Last Updated: April 2026
Skip Etsy. Skip Shopify. If you’re starting from zero with no audience and no website, set up a Flodesk checkout page. It’s a sales page, checkout, and product delivery system in one. No website needed. No monthly subscription stack. Rebecca Rice started with a $10 product, no followers, and a simple checkout link shared in one Facebook group. That single product became the foundation of a $2M+ business.
This is for you if you’ve made (or want to make) a digital product but you’re stuck on where to actually put it so people can buy it. You have no website, no email list, and maybe 200 followers. You just need someone to tell you what to use.
What Do You Actually Need to Sell a Digital Product With No Audience?
Less than you think.
Three things: a product, a checkout page, and one place to share it.
That’s it. Not a website. Not a brand kit. Not 1,000 followers before you launch. You need something to sell, a page where someone can buy it, and one person to send that link to.
Most people get stuck before they start because they’re building the wrong things. They spend weeks on a logo and a Squarespace site before they’ve made a single dollar. That’s backwards.
If you haven’t made your product yet, start there. You can create your first digital product step by step without overthinking the format. A PDF, a template, a simple guide. Done beats perfect, every time.
Once you have something to sell, you need exactly one place to send people. That’s where the platform question actually matters.
Why Doesn’t Rebecca Rice Recommend Etsy for Beginners?
Etsy looks like a shortcut. It’s not.
Here’s the thing: Etsy has built-in traffic, which sounds appealing when you have zero audience. But that traffic comes with real problems that make it a poor fit for beginners selling low-cost digital products.
Four reasons Rebecca doesn’t recommend it:
One. Etsy is oversaturated. There are thousands of listings for every digital product type. Standing out requires volume, reviews, and SEO knowledge most beginners don’t have yet.
Two. The SEO isn’t worth it. Etsy SEO is a full-time skill. You’d spend more time optimizing listings than creating products.
Three. The fees eat your margins. At the $17-27 price point that works well for first digital products, Etsy’s listing fees, transaction fees, and payment processing fees add up fast. Pricing your first digital product is already a calculation. Don’t make it harder by giving away a chunk to a marketplace.
Four. You don’t own the customer. When someone buys from you on Etsy, Etsy owns that relationship. You can’t follow up, build trust, or resell to that person.
Flodesk solves all four of those problems.
What About Gumroad, Shopify, Stan Store, or Payhip?
Quick, honest takes. No fluff.
Gumroad and Payhip are fine tools. They’re just not what Rebecca uses or teaches. She can’t speak to how they perform for her students.
Shopify is overkill for day one. It’s built for physical product stores with inventory. You’ll pay monthly fees and spend hours on setup before you make a dollar.
Stan Store is a link-in-bio tool. It’s not built for conversion. It’s useful for organizing links, not for turning a cold visitor into a buyer.
Kajabi and Teachable are for courses with hundreds of students and ongoing cohorts. If you’re selling your first $17 PDF, you don’t need them.
Here’s a simple way to think about it:
| Your situation | Recommended platform |
|---|---|
| No website, first product, want it live this week | Flodesk checkout page |
| Have an audience, want link organization | Stan Store (for links, not sales) |
| Scaling to full course library, 1,000+ students | Kajabi or Teachable |
If you’re reading this post, you’re in row one. Use Flodesk.
What Does Rebecca Rice Use and Recommend?
Rebecca Rice, founder of Simple Creator Co., recommends Flodesk. Full stop.
Here’s why it works for beginners: Flodesk gives you a sales page, payment processing, and automatic product delivery in one tool. No website. No domain purchase. No separate delivery system. No transaction fees stacking on top of each other.
You build the page inside Flodesk. You add your product file. You set your price. Someone clicks your link, pays, and gets the file delivered automatically. You don’t have to do anything.
Rebecca made her first digital product during nap time. She had zero followers and zero audience. She priced it at $10 and shared the checkout link in one Facebook group. That was it.
That product grew into a $2M+ business. She now works about 8 hours a week. She retired her husband. She’s taught over 8,800 students how to do the same thing.
The platform she used then is the same one she still recommends now. Not because it’s perfect. Because it’s simple, and simple is what actually gets done.
You can try Flodesk here: partners.flodesk.com/rebeccarice-blog
How Do You Set This Up and Make Your First Sale?
Four steps. That’s the whole process.
Step 1. Create your digital product. A PDF, a Canva template, a checklist, a guide. Keep it simple. It doesn’t need to be long. It needs to solve one specific problem.
Step 2. Set up a Flodesk checkout page. Add your product image, write a short description, upload your file, set your price, and publish. Most people finish this in under two hours.
Step 3. Share the link somewhere people already are. Put it in your Instagram bio. Post it in a Facebook group where your target person hangs out. Send a DM to 10 people who might want it. You don’t need a following. You need a link and a place to put it.
Step 4. Keep sharing. One post is not enough. One share is not enough. The people who make their first sale fast are the ones who share the link more than feels comfortable.
For more on this, read about getting your first sale with zero audience and how to get your digital products in front of people.
The bottom line: you don’t need a marketplace, a website, or an audience to start selling. You need a product, a Flodesk checkout link, and the willingness to share it.
What Are the Most Common Questions About Selling Digital Products With No Audience?
Can I really sell digital products without a website?
Yes. A Flodesk checkout page is a complete standalone sales page. You don’t need a domain, hosting, or a website builder. Learn more about selling digital products without a website.
Is Etsy good for selling digital products as a beginner?
Rebecca’s position is no. Oversaturated market, steep learning curve for Etsy SEO, fees that cut into thin margins at the $17-27 price point, and you don’t own the customer relationship after the sale. The platform that looks like a shortcut costs more than it saves.
Do I need a social media following to start selling?
No. Two paths work: organic sharing (takes longer) or paid ads (faster). Simple Creator Co. students have gone from zero to six figures in four months using paid ads with no existing audience. You don’t need followers. You need traffic to your checkout page.
What if I set everything up and nobody buys?
That’s a traffic problem, not a platform problem. Ask yourself: how many people actually saw this product this week? If the answer is less than 50, the problem isn’t the product or the page. The problem is visibility. Made to Sell covers this directly.
Should I sell on multiple platforms at the same time?
No. Pick one. Get your first sale. Then decide if you want to expand. Splitting your attention across platforms before you’ve made a dollar slows everything down.
Can beginners run paid ads to their digital products?
Yes, and Rebecca recommends it as the fastest path to your first sale. It comes with a learning curve and requires a budget. But it’s the most reliable way to get eyes on your product when you have no organic audience yet.
If you’re ready to create your first digital product and get it live on a checkout page this week, that’s exactly what Made to Sell walks you through. Step by step. No tech skills required.
Not quite ready for that? Start with the free Beginner’s Guide first.
About Rebecca Rice: Rebecca Rice is the founder of Simple Creator Co. and has helped over 8,800 students create and sell digital products online. She built a $2M+ digital product business starting with a $10 product she made during nap time, and now teaches everyday women how to do the same at thesimplecreator.com.
Somewhere right now, a woman is folding laundry and her phone buzzes with a sale notification for a product she made last Tuesday. She didn’t have a website. She didn’t have a following. She had a checkout link and she shared it. That’s how it starts. It can start that way for you too.
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