How to send a file after someone pays you in Discord

By Cartcord Team · Tutorial · 2026-10-19

Sending a file after someone pays in Discord should be boring. Payment shows as captured. The buyer gets a DM with the download URL. You do not hunt for their message from last Tuesday.

A File product can deliver an external URL, whose host controls access, or use Basic+ protected file versions from the existing product editor. Managed files are limited to 25 MiB each and 250 MiB reserved storage per store. Eligible buyers request 60-second authorized links through Your purchases; already downloaded copies remain outside Cartcord's control.

Pick a URL you would still respect in a month

For an external delivery URL, test access as a buyer and choose the host's protection deliberately. For supported private managed uploads, use Protected file versions in the product editor. Do not promise that a delivered file cannot be copied or shared.

Test the URL in a private window before you publish. If it 404s while you are logged into your own Google account, buyers will see the 404 too.

The moment it sends

The buyer pays on PayPal and returns to the success page so the payment can be captured. After that, the DM goes out with the product name, the amount, the order id, and the download link. An invoice PDF is attached on paid orders when we can build one.

If their DMs are closed, Discord rejects the message. The link stays off the public channel. The order remains pending. They turn on "Direct Messages from server members," you open the order, and you re-send. Re-send uses the same URL. If you changed the file, update the product first, then re-send, or they get the old link.

Link versus file

Use File when the thing they bought is a download. Use Link when they should open a course, a portal, or a folder. The buyer-facing words differ. The mechanic is the same: we DM the URL you saved. Manual is the one you want when there is no URL yet because you still have to make the thing.

What not to do when you are in a hurry

Do not upload the zip into the Discord channel "just this once." It sits in search, and the next person saves it.

Do not email it from your personal account unless that is the product you described. Buyers can also recover eligible order details and delivery through Your purchases with the same Discord account.

Do not mark a failed DM as delivered in your head. The dashboard status is the one that matches reality. Pending means you still owe the send.

Stock for a file

Most files are unlimited. Set a stock count only if you are selling a limited run and you will actually stop. Key products are the ones that go out of stock on their own, because each sale consumes a code. A file does not.

Plans do not change this delivery. Free can send a file URL. The limit is how many active products and how many orders you get that month. Three completed orders on Free is a test, not a shop you advertise to a 10,000 person server.

Fix the listing for future buyers, then inspect the affected order's saved delivery before retrying. Do not assume a product edit rewrites purchased delivery settings or grants a new asset version. If the original promise cannot be fulfilled, review the seller's refund policy and verified PayPal refund flow.

The product guide on cartcord.com/guides/product-management lists every delivery type in one table if you are picking between file, link, key, and role for the same store.

Files that cause support tickets

The URL is a Discord attachment from an old message. Those links rot, and they sit in a channel. Host the file somewhere you control and paste that address.

You updated the file on the host but kept the same URL. New buyers get the new file. People who already downloaded keep what they saved. If the old file was broken, re-send after you confirm the URL shows the fixed one, and say so in the DM you send by hand if you want them to re-download.

A buyer forwarded the link to a friend. If the URL has no login and no expiry, that friend has the product. Use signed or private links for anything you cannot afford to leak. Cartcord cannot pull a link back out of someone else's DMs.

Recover an existing purchase

Buyers sign in with the original Discord account at cartcord.com/purchases, find the order and choose View delivery. This is private purchase recovery, including when DMs were blocked. Payment and delivery states are separate. New recovery/staff bot commands are rolling out, so use the web route if a command is not available.