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How to charge for a download link

You already know how to send a link. Charging for it is the same page with a price. The visitor can look. Checkout is what turns look into take. You do not send a second URL when the payment lands.

Lars Holmgren

MalmöUpdated 3 min read

How to charge for a download link is the question after you already have a share. The files are up. The client has the URL. Money is still outstanding. The wrong move is an invoice in another app and a hope they do not forward the free link. The right move is a price on that folder.

On Spike, selling is a switch on a folder you uploaded. Public, hidden, or password still apply. The unpaid view can stay censored. Payment unlocks the originals. That is the whole trick. Get paid before sending files is why the order matters.

The share URL does not change. A price appears on it. Checkout unlocks the download.
  • The recipient already has the page and still owes you.
  • The product is a folder, a ZIP, a gallery, a pack.
  • You do not need a catalogue, discounts, or shipping.

Keep an invoice tool for retainers, mixed goods, and purchase orders. Spike is the extra for file-shaped products. You can take a booking fee on an invoice and the gallery fee on the link. Say so in the email so two payments are not a surprise.

  1. Connect payouts once

    Stripe Connect is the one-time cost of taking cards. The selling guide has the clicks.

  2. Set the amount on the folder

    Price in the buyer's currency. Minimum is £1. They see that number, not a converted listing.

  3. Check the unpaid view

    If the free download is the product, you forgot to censor or to turn selling on.

Buyers pay what you type. Spike takes 5% on Free, 1% on Pro, 0% on Business, from the payout. Stripe's card fee still applies. There is no extra platform sticker at checkout. That is the comparison with a marketplace listing fee, not a claim that cards are free.

What you getInvoice, then a transferPriced Spike link
Where they payAnother tabThe file page
Where they downloadA later emailThe same URL
Preview controlWhatever you attachedBuilt in
If they lose the ZIPYou resendThe folder is still there

Leave the link up if they will come back. Free shares last three days; Pro and Business until you turn them off. If you sell the same pack to many people, sell a folder or sell a ZIP is the product framing. This page is the switch.

You do not need a new URL to get paid. You need a price on the one they already have.

If they pay and then ghost the download, the files are still on the page. You are not chasing a bounce that ate a transfer window. That is the library extra: payment and delivery share a URL that does not expire because someone opened email late. Pro and Business can leave that door up. Free shares last three days, which is enough for a one-shot pack if they know to grab it.

Connect onboarding is the one-time cost of taking cards. After Stripe is linked, pricing a folder is a switch. This article is the reason to use it when the stall is "the link is already out, the money is not." You do not need a new shop. You need a number on the page they already opened.

Questions

Good to know

Same model. What is a paid download link? is the definition. This page is the how: when to flip selling on, what the unpaid view should do, and what Spike takes.

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Related articles

Try the workflow in the article.

Upload a folder, protect the preview, share or sell from one link.

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