Free plugin, until it wasn’t

I built my entire storefront around Easy Digital Downloads specifically because it offered free PayPal integration for digital products. That was the whole reason I chose it.

Seven months later, an update added a 3% “Pay as you go” platform fee on top of PayPal’s own processing fees. That fee did not exist when I originally connected my store through EDD to Paypal.

There was no clear warning before this rolled out, and the only way to avoid it now is to pay for an Extended Pass license of $99+. The only fee-free option remaining is manual check payments which not viable for an actual online store making the free version of the plugin completely useless.

If you’re thinking of using EDD because it’s “free,” know that “free” does not cover any real online checkout. PayPal or Stripe both cost you 3% on top of standard processing fees unless you pay for a license.

Very deceptive and I’m not using them anymore.