How to Sell a Google Drive File or Folder
Most things people sell digitally are already in Google Drive. The spreadsheet template, the PDF guide, the video course folder, the PSD files, the ZIP of assets. It's all there. The missing piece is just the payment layer.
unseal.link adds that layer. You get a sharing link from Drive, put it behind a Stripe payment wall, and share the payment wall link. Buyers pay, get the Drive link by email, and download. The files stay exactly where they are.
Setting Up the Drive Link
Right-click your file or folder in Google Drive, click Share, and change the access to "Anyone with the link." Set the permission to Viewer (they can download but not edit). Copy the sharing link.
For a more direct download experience (skipping the Drive preview screen), use this URL format: https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=FILE_ID. Replace FILE_ID with the long alphanumeric string from your sharing URL (the part between /d/ and /view). This triggers an immediate download rather than opening a preview first.
Creating the Paywall
Go to unseal.link, paste your Drive URL, set a title and price, and you'll have a shareable paywall link in under 60 seconds. Buyers pay via Stripe; your money goes directly to your Stripe account, and the Drive link lands in their inbox within 30 seconds. No buyer account required, no app to install.
On $49 products sold 200 times, unseal.link's 4.5% fee means you keep $8,813 versus $7,553 on Gumroad. That $1,260 difference is the cost of Gumroad's extra 5.5%, real money that compounds across every product you sell.
Everything That Works
Google Sheets, Docs, and Slides sharing links work directly; buyers get a view-only copy they can download as Excel, Word, or PDF. Uploaded files (PDFs, ZIPs, videos, images, PSDs, AI files, anything) work via the sharing URL. Folders work too; paste a folder sharing link and buyers get access to the entire folder and all subfolders.
For video courses organized in Drive, selling the top-level folder link is a completely valid approach. The buyer gets access to every lesson, every supporting file, every resource in that folder structure. No Teachable setup, no Kajabi subscription, no encoding pipeline. Just a folder and a paywall.
One Real Limitation
Files over 25MB sometimes prompt buyers to sign into a Google account to download, depending on their browser and Google's throttling. In practice most buyers have Google accounts, so this rarely causes friction. For very large files (100MB+), Dropbox direct download links are more reliable for anonymous download; the workflow is identical, just paste the Dropbox link instead.
The Link Sharing Question
Can buyers share your Drive link after purchasing? Yes, and this is the honest tradeoff of using Drive-based delivery. Most legitimate buyers don't, because they understand the value of what they bought. The practical mitigation: change the sharing link periodically, which invalidates old links without affecting the files. Update your unseal.link with the new URL when you rotate.
For high-value products ($100+), consider pairing Drive delivery with a simple license notice on a cover page of the document; this makes the terms clear and creates social friction around sharing.
FAQs
Do I need Google Drive Workspace (paid) to sell files?
No, a free Google account works fine for files up to 15GB total storage. If you're selling large video courses, Workspace's extra storage might be worth it, but it's not required.
Can I sell a Google Doc directly (not as an uploaded file)?
Yes. Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides sharing links work with unseal.link. Buyers get view access and can download as PDF, Excel, Word, etc.
What happens if I accidentally remove sharing access after someone buys?
Their link stops working. Set a calendar reminder to periodically verify your Drive links are still active, especially for products that have been selling for months.
What's better: Drive link or .zip upload to a file host?
Drive links are simpler and more flexible. The only advantage of a dedicated file host is more predictable download behavior for very large files and better download analytics. For most products under 100MB, Drive is fine.