Can I sell services?
Yes, you can sell services on Gumroad, but only for specific kinds.
The Gumroad customer experience is designed to be a 1:1 transaction. You pay money, and you get a product immediately - a PDF, Photoshop brushes, a movie, etc.
A service can be defined as a one-off piece of work provided to a customer outside of Gumroad's servers. This poses a significant risk to our business since we can't track its delivery, nor account for what the services are.
In short, if you provide a tangible file (such as an ebook, video file, or other product) your customer can immediately access in addition to a service, we can prove a 1:1 transaction took place and are more likely to allow you to continue selling on Gumroad.
You can sell:
- Coaching services. Your customer pays you on Gumroad, and you talk to them over the phone for six weeks. Ideally, you are delivering additional information using Gumroad as well - an ebook, or workbook. Tangible files that show an actual 1:1 transaction took place.
- Skype lessons. Your customer pays you on Gumroad, and you then meet up with them to teach them something. Again, the customer should be receiving tangible files in addition to these lessons.
- Access to another Web site. Your customer pays you on Gumroad, and they get access to your Snapchat feed.
You cannot sell:
- Installation or tech support services. Your customer pays you on Gumroad, and you install software for them remotely.
- Fixing someone's roof or redesigning their website or any other kind of in-person or prolonged service contract.
Why not?
Services are handled differently than digital products because, from a financial perspective, they are much riskier. Services often experience high chargeback rates and can put a payments company like ours into legal gray areas where they are responsible for something they had no control over.
Bottom line: If we were to be audited by a government agency, we would have no way of explaining what our users are processing money through our servers for. The logical jump for law enforcement from that point is that we are unwittingly helping fund organized crime or terror. And then, before you know it, Gumroad's staff is bunking at Guantanamo Bay for the foreseeable future.
What happens if I sell these kinds of services on Gumroad?
We will be forced to close your account, and if we think there is a high risk of many chargebacks, refund any existing sales in your balance.