

Problem: It's just a payment link. No lead capture. No CRM. No delivery system. No analytics beyond basic transactions.

You still need everything else separately.

Option 2: Instamojo (2–5%)

India-focused. Simpler than Gumroad. Supports INR natively.

Problem: Limited product types, no CRM, weak analytics, no lead capture.

Option 3: Selliqon (5% per sale, free to start)

We built Selliqon because of this exact problem.

5% instead of 10%. That's the headline number.

But the bigger thing is what's included:

Storefront + product pages — like Gumroad

Lead capture before checkout — Gumroad doesn't have this

CRM — every visitor who submits their name/email is tracked, whether they buy or not

Razorpay INR checkout — native, no conversion fees

Follow-up reminders — set a reminder on any lead

Email campaigns — send to your buyer list from the same dashboard

Source attribution — know which Instagram post drove each sale

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The Real Cost Comparison

Let's say you make ₹50,000/month selling courses.

PlatformMonthly costAnnual cost

|---|---|---|

Gumroad (10%) + Mailchimp (₹1,500)₹6,500₹78,000 Selliqon Growth (₹2,999 + 5%)₹5,499₹65,988 Selliqon Starter (₹999 + 5%)₹3,499₹41,988 Selliqon Free (5%)₹2,500₹30,000

On ₹50,000/month, switching from Gumroad to Selliqon Free saves you ₹48,000/year.

Use the free calculator to see your exact number.

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The Lead Capture Difference

Here's the thing most creators miss.

When someone visits your Gumroad product page and doesn't buy, they're gone. You have no idea who they were.

When someone visits your Selliqon product page, they fill in their name and email before seeing the checkout. Even if they don't buy, they're in your CRM. Tagged as "new". You can follow up.

On a typical product page with 100 monthly visitors:

15–25 will submit their details (leads)

3–8 will buy (paid conversions)

7–17 are "interested but not ready" — these are your follow-up opportunities

Without Selliqon: you capture 3–8 buyers.

With Selliqon: you capture 15–25 leads, follow up with the 7–17 who didn't buy, and convert 1–3 more.

That's 10–30% more revenue from the same traffic.

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Should You Switch?

Switch to Selliqon if:

You sell digital products or services to an Indian audience

You want to know who's interested before they pay

You're spending more than ₹1,500/month on Gumroad fees

You want a CRM without adding another tool

Stay on Gumroad if:

Gumroad Discover (their marketplace) is driving meaningful traffic for you

Most of your buyers are international and prefer Gumroad's checkout

You've built deeply into Gumroad's ecosystem and migration cost is high

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How to Switch

1. Sign up at selliqon.vercel.app — free, no card

2. Create your products (takes 5 minutes)

3. Share your storefront link as your new bio link

4. Import past buyers from Gumroad as leads in your CRM

5. Your first sale with Selliqon costs you 5%, not 10%

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*Vijay Anand is the founder of Selliqon. He built it because Indian creators were paying ₹10,000+ per month in Gumroad fees on income that should stay with them.*

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The numbers in your hands

Use the Selliqon fee calculator → to enter your own monthly revenue and see the exact savings.

Or start free → — no card, no commitment, 5% per sale.

Also read: How to sell digital products online in India →