Selling through Quilltips Shop

Quilltips Shop lets you sell e-books, print-on-demand paperbacks, and signed copies to readers from your book pages — and take payment in person at book fairs and signings with a QR code or link. This guide covers enabling Shop, creating products, online shipping, in-person checkout, and managing orders.

What you can sell

• E-books — Available on any plan. Free downloads work without Stripe; paid e-books need Stripe Connect.
• Signed copies — Available on any plan. You ship the signed book yourself for online orders, or hand it over at an event.
• Print books — Available on any plan. Quilltips can print and ship a paperback on demand when a reader buys, or you can ship copies yourself. Print-on-demand quotes postage for the reader's address; author-fulfilled orders charge estimated postage.

Online, readers buy from the book page ("Get your copy of…"), not from your author profile. At events, they pay through your in-person checkout link or QR code.

1. Enable Quilltips Shop

Open Shop in the sidebar and enable Shop. You'll confirm platform fees and fulfillment responsibilities before Shop turns on.

Quilltips takes a platform fee on each paid sale — 15% on the free plan, or 10% with Quilltips Plus (the same rates as Support tips). Stripe processing fees are separate. To sell paid products (including in-person checkout), connect Stripe in Settings → Payments. See How to link Stripe Connect as an author.

2. Add products and set prices

From Shop, choose Add product, then pick E-book, Signed copy, or Print book. Each product attaches to one of your paid book pages (one active listing of each type per book).

• Set a title, description (shown on hover for readers), and price. Paid products must be at least $0.50. E-books can be free ($0).
• For e-books, upload the digital file (EPUB or PDF). After purchase or free download, Quilltips emails the reader a time-limited download link. On an upcoming (pre-sale) book, a paid e-book can go active without a file so you can take pre-orders; the file is required before release if you want those readers charged and sent their download. Live books and free downloads still need the file to activate.
• For print-on-demand books, choose a trim and upload interior and cover PDFs, then validate with Lulu before going active. The PDFs must match that trim — see Print-ready PDFs for Quilltips Shop. For signed copies and author-shipped print, set inventory if you want a limited run, and add a cover image if needed.
• Keep products in draft until you are ready, then set them to active so they appear on the book page and in your in-person event catalog.

3. Physical books online

Signed copies and print books are available on any plan once Shop is enabled and Stripe Connect is set up. Readers pay postage on every online physical order. Quilltips prints and ships print-on-demand books. You fulfill signed copies and any print books you choose to ship yourself.

• Online checkout collects a US shipping address and, for physical books, a phone number. Author-fulfilled orders charge estimated postage at checkout (Standard Media Mail or Expedited Priority Mail); that amount is passed through to you as a reimbursement estimate, not a prepaid label. Print-on-demand checkout quotes the print partner's postage for the reader's address; that postage is not added to your payout. Pre-orders on an upcoming book save a card first, disclose Standard shipping, and collect the phone number when the charge runs at release (author-fulfilled products only).
• After payment, you get an email with the ship-to address (author-fulfilled) or a confirmation that Quilltips is printing the book (print-on-demand), plus a link to your orders dashboard.
• For author-fulfilled orders, pack and mail the book yourself. When it's on the way, mark the order shipped and add carrier + tracking so the buyer is notified. Print-on-demand orders are fulfilled by Quilltips — no packing on your part.
• Delivery times for author-fulfilled orders are between you and the buyer; Quilltips does not guarantee shipping speed. Print-on-demand delivery typically takes 1–2 weeks within the US.

For trim sizes, paper, validation, and how retail price relates to postage, see Print-on-demand on Quilltips. For preparing the interior and cover files, see Print-ready PDFs for Quilltips Shop.

Pre-orders on upcoming books

If the book is still in pre-sale, the same active products show as Pre-order on the book page. The reader saves a payment method; they are charged when you tap Release this book, as long as an e-book has its file uploaded. Until then, orders appear as pre-ordered in Shop. Physical pre-orders include Standard shipping in the amount charged at release. You still fulfill signed copies and author-shipped print books yourself after the charge goes through. Print-on-demand is not available as a pre-order. See Pre-sale book pages for notify-me, countdown, and the launch step.

4. In-person sales at events

In-person checkout is available on the Free plan and on Plus — you only need Shop enabled and Stripe Connect set up. Open In-person sales on your Shop page to get a dedicated payment link and QR code.

• Copy the link or download the QR code (PNG) to print for your table, or open the link on your phone to ring up sales.
• Buyers scan or open the link, choose a book from your catalog (set a price for each book at checkout), pick an active signed or print product if you have listings, or enter a manual amount — then pay on their device.
• No shipping address is collected — you hand the book to the buyer at the event.
• Platform fees match online Shop sales (15% Free / 10% Plus, plus Stripe processing). Free authors can list signed-copy and print products, or take payment via editable event prices or a manual amount.

In-person orders appear in your orders list as handed over at the event and are excluded from the Needs shipping filter.

5. Where readers buy online

Active products appear on the book page in a compact Get your copy of… section. Readers pick a format (Print, Signed, or E-book), then buy or download. The hero Buy button on the book page can also start checkout for a primary shop product.

6. Manage orders

Open Shop → View orders. Use the Needs shipping filter for paid signed and print orders waiting to go out online. Copy the address from the table or the mark-shipped dialog, then confirm shipment with optional tracking (USPS, UPS, FedEx, or other).

E-book orders show as delivered digitally. In-person event sales show as fulfilled by handoff and do not need shipping actions.