Fourthwall merch runs on print-on-demand: you design products from its catalogue, set your own selling price, and Fourthwall's production partners make and ship each item after it sells, deducting that product's listed base cost from the sale. Fourthwall's pricing page lists no monthly fee on the Free plan and no platform fee on catalogue or self-sourced products, a 5% fee on digital products that Pro removes, a 5% fee on memberships on both plans, and payment processing of 2.9% plus 30 cents on US card transactions.
This guide treats Fourthwall as a creator storefront: plan differences, where each dollar of a sale goes, payouts, the rules that decide whether it fits, and a launch checklist. If you are weighing Patreon's own programme instead, read our guide to Patreon Merch for Membership; for what digital products to make and how to position them, see selling digital products as a creator. Simple link-in-bio shops are compared in our link-in-bio tools guide.
Free and Pro side by side
| Feature | Free | Pro | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan price | $0 | $19 a month or $180 a year | Pro FAQs |
| Digital product platform fee | 5%, with 5 GB of storage | 0%, with up to 100 GB | Pricing page |
| Membership platform fee | 5% | 5%, unchanged by Pro | Pro FAQs |
| Product limit | 50 products; accounts opened before 25 August 2025 keep what they already published | 500 products, a fixed cap | Pro FAQs |
| Team members | Up to 2, counting yourself | Unlimited | Free FAQs |
| Sample credit | None | $10 a month that keeps accumulating while you stay on Pro | Pro FAQs |
The pricing page's yearly view shows Pro at $15 a month, which is the annual price spread across twelve months; the Pro FAQs give the monthly price as $19. The same FAQs make two points that matter for margins: Pro's 0% digital fee does not remove payment processing, and fees lock at checkout, so upgrading never changes the fees on earlier orders.
Where the money goes on each sale
The pricing page's example keeps things simple: a T-shirt with a $10 base cost sold for $22 leaves $12 profit. That example leaves out processing. Fourthwall's transaction fees article says processing is charged on the total the customer pays, including shipping and sales tax, and its worked example puts the card fee on a $33.50 order at $1.27. The rate also depends on how the customer pays:
| Payment method | Domestic | International | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card, Apple Pay or Google Pay through Stripe | 2.9% + $0.30 | 3.9% + $0.30 | Transaction fees |
| PayPal checkout | 3.49% + $0.49 | 4.99% + $0.49 | Transaction fees |
| Buy now, pay later, off unless you enable it | 6% + $0.30 | 7% + $0.30 | Transaction fees |
Digital products work differently again. The same article says the 5% Free-plan fee is calculated on the original list price, not the discounted checkout amount, so a promo code lowers what the customer pays and the processing fee but not the platform fee. Self-sourced products carry no platform fee, though you take on support and returns for them.
Shipping is passed through to customers at checkout, and Fourthwall's page on shipping costs points you to each product's Delivery by section for live rates. Its creator tax information says Fourthwall is the merchant of record, collecting and remitting sales tax and VAT, which leaves you responsible for income tax on what you are paid.
A margin worksheet for one product
Run each product through this before you publish it. Use the base cost shown in the product editor and the processing rate for the payment method most of your buyers use.
| Line | What to enter | Calculation or source |
|---|---|---|
| A. Selling price | The price you set for the item | Your decision |
| B. Discount | Any promo code or sale amount you expect to run | Zero if you never discount |
| C. Base cost | The catalogue cost, your own unit cost if self-sourced, or nothing for digital | Product editor, Learn more panel |
| D. Shipping and tax paid by the buyer | The typical shipping charge and sales tax on one order | Delivery by section and a test checkout |
| E. Processing | Percentage plus flat fee for the usual payment method | Rate multiplied by (A minus B plus D), plus the flat fee |
| F. Platform fee | Only for digital products on Free, or memberships | Fee rate multiplied by A for digital; by the tier price for memberships |
| G. Profit per unit | What one sale leaves you | A minus B minus C minus E minus F |
| H. Sample spend | What you pay to order and check samples | Spread across the units you expect to sell, less any Pro credit |
The product editor's profit popup has a checkbox to include estimated processing, which gives you line G for a full-price card sale. The worksheet adds what the popup cannot know: your discounts, your buyers' payment habits and your sample costs.
Payouts: monthly, after a one-time review
Fourthwall's guide to payout timing and schedules says payouts are automatic through Stripe Connect, go out by the 3rd business day of each month for the previous month's earnings, and need a balance of at least $25. You cannot be paid more than once a month, payouts arrive in the currency of your Stripe Connect country, and a failed payout is not resent until you fix your bank details and contact support. Returns, refunds or chargebacks that push the balance negative must be recovered before payouts resume.
Before the first payout, every new shop goes through a one-time manual check. Fourthwall's page on site verification says you can keep selling meanwhile, and that live products, a completed setup checklist, a custom domain, an About section and a connected social channel help the review along. One small inconsistency: the how you get paid page lists faster, more frequent payouts as a Stripe Connect benefit, while the schedule page says one payout a month. Plan around the schedule.
Memberships and digital products
Fourthwall memberships bill each member on their own sign-up date. Its guide to membership billing and renewals says a failed renewal is retried over several days while the member keeps their perks, that the subscription is cancelled only if every retry fails, and that subscriptions cannot be paused. For EU members, the tax page says VAT is added on top of the tier price on every charge.
Moving a Patreon membership across is possible but partial. Fourthwall's guide to importing content from Patreon says posts, tiers and media can be brought over through a request form or a call with its team rather than a self-serve upload, but member lists, comments, reactions and earnings history stay behind, so every member has to subscribe again. It also says only published tiers priced at $1.00 or more are imported, and imported posts go live with notifications switched off.
For downloads, Fourthwall's guide to selling digital products includes a privacy warning worth repeating: image files carrying GPS coordinates in their EXIF data trigger a sensitive location warning on upload. Strip location data from every photo before you sell or share it, on Fourthwall or anywhere else.
Rules that decide whether Fourthwall fits
- Fourthwall's community guidelines require users to be 18 or older and ban sexually explicit material across the whole platform, including paid or gated membership posts, with no adult content programme to unlock.
- Products using someone else's logos, characters, music or photos need signed authorisation from the rights-holder, submitted to support, and should stay hidden until approved.
- Service-based products such as consulting are banned, along with sweepstakes and selling contact lists, and everything you sell must be delivered through Fourthwall itself.
- Fourthwall's legal terms FAQ says you keep ownership of your designs and your customer data.
- The same FAQ says Fourthwall covers chargebacks on catalogue products, but you pay lost disputes on self-fulfilled and digital products, plus a $15 dispute fee.
- Fourthwall's returns policy refuses returns for change of mind or size preference on made-to-order items, and replaces verified defects reported within 30 days at no cost to your balance.
Store launch checklist
- Choose catalogue products whose fulfilment regions are close to where most of your buyers live.
- Price every product with the margin worksheet, including your expected discounts.
- Order samples and check print quality, colours and sizing before you announce anything.
- Upload only designs you own or hold signed licences for, and keep licensed products hidden until Fourthwall approves them.
- Remove location data from photos and files you plan to sell or use in listings.
- Select the right product category for each listing, because Fourthwall uses it to calculate sales tax.
- Connect Stripe with the country your bank is in, and check that the account name matches.
- Finish the setup checklist, add an About section and connect a social channel before your first payout date.
- If you add memberships, decide tiers and perks knowing members cannot pause and the platform fee applies.
- For anything you ship yourself, plan to upload tracking numbers and HS codes for every order.
- Link the shop from your bio and channel pages, and tell your audience what is made to order.
Fourthwall's pricing page also offers donations with no platform fee beyond processing. If what your audience wants is to send you gifts rather than buy products, a wishlist works differently, as our Throne wishlist guide explains. Other options are compared in our Patreon alternatives guide and across the Patreon and other platforms hub.
Limitations of this guide
Prices, fees and policies here come from Fourthwall's pricing page and help centre as they read on 1 October 2026. Base costs vary by product and change over time, processing rates differ outside the methods listed, and the pricing page and help articles describe some figures differently. We have not run a Fourthwall store ourselves for this guide, so treat the worksheet as a planning tool rather than a promise of profit, and check live figures in your dashboard before you price.
Intellectual property and tax points are general information. If a design draws on someone else's work, talk to an IP lawyer, and ask a registered tax agent or accountant how to record payouts, sample costs and currency conversion where you live.