This guide is for sellers onitch.io who want to know what buyers will seeas they go through each step of the purchase process.itch.io is an indiegame marketplace that lets anyone sell their game instantly. If you don’t havean account or a game for sale yet you can create one now:

There are several ways for a potential buyer to initiate the purchase process.The most common method is through a game’s page on itch.io. Other optionsinclude theembeddable widget and theJavaScript popupAPI. Regardless of the method used, all successful purchaseslead to the game’s download page.

To sell a game on itch.io, you must add a payments account. This can be donefrom theUser Settings page.

The purchase dialog

The purchase dialog can be opened by clicking theBuy Now button located onthe itch.io project page. If the game is priced at $0 or listed as Pay What YouWant, this dialog will appear when you click theDownload Now button.

The purchase dialog contains several noteworthy components. The first thing youmight notice is the input for the amount paid. All purchases on itch.io operateon apay what you want above the minimum basis. The buyer is free to modifythis field to an amount they deem fair. If you've set a default price on theEdit game page, this will be automatically filled in.

Located below the price input, you'll find the file list. If your project hasany individually priced files, they can be selected from this list toautomatically increase the buyer’s payment amount. For instance, in the exampleimage above, a soundtrack is available if the buyer opts to pay $6 or more.Clicking this will set their purchase price to $6 if the amount they'vepreviously decided on is lower.

Learn more about pricing

After the file list, you'll see the tip buttons. These encourage buyers to adda little extra to their purchase with a single click.

Additionally, if the buyer wants to give the project as a gift, they can togglethe gift checkbox.

Lastly, we have the payment buttons. These can vary depending on the methodsconfigured by the seller’s account, and can provide multiple options for thebuyer. Depending on the option chosen, the potential buyer will be taken to thecheckout page of the respective method. (For example, with PayPal, the buyerwill be taken to PayPal.com to complete their payment.)

Upon successfully completing the payment, the buyer is either shown the form tosend a gift if they selected the gift option, or they are redirected to theiraccess page for their purchase.

Learn about payment options & VAT

Accessing the purchase

A successful payment will generate a“Download Key”, which is a unique URL thatgrants access to the product that has been paid for. Here’s what it might looklike:

At the top of the page, there is a detailed description of the transaction andany important information regarding how the download page functions.

It reads:

This page has a unique URL for your purchase. You can always re-download thelatest files from this page. You should have also received an email with a linkto this page. If you ever lose the URL for this page you can request it to beemailed to you from the support page.

As a seller, you can publish new files for your project and they willautomatically be made available on the Download Key page. If you need to notifyyour buyers of a critical or major update, you can use theSend emailfunctionality.

Learn about interacting with your fans

The download key page can include the following components:

• An area to download any files that have been uploaded
• Links to the project’s community page and any other links you have added to your page
• An area to generate an invoice for the purchase via the More dropdown menu
• If the project provides any External Keys, such as a Steam Key, then there is a button to claim access to a key
• Download and install instructions that have been provided on the project edit page are also displayed. If there are specific instructions on how to run or use the project, please provide them.

Additionally, if the buyer doesn’t have an itch.io account, they are given theoption to link their purchase to an account. An itch.io account is notnecessary to purchase something, but it is recommended.

The purchase email

After purchasing a game, the buyer will also receive an email receiptcontaining instructions on how to access their purchase.

It might look something like this:

Thank you for purchasing ‘X-Moon’

You purchased ‘X-Moon’ for $6.00.

If you haven’t gotten the game yet, you can find it on thedownload page.

Your download URL is unique to your purchase. Please do not share it. If youever lose access to the URL you can always re-request it on the itch.iosupport page.

powered byitch.io

Accounts and Purchases

Anitch.io account is not required to make purchases. Each purchase isassociated with an email address. If a user has misplaced their purchaseinformation, they canrequest it to be re-sent to their emailaddress via the support page.

However, we highly recommend creating an account on itch.io. This allows abuyer to organize all their purchases in one place, and access their files intheitch.io app. Purchases can be found on theMy Collections page andcan be easily re-downloaded from there.

Start selling today!

Hopefully this guide clears up any questions about how purchases onitch.iowork. If you have any questions or concerns then don’t hesitate to ask from theitch.io support page.