My second paragraph was crafted just for you, then! Really, it's not all that different. You have the same groups - a distributor and a shopfront. Sometimes th

My second paragraph was crafted just for you, then! Really, it's not all that different. You have the same groups - a distributor and a shopfront. Sometimes these are the same (apple's app store) sometimes not (a games publisher managing your game on steam). You generate the primary product, and it goes through a middleman or two on the way to the end-user. And just like a farmer, you can sell your own product yourself and walk away with 100% of the cash. But like the farmer's shack by the side of the road, you don't get as much market penetration with your product on your own website - people have to come to you or stumble across you, instead of just get your stuff at the supermarket where they usually shop. Yes, there are differences, but no, they're not wildly different. You make something and want to sell it. People offer services to help you sell it. You give them some of the money in order to sell more product. 30% is really low overhead.