KDP vs Gumroad vs Etsy for Selling Ebooks

Amazon KDP, Gumroad and Etsy are not interchangeable: each charges differently, brings different buyers and asks different things about AI. The figures below come from each platform's own pages, read on 2026-10-11. Fees change, so check the current page before you commit.

The short version

• Ebook fee

  Amazon KDP

  You keep 70% of (list price minus delivery cost), or 35% of list price

  Gumroad

  10% + $0.50 per direct sale; 30% on Discover sales

  Etsy

  $0.20 per listing, 6.5% transaction fee, plus payment processing

• Monthly fee

  Amazon KDP

  None stated on the pages we read

  Gumroad

  None

  Etsy

  None on the standard shop; a one-time set-up fee may apply

• Price band

  Amazon KDP

  70% option: $2.99 to $12.99 on Amazon.com

  Gumroad

  Not checked

  Etsy

  Not checked

• AI rule

  Amazon KDP

  Disclose AI-generated text, images, translations

  Gumroad

  Not confirmed; check its terms

  Etsy

  Disclose in the listing description

Amazon KDP

On Amazon.com the 70% option pays 70% of the list price minus a delivery cost of $0.15 per MB, for list prices from $2.99 to $12.99 (the top of the band was $9.99 before July 7, 2026). The 35% option pays 35% of list price with no delivery cost. Example: a $7.99 ebook with a 1 MB file earns $5.49 per sale on the 70% option, before any tax effects. The Kindle royalty calculator works it out for your own price and file size.

Paperbacks pay a 50% or 60% royalty depending on list price (on Amazon.com, 60% at $9.99 and above), minus printing cost; Expanded Distribution pays 40% of list price minus printing cost. KDP pays about 60 days after the end of the month in which the sale was reported.

KDP Select needs 90 days of ebook exclusivity, so you can't sell the digital book elsewhere during enrollment; print editions are unaffected. Details, the AI disclosure and the new-title limit are in how to publish an AI-assisted book on KDP.

Gumroad

Gumroad's pricing page lists 10% + $0.50 per transaction on sales through your profile or direct links, and 30% on sales where new customers find you through its Discover marketplace. It says it doesn't charge a monthly fee, and that since January 1, 2025 it handles tax collection and remittance. Example: a $27.00 guide sold through your own link costs $3.20 in Gumroad's fee; the same sale through Discover costs $8.10. Its fees help article adds that the 10% + $0.50 does not include card processing (2.9% + $0.30) or PayPal fees, while the 30% Discover fee includes all processing.

Gumroad is where you send your own audience: a newsletter, social posts, a website. Discover exists, but its higher fee is the price of a stranger finding you. We haven't confirmed Gumroad's payout schedule or its position on AI content, so check its help pages and terms.

Etsy

Etsy's fees policy (updated 05 Oct 2026 when we read it) lists a 0.20 USD listing fee, charged when you create or renew a listing; Etsy.com listings expire after four months and auto-renew unless you turn it off. The transaction fee is 6.5% of the item price plus delivery and gift wrapping, and payment processing fees vary by the location of your bank account. A one-time set-up fee may apply when you open a shop. Offsite Ads fees apply only if Etsy's advertising directly leads to a sale: 15%, or 12% once your shop has made 10,000 USD or more in sales over the prior 365 days, capped at 100 USD per order.

Example: on a $5.00 download, the transaction fee is $0.33 and a listing is 0.20 USD, before payment processing, so a low price leaves a thin margin.

On AI, Etsy's Creativity Standards require you to disclose in the listing description when an item was created with AI, and say AI prompt bundles don't qualify. They also say a PDF of a book the seller didn't personally create or design doesn't qualify as "designed by a seller".

The same book, three ways

• KDP, 70% option

  Example sale

  $7.99 ebook, 1 MB file

  Fee or cut taken

  $2.50

  Left after the fee shown

  $5.49

• Gumroad, direct link

  Example sale

  $27.00 guide

  Fee or cut taken

  $3.20

  Left after the fee shown

  $23.80

• Gumroad, Discover

  Example sale

  $27.00 guide

  Fee or cut taken

  $8.10

  Left after the fee shown

  $18.90

• Etsy

  Example sale

  $5.00 download

  Fee or cut taken

  $0.33 transaction fee, plus $0.20 per listing

  Left after the fee shown

  $4.67 before the listing fee

Gumroad's direct fee excludes card processing (2.9% + $0.30), which comes out of the same sale; its 30% Discover fee includes it; and Etsy's processing rate varies by country and isn't in the table. The prices differ on purpose, since each platform suits a different kind of product, so don't read the table as a ranking. What matters is the shape: KDP takes a share and a delivery cost, Gumroad a share plus a flat 50 cents, and Etsy a small share plus fixed listing costs. Run the sum with your own price.

How we'd choose

This part is judgment, a starting point to test, not data. Our suggested matches:

• A standalone book for strangers to find: KDP, where shoppers already search for ebooks. Price inside the 70% band if you want the higher royalty.
• A guide for your own audience: Gumroad, using direct links so the lower fee applies.
• Workbooks, planners and checklists that look good in a thumbnail: Etsy, with the AI disclosure in the listing.
• A paperback: KDP; check its paperback guidelines for the format.
• A free lead magnet: your own site, so the email address is yours.

The same source material can feed all of these at different lengths. Try one platform with one book, look at what the fees leave you, then add another.

Selling in more than one place

Nothing in the pages we read stops you selling the same book on all three, with one exception: KDP Select. While an ebook is enrolled, you can't distribute the digital book anywhere else for the 90-day period, though KDP allows up to 10% of the book to appear elsewhere as a sample. If you want the ebook on Gumroad or Etsy, publish it on KDP without enrolling it in Select. Each platform also has its own AI disclosure, so make the declaration on KDP and the note in the Etsy listing separately.

Making the files

SuperEbook exports a PDF, an EPUB and a DOCX with the cover you choose (six cover options), full commercial rights and no watermark, so the same finished book can go to each place: the EPUB to KDP, the PDF to Gumroad or Etsy. A free listing kit writes a KDP description, keywords and categories, plus Gumroad and Etsy copy, from the finished book. It makes non-fiction books and coloring books, not fiction, and it doesn't produce print-ready paperback files for text books.