How do you sell Lightroom presets?
·Founder, Stakk
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26 September 2026
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7 min read
You sell a preset pack the way you sell any small file: put it behind a checkout, say in the listing which version of Lightroom it installs in, and write one plain line about what the buyer may do with the photos afterwards. The format is the part that decides whether a sale turns into a refund request, because the desktop file and the mobile file are not the same file and a lot of listings never say which one is in the box. Checked 13 September 2026.
Presets are a sensible first digital product. You already built them while editing your own photos, the pack costs nothing to reproduce, and the buyer gets something useful in the first minute. The work is all in the packaging.
What are you actually selling when you sell a preset?
A list of slider positions. That is the whole object. A preset carries no pixels and no photo of its own. When the buyer applies it, Lightroom moves their sliders to your numbers and their photo stays underneath.
That is why a preset is not a filter and cannot behave like one. Your numbers were chosen against a particular photo: a certain light, a certain camera, a certain exposure. Drop the same numbers on an indoor shot at high ISO and the result will not look like your sample. Nothing is broken. The preset did exactly what it says.
Two things follow from that. Sell a pack rather than a single preset, because a buyer needs coverage across the photos they actually take, not one look. And show your before and after on more than one kind of photo, including one that is not flattering, so the buyer arrives with the right expectation instead of a disappointment.
What is the difference between the desktop preset and the mobile one?
This is the question that generates support messages, so answer it in the listing rather than the download.
An XMP file is the settings file. It is tiny, it holds no image, and it is imported into the preset panel in Lightroom Classic or desktop Lightroom. A DNG file is an image file that carries develop settings attached to it. The buyer opens the DNG, copies its settings, and pastes them onto their own photo, or saves them as a preset from there.
Desktop Lightroom and the mobile app are separate applications running on separate devices. Installing a preset in one does not put it in the other unless the buyer's presets sync through their Adobe account. So a buyer who edits on a phone and gets only XMP files has a folder of files with nowhere obvious to put them, and a buyer who edits on a laptop and gets only DNGs has a set of photographs they did not want.
The fix costs nothing. Put both formats in the pack, in two clearly named folders, and say so in the first line of the description.
What does a buyer need before your preset will work?
Three things, and it is worth listing them where the buyer reads before paying.
The app, on the device they plan to edit on. Photos in the shape the preset was built for, because a raw file holds far more room in the highlights and shadows than a JPEG does and the same slider positions land differently on each. And a way to unpack the download, since a zip has to be opened before the files inside are usable, and that step is less obvious on a phone than on a laptop.
None of that is your fault, and all of it becomes your problem at 9pm on a Sunday if the listing was vague. Keep the zip shallow, so the buyer is not hunting three folders deep. Name the files in plain words instead of preset_01 through preset_12. Include a single page of install notes with two headings, one for desktop and one for mobile, and no more.
What should go in the download folder?
Less than you think. A desktop folder, a mobile folder, one page of install notes, and a plain text file with your license line in it. That is a complete product.
What does not belong: a forty page PDF nobody opens, a bonus you have not finished, or a folder structure that mirrors how you organize your own drive. The buyer is going to unzip this on their phone.
If you want a bigger order, offer the extra as a paid add-on at the checkout rather than padding the main pack. A second set of presets for a different kind of light is a real add-on, because the buyer who shoots weddings indoors and outdoors genuinely wants both. An order bump puts that choice on the payment screen and charges it in the same transaction, which is why the platforms that ship bumps without a monthly fee are worth knowing about before you pick where to sell.
An order bump in the strict sense: the add-on is optional, it is offered before the charge settles, and accepting it edits the cart rather than starting a second payment.
Personal or commercial use, and who decides?
You do. A license is a sentence you write. The file itself enforces nothing, so whatever you decide only exists because you said it in writing.
Preset packs usually land on one of two shapes. The first lets the buyer use the presets on any photo they edit, including photos they are paid to take. The second limits them to personal photos and asks anyone doing client work to buy a different license. Neither is more correct. The first is simpler to support and the second gives you a second product to sell to the buyers who need it.
What almost nobody grants, on either shape, is the right to resell or redistribute the preset files themselves. If that matters to you, say it plainly in the same sentence.
Then put that sentence in three places: the listing, a text file in the download, and the receipt. Buyers lose downloads and forget listings, and the receipt is the thing that stays in their inbox. This is a commercial decision about your own product, not legal advice, and if you want to know how the rules apply to you where you live, ask someone qualified in your own country. If you are wondering whether any of this needs a company behind it, we wrote about that separately.
What does it cost to sell presets on a marketplace instead of your own store?
Different shape, not simply a different number. A marketplace charges you for being listed. A store charges you for selling.
Etsy's own fees page puts the listing fee at $0.20, charged when the item is listed and, in its words, regardless of resulting sales, with the listing expiring after four months. On top of that is 6.5% of the total order amount, and payment processing is a separate fee whose rate varies by country and is not published on that page. So a shop with forty preset packs pays the listing fee forty times per listing cycle whether anything sells or not.
That is a structural difference worth understanding, not a verdict. Etsy comes with buyers already on it, and nobody can price what that is worth to you. Here is the rest of the field, all of it from each vendor's own page.
| Platform | Fee on a sale | Monthly fee | Card processing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Etsy | $0.20 a listing, plus 6.5% of the order | None | On top, rate varies by country |
| Gumroad | 10% + $0.50 | None | On top, 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Payhip | 5% free, 2% on Plus, 0% on Pro | $0 / $29 / $99 | On top |
| Stakk | 10% + $0.50 | None | Included |
| Systeme.io | 0% | $0 free plan, paid tiers above | Your own gateway's rate |
| Whop | 2.7% + $0.30 | None | Included |
Two lines in that table catch people out. Gumroad's fees article states that its 10% + $0.50 does not include credit card processing at 2.9% + $0.30, so the real all-in rate is higher than the headline. And a 0% platform still pays a card network, so 0% means 0% on top of processing rather than free money. Where the money lands afterwards is a separate question again, covered in our breakdown of who holds your sales.
When is Stakk the wrong choice for a preset shop?
On price, often. Systeme.io charges no transaction fee on any tier including its free one, and Whop takes 2.7% + $0.30 with no monthly cost at all. Against 10% + $0.50 those are cheaper, and if the cheapest per-sale rate is what you are optimizing for then one of those two is your answer and we are the wrong choice. What they do not have is the shape of our checkout: the bump rides the same charge as the product so it carries one fee rather than two, the post-purchase upsell is one tap against the card already on file, and both are on every account with nothing behind a tier. That layout came out of funnels that ran for agency clients before Stakk existed.
Some of it is not about price at all. Stakk has no subscription billing, so a monthly preset club is not something you can run here. It has no course hosting, so an editing course delivered as lessons belongs somewhere else. Prices are US dollars only and cap at $999, and if you want to sell from a bio page with your other links on it, the link in bio comparison is a better starting point than this page.
Ready to put your preset pack behind a checkout?
If your XMP and DNG folders are zipped and you have a price in mind, that is the whole prerequisite. Upload the pack, set the price, add the second light set as an order bump on the payment screen, and send the link. Stakk is 10% + $0.50 a sale with card processing included and no monthly fee, the charge is created on your own Stripe account so the money reaches your bank rather than a balance we hold, and a preset pack is usually live in about ten minutes.