It's easy to sell downloads of your music on Bandcamp. All it requires is a PayPal account and a few minutes to complete setup.
Sign up for a PayPal Premier or Business account.
If you're signing up for a Business account, you will be asked for customer service contact information. If you plan on using this PayPal account exclusively for Bandcamp, enter the following email and phone number, which go to us, not you (if you use the account for multiple sites, leave your customer service contact info as-is, and in the unlikely event you receive a Bandcamp-related support message from one of your fans, just forward it to us at the address below):
You can also access those settings by going to Profile > Business Information > Edit. The Profile link is a bit confusing; it has a drop-down menu with a few choices, but you have to click the link to see the full set of options. That is, click Profile itself, not any Profile menu options.
Activate your PayPal account.
After you sign up for a PayPal account, PayPal sends you a verification email. Click the link in that message to confirm your email address and activate your account.
Give Bandcamp permission on PayPal to sell stuff for you.
PayPal requires that you give us what's called "API access," which just means that we can act as an online store for you. Here's how:
Tell us which PayPal account to use.
Your music is now for sale on Bandcamp!
Unless you've changed the defaults, all encodings are now available for purchase.
To change payment settings for a track or album, first make sure you're logged in. Visit the track or album page on your Bandcamp site, click Edit, and modify the settings under enable download. You can choose whether downloads are free or for purchase, and how much they cost (either fixed price, or "name your price" with a minimum you specify).
Each time a fan purchases your music on Bandcamp, you'll receive confirmation emails from both Bandcamp and PayPal. The money will be deposited into your PayPal account. You can export your sales data from Bandcamp on your Stats > Downloads page. Each sale will also appear in your PayPal transaction history.
PayPal's standard transaction fee works out to about 33 cents for a $1 payment and 45 cents for a $5 payment (in U.S. dollars). Luckily, they provide an alternative designed for lower-priced items called the "micropayments rate." Using micropayments, the fee is 10 cents for a $1 payment and 30 cents for a $5 payment. If you anticipate that most of your sales will be $12 USD and below, we highly recommend you sign up for micropayments.
But first, a caveat: PayPal allows you to use only one rate at a time. After you switch a PayPal account to micropayments, all items sold via that account (through Bandcamp or elsewhere) will use the new rate. If you happen to sell a lot of items priced more than $12 USD, you'll notice the micropayments fee will be a bit higher than the standard fee. (One way to work around this restriction is to use two PayPal accounts, one with micropayments for your Bandcamp sales and another with the standard rate for the other, higher-priced transactions.)
You can sign up for micropayments at any time. There's nothing to do on Bandcamp; just head to the PayPal Micropayments site and sign up. Your choice isn't permanent: you can switch back to the standard rate by contacting PayPal. (Please note that PayPal’s micropayments site doesn’t work properly in Safari. You’ll need to use either Firefox or IE to sign up.)
Also see our general FAQ.
What do my fans need to do to buy my downloads?
All they need is a credit card or PayPal account (any account type will do) and to reside
on or near the planet Earth.
Can I continue to sell my music on iTunes/Amazon/CDBaby/EtCetera?
Of course! Distribute your music wide and far. You can even provide a link on your
Bandcamp pages to where fans can buy physical discs.
I want to sell my music on Bandcamp, but when I sign up for a PayPal business
account, they require me to provide a customer support phone number and email
address. I already entered 1-800-UP-YOURS and asdf@wer3e.com, but perhaps you have
a better suggestion?
Yes.
How often do I get paid?
Every time a fan buys a download, the money is deposited in your PayPal account.
How much is PayPal's transaction fee?
See our micropayments discussion for more information.
What is Bandcamp's role in each sale?
We facilitate transactions between you and your fans. The money doesn't
pass through our hands: it moves directly from the fan to you.
Does Bandcamp take a cut?
The answer for now: no! The answer in the future: maybe!
See our general FAQ for more information.
What about taxes?
Since Bandcamp merely serves as the facilitator and never touches any of the funds transferred between your fans and you, it is your responsibility and solely your responsibility to remit the appropriate taxes (income, sales, VAT, property, estate or otherwise) to the appropriate taxing agency. We recommend that you consult your personal tax advisor regarding the best approach.
How can I see what music I've sold?
You'll see recent transactions on your PayPal account's main page. You
can click History for the full, searchable list.
Is there anything else I should know?
No. Now go back to making sweet, sweet music.