Sell presets online
Presets are close to the perfect digital product: tiny files, made once, sold forever, and bought by an audience photographers already have. They're also the easiest thing to copy and share, which shapes almost every decision about how you sell them.
Package it as a product, not a file
A folder of .xmp files is not a product; it's an attachment. What people actually buy is a look they can apply to their own photos and get a predictable result. So the package matters: name the pack, show before-and-after examples on varied photos (not just your three best shots in perfect light), state which software and versions it works with, and include a short guide on installing and adjusting for exposure.
That last part matters more than sellers expect — most refund requests on preset packs come from someone who applied a preset to an underexposed photo, got a bad result, and concluded the product was broken.
Where to sell them
Marketplaces bring browsers but bury you among thousands of identical-looking packs, and competition there is on price rather than quality. Your own store gives control at the cost of a subscription and a build.
For most preset sellers the audience already exists on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube — the pack sells because people saw your photos and want that look. In that case a direct link in the bio or a DM is the shortest path, and the marketplace's discovery function is one you're not using anyway.
What to charge
Single presets sell badly; packs of 8–20 built around one coherent look sell far better, because a pack reads as a system while a single preset reads as a filter. Anchor to the outcome — consistent, recognisable edits without hours of manual work — rather than to the cheapest bundle on a marketplace, which is usually a 200-preset dump nobody uses.
The resharing problem
Preset files are a few kilobytes. They get passed around in group chats, and no technology prevents that. What does change behaviour is traceability: watermarking the included guide with the buyer's reference, capping downloads per purchase, and using links that expire. A leak that points back to a specific purchase is a very different situation from one that's anonymous.
The other half of the answer is that people who share your pack for free were mostly never going to buy it, and the customers who matter — the ones who want updates, new packs, and your next thing — respond to being treated well, not to being locked down.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to sell presets for both mobile and desktop?
Offering both removes an objection at basically no cost, since the same look can be exported in both formats. Being explicit about compatibility up front also prevents the most common refund request there is.
How many presets should be in a pack?
Enough to cover a range of lighting situations within one coherent look — usually somewhere between eight and twenty. Bigger dumps sell worse, because a buyer facing two hundred options can't tell what they're actually getting.
Can I sell presets I made from someone else's tutorial?
The settings themselves aren't generally protectable, but the packaging, name, sample images and copy are — so copying someone's product is a problem even when the underlying adjustments aren't. Build the look yourself and present it as yours.
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Package the look, price the pack, share the link.
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