Price study notes by defining what the buyer receives, then calculate what remains after platform and payment-provider fees. A short summary and a complete revision guide can have different prices because their scope, review effort and support differ. Page count alone is a weak pricing rule.
This worked example compares one €8 summary with one €24 revision guide. Prices and product specifications are hypothetical, not market averages or evidence that either product will sell. All calculations concern individual sales, not forecast revenue.
Define two offers before comparing prices
| Offer | Fictional scope | Preview | Example price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-topic summary | 12-page PDF, glossary and original practice questions | Contents and two included pages | €8 |
| Revision guide | 48-page PDF across four named topics, practice and answers | Contents and one representative topic extract | €24 |
Four topics are not automatically four separately reviewed books. Describe overlap: if the €24 guide includes the €8 summary, tell buyers before they purchase both. Do not manufacture value by counting the same pages twice or inventing a crossed-out former price.
For a concrete product brief, see selling original nursing study notes. The same pricing approach works for other subjects when the material is yours to sell.
Separate the platform fee from PayPal processing
For this example we assume a Netherlands-based merchant receiving an eligible domestic EUR commercial PayPal payment. PayPal's Dutch merchant fee schedule, checked on 14 November 2026, lists 3.40% plus €0.35 for the relevant “all other commercial transactions” category. This is not a worldwide PayPal rate or a quote for every checkout route. Other payment types, account agreements, international payments and currency conversion can change the cost.
PayRequest Free charges 2% for standard payments, capped at €25 per transaction. The cap does not affect our €8 and €24 examples. Digital products are available on Free. Use your actual provider agreement and the current PayRequest plan terms before deciding.
| One standard sale | €8 summary | €24 guide |
|---|---|---|
| Customer payment | €8.00 | €24.00 |
| Free platform fee, 2% | €0.16 | €0.48 |
| Example PayPal fee, 3.40% + €0.35 | €0.62 | €1.17 |
| Remainder after those two fees | €7.22 | €22.35 |
Provider amounts are rounded to cents: €8 × 3.40% + €0.35 = €0.622, modeled as €0.62; €24 × 3.40% + €0.35 = €1.166, modeled as €1.17. Actual settlement and rounding may differ. The remainder excludes applicable tax, refunds, disputes, exchange costs, production, editorial review and support. It is not net profit.
The fixed €0.35 has a larger proportional effect on a cheap summary. That helps explain why selling many tiny fragments can be inefficient; it does not prove that buyers prefer a bundle.
Use the formula with your own inputs
For a standard payment on Free, let P be the customer payment, r the provider percentage as a decimal and f its fixed charge:
Below the platform cap, a desired remainder R gives a simplified price P = (R + f) ÷ (1 − 0.02 − r), before rounding and all excluded costs. For R = €10, r = 0.034 and f = €0.35, P is about €10.94. This solves an arithmetic target; it does not establish that €10.94 is a commercially suitable price or handle tax-inclusive pricing.
Download the editable pricing worksheet. Replace the provider assumptions and add your actual tax and operating costs separately.
Compare Free with a paid plan without assuming sales
Active Premium costs €5/month and Business €20/month; each removes standard platform payment fees while active. Provider fees remain. Commission-payment exceptions are separate. Paid checkout activates paid access; registration or selecting a plan alone does not.
For ordinary standard payments below the cap, €5 ÷ 2% = €250 in monthly payment volume is the point where the Free platform fee equals the Premium subscription. That is a fee comparison, not a revenue target or recommendation to upgrade. Business includes other published features and should be chosen for actual needs.
At an €8 sale, a paid plan would remove €0.16 of standard platform fee; at €24 it would remove €0.48. Allocate the monthly subscription across actual sales before claiming a per-order saving. When there are no sales, a subscription still costs money.
Make the price understandable before checkout
Show the total the buyer must pay, file format, topics, edition, sample overlap, license, support and any update promise. Check the applicable rules for taxes, consumer information and digital-content cancellation in your market; the remainder table does not calculate those obligations.
Ask interested learners whether the preview solves the stated problem. If the summary is too shallow, improve the scope or explanation before increasing page count. If the guide repeats material they already own, explain the overlap rather than hiding it behind “complete.”
Create one digital product page for each genuinely distinct offer. Link the correct file to its price and verify confirmed payment and delivery. The WhatsApp selling workflow explains how to share that offer without sending every file manually.
Editorial method: AI-assisted text and cover; original arithmetic checked against the stated assumptions on 14 November 2026. No sales, customer income or pricing experiment is claimed.
