SAAS PAYMENTS
How to Sell Digital Products Globally and Handle VAT
Anyway Team
· 7 min read ·
To sell digital products globally, publish a clear product and price, choose who will be the legal seller, use a checkout that can determine buyer location, collect applicable VAT or sales tax, confirm the paid order on your server, deliver the product once, state the refund terms, and receive net revenue through a supported payout route.
The global launch checklist
Define the digital product and delivery method.
Publish the product, price, support contact, and refund terms.
Choose a direct-seller or Merchant of Record model.
Create a hosted payment link.
Attach a stable purchase reference.
Verify payment before delivery.
Handle VAT, GST, and sales tax through the legal seller.
Reconcile the order and request the payout.
Step 1: Define exactly what the buyer receives
“Digital product” covers very different offers:
SaaS access
Desktop software
Plugins and extensions
Model files and datasets
Prompt or template packs
Online courses and downloadable guides
One-time AI credit packs
Write down the delivery event. A SaaS plan unlocks an account. A download creates a file entitlement. A credit pack adds a fixed balance. The payment system needs a product record that matches that promise.
Avoid mixing unrelated deliverables into one vague listing. Product classification affects checkout, refund handling, and tax treatment.
Step 2: Publish a reviewable product page
The page should show:
Product name and description
Price and currency
One-time or recurring billing
What the customer receives
Delivery timing
Support email
Customer-support and subscription terms
Anyway's Individual and Business onboarding flow asks for an HTTPS product URL, publicly visible pricing, a support email, and clear product information. A complete offer helps the application move through the documented review process.
Step 3: Choose the legal seller
When you sell directly through a payment processor, you or your company normally remain the seller. That means the customer invoice, indirect-tax registrations, filings, remittance, refunds, and disputes belong to your operation.
A Merchant of Record becomes the seller for covered customer transactions. The developer supplies the approved product and receives net revenue after the sale is recorded.
Anyway states that it is the Merchant of Record for covered Business transactions. It calculates, collects, and files applicable sales tax, VAT, and GST and issues the customer invoice.
Read what a Merchant of Record does before choosing the checkout architecture.
Step 4: Create the hosted checkout
Create the product in Anyway Business with the same name, description, price, and currency shown on the website. Publish it and copy the official paymentLinkUrl:
A one-time payment link works for downloads, credit packs, and fixed-price software. A supported recurring Card/USD link works for subscription products.
Put the payment link behind the matching product CTA. If you sell several packs, create a distinct server-side product mapping for each price rather than trusting a query parameter to choose the amount.
Step 5: Attach the purchase to the buyer
Before redirecting to checkout, create a pending purchase in your own database. Append its opaque reference to the payment link:
Anyway keeps those strings in merchantMetadata. Use opaque purchase and user references so the integration stays clean and easy to reconcile.
After payment, retrieve the same values from the order webhook or Merchant API. Match them with the pending purchase on your server.
Step 6: Deliver only after server confirmation
Grant the download after a verified order.paid event or server-side order lookup. Compare the order status, product, amount, currency, and merchant reference. Use webhook-id as the idempotency key so each paid order creates one entitlement.
For high-value downloads, create a short-lived signed URL after confirmation. For SaaS, store the entitlement beside the Anyway order ID. For credit packs, write one ledger transaction keyed by that order ID.
How VAT applies to digital products
VAT treatment depends on what was sold, where the customer belongs, and whether the customer is a business or consumer.
The European Commission states that many business-to-consumer electronic services are taxed where the consumer resides. A direct seller may need buyer-location evidence, business-status checks, the applicable VAT rate, invoice fields, registration, filing, and remittance.
The United Kingdom also has specific rules for digital services supplied to consumers. HMRC's guidance covers consumer location, digital-service classification, evidence, and supplies made through digital platforms.
Canada's digital-economy GST/HST rules can apply to certain non-resident vendors and platform operators selling taxable digital products or services to Canadian consumers.
Using a Merchant of Record places the covered transaction-tax workflow with the legal seller. Anyway states that it handles applicable sales tax, VAT, and GST for its covered Business sales.
Read SaaS sales tax for indie developers for regional examples and the difference between transaction tax and income tax.
Write customer-friendly terms that match digital delivery
Digital products can be consumed immediately, copied, or used over time. The policy should explain:
Whether refunds are offered
The request window
What information the customer provides
Treatment of partial subscription periods
Treatment of consumed credits
What happens when the product is faulty or not delivered
How statutory consumer rights are handled
State the support and refund process in plain language while preserving applicable consumer rights. EU and UK guidance contains specific rules for digital content and immediate delivery, so the final terms should match the product, buyer market, and delivery method.
Use the SaaS and digital-product refund policy guide to draft the operational version.
Receive the global revenue locally
Anyway's current payout documentation lists:
Alipay
Mainland China bank account
US ACH account
UK bank account
Hong Kong USD or HKD bank account
The minimum payout request is $50. Finance shows the total balance, available balance, gross order amount, Anyway fee, net seller amount, and related order ID for eligible posted Card/USD sales.
For the payout workflow, read how SaaS founders receive global revenue locally.
How much does Anyway cost?
Anyway publishes a transaction price of 3.9% + $0.50, with no monthly or setup fee. The current Business page includes the MoR service, tax and compliance, billing, and subscriptions in that plan.
Test the fixed fee against the product price. A bundle often produces better unit economics than many tiny transactions, provided the customer can understand what the bundle contains.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell digital products without a company?
Yes. Anyway supports Individual applications as well as Business applications and provides a documented onboarding route for eligible founders with a ready digital product.
Do I need to register for VAT in every customer country?
The answer depends on the legal seller and applicable rules. A direct seller owns its registration and filing duties. An MoR handles applicable indirect tax for covered transactions under its agreement.
Can one payment link serve many customers?
Yes. Anyway payment links can be reused. Attach a unique merchant_reference to each pending purchase so the resulting order can be matched to the correct buyer and delivery.
Can I sell both subscriptions and downloads?
Yes. Configure separate products and links that match each billing and delivery model. Keep the fulfillment logic tied to the verified product ID.
Can I receive the payout in China?
Anyway lists Alipay and mainland China bank accounts among its supported payout routes for approved merchants.
Publish the product, then test the whole sale
A global product is ready when the buyer can understand the offer, pay the correct seller, receive the product once, obtain a valid receipt, and contact support afterward.
Anyway provides the Merchant of Record sale, hosted checkout, transaction-tax handling, order records, subscriptions, and supported payout routes. Create an Anyway account and test one complete purchase before sending launch traffic.