How To Make Money With Printables On Etsy (Beginners Guide)

There are many ways to make money online, and selling printables on Etsy is the easiest.

The interface is simple and does not require an upfront payment. So if you are a creative person, Etsy can be a great place to start your business.

Here’s a quick guide for those who aren’t familiar with digital products and want to learn more about printables.

Disclosure This post contains a few affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you purchase through the link. But don’t worry, It’s at no extra cost to you. Thank you. For more information, please read my disclosure page.

What are Printables?

Printables are digital products that you sell to customers, and they can download and print at home. They are made in digital form and saved as a PDF, picture, or text file.

Examples of printables are

• Worksheets
• Checklist
• Planners
• Artwork
• Stickers
• Resumes
• Coloring sheet

Why Is Printable A Great Way To Make Money?

1. Printables are a good place for beginners to create digital products. They’re easy to make, and they can provide passive income.
2. Unlike other digital products like spreadsheets, they don’t require any special skills or knowledge to make them.
3. There are many templates and graphics available that you can make.
4. Unlike physical products, you don’t need to store anything or worry about shipping.
5. You can sell from home and anywhere. All you need is a computer, an internet connection, and your creativity.
6. In addition, you can use printables as a lead magnet to grow your email list.

Can Anyone Make Money Selling Printables?

Yes. Selling Printables is an excellent way to make money. While it takes creativity and hard work, here are examples of people making thousands of dollars passively selling digital products in their shops.

For example, Tamara of paerdelsol made $30,000 selling printables on Etsy. You can check her website for beautiful printables samples, especially if you are looking for ideas to get started.

Another successful mumpreneur in the printable business is Sarah Titus.  Her website glitters with many lovely printables, and she has made over 15 million dollars selling binders on Shopify.

You can make money by creating products people want and use. So the main question you should ask is: “What types of printables make the most money?”

I will be answering that question shortly when I begin to share the best products with the market.

Why Not Sell Printables through Etsy?

There are many websites that you could use to sell printable items. So why not explore Etsy?

Selling Printables on Etsy is a good idea for the following reasons.

• Built-in customers

Etsy is an excellent place to sell digital products if your website is up and running.

Because it is a big marketplace, there are already people you can potentially market your printables to. This is helpful for those who don’t have websites or audiences on social media. The best part is that you don’t have to pay anything to start; you can begin selling your products straight away.

• Passive income

You don’t have to pay much money to make digital products. So even when you’re not awake, your products could be selling.

Etsy makes this easy because it handles both the purchase and delivery of your product to customers. So, you don’t even need to do anything after your product is uploaded. And that’s how you can make passive income.

• Easy advertising

Have you ever tried to set up a Facebook ad or a Pinterest advert? Trust me; it’s technical.

Etsy does all the work when it comes to advertising. Only you need to determine your budget and allow them to push your product into the mass market.

Why is this important to you? You want to make your Etsy printables as accessible as possible. Advertising is key to this.

Etsy’s advertising costs are very affordable. Many people have spent hundreds of dollars on advertising on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram, and it didn’t translate to sales. Etsy makes it easy to advertise for as little as $1 per day and get a detailed report on how your ad performs in terms of sales.

What Printables Are the Most Popular on Etsy?

It is essential to ask yourself the question, “What kinds of printables are most popular on Etsy?”. Here’s a list of printables that have been selling well on Etsy. These printables could earn you a significant income.

Printables That Are Related to Wedding

Etsy has the potential for any item related to weddings to be a high-earner. Printables include:

• Bridal shower games
• Bachelorette party games
• Signs of marriage
• Wedding planners
• Wedding favors
• Wedding advice cards
• Table numbers
• Wedding checklist

Baby Related

The same is true for baby-related merchandise. Here are some examples:

• Baby shower games
• Baby shower signs
• Baby shower favors
• Birth plans
• Pregnancy journals
• Printable art with quotes

Printable art is another option to make printables on Etsy. They are simply artwork sold to a customer and printed at home or a printer.

You are selling them the artwork file in jpg and pdf. So you don’t even have to worry about shipping artwork to them. This product can cover many things, but quotes and watercolor painting work best.

Planners

Planners are trendy, especially when they can be printed multiple times and reused. For example, make a daily planner or a monthly calendar.

Coloring Pages

Recent years have seen coloring pages make a comeback, especially among adults. These pages are available for sale for as low as $1 and are very useful for moms looking for activities ideas for their children.

How to Price Etsy Printables

What is the price? Single-page and two-page printables typically sell for $2-$5. But, multiple printables can be purchased together for over $10+. So, first, compare to your competition and then simply compare the prices.

Etsy makes it easy to sell items. It is worth pricing your printables at a higher price to see how it performs. If sales go down, you might consider running a discount to increase your purchases.

Where Can You Make Printables To Sell?

There are many platforms to create printables that you can sell on Etsy.

To create digital products, my favorite tools are:

• Canva
• PicMonkey
• Google Slides/Sheets
• Creative market (for fonts, graphics)
• Canva printable creator

How To Make Printables That Sells on Etsy (With Canva)

Canva is a great tool that allows you to make your own designs. In addition, you can create printables for free. However, you must review the Canva licenses, copyright policy, and commercial use policy before selling items made on the platform.

Note: A commercial license is required to sell items that have been created by someone else.

But, first, as I said earlier, you need to know the kind of printables you want to make. Who is your target audience? What kind of printables is most beneficial to them?

Then, research the market. Finally, you can use an SEO tool on Etsy to get more ideas. eRank is a free research tool that can help you target low competition keywords and trendy products.

For example, what are the products with low supply but high demand? Also, check out what other people in that niche have for sale and improve upon them.

That will help you determine the type of printables to create.

Now let’s make a printable on Canva.

Open your Canva account now if you haven’t already. You can then create your printables by following these easy steps.

• Choose “Documents,” then Letter from the homepage.
• Make printables in Canva.

Note: Letter is the US standard document size of 8.5 X 11. You can request a customized size.

So, start customizing the templates, or create your own design using the elements, photos, etc. Once you’re done creating your document, download the PDF for printing.

You can then save the finished work on your computer and also on Canva.

Create Your Listing & Upload Your File

Your product type should be Digital. This will allow the upload of a digital file to be delivered to your customer upon purchase. Then, you can publish your listing and begin marketing your product.

Promotion of Your Printables

Save your product as .pdf. Then, you can create a mockup to help your product listing images. Once your printable has been completed and uploaded to Etsy, it’s now time to market it. You will not only get organic traffic from Etsy, but you will also need to sell your product if you want to make sales.

You can use Etsy ads to market your products. Etsy allows you to place ads for as little as $1 per day and drive traffic to the product.

Pinterest is another excellent platform to advertise your product. You can make pins that directly link to your product so that people can buy it.

I advise you to build your own website if you don’t have one. The advantage is enormous. Here, you can read more about having your website up and running in minutes.

Then, you can sell your printables through your blog and add affiliate marketing to maximize your income further.

Mention the products on social media if they are applicable. For example, if you have a YouTube channel, mention some products there.

Email is another excellent way to promote your printables.

You can send emails to your readers anytime you have new stocks.

What is Passive Income?

Let me quickly address passive income vs. active income. Most people refer to passive income as selling Etsy printables. Printable businesses are semi-passive because they don’t just allow you to “set it and forget it.” It’s possible to do this, but it can take a while.

You will be more successful when you turn your business into something passive.

It’s essential to have a realistic and clear expectation about what it takes to sell printables on Etsy. Although there is much talk about passive income, there is much more to it than that.

Passive income, to me, is something that you can build now and pay your bills later. For example, affiliate marketing, blogging, or selling digital products can all be examples of passive income.

You have many options to make a living at home. Do not limit yourself to one type of income. Diversify your income sources so that you earn from many different streams.

What is the Maximum Amount of Money You Can Make from Selling Printables on Etsy?

Based on how hard you work, you can make as much or as little money as you like. I’m not going to tell anyone that you can make six figures working five hours per week. However, it’s possible to achieve a $1,000-per-month goal if you have a realistic goal.

Keep in mind that the work you do now will pay your bills next fiscal year. Hence, see it as a passive income. Are you willing to work hard?

Am I Allowed to Open Multiple Etsy Shops?

You can open multiple Etsy shops, but you must follow the rules to avoid shutting down your business.

Final Thoughts

Selling Printables on Etsy can be a great way to make extra income or just a side hustle. You can also use Canva’s free version to create the best-selling printables for Etsy.

Etsy allows you to sell printables and make passive income. Moreover, there are over 81,000,000 buyers on the platform. It means that you will possibly find people interested in what you are selling.