How To Sell Printables On Etsy: Complete Guide For Beginners

If you’re looking for ideas on how to sell printables and make money on Etsy, then you’re in the right place.

In this article, we will share everything you need to know about selling printables on Etsy, including

• Which printables should you sell;
• How to create your printable products;
• How much money can you expect to make selling printables; 
• How to drive traffic and potential customers to your Etsy store, and more!

But first, let’s start with the basics.

What are Printables?

Etsy printables are digital products that customers can buy, download, and print out themselves. They include greeting cards, planners, wall art, portraits, logos, and templates.

Moreover, some Etsy printables are also editable, allowing customers to customize them to their personal preferences before they print them into physical items.

Top Reasons to Start Selling Printables on Etsy

There are many good reasons why selling printables on Etsy is a great idea for a full-time online business or a side hustle. 

Low cost to get started	Creating and producing printables to sell on your Etsy store only requires a small amount of money as capital. For instance, you can create digital products using free-to-use programs like Canva, which we will discuss below. Moreover, it will only cost 20 cents (per 4 months) to list a product on Etsy.
Printables can be a passive income source for years	Printables are products that don’t spoil; you make them once and sell them for years. However, Etsy listings expire every four months, so you’ll have to renew them automatically or manually.
No need to physically ship any products	With printables, you won’t have to shoulder any shipping fees when a product gets sold. The customer downloads the products themselves, and you get paid. You also don’t need to worry about packaging expenses, unlike, say, selling a physical product.
High-profit margin	Since it’s almost free to make and sell Etsy printables, you will have a relatively large profit margin compared to when selling other products. A large profit margin will also allow you to give discounts to build a following of loyal customers.
Huge demand for printables	Like DIY crafts, handmade jewelry, and vintage items, there is a huge demand for printables on Etsy. In a blog post, Tamara of Paper del Sol shared how they made $30,000 selling printables on Etsy. Some Etsy sellers even made more, which we will share below.
Selling printables requires fewer logistics and upkeep	One of the best benefits of selling printables on Etsy is that you don’t have to worry about spoilage, product storage, and fulfillment. You can dedicate your full attention to creating new products and promoting your Etsy store.
Etsy is a trusted marketplace	People in the United States, the UK, and worldwide consider Etsy one of the most reputable online marketplaces. In fact, Etsy’s annual gross merchandise sales in 2021 alone reached $13.4 billion!
Etsy has a convenient payment system (for both buyer and seller)	Etsy provides sellers with a convenient payment system that has been proven and tested by countless Etsy users. Hence, people will have no problem providing confidential information when buying your products. On the other hand, Etsy’s built-in payment system allows you to focus on managing and promoting your store and not worry about setting up payment and invoicing systems.
Access to a large potential market base	According to the official Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2021 Report, there were 96.3 million active buyers on Etsy (you can expect that number to have gone up in 2022-2023). That’s a massive potential market for your printables!

Steps on How to Make and Sell Printables on Etsy

Below is a step-by-step guide on how to start a printable digital products shop on Etsy.

Step 1: Find unique and popular print designs

Now, let’s be honest. 

Your goal for starting an Etsy store is to make profits. Hence, it is crucial that you make products that actually sell and pay off.

Luckily, finding profitable printable ideas to sell on Etsy is just one Google search away. Type “best-selling printable ideas on Etsy” on your browser, and you’ll get your answer.

Another way to find “low-hanging” printable ideas on Etsy is to head over to Etsy and type “printables” in the search bar. 

Etsy will then show you the Most Loved printables available on the platform. 

You can also type specific keywords such as “printable wall art,” “printable Christmas cards,” or “printable planners.” 

From there, you can filter your search results to narrow them down by offers, price range, color, etc.

Also, don’t be too lazy to click and check out the different printable products from different Etsy stores. That way, you’ll better understand which printables sell the most on Etsy.

What Printables Sell Best on Etsy?

To give you a head start, below are some of the most popular types of printables to sell on Etsy based on our research:

• Planners
• Digital wall art and photography (home decor, pet portraits, etc)
• Digital E-cards and invitations (e.g. birthday, wedding Invitations, thank you notes, baby showers, etc)
• Logos and product labels
• Calendar (and other seasonal printables)
• Charts and checklists
• Digital templates (resume, business cards, etc)
• Printable course

And for inspiration, below are some of the successful Etsy stores that make huge profits from their collection of best-selling printables:

• HappyDownloads (Digital planners and Etsy stickers)
• AbbiePrintables (Digital invitations and business templates)
• PawtraitDesignCo (Digital pet art and photography)
• AmethystGarnet (Digital planners and journals)
• SoulfullyArtistic (Downloadable stickers and various printables)

Another option would be to target a specific audience on Etsy, like MamaNMoney (specifically sells digital products and printables for moms) or MyConfettiPrintables (sells printable baby shower materials). 

We suggest you look at the Etsy stores we mentioned above and see their collection of top-selling printables so you can get some ideas on following in their footsteps and creating your own Etsy success story.

Step 2: Make your printables

The next step to starting your own Etsy printables business is creating different digital products for you to sell.

Two ways to make your own printables to sell on Etsy: Do it yourself (DIY) or Outsourcing (hiring a graphic designer).

Let’s discuss both of them in detail.

DIY

It is understandable if you think that a printable Etsy store is best suited for people with design skills and expertise.

However, even if, let’s say, you aren’t very artsy, you can still create captivating digital products and run your very own printable Etsy store! 

How? Many programs can help you design and create printables with ease.

And don’t worry. As a starting entrepreneur, we understand that you want to save as much money as possible.

So, below are affordable but excellent graphic design programs that will help you produce astounding Etsy printables without advanced designing skills or experience. 

How to make a printable with Canva

First things first, you need to create a Canva account.

It is still possible to create awesome printables with just the free version of Canva. But to unlock all its features, you must go for the Canva Pro version. 

Next, decide what kind of printable product you want to create. Do you want to create a printable planner? A printable wall art? A logo?

Once you have an idea of the printable you want to create, you can start designing your printable using one of the many Canva templates.

One of the best things about Canva is that it gives you access to a wide range of free pre-made templates that you can use to create printables for your Etsy store.

Customize the template to suit your style (change the colors, fonts, and images) and make it into your unique printable product.

Once you’re happy with your printable design, click on “Share” in the top right, and a drop-down menu will appear so you can download your file.

For a more detailed tutorial, below is a video covering the step-by-step process of creating printables using Canva.

Now, you might be thinking:

“Can I legally sell the designs I created using a Free Canva account?”

Well, yes! You can sell and use your designs for commercial use. But we recommend you review Section 5 of Canva’s Content License Agreement for proper guidance.

Besides Canva, below are the other affordable software you can use to create printables for your Etsy shop.

Software	Description	Cost
GIMP	GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free, cross-platform image editor for GNU/Linux, macOS, Windows, and other operating systems.	Free
Inkscape	Inkscape is a vector graphics creation and editing software. It is free to download and use not only on Windows and Mac but also on GNU/Linux operating systems.	Free
Google Sheets, Documents and Slides	Included in the Google Drive suite, free to use, and handy tools for making simple printables and spreadsheets.	Free
Procreate	Procreate is an award-winning and intuitive digital illustration app for iPhone and iPad.	$9.99 (one-time purchase)
PicMonkey	PicMonkey is an online photo editing and design software (similar to Canva). It can be accessed from a web browser or through a mobile app.	Starts at $72.00 (billed annually) or $7.99 (billed monthly)

Outsource

If you don’t want the hassle of creating printable designs for your Etsy shop, you can hire graphic designers to get the job done.

For instance, you can hire someone to create a printable design for you on Fiverr for as low as $10.

Other places to find freelance designers include 99Designs, Dribbble, DesignCrowd, Toptal, and Upwork.

Step 3: Set up your Etsy store

You now have your printables ready to sell. To do so, you need to create an Etsy account and set up your store.

Go to the Etsy website, scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Sell On Etsy.”

You can use your Gmail, Facebook, or Apple ID to create an Etsy Seller’s account.

Enter your email address, make a password and provide your name. Next, select your preferred settings, such as your language, location, and preferred currency.

Then, you will need to provide the name of your Etsy shop.

From here on, provide the information required for the next steps (such as how you want to get paid, your billing address, etc) to complete setting up your Etsy shop.

Once you have set up your Etsy shop, you can start uploading your printables and creating your Etsy listings.

For your benefit, below is a video on how to set up your new Etsy shop and how to add your first listing.

Step 4: Promote your Etsy store

Promoting your Etsy store properly will get you ahead of your competitors and help you build your brand and loyal customers quickly. 

And here’s the good news: There are many ways to promote your Etsy store and listings without burning a lot of funds running Etsy ads.

Optimize your Etsy store and listings for SEO

Etsy SEO (Search Engine Optimization) primarily involves adding highly relevant keywords to your store description and new product listings to drive more traffic to your shop and rank your items at the top of the search results.

You can do manual keyword research on Etsy to find highly relevant keywords for your products. Here’s how.

Let’s say you want to sell printable Christmas cards. 

Type in “printable Christmas cards” on the Etsy search bar. Look at the top results and see what keywords and tags are on them.

You can then add the same keywords and tags to your new listings.

Besides manual research, you can also use various keyword research tools like eRank to quickly discover product keywords that shoppers are searching for on Etsy.

Offer Free Shipping

Another great way to boost the ranking of your listings in the search results is if you offer free shipping for orders over $35. 

Etsy offers this feature to all sellers, and as a new business owner on a competitive platform, you do not want to miss this promotional method.

And don’t worry because you only pay the shipping costs when you make a sale. 

Promote your Etsy store on your Blog or YouTube channel

If you have a blog or a YouTube channel, use them to promote some of the products that you have on your Etsy store.

Advertise on your Social Media Accounts

Besides a blog or YouTube channel, you can leverage your social media followers on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and IG to bring traffic to your Etsy listing.

You can post images of your Etsy products on your social media accounts. (PS. Post in moderation or your social network might get annoyed and end up unfollowing you)

Promote your Etsy store on Pinterest

One of the best strategies to gain potential customers for your printables is to promote your Etsy Store on Pinterest.

Pinterest has over 440 million monthly users (as of the third quarter of 2022) and as of January 2022, 76.7% of Pinterest audiences are women. 

And guess what? 70% of Etsy’s core customers are women!

Pinterest is also the second most visited social media website (as of September 2022) in the United States, so you have a good chance of bringing new potential customers to Etsy.

Step 5: “Accept, Adjust and Adapt”

Monitor the performance of your Etsy store closely and accept that, in most cases, not all of your products will generate a lot of sales. 

Take note of those products, and see if there is something you can do to make them more appealing to your target audience.

For instance, is it possible to sell them at discounted prices? Can you sell them in bundles with your other popular products? 

And finally, stay updated with the latest trending products on Etsy to stay relevant with your target audience and have a constant idea of profitable products to sell on your Etsy shop.

How to Price your Etsy Printables?

There are important factors you need to consider if you want better results when pricing your printables.

For starters, do you create the products yourself or hire graphic designers to help you with the design work?

And if you create your own printables, are you using free software like Canva, or did you spend money on an image editing tool?

These are some of the important factors you need to consider to calculate the final cost of your products.

To help you out, let’s say you are selling this hippo printable art for $6. 

Now, for the image, let’s say you bought a license for pictures of hippos from 123RF, and you use Canva to create the printable.

Let’s compute how much is the cost of producing this printable and how much your potential profit is.

Items	Price
Sale Price	$6.00
123RF (Assuming the potential of 100 sales) Initial Cost = $6.60 Cost per Sale = $0.60	($0.60)
Etsy Listing Fee (per 4 months)	($0.20)
Transaction Fee (6.5% of Sale Price)	($0.39)
Payment Processing Fee (3% of Sale Price + $0.25)	($0.43)
Potential Profit	$4.38

Another great way to determine which price is right for your printable product is to compare it to your competitors that sell similar items.

How Much Can You Make Selling Printables On Etsy?

As it turns out, there is a lot of money to make selling printables on Etsy.

Growing Your Craft, an Etsy store that sells printable templates of product labels and business cards, shares that she earns an average of about $2,000/month from her Etsy printable sales.

Another example is Michelle Rohr, the owner of SecretOwlSociety, who earns over $50,000+ a year with her Etsy store.

And guess what, Laura Smith from I Heart Planners makes six figures selling printables on Etsy!

That being said, your potential income selling printables will depend on the demand for your products, your marketing strategy to promote your Etsy store, your pricing, and other factors.

How to Sell More Printables on Etsy?

Who doesn’t want more sales for their business? 

Let’s say you’ve already done all the things we shared above, below are more pro tips on how to increase the sales of your printable products:

Offer sales and discounts

Question: How many times have you decided to buy something, not because you need/want it, but because it is on sale?

Now, it’s time for you to use the same strategy on other people. Every once in a while, put some of your products on sale, especially those that aren’t doing very well. 

As you can probably relate, a bargain can encourage more sales and purchases.

Sell by bundles

Make people buy more of your products by grouping similar products together and selling them as a bundle. To make your offer appealing to customers, give a discount to customers when they make a bundle purchase instead of an individual item. 

Ask for reviews and testimonials

People naturally tend to purchase from stores that have good reviews. 

Hence, make sure to provide quality products to your customers and ask them to leave a review after their purchase.

When potential buyers see real testimonials from other shoppers, the likelihood of them purchasing a product from you too greatly increases because they can see that other people are saying good things about your products.

The Bottom Line

There is a huge demand for digital products today, so it’s no wonder why selling printables on Etsy is becoming more popular than ever.

Besides the huge potential market, selling printables on Etsy can be done even if you have no background in graphics and design.

You also don’t need a huge capital to start an Etsy printable shop, and if you’re still on the fence, you can start this business as a side hustle while keeping your full-time job.

Anyways, we hope this article has been useful for you, and we wish you the best of luck.

And if you have more questions on how to sell printables on Etsy, feel free to let us know in the comment section below.

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