How does the buyer actually get the file?

With their receipt. The moment payment goes through, the email includes a personal download link - theirs alone, good for a set number of downloads and a set time. The file itself never sits at a public address anyone could pass around.

What kinds of file can I sell?

Documents and PDFs, zip archives, audio, video and images - patterns, print files, recordings, e-books. Anything that runs as a program is refused, which protects your buyers as much as you.

Can I limit how many times it's downloaded?

Yes - each product can set its own download limit and expiry; unless you say otherwise, a purchase allows five downloads over thirty days. Attaching or changing a file is a change like any other: it lands as a draft for your approval before buyers see it.

Sell a download - a print file, PDF or pattern

Not everything you sell needs wrapping. A print-at-home file, a knitting pattern, a PDF guide, a recording - on a bernard shop these are products like any other (Add a new product to my shop page), except delivery is instant and the postman never gets involved.

How it works

Upload the file. Use the file upload in your shop - files can't be pasted into the chat itself. It's stored privately with your site, never at a public address.
Attach it to a product. Tell bernard which product delivers which file. The product becomes digital: no postage is charged on it (How do I charge for postage? applies to physical orders only).
Buyers get a link with their receipt. After payment, the receipt email carries a personal download link. Behind it, each click fetches the file through a short-lived address that's useless to share around.

The sensible guardrails

Every purchase comes with a download allowance rather than a forever-link - unless you set your own numbers, that's five downloads over thirty days, which is generous for the honest buyer and unhelpful to the person who posts the link in a group chat. Set your own per product: a limit anywhere up to a hundred downloads, an expiry from an hour to a year. You can also record a short licence note with the product - "personal use only, not for resale" - so the terms of sale are written down with the thing itself.

If a genuine buyer runs out of downloads - a lost laptop, a full year later - you'll see their order and can sort them out; nobody is left stranded by a counter.

Before anyone can buy

Digital or not, selling needs your own Stripe account connected - until then the shop shows its wares as "opening soon" (My shop says 'opening soon' - why can't people buy yet?). Teaching rather than selling files? A course delivers worksheets to enrolled students in much the same secure way - that's its own thing, covered in the courses guides.

The prompt

“Make [the product name] a digital download that delivers [the file you've uploaded], with a download limit of [how many downloads] and the link expiring after [how long].”

Press Copy, then paste it into your AI and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard first - a one-time setup in bernard → your site → Use your own AI.

Questions people ask

How does the buyer actually get the file?: With their receipt. The moment payment goes through, the email includes a personal download link - theirs alone, good for a set number of downloads and a set time. The file itself never sits at a public address anyone could pass around.
What kinds of file can I sell?: Documents and PDFs, zip archives, audio, video and images - patterns, print files, recordings, e-books. Anything that runs as a program is refused, which protects your buyers as much as you.
Can I limit how many times it's downloaded?: Yes - each product can set its own download limit and expiry; unless you say otherwise, a purchase allows five downloads over thirty days. Attaching or changing a file is a change like any other: it lands as a draft for your approval before buyers see it.