Using ConvertKit Commerce, you can sell digital downloads, premium newsletters, and so much more. With all of these options for your products, you will likely also need flexibility in how you determine your pricing.
If so, try this payment option: Pay What You Want.
It lets your customers choose their price! 💸
This is a great option for selling your product if:
You want to build trust with your customers by giving them control
Your customers have varied budgets but still want to support you
You're not sure what to price your product yet
To set up Pay What You Want, go through the steps of creating a product as usual.
But under the Product Price step, select the Pay what you want pricing method.
Then, enter your product's:
Minimum price: Your buyers can always offer to pay you more for your product—this is simply the minimum amount you’ll accept.
Currency
☝️ NOTE: PWYW is the only pricing option where you can set the product’s price at $0, or anything at/above $1. (The minimum amount for other options, like standard and subscription pricing, is $5.)
However, the minimum price for Pay What You Want products cannot be between $0 and $1, as the transaction fees would be higher than the purchase price.
After that, finish the remaining steps for creating your product.
Here's what your Pay What You Want product will look like to customers:
How to change the minimum price
Want to set a higher or lower minimum price? Here's how:
1. Open your product in the product builder, and then click the Settings option.
2. Under Product Details, set a new minimum price:
3. Hit the Save button!
FAQs
Can I offer discounts using Pay What You Want?
Nope! Discounts and PWYW are mutually exclusive. (Why discount something when you can set the price at $0, or let your customer make an offer?)
If you prefer to set a standard price for your product and then offer a discount for it, learn how to set up discounts here.
Is the checkout experience the same?
Checkout can be slightly different if the buyer offers less than your minimum OR if the buyer tries to skip entering a price.
Wait, customers can SKIP setting a price?
Yes. Buyers have the option of not entering an amount in the price field before clicking the "Buy" button.
In this scenario, they'll be directed to the checkout page, which will automatically default to the minimum price you've set:
If you set your minimum price to 0, the checkout will be for $0.
If you set your minimum price as $50, the checkout will be for $50.
Additionally, the amount sent to Stripe for processing will always show at the top of the checkout page—so, there's no chance for surprises.
What if customers try to pay less than my minimum price?
The transaction will be denied, and the buyer will be prompted to try again.
Let’s say your set minimum price is $9, but the buyer offers $5 and clicks the "Buy" button.
The buyer will still go to the checkout page and be prompted to enter their credit card information for the $5 charge. It will look like the charge is going through—but in the end, they’ll get an error about failing to meet the product’s minimum price.
If the buyer wants to course-correct, they can click the back arrow next to the "Order Summary" title to offer a new price equal to or more than your minimum price.
Need more information on setting up payments? Check out this guide below! 👇