Just adding to that (especially for software): not only was the development overhead minimal: I think setting up the shop, integrating the license key generation, determining all the pricing etc. took like 1 day including testing?! The savings on accounting were also significant. Had we been the direct seller, we would have driven the (tax) auditors fee ad absurdum. E.g., we would have needed a tax id in every EU state we are selling to, the tax audits would have taken ridiculously long and cost a lot, the paper trail (every sale an invoice that has to be kept on record...).
Instead: we only booked 2 revenues per month and that was it. We were not liable for the taxes, everything was taken care of.
I do think that purchasing these services makes small & large gigs easier than ever. Highly recommend.
I personally used Fastspring. I cannot talk about Stripe or Shopify. They also model your “shopping page” to fit in with everything else. So your customers have a consistent experience.
Instead: we only booked 2 revenues per month and that was it. We were not liable for the taxes, everything was taken care of.
I do think that purchasing these services makes small & large gigs easier than ever. Highly recommend.