Digistore24 alternative: sell in your own name instead of through a reseller

For sales in your own name, yes; for the reseller model, no. As long as Digistore24 resells your product, Digistore24 issues the invoice and you don't need invoicing software for that. Rechnungskit is the alternative if you want to be the seller yourself: your own checkout link, payment through your provider, your own e-invoice, GoBD archive and DATEV bookings. You don't get the affiliate marketplace, order bumps, upsells, installments or debt collection with it.

Yes, the two work well side by side. Products that live off affiliates from the Digistore24 marketplace stay there; sales to your own list, newsletter or existing customers run through the Rechnungskit checkout. For the Digistore24 sales, Digistore24 issues the invoice and you book the credit note; for the sales through Rechnungskit, you issue the invoice yourself. Rechnungskit doesn't pull any data from Digistore24, so no second invoice is created for the same sale. Your sales to Digistore24 go to a business in Germany and therefore don't count toward the €10,000 threshold for sales to consumers in other EU countries (§ 3a Abs. 5 Satz 3 UStG); only your own sales count toward it.

They stay where they are. Rechnungskit doesn't import or archive invoices created elsewhere; you keep meeting your retention duty for old documents (eight years under § 14b (1) UStG and § 147 (3) AO) in your previous system. What Rechnungskit can pull in are past orders and payments from your connected shops and payment providers, which then become new, validated invoices. For the number sequence, you set the number Rechnungskit continues from, so nothing overlaps with your old documents.

Documents are stored tamper-proof and unchangeable for eight years for as long as your account exists (WORM archive with checksums). Eight years is the retention period for invoices and accounting records (§ 14b (1) UStG, § 147 (3) AO); the requirements for the archive are set out in the GoBD. You can export them at any time, and for 90 days free of charge after you cancel. The final assessment of your process documentation (Verfahrensdokumentation) is up to your tax advisor.

Digistore24 keeps a margin of 7.9% of the gross price plus €1 per sale for the part of the price up to €400; above that it is 4.9%, with prepayment 2.9%. There is no base fee. On top come €0.60 or €1 per return, €12 to €50 per returned debit, 2% per payout to PayPal and, if you use it, €0.25 per started gigabyte and purchase for the download vault. For a €97 course that is €8.66 per sale. If you sell yourself, you pay your payment provider's fee, with Stripe 1.5% + €0.25 for standard EEA cards, so €1.71, and Rechnungskit by documents, €24 net at 100 sales a month (as of October 14, 2026).

Digistore24 buys your product and resells it to the buyer in its own name and for its own account. This is also called merchant of record. That makes Digistore24 your buyers' contracting party: the invoice comes from Digistore24, Digistore24 owes the VAT on the sale, and returns and questions about the order go through Digistore24 support. You have exactly one customer, Digistore24, and get a credit note with every payout. With Rechnungskit you are the seller yourself: your name and number sequence are on the invoice, the money runs through your payment provider, and you owe the VAT.

Yes, just differently than when you sell yourself. With Digistore24 there are two sales. Digistore24 makes the sale to the buyer and owes the VAT on it; for electronic services to consumers the rate of the buyer's country of residence applies (§ 3a Abs. 5 UStG). You make the sale to Digistore24; for digital products that is a service to a business based in Hildesheim, taxable in Germany (§ 3a Abs. 2 UStG). As a VAT-registered business based in Germany you get the payout with 19% VAT and remit it yourself; Digistore24's credit note serves as your invoice (§ 14 Abs. 2 Satz 5 UStG). If you sell yourself, you owe the VAT on every sale. Once your sales to consumers in other EU countries exceed €10,000 a year, the rate of the consumer's country applies there (§ 3a Abs. 5 Satz 3 UStG), which you report together through the OSS scheme (§ 18j UStG). Rechnungskit monitors the threshold and delivers the evaluation. How the income counts for income or corporate tax is a question for your tax advisor.

On up to four dates a month, the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th, once your payout threshold is reached: at least €50 on the 7th and €200 on the other dates. 90% of your earnings are released 14 days after the purchase, for products over €300 after 30 days; Digistore24 holds back 10% as a security reserve for 60 days. For PayPal purchases through Digistore24 GmbH, the reserve has been temporarily raised to 30% since August 13, 2025. After the payout date it can take up to ten business days for the money to arrive. With Rechnungskit, payment runs directly through your contract with Mollie, Stripe, PayPal or Unzer; when the provider pays out is set by its payout schedule, not by Rechnungskit.

With Digistore24, the payout statements: per payout a credit note for your sales to Digistore24, an invoice for the fees if there were returns or returned debits, and a payment summary, as PDF and XML. The help center doesn't describe a DATEV format or booking records. With Rechnungskit, every invoice as a booking record in DATEV format with a Beleglink, plus your payment provider's payouts broken down into revenue by tax rate, fees and money in transit; your tax advisor downloads them directly in the tax advisor portal. Digistore24 means fewer bookings, Rechnungskit means finished ones. Ask your tax advisor which they prefer.

Yes, that's what the Rechnungskit checkout is built for. You create the course as a product, set the price and tax rate and get a link (checkout.rechnungskit.de/c/your-course) for your sales page, newsletter or bio; for subscriptions there is a separate link per plan, with a trial if you want, and your customers manage their subscription in the customer portal. Payment happens on your provider's payment page, and the e-invoice is created right after payment. If your course lives in Memberspot or Ghost, Rechnungskit grants access after payment itself and removes it after a full refund or when the subscription ends. For other course platforms, webhooks go to Zapier, Make or n8n. Rechnungskit doesn't host download files; you deliver the download link through a webhook.

All three are sales platforms for digital products with checkout, affiliates, funnels and installments. Digistore24 always sells as a reseller and keeps 7.9% plus €1 per sale (as of October 14, 2026); in return it promotes its affiliate marketplace with 8,000 products in 44 niches. CopeCart also sells as a reseller, for 4.9% plus €1 per sale (as of September 11, 2026). With ablefy you choose between selling in your own name with a PDF invoice and the reseller model through its partner namotto, from €27 a month plus 2.7% + €0.50 per payment, net. Rechnungskit is for selling in your own name: your own checkout link, e-invoice, archive and DATEV bookings, without affiliates and funnels. The comparisons with CopeCart and ablefy are linked below.

You set up new sales as products in the Rechnungskit checkout and replace the buy button on your site with the new link. Running subscriptions and installment plans are contracts between Digistore24 and your buyers; the Digistore24 help center doesn't describe handing these subscriptions or the payment data over to you. The buyer terms only cover, in § 6, the case where your contract with Digistore24 ends: then Digistore24 may terminate running contracts with two weeks' notice. So let existing subscriptions run out at Digistore24 and win new customers through your own checkout. Before you terminate the vendor contract, check with Digistore24 what happens to running subscriptions. The old credit notes stay there as records.

From the providers' publicly available sources, checked on October 14, 2026, with footnotes for each row. Where we found no reliable source, the table says "Not documented". If you spot a mistake, write to support@rechnungskit.de and we'll correct it and re-date the page.