Sellfy
Sell digital files and simple subscriptions from a user-owned storefront
The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Sellfy, sell digital files and simple subscriptions from a user-owned storefront. The hard boundary is payments, hosted delivery, email, print-on-demand, upsells, and support, plus payments, tax, distribution, and operations.
Build verification: not recorded. How we judge buildability
What you give up
- payments, hosted delivery, email, print-on-demand, upsells, and support
- marketplace discovery
- tax remittance
- fraud operations
- advanced course and community tooling
Why people still pay
People still pay for Sellfy because creators pay to outsource the dangerous and tedious parts around money, delivery, tax, and customer access. The recurring cost buys checkout, webhooks, tax, refunds, fraud, entitlements, storage, email, accessibility, backups, and customer support, not just the visible interface.
Your build guide
The stack, security requirements, and agent rules for a focused replacement.
Before you start
- A supported Node release, PostgreSQL, HTTPS for a shared deployment, and a backup destination. Begin with one workspace and explicit owner/member permissions. Stripe integration requires the account keys, verified webhook secret and public HTTPS endpoint; start with sandbox fixtures before live payments.
- Implementation components: Next.js App Router and TypeScript for server-rendered pages and validated mutations. PostgreSQL with Drizzle migrations; Better Auth sessions for a small private workspace.
- Scope boundary: Tax determination, print-on-demand and advanced subscription lifecycle rules are separate scope.
Use these project rules and optional skill references alongside the prompt. Review each skill before adding it to your agent; the AGENTS.md export includes the same guidance.
Optional external skill: vercel-react-best-practices — Improve React and Next.js data fetching, rendering, bundle size and server performance. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Optional external skill: supabase-postgres-best-practices — Review PostgreSQL schemas, queries, indexes, pooling, concurrency and row-level security. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Optional external skill: web-design-guidelines — Review web interfaces for accessibility, keyboard focus, forms, navigation and interaction quality. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Optional external skill: stripe-best-practices — Plan Stripe checkout, subscriptions, webhooks, platform payments and secure API integration. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Project rule — data model: digital products, price snapshots, checkout sessions, orders, entitlements and download receipts
Project rule — preserve this invariant: A successful redirect does not grant access; files remain private and repeated payment events do not create duplicate entitlements.
Project rule — acceptance evidence: Replay a paid webhook and deliver one order; a revoked entitlement cannot generate another signed download URL.
Implementation plan
Phase 1
Scope and fixtures. Implement this bounded workflow: Create a small digital-file storefront using Stripe Checkout, verify payment webhooks and give buyers expiring download links. Add an operator view for resend and refund-status reconciliation. Record prerequisites, select representative user-owned fixtures and document the unsupported features: Tax determination, print-on-demand and advanced subscription lifecycle rules are separate scope.
Phase 2
Durable model. Model digital products, price snapshots, checkout sessions, orders, entitlements and download receipts Add migrations or a versioned document format, explicit validation, stable IDs and a visible import-error report. Preserve this rule: A successful redirect does not grant access; files remain private and repeated payment events do not create duplicate entitlements.
Phase 3
Complete the first useful path. Implement the workflow's input, review and output interface, with clear controls and explicit empty/error states. Commit related database changes in one transaction. Use version checks for competing edits and an outbox for external notifications; retry delivery independently of saving the record.
Phase 4
Permissions and integration failure. Authorize every record read and mutation on the server using its workspace membership; validate payloads, protect mutations against CSRF, and escape user-authored HTML. Request integration credentials and permissions only for the enabled feature; show a disconnected state instead of mock results.
Phase 5
Portable handoff. Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Include setup, operating limits, fixture walkthrough and shutdown/restart instructions in the README.
Phase 6
Acceptance scenarios. Replay a paid webhook and deliver one order; a revoked entitlement cannot generate another signed download URL. Repeat the workflow after restart and with a denied permission or unavailable dependency; show recoverable failure rather than a success placeholder.
WORKING SLICE Create a small digital-file storefront using Stripe Checkout, verify payment webhooks and give buyers expiring download links. Add an operator view for resend and refund-status reconciliation. Build this scoped Sellfy-inspired workflow with a documented data model and visible failure states. Architecture - Next.js App Router and TypeScript for server-rendered pages and validated mutations. - PostgreSQL with Drizzle migrations; Better Auth sessions for a small private workspace. Prerequisites and limits A supported Node release, PostgreSQL, HTTPS for a shared deployment, and a backup destination. Begin with one workspace and explicit owner/member permissions. Stripe integration requires the account keys, verified webhook secret and public HTTPS endpoint; start with sandbox fixtures before live payments. Outside this release: Tax determination, print-on-demand and advanced subscription lifecycle rules are separate scope. Data model and correctness digital products, price snapshots, checkout sessions, orders, entitlements and download receipts Invariant: A successful redirect does not grant access; files remain private and repeated payment events do not create duplicate entitlements. Commit related database changes in one transaction. Use version checks for competing edits and an outbox for external notifications; retry delivery independently of saving the record. Security and privacy Authorize every record read and mutation on the server using its workspace membership; validate payloads, protect mutations against CSRF, and escape user-authored HTML. Recovery and export Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Implementation order 1. Phase 1 — Scope and fixtures. Implement this bounded workflow: Create a small digital-file storefront using Stripe Checkout, verify payment webhooks and give buyers expiring download links. Add an operator view for resend and refund-status reconciliation. Record prerequisites, select representative user-owned fixtures and document the unsupported features: Tax determination, print-on-demand and advanced subscription lifecycle rules are separate scope. 2. Phase 2 — Durable model. Model digital products, price snapshots, checkout sessions, orders, entitlements and download receipts Add migrations or a versioned document format, explicit validation, stable IDs and a visible import-error report. Preserve this rule: A successful redirect does not grant access; files remain private and repeated payment events do not create duplicate entitlements. 3. Phase 3 — Complete the first useful path. Implement the workflow's input, review and output interface, with clear controls and explicit empty/error states. Commit related database changes in one transaction. Use version checks for competing edits and an outbox for external notifications; retry delivery independently of saving the record. 4. Phase 4 — Permissions and integration failure. Authorize every record read and mutation on the server using its workspace membership; validate payloads, protect mutations against CSRF, and escape user-authored HTML. Request integration credentials and permissions only for the enabled feature; show a disconnected state instead of mock results. 5. Phase 5 — Portable handoff. Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Include setup, operating limits, fixture walkthrough and shutdown/restart instructions in the README. 6. Phase 6 — Acceptance scenarios. Replay a paid webhook and deliver one order; a revoked entitlement cannot generate another signed download URL. Repeat the workflow after restart and with a denied permission or unavailable dependency; show recoverable failure rather than a success placeholder. Acceptance Replay a paid webhook and deliver one order; a revoked entitlement cannot generate another signed download URL. Use real source data or clearly labeled fixtures. Explain unsupported input and provider failures; do not fabricate analytics, delivery receipts, accuracy claims or security guarantees. Optional agent guidance Optional external skill: [vercel-react-best-practices](https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/react-best-practices/SKILL.md) — Improve React and Next.js data fetching, rendering, bundle size and server performance. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Optional external skill: [supabase-postgres-best-practices](https://github.com/supabase/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/supabase-postgres-best-practices/SKILL.md) — Review PostgreSQL schemas, queries, indexes, pooling, concurrency and row-level security. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Optional external skill: [web-design-guidelines](https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/web-design-guidelines/SKILL.md) — Review web interfaces for accessibility, keyboard focus, forms, navigation and interaction quality. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Optional external skill: [stripe-best-practices](https://github.com/stripe/ai/blob/main/skills/stripe-best-practices/SKILL.md) — Plan Stripe checkout, subscriptions, webhooks, platform payments and secure API integration. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Project rule — data model: digital products, price snapshots, checkout sessions, orders, entitlements and download receipts Project rule — preserve this invariant: A successful redirect does not grant access; files remain private and repeated payment events do not create duplicate entitlements. Project rule — acceptance evidence: Replay a paid webhook and deliver one order; a revoked entitlement cannot generate another signed download URL.
$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter), copy the prompt or copy or download AGENTS.md · generated from this app's build plan
prompt copied. want to know what dies next week?
new verdicts + top votes, weekly. free. one-click out.
Alternatives to building your own
all 3 free alternatives to Sellfy →· no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
Sellfy pricing
| plan | monthly | annual (per mo) | what you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| starter | $39/workspace | $29/workspace | $10,000 annual sales cap; unlimited products; files up to 10 GB.Annual price is $348. |
| business | $79/workspace | $59/workspace | $50,000 annual sales cap; files up to 15 GB; 10,000 email credits.Annual price is $708. |
| premium | $159/workspace | $119/workspace | $200,000 annual sales cap; files up to 20 GB; 50,000 email credits.Annual price is $1,428. |
| high volume | — | — | For more than $200,000 annual sales; custom price and limits.Contact sales. |
free tierno free tier; 14-day trial, but a paid plan is required to sell
billingmonthly + annual; official help also mentions 2-year billing, but current 2-year prices are not published
hidden costsExceeding a plan's annual-sales cap requires an upgrade or triggers a 2% fee on further sales; Stripe/PayPal processing remains separate even though Sellfy charges 0 standard transaction fee.
pricing sources checked 2026-08-14 · pricing source ↗
Questions about Sellfy
Can you build your own Sellfy with AI?
Partly. The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Sellfy, sell digital files and simple subscriptions from a user-owned storefront. The hard boundary is payments, hosted delivery, email, print-on-demand, upsells, and support, plus payments, tax, distribution, and operations.
What does the Sellfy build prompt cover?
The prompt starts with this scope: Create a small digital-file storefront using Stripe Checkout, verify payment webhooks and give buyers expiring download links. Add an operator view for resend and refund-status reconciliation. Full-product capabilities excluded from the comparison include: payments, hosted delivery, email, print-on-demand, upsells, and support; marketplace discovery; tax remittance. Follow the implementation plan and its prerequisites before expanding the build.
How do I use the prompt, AGENTS.md and agent skills?
Start with the Sellfy prerequisites and stack, then copy the prompt into your coding agent. Save the project rules as AGENTS.md in the project root. Linked skills are optional packages or source instructions for specific tasks; review their current contents and install only those matching the chosen stack. A skill does not supply API credentials or verify the finished app.
How long will this Sellfy project take?
The catalogue estimate is multi-day for the limited scope. Setup, integration approvals, debugging, deployment and ongoing maintenance can add time. This is an estimate, not a delivery guarantee.
What would I give up by replacing Sellfy?
payments, hosted delivery, email, print-on-demand, upsells, and support; marketplace discovery; tax remittance; fraud operations; advanced course and community tooling. People still pay for Sellfy because creators pay to outsource the dangerous and tedious parts around money, delivery, tax, and customer access. The recurring cost buys checkout, webhooks, tax, refunds, fraud, entitlements, storage, email, accessibility, backups, and customer support, not just the visible interface.
What price is this guide comparing against?
The recorded Starter plan is $29/mo (monthly), checked 2026-07-31. Check the linked pricing source before buying. Building your own also has hosting, API and maintenance costs; the recorded amount is not a guaranteed saving.
What can I use instead of building Sellfy?
CourseLit: A self-hosted storefront for downloads and memberships; commerce is simpler than Sellfy and operations are not. Vvveb: Digital delivery and subscriptions share one storefront; you also inherit PHP updates. systeme.io: Hosted downloads and recurring offers on a permanent free plan; one-course limits do not matter to a file shop. Compare all listed options at https://howtovibecodeit.dev/sellfy/alternatives. Check each option's license, hosting needs and feature limits.