In 2026, still collecting UPI payments through DM screenshots?
15 August 2026 · 5 min read
Be honest. Someone asks for the notes, you drop your UPI QR in the DM, they send a screenshot, you squint at it, you check your bank app, then you go hunting for the Drive link. Every single time. You have done this so often you could do it in your sleep, and some nights you basically are.
That flow works for roughly your first thirty sales. After that it stops being a payment method and starts being a second job you never applied for. So let us go through the three ways to actually take money for something digital, what each one really costs you, and the point where you should move up.
Why the DM and screenshot method stops working
It is not that UPI is wrong. UPI is exactly what your buyers want to use. The problem is everything bolted around it. You are the receipt system, the fraud check, the delivery service and the customer record, all at once, and all of it lives in your head and your DMs. Miss one message and someone has paid you and got nothing, which is the one mistake that actually costs you a reputation.
1. Personal UPI QR in the DMs
Good for: your first few sales, when you mostly need proof that anyone will pay at all.
What it costs you: more than you think. No receipts, so no record of what each payment was for. No refund trail. And you verify every screenshot by hand, including the famous one that turns up at 1am with a suspiciously blurry timestamp and a ₹5 that used to be a ₹500. You will squint at it for four solid minutes. We have all squinted at it.
Now the serious part, because it is the part that actually limits you. A stranger sending ₹2,000 to an unknown personal UPI ID gets no receipt, no proof of purchase and no recourse at all if nothing arrives. They are being asked to trust you completely on the strength of a QR code in a DM. Plenty of people quietly will not, and none of them will tell you why. That is the real ceiling here, and it gets lower as your prices go up.
2. A payment link from a gateway
Good for: selling one specific thing, occasionally.
What it costs you: the delivery is still manual. Money arrives properly, with a receipt, but you are still awake at midnight forwarding files, and you still have no product page doing the selling for you. Every sale needs you present.
3. A storefront with UPI checkout built in
Good for: anyone planning to sell more than once.
The buyer opens your link, sees the product with a price, pays by UPI, or by card, or on EMI for bigger amounts, and the file, course access or call booking is delivered automatically. Receipt sent. Buyer gets a login so they can re-download without messaging you. Your customer list builds itself in the background.
The difference is not the payment. All three take money eventually. The difference is that only the third one takes the work off you as volume grows.
How to set up UPI checkout on Creatly, step by step
If option three is where you want to be, this is the whole setup. It takes about ten minutes and you do not need a website, a developer or a merchant account of your own.
Step 1: Add the product and set your price in rupees
Go to Products, then New, and pick what you are selling. Set the price in rupees. There is no currency conversion anywhere in this flow, so the number you type is the number your buyer sees and the number that reaches your bank.
Step 2: Publish and share the link
Publishing puts the product on your storefront. Your buyer opens the link, sees the price and pays by UPI, card or EMI, and the checkout runs on Razorpay so they get the payment methods they already use. You are not collecting anything on a personal UPI ID and nobody is sending you a screenshot.
Step 3: Add your bank details once
In Payouts, link the account where the money should land. This is the last manual thing you will ever do in this flow. After it, money arrives on its own, every sale is listed with what it was for and what reached you, and you can export the lot as a CSV when your accountant asks. No spreadsheet, no screenshots, no trying to remember what a ₹499 credit on the 14th was for.
The quiet part about doing this properly
There is a moment a few weeks after you switch when you notice you have not opened your bank app in three days. Somebody bought something on Sunday while you were at a wedding. They got it instantly. They were happy. You found out later.
That is the actual point of all this. Not the fee, not the feature list. The part where your work keeps earning while you are busy living.
The thirty second checkout test
Whatever you use, check it on your own phone, on mobile data, and time yourself. If paying takes more than about thirty seconds, or if the screen asks for card details before offering UPI, you are losing sales you will never hear about. Buyers do not complain about bad checkouts. They just close the tab.
Frequently asked questions
How can a creator accept UPI payments for digital products?
Three common ways, in increasing order of how well they scale. A personal UPI QR code shared in DMs, which is free, but gives you no receipts, no records, and a screenshot to verify by hand every single time. A payment link from a gateway, which is better, though you still deliver the file yourself. Or a storefront with UPI checkout built in, where the buyer pays and the product is delivered automatically, with a receipt. Creatly is the third kind: UPI, cards and EMI through Razorpay, with WhatsApp delivery attached.
Is it safe to accept payments on a personal UPI ID?
It works, but it isn't a business setup. You get no automatic receipts, no record of what each payment was for, no refund trail, and you personally verify every screenshot including the edited ones. Buyers also have no protection, which makes strangers hesitant above small amounts. It is fine for your first few sales and a real ceiling after that.
Do I need to register for tax to sell digital products?
It depends on your turnover, what you sell and where you are, and the thresholds change. This is genuinely a question for an accountant rather than a blog. One hour with one, once your income becomes regular, costs far less than fixing it later.
What does it cost to accept UPI payments?
There are two separate costs. The payment gateway's own fee per transaction, which is set by the gateway, and the platform fee if you use a storefront. On Creatly the platform fee is 6% on the free plan, 2% on Pro (₹499/month) and 0% on Pro+ (₹999/month, on your first ₹1,00,000 of sales each month, then 0.5%). We don't mark up or take a share of Razorpay's fee.
How fast does the money reach my bank?
On Creatly, payouts land in your bank account in T+2 days. There is no monthly payout cycle to wait for.
Should I use a payment link or a storefront?
A payment link collects money. A storefront collects money and then does the rest of the job. It shows the product, delivers the file, sends the receipt, gives the buyer a login to re-download, and keeps your customer list. If you sell one thing once, a link is fine. If you plan to sell repeatedly, the manual delivery work is what will eventually stop you.
If you want the third option without setting anything up, Creatly gives you UPI checkout and WhatsApp delivery on one link, free to start, with a fee only when you actually sell. Also useful: the eight checks for picking a platform.