Affiliate links, dropshipping, merch, digital products or your own shop: which is right for me as a creator?

The seller is whoever concludes the sales contract in their own name. Whoever sells must deliver the goods free from defects in quality and title (§ 433(1) BGB, the German Civil Code). If there is a defect, the buyer can first ask for repair or replacement (§ 439(1) BGB) and, under further conditions, cancel the contract, reduce the price or claim damages (§ 437 BGB). Cancelling usually requires that a reasonable deadline for repair or replacement has passed without success (§ 323(1) BGB). Claims for defects usually become time-barred two years after delivery (§ 438 BGB). In dropshipping, the fact that a supplier packs the parcel does not change this.

With print-on-demand, the contract decides. If the platform sells in its own name and pays you a share, it is the seller. If it only prints the orders from your shop, you are. Its terms and conditions tell you who the seller is. Unless agreed otherwise, there is no right of withdrawal for goods that are not prefabricated and are made to the buyer’s individual choice or specification, such as a shirt with a custom name (§ 312g(2) no. 1 BGB). Under that wording, printing a shirt only after the order is not enough on its own. If someone orders your design as it is, they can usually withdraw.

If you sell to consumers online, you bear the risk of returned goods getting lost after a withdrawal (§ 355(3) BGB). The buyer only pays the direct cost of sending goods back if you told them so beforehand (§ 357(5) BGB). What they paid for delivery you refund as well, up to the cost of your cheapest standard delivery (§ 357(2) BGB). If the information on withdrawal is missing, the period does not start. The right then expires no later than twelve months and 14 days after delivery (§ 356(3) and (4) BGB).

The unit price rule has exceptions: goods under 10 grams or 10 millilitres and cosmetics used solely to colour or beautify, such as nail polish, do not need one (§ 4(3) PAngV). A 50 ml face cream from your own brand, on the other hand, is usually skincare. If it costs €24, for example, the listing also shows €480 per litre. Shirts and hoodies are sold by the piece, not by weight or length, so the rule does not apply to them.

Packaging law changed on 12 August 2026. Since then, the EU Packaging Regulation (EU) 2025/40 and the VerpackDG (Packaging Law Implementation Act) apply instead of the former Packaging Act. The Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (the German packaging register authority) distinguishes two roles: the manufacturer is responsible for the packaging’s conformity, the producer for registration, take-back scheme participation and reporting quantities. If you have packaged goods or packaging made under your name or brand, the authority treats you as both. According to the authority, shipping packaging has to be covered by a take-back scheme without exception. Micro-enterprises (fewer than 10 staff, no more than €2 million annual turnover or balance sheet total) have a narrow exception: if the supplier of the packaging or the packaged goods is based in the same EU country as you, the authority treats the supplier as manufacturer. For shipping boxes with your logo, it names the supplier as both manufacturer and producer.

If the goods in a dropshipping model do not carry your name, as a distributor you make sure before selling that manufacturer details and safety information are present in a language consumers can easily understand (Art. 12(1) Regulation (EU) 2023/988). If you are based in the EU and the goods come from a supplier outside the EU, selling them in your own name can make you the importer (Art. 3 no. 10). You then make sure beforehand that the product is safe and that the manufacturer has met its duties, and you give your name, postal address and email address on the product, its packaging or an accompanying document (Art. 11(1) and (3)). Without an economic operator established in the EU who is responsible for the product, it may not be placed on the market (Art. 16(1)). Whoever sells online also lists, among other things, the manufacturer with contact details, a picture of the product and warnings (Art. 19).

As with print-on-demand: if a platform sells your downloads in its own name, it is the buyer’s contracting party and handles withdrawal and defects. Its terms and conditions tell you who the seller is.

If you sell yourself, the right of withdrawal for downloadable e-books, presets or templates ends early if four things come together: you have started supplying, the buyer expressly agreed that you start before the withdrawal period ends, the buyer confirmed knowing that this ends their right of withdrawal, and you sent a contract confirmation under § 312f BGB (§ 356(6) no. 2 BGB). If any of these is missing, the right of withdrawal remains. A course with live sessions is more likely a service: the right of withdrawal then only ends early once the course has been fully provided and the buyer agreed beforehand and confirmed knowing this (§ 356(5) no. 2 BGB). The two wordings below are meant for downloads and follow § 312f(3) BGB.

Defects in digital products follow their own rules: the buyer can ask for the defect to be fixed and, under further conditions, end the contract, reduce the price or claim damages (§ 327i BGB). Claims usually become time-barred two years after supply (§ 327j BGB).

For VAT, e-books, downloadable images and automated online courses count as electronically supplied services (Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 282/2011). If you sell them to consumers in other EU countries, the VAT of the buyer’s country applies once these sales exceed €10,000 in the previous or the current year (§ 3a(5) UStG, the German VAT Act). Goods you ship from Germany to consumers in other EU countries count towards the same threshold (§ 3c(4) UStG). The threshold applies if you are established only in Germany. You can also opt out of it, and that choice binds you for at least two calendar years (§ 3a(5) sentence 4 UStG). You can report these sales quarterly in one place through the One-Stop-Shop at the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) instead of registering in every country. If dropshipped goods come from outside the EU, § 3c(2) and (3) UStG set separate rules on where the supply is taxed.

I expressly agree that [your shop name] begins performing the contract before the withdrawal period ends. I acknowledge that by giving this consent I lose my right of withdrawal once performance begins.

Before the contract was performed, you expressly agreed that we would begin performance before the withdrawal period ends, and confirmed that by giving this consent you lose your right of withdrawal once performance begins.

1. Earnings: what is left per sale? With affiliate links you get a rate set by the shop or affiliate programme. If you sell yourself, you keep the price minus stock or printing, shipping, fees, returns and taxes. Say you sell a shirt for €25 excluding VAT. Printing and shipping cost €17 together. That leaves €8 before payment fees and returns.
2. Stock: do you want to store, pack and ship goods? If not, that leaves affiliate links, dropshipping, print-on-demand or digital products.
3. Upfront money: how much can you spend before any money comes back? You pay for your own stock before you sell it, print-on-demand produces per order, and affiliate links only cost you time for content.
4. Customer service: who answers questions about delivery, sizes and returns? Whoever sells also handles withdrawals and complaints, and for goods the withdrawal period only starts on delivery (§ 356(2) BGB).
5. Liability: do you want to answer for defects for two years? If not, recommending or selling through a partner that is itself the buyer’s contracting party fits better. Seller and manufacturer are two separate roles, though: for product safety, anyone who places a product on the market under their own name or brand also counts as manufacturer (Art. 13(1) Regulation (EU) 2023/988).

A wyrld storefront needs no stock, and you don’t sign up with any network yourself. You paste the link to a product you use yourself or pick it from the catalogue. wyrld works out the brand, name and variant, looks for the same item across more than 90,000 partner shops, including Amazon, and automatically creates an affiliate link for each offer it finds. If you work with a talent agency, it can maintain your storefront with you from its own dashboard. wyrld deducts the agreed commission share from your earnings and settles it separately.

If wyrld finds a product in several shops, your community sees the offers with prices side by side, and the cheapest new offer carries the “Best price” label. According to Bitkom Research (2022), the lowest price is a decisive factor for 65% of German online shoppers when choosing a shop. Your community usually buys directly from the shop, at no extra cost and with its shipping and returns policy. You earn per click, per sale or both, depending on the shop, receive a credit note at the start of the following month, and wyrld is free for creators.

The creator terms don’t require exclusivity, so from wyrld’s side your existing affiliate programmes or your own shop can carry on. Your own products, such as merch or your own brand, can also be sold through wyrld after separate approval. They run on wyrld’s infrastructure on separate terms. People then order directly from wyrld, wyrld is the seller, and returns go through wyrld too. Manufacturer duties, for example on product safety and packaging, depend on whose name or brand the goods are made and marketed under, not only on who sells them.