You've built the product. Now you're stuck staring at the price field with no idea what number won't scare people off — or sell you short."
You've created something worth selling — now you need to put a price on it. Whether you've typed a number, deleted it, tried a different price, then closed the tab entirely, you're not alone. Pricing is the part most beginner digital product creators quietly panic about.
The good news: you don't need a business degree to develop effective pricing for your digital product business. You need a simple approach to pricing, a little pricing research, and permission to start before you feel ready. This post walks you through exactly that — so you can price your digital products and get them in front of the people who need them.
The Digital Product Pricing Mistakes Most Beginners Make
Most first-time sellers make one of two classic pricing mistakes: they guess at a number, or they price so low it barely feels worth listing. Both usually come from the same fear — "Who am I to charge for this?"
But a lower price isn't automatically better. Pricing too low signals lower perceived value to potential customers. It can also make your pricing model unsustainable once platform fees are factored in. There's a sweet spot between "what you think you deserve" and "what customers are willing to pay" — and finding it starts with some basic pricing research, not a coin flip.
Here's the reassuring truth: you don't need the perfect price before you list. You need a starting point and a method for making sound pricing decisions. That's what this is.
Step 1: Use Similar Products to Set Your Pricing Benchmarks
Before you set a single number, do a few minutes of free competitive pricing research. Search for your product type on Etsy — "digital planner template," "Canva social media kit," or whatever fits what you're selling — and look at what the bestsellers are actually charging. This is your pricing research phase, and it costs nothing.
You're not copying anyone's pricing strategy. You're orienting yourself. As you browse similar products, notice:
- Is there a price range most listings cluster around?
- Do sellers charging a higher price offer something extra — more pages, more templates, a bundle?
- What's the difference between the lowest price point and mid-range options?
These price ranges become your pricing benchmarks. You don't need a formal competitive pricing analysis. You just need a rough sense of where similar products sit so your own pricing decisions start from an informed place, not a guess.
Step 2: Price the Result, Not Your Time
This is where most beginners get tripped up — especially when selling digital downloads like PLR templates, ebooks, or Canva kits. "But I didn't spend much time on it. I didn't spend long creating the product. I can't charge much for it."
Here's the shift: your buyer isn't paying for your time. They're paying for what this saves them — hours, stress, the blank page at 11pm. Ask yourself: 'How much would you pay to never have to build this from scratch?' That's value-based pricing, and it's why a well-designed template can command a higher price than a cluttered one twice its size.
This is why value-based pricing tends to outperform cost-based pricing for digital product sellers. Cost-based pricing asks "what did it cost me to make this?" Value-based pricing asks "what is this worth to the person buying it?" For digital products especially — where the same file can be sold to hundreds of potential customers — perceived value is everything.
A well-designed digital product can command a higher price than a cluttered one twice its size, simply because it looks and feels more premium. Digital product creators who understand perceived value stop underselling themselves.
If you're new to PLR and MRR and want to understand the difference before pricing, this guide breaks it down clearly.
Step 3: Account for Platform Fees in Your Pricing Strategies for Digital Products
One of the most overlooked aspects of pricing for beginners: forgetting that platform fees exist. When you sell digital products on a marketplace, a percentage of each sale goes to the platform — listing fees, transaction fees, payment processing. It's built into the pricing model for every online store, whether you're selling digital downloads, ebooks, online courses, or printable templates.
Unlike physical products, where you're factoring in materials and shipping, digital product pricing needs to account for what the platform takes before you see any of it. Pricing at rock bottom because you want to look affordable means platform fees eat most of what's left. A higher price with room for fees is more effective pricing than a lower price that leaves nothing.
The takeaway isn't to obsess over every decimal. It's simply: don't price at the floor. Leave yourself breathing room. That's not greediness — that's effective pricing and good sense for any online business.
Step 4: Two Different Pricing Strategies That Work: Charm and Tiered Pricing
You've done your pricing research, you've settled on a rough price range, and you're ready to commit to a price point. Here are two pricing strategies used by digital product business owners that are easy to apply from day one:
Charm pricing (psychological pricing)
Charm pricing is one of the oldest and most reliable pricing strategies in retail. Prices ending in 9 or 7 tend to outperform round numbers — $9 feels meaningfully different from $10 to a buyer, even though the difference is tiny. Using charm pricing is a form of psychological pricing backed by consistent conversion rate data. It's a small detail that makes a real difference.
Tiered pricing: single item plus a bundle
One of the most effective pricing strategies for digital products is to offer pricing tiers — a single item at one price point alongside a bundle at a higher price. Tiered pricing gives buyers pricing options and helps you package products in a way that can increase your average order value. Buyers who are on the fence often choose the bundle when they can see the comparison side by side.
This pricing approach also works for existing customers who return to your shop — a bundle at full price feels like a natural upgrade. Some digital product creators later explore more advanced pricing models like freemium pricing (offering a free sample to draw buyers toward a paid product), but for most beginners, a simple single + bundle setup is the best place to start.
Different pricing strategies work for different audiences — try different pricing options as your shop grows and let your conversion rate guide you.
Step 5: Pick a Price and Give Yourself Permission to Adjust It
Here's the pricing principle most beginners need to hear: your first price is not your forever price. Your price may — and probably will — change as your digital product business grows.
Many sellers who successfully sell digital products start at a lower price to build their first reviews, then implement price increases as their shop gains traction. Others start at a higher price and test the response. There are different pricing strategies that work depending on your shop, your audience, and where you're starting from. There's no single right pricing approach — there's the best price you can list today, and the right pricing decision you can revisit next month.
Test different price points. Adjust your bundles. Watch your conversion rate and let it guide you. The key pricing principle here: done beats perfect. A listed digital product earning something is always better than an unlisted one waiting for the ideal pricing strategies to fall into place.
If you haven't set up your shop yet, start here first: how to create and sell digital products.
Quick Recap: Your Pricing Strategy for Digital Products
Run through these pricing principles whenever you're setting or revisiting a price:
Step 1: Search for similar products and note the price ranges of bestsellers — that's your pricing benchmark
Step 2: Use value-based pricing — price the result, not your hours
Step 3: Account for platform fees — effective pricing leaves room before the cut
Step 4: Use charm pricing (psychological pricing) and consider pricing tiers for higher average order value
Step 5: Set a target price, list it, and try different pricing strategies as you learn what works
Ready to Have Something Worth Pricing?
The hardest part of pricing of your digital products is having nothing to price yet. If you're still looking for the right product to start with — done-for-you, ready to sell digital products, yours to list — that's exactly what Boundless PLR is here for. Browse the collections and find something that fits where you are right now.
And if you want to understand what MRR digital products are before you browse, this beginner's guide to MRR digital products is a good next read.
