If this is useful, a ❤️ helps others find it.
All tests run on an 8-year-old MacBook Air.
I sell Mac apps on Gumroad. Not the App Store — Gumroad, direct to buyers.
Here's the honest account: what the platform is like, what drives sales, and what I'd do differently.
Why Gumroad over the App Store
No code signing requirement. Apple Developer Program costs $99/year. Before you've made $99, that's a high bar. Gumroad accepts unsigned apps.
No 30% cut. Gumroad takes 10% (or less with volume). Apple takes 30%. On a $30 app, that's $3 vs $9 per sale.
No review process. Ship when it's ready. Update when you want. No waiting.
The tradeoff: users see a "cannot verify developer" dialog on first launch. Right-click → Open bypasses it. Some users won't do this. It costs conversions — I'd estimate 15-20% drop-off at that step.
What actually drives sales
Technical articles. Every spike in sales correlates with a published article. Not product announcements — articles about how I built something. "Adobe税を払うのをやめた" (I stopped paying the Adobe tax) outperformed every product post I've written.
Specific problem, specific solution. "PDF tool" is too broad. "Remove metadata from PDFs before sharing" is a specific problem someone is actively searching for. The more specific the problem the app solves, the easier the sales page writes itself.
Price anchoring. Listing a Japanese version and English version separately at slightly different prices helps. The existence of two options makes choosing feel like a decision rather than a yes/no on buying.
What doesn't drive sales
Product Hunt launches. One-day spike, then nothing. Useful for social proof and backlinks, not for sustained revenue.
Generic social media posting. "Check out my new app!" gets ignored. Technical content with a mention of the app at the end works better.
The numbers (directionally)
Articles that perform well drive 5-15 sales in the following week. Product announcements drive 0-3. The difference in effort between writing a good technical article and a product announcement is small. The difference in result is large.
Practical Gumroad tips
- Offer both a Japanese and English listing for Japan-market apps — different buyers find different listings
- Include a clear "how to open on first launch" note in the product description (for the security dialog)
- Respond to every support email — Gumroad shows buyer reviews and support responsiveness matters
- Use the "pay what you want" minimum for free tools to collect emails
Hiyoko PDF Vault → https://hiyokoko.gumroad.com/l/HiyokoPDFVault
X → @hiyoyok