Gumroad asked creators a simple question on Twitter: tipping, yes or no? Yes received the largest share of 377 votes. Less than three days later, tipping was live.
Creators on Gumroad had no way to receive tips. Every sale was a fixed transaction, no room for a buyer to say 'hey, I loved this, here's a little extra.' For a platform built around supporting creators, that felt like a missed opportunity.
My role
I defined the problem and explored possible approaches with another designer. I then created the prototype and designed the UI. After launch, I followed public replies from creators and used them to shape the next iteration.
The first release
I designed the tipping flow as part of the existing checkout, adding preset options and a custom amount directly before the pay button. The goal was to make tipping feel natural rather than pushy. The first version offered 0%, 10%, 20%, and a custom amount, with 20% selected by default.
What we learned and changed
With 20% selected by default, tips increased GMV by approximately 4.5%. Public replies from creators revealed that the preselected amount could put pressure on their customers. We replaced 0% with "No tip", changed the options to 15%, 20%, and 25%, and made "No tip" the default. With a 0% default, tips increased GMV by around 0.7%, while the new default better reflected what creators wanted for their customers.
Custom tip
Outcome
Creators began finding unexpected tips in their Gumroad account balances; some even thought there was a bug. Soon, a user shared their experience on Medium.
Looks like I am getting tipped at Gumroad! 💸
First I noticed I am getting sales for $17.99 and not $14.99. I thought something is wrong.
But it's just people giving me $3 tips😅
And just today I got a $5 dollar tip on my $50 book.
