Do you want to learn how to create and sell printables on Etsy? Printables are in high demand and are some of the best-selling digital products on Etsy.
Here you’ll find a step-by-step guide for beginners on how to make money selling printables on Etsy. This can be a great side hustle idea to make money from home.
And the best part is – you don’t have to be artistic or have any special graphic design skills to make passive income selling printables!
If you haven’t heard of Etsy before, it’s aglobal online marketplacewhere people can sell their products.
My friend Julie, from GoldCity Ventures, was listening to a podcast that inspired her to start an Etsy shop.
At the time, Julie didn’t have any products to sell, but she had seen how other people have been successful selling their stuff on Etsy.
She decided tosell temporary tattoos on Etsythat people could buy and use for bachelorette parties. After attending a lot of bachelorette parties with her friends, she knew there was a HUGE market for this type of stuff.
And she was right – it didn’t take her long tomake over $1,000 from selling temporary tattoos.
Since then, Julie switched to selling printables and is now in thetop 10% of Etsy sellers worldwide!
She made the switch from selling temporary tattoos to selling printables becauseprintables are a digital product.
This means you create the productonce(such as a Cleaning Checklist) andsell it over and over again as digital downloads.
You don’t need to worryabout tracking inventory or dealing with shipping!
Once the customer buys your printable, Etsy will instantly email them the file. This is usually in the form of a PDF, PNG, or JPEG file.
The first printables that Julie started selling in her Etsy shop were scavenger hunts and other printable games in the bachelorette niche.
This was a huge success and she made over $5,000 in just a few weeks!
As a new mom with a regular 9-5 job, this printable side hustle was perfect for her busy schedule.
She wanted something that she could spend a few hours on the weekend doing that would offer a huge return on her investment.
Selling printables on Etsy was exactly that!
After seeing so much success with her own printable side hustle, Julie and her friend Cody, compiled all their knowledge into a comprehensive course:E-Printables Side Hustle Course.
Their course will teach you exactly how to create printales (and make them look pretty), how to market and make money selling them online.
…And they also offer a free e-book that shares their secret list of best-selling products by month and teach you how to capitalize on seasonal trends to maximize your sales!
Are you ready to get creative and start a profitable side hustle on Etsy? Yeah? Let’s do this!
Related Posts:
- 20 best-selling printables to sell on Etsy
- 20 best selling items on Etsy
- 36 ways to make money without a job
Table of Contents
What are printables?
Printables are a type of digital products that customers can download and print at home.
Examples of printables include chore chart checklists, wedding invitations, meal planners, calendars, to-do lists, greeting cards for birthdays, coloring pages for kids, stickers, printable wall art, jar labels, candy bar wrappers, and budgeting planners.
Benefits of selling printables
The main benefits of selling printables on Etsy are:
- Low initial investment – You can definitely get started for under $100.
- Create the printable once and sell it over and over again – No need to worry about inventory or shipping!
- You don’t need to be creative, tech-savvy, or have graphic design skills – Etsy makes it quick and easy to get started selling printables.
- Etsy has MILLIONS of buyers, which can help give your printables excellent exposure. This means you don’t have to work as hard to get visitors to your Etsy shop.
- You can make printables from anywhere in your free time. This makes it a great side hustle for those with busy schedules.
While there are many side hustle ideas you can start, such as delivering for DoorDash or grocery shopping for Instacart, those side gigs involve trading your time for money.
This means the earning potential is limited since you can only work so many hours in a day.
On the other hand, selling printables on Etsy has the potential for you to earn passive income. This means you do the work upfront (create the printable once) and can sell it over and over again.
You’ll love being able to earn money in your sleep and enjoy the flexibility that comes with selling printables on Etsy.
Is it easy to sell printables on Etsy?
Yes! Selling printables on Etsy is simple. You can create your own printables by using a free program like Canva, or you can purchase pre-made templates and resell them.
After creating the design, you can upload your printable to Etsy. When a customer makes a purchase, Etsy will automatically send the design to the customer.
This makes it simple and easy since you don’t have to worry about manually sending the design. And setting up your Etsy store is fairly straightforward.
While there are many different platforms to sell your printables, Etsy is the most popular.
- Create your Etsy account – You’ll need to create an account (I recommend starting with the free plan).
- Choose your shop preferences – This includes the language, country, and currency.
- Name your shop – This is the name that visitors will see next to your listings. You can always change it later once you’ve opened your shop.
- Add stock to your shop – After creating your printables, you can add each one as a listing.
You only need one listing to start your shop, but Etsy recommends creating at least 10 listings in the beginning to help increase your discoverability. Then you can continue adding more over time.
How much can you make selling printables on Etsy?
According to Julie, the co-founder of Gold City Ventures, you can realistically make $500 – $1,000 a month selling printables in the beginning.
Depending on the niche and the quality of your products, you can expect to earn anywhere from $50 – $100 a week as a beginner.
Some of the students in Julie’s course, E-Printables Side Hustle, are earning over $2,000+ per month.
And believe it or not, I know some people who make millions of dollars selling printables on Etsy. It’s pretty amazing how big of a demend there are for printables!
Is it profitable to sell printables on Etsy?
Yes, selling printables on Etsy is profitable! Once you set up your shop the right way and create quality printables, you’re essentially setting up a recurring revenue stream.
One of the students in Julie’s course earned over $10,000 in her first 9 months. Now she’s earning $2,000 – $3,000+ per month in nearly passive income.
When you continue to add new listings to your shop, this can help increase your monthly revenue.
If you sell seasonal products, then you’ll make the most money when those products are in season. But if you sell evergreen products, you’ll have a steady flow of income every month.
How much does it cost to sell printables on Etsy?
One of the best parts about selling printables on Etsy is that the start up costs are low. This makes starting a printable side hustle very appealing.
The good news is that joining and starting a shop on Etsy is free.
While it’s free to get started, Etsy charges three basic selling fees:
- A listing fee ($0.20 USD for each item that you list with Etsy)
- A transaction fee
- A payment processing fee
The fees are very low, which makes it very affordable to start selling printables on Etsy.
You can use a free program to create your printables. I recommend Canva which is great for beginners. There is also a paid version of Canva (Canva Pro), which I personally use to design my printables.
But to keep the costs low, the free version of Canva is all you need in the beginning.
Canva is really simple to use and if you enroll in Julie’s course, she’ll provide you with 30+ done-for-you templates for Canva that you can tweak and list in your shop.
What I like about Canva is that you can use it on any device, whether you’re at home on a computer or out and about on your mobile phone.
You can also use it on a tablet, which gives you all of the features of the desktop version.
You don’t need a printer to make printables. But it can be helpful to print out your designs to see how they look.
But if you don’t have one right now, don’t worry. You can still create and sell printables on Etsy without a printer.
What printables sell best on Etsy?
There are countless opportunities to sell printables on Etsy in a variety of different niches. When starting a printable side hustle, the toughest part is figuring out what types of printables you want to sell.
To help give you some inspiration, here are some of the best-selling printables on Etsy that you can create and sell:
- Banners / Posters
- Business Cards
- Baby Shower Games
- Bridal Shower Games
- Bookmarks
- Budget Planners
- Bible Study Printables
- Calendars
- Checklists
- Cleaning Charts
- Chore Charts
- Coloring Pages
- Cash Envelopes
- Craft Patterns
- Clipart
- Day Planners
- Fitness Trackers
- Greeting Cards
- Grocery Lists
- Gift Tags
- Games
- Habit Trackers
- Meal Planners
- Preschool Printables
- Stickers
- Valentine’s Day Printables
- Wall Art
- Wedding Invitations
As you can see, these are easy printables to sell on Etsy. There’s a huge market for printables, which makes it a great side hustle opportunity.
How do I start selling printables?
Below are the steps involved in how to sell printables on Etsy:
- Decide which printables you want to sell
- Research the printables on Etsy
- Create your printables
- List your items on Etsy
- Start making money and have fun!
Step 1: Decide which printables you want to sell
Before you can start selling printables on Etsy, you need to first come up with an idea. Think about what types of printables you’re interested in selling.
I’ve listed some of the best-selling printables on Etsy above. If you need more ideas, check out this free e-book which shares a secret list of the best-selling products by month.
This helps to eliminate all of the guesswork around finding a product that sells.
You can also choose to make: pre-made designs or make your own designs.
With pre-made designs, you can buy or download a design from sites like Canva or Creative Market.
Then you can sell it as-is, or make modifications to the design. Always check to see if there are any commercial limitations before using the product.
Step 2: Research printables on Etsy
Once you’ve decided which printables you want to sell, it’s time to do some research on Etsy.
To do this, type in the printable niche idea in the search bar, such as “Printable Christmas cards” or “Printable gift tags”.
This will let you see what the best selling printables on Etsy are in this niche. It can also give you some ideas and inspiration for creating your own products.
PRO TIP: Pay attention to seasonal trends to help you brainstorm printable ideas. Seasonal items are always in high demand on Etsy, and this can help you stay on top of the market.
Another great website to research printable ideas is Pinterest. Here you’ll find tons of items in different niches.
To give you some more inspiration, below are some of the best-selling seasonal printables on Etsy:
- Greeting Cards (Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Christmas)
- Christmas planner
- Seasonal Games for holidays, summer, and winter
- Christmas gift tags
- Holiday printables for teachers
- Seasonal crosswords, mazes, puzzles, or riddles for holidays
Step 3: Create your printables
The next step is to create printables to sell on Etsy. The easiest way to do this is to use a free graphic design software like Canva.
This is created specifically for beginners who don’t have any graphic design experience.
Other programs to create printables include Adobe Illustrator, Corjl, Templett, Google Sheets, Gimp, Inkscape, PicMonkey, or Procreate.
As a free Canva user, you can use any of the free designs in your printables. For Pro content that is watermarked, you can remove the watermark by buying the license for $1 to use that content in your design.
For Canva Pro users, you can use any of the Pro content that is watermarked at no extra fee (since it’s included in your monthly subscription).
It’s important to note that you can design and sell templates, with Free elements only, shared as PDFs, JPGs, PNGs, and so on. However, you can NOT resell Canva templates or stock elements as-is.
If you need more guidance on how to make printables, check out my friend Julie’s course, E-Printables Side Hustle.
In her course, she’ll take you step by step through the entire design process. Plus, you’ll receive 30+ ‘done for you’ templates so that you can get professional-looking products listed as quickly as possible.
There’s also no need to purchase any expensive software because you can create high-quality printables using free programs.
Step 4: List your items on Etsy
Here you’ll set up your Etsy store and create your first listing. Whether you sell a physical or digital product, it’s called a “listing” on Etsy.
When you create a listing for a printable, it’s the exact same process as listing a physical product. The only difference is that instead of stocking and shipping a physical product, you’ll just upload your digital file.
Then when a customer purchases your printable, Esty will automatically send the digital file to them.
Create your Etsy store – To set up your Etsy store, you’ll need to create a free account. Click the “Sign In” button at the upper right-hand menu of Etsy to register with your email address and password.
Once you’ve registered, click on “Your Account” and select “Sell on Etsy” to create a merchant account. On the next page, click on “Open your Etsy Shop”.
Here you’ll enter information about your shop, such as the language, currency, and country. You can also select the option that best describes you – are you a part-time or full-time seller?
Enter your Etsy store name – If possible, try to choose a name that describes what you’re selling.
For example, if you’re selling Budget Planners, your shop name might be called “BudgetPlannerShop”.
If you’re selling printables that cover a variety of niches or you’re not sure which types of printables you want to sell yet, then choose a name that isn’t niche specific.
For example, Julie sells a ton of different printables in her shop and it’s called “The Swag Elephant”. You can always change your Etsy store name later if you want.
Add listings to your shop – You’ll need to add at least one listing to your Etsy store. Below are some tips on how to create listings to increase your sales!
- Include high-quality images – You can add up to 10 images per listing. This is a great opportunity to show visitors how to use your printable and what’s included.
- Describe your listing – Let visitors know more information about your printable, including how to use it, it’s features, what they will receive after purchasing, the number of pages, the file format, printing information, dimensions, and so on.
- Use long-tail keywords – This can help more people find your printables on Etsy. For example, instead of just listing your printable as “Planner”, which has a million results, use a longer keyword like “Biweekly budget planner”. This can give you a better chance of ranking on the first page for that long-tail keyword.
- Price your product – Set a price for your product. The price will appear in your preferred currency. If you’re not sure how much to price your product, look at the competition in your niche to see how much they’re charging for similar items.
- Add your quantity – Since you’re selling printables, which are a digital product, set your listing to “Automatic renewal”.
- Upload your digital file – This is the file that buyers will download after they complete their purchase.
Step 5: Start making money and have fun!
Now this is the part that you’ve been waiting for… to start making money!
Below are some tips on the best ways to promote your new Etsy shop:
- Etsy Ads – You can create a campaign on Etsy to promote your printables to the Etsy community.
- Social Media – Use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tik Tok or YouTube to let people know about your products.
- Guest Post on blogs – Reach out to a blogger in your niche to ask if you can share a guest post on their blog featuring your products.
Julie says that just spending 30 minutes per day could help you build this side hustle into a consistent monthly income stream.
Plus, as you commit to working on your new Etsy shop, you’ll gain valuable skills like marketing, digital product creation, graphic design, and Etsy SEO (search engine optimization).
Where to sell printables besides Etsy
While Etsy is one of the best sites to start selling printables for beginners, I can appreciate if you want to explore other options. Below are some Etsy alternatives for printable sellers.
Shopify – Many people who start selling on Etsy choose to migrate to Shopify where they can further scale their business.
Amazon – Amazon Handmade offers makers the ability to open their own Amazon storefront to sell their digital products.
WordPress (with Woocommerce) – A blog can be a great way to promote your products. You can use the free plugin, Woocommerce, to sell your printables directly on your website.
Check out this step-by-step guide to get your WordPress site up and running in just 15 minutes.
Gumroad – This is an online marketplace where you can buy and sell digital products.
Sendowl – You can use Sendowl to sell your products, but you’ll have to send customers there yourself. For example, you can share your Sendowl link on social media or on your blog.
Is there a class I can take to help me sell printables on Etsy?
If you’re looking for a fun way to make money from home, then starting an Etsy printables business can be a great side hustle opportunity.
While starting a side business will require some work, it can be a lot of fun and rewarding in the long run.
If you’re ready to get a head start on your printable business, you may want to consider checking out Julie and Cody’s Etsy printable course: E-Printables Side Hustle.
In her course, they have helpedtons of people(just like you), learnhow to create and sell printables on Etsy for profit.
The best part is – you don’t have to have to be tech-savvy or have ANY graphic design skills to sell printables.
Julie and Cody will teach you easy ways to create printables using free programs such as Canva.
In fact, they will provide30+ done-for-you templates for Canvathat you can tweak and sell on Etsy.
So there’s no need to buy expensive software because they will teach you how to make professional looking printablesusing free programs.
They’ll walk you through the entire process of starting and growing your very own printable business on Etsy, including the best printables to sell and how to make them.
You’ll get all the tools to master keyword research, marketing tactics, pricing strategies, and everything else that’ll help you make money with this side hustle.
Julie will teach you how to generate consistent 4-figure months with little action from you once you create a printable and list it on Etsy.
Even if you don’t know anything about Etsy or how to make printables, you’ll learnhow to own and manage your own online storein just a few weeks.
Julie says that as a beginner, it’s not unrealistic to aim for$500 – $1,000 per monthas your printables goal!
Once you purchase the course, you’ll havelife-time accessto all the material so you can go through everything at your own pace.
Julie and Cody recommend 4 weeks to go through the entire course. However, it’s 100% self-paced.
Some students finish the course in a weekend and some take a month (or longer), depending on their schedule and how much time they have to dedicate to the program.
I can appreciate how investing in a course right now is a big decision. I mean, this course can certainly help youstart a successful printable business on Etsy, but perhaps you still have some questions.
For example, maybe you’re thinking, “This is something I would love…but since I have no experience, how can I juststart selling printables?”
“What if I don’t already have an audience to sell to?“
In fact, many of Julie and Cody’s students had the SAME thought as you before they joined E-Printables Side Hustle.
Most online courses don’t teach the part where you actually go out into the real world and apply what you’ve learn.
This is what makes Julie and Cody’s E-Printables course so valuable, because half the course is dedicated to helping you figure out where to sell.
Unlike other “create and sell printables” courses, they focus on profits first. They’ll show you how to find profitable products and niches from day 1.
Imagine what it would be like if you were able to create a new income stream with an online business.
How would your life change if were able to get paying customers while you sleep?
Starting a printable side hustle on Etsy can help you turn your dream into reality.
What’s included in the E-Printables Side Hustle Course?
This is a self-paced course on how to make and sell printables on Etsy, so you can take as much time as you need to go through the course.
Once you enroll, you’ll have lifetime access to the course 24/7. Here’s what you’ll learn in the program:
Module 1: Getting Started
Julie and Cody will give you a course overview and introduce you to their VIP membership, which includes 100+ bonus videos with guest interviews, technical training, and advanced strategies.
You’ll also receive free templates that you can tweak to sell in your Etsy shop.
Module 2: What Should You Sell?
Julie and Cody will give you 50+ printable ideas to help you decide what to sell in your shop. This includes seasonal products, bundles to increase your sales, and inspiration for Pinterest Ideas.
Module 3: Getting Started Making Printables
Here you’ll find step-by-step tutorials and resources to help you create printables to sell on Etsy. Julie and Cody will teach you information on commercial use, how to find fonts and graphics to use for your printables, and their Sellers Handbook.
Module 4: How to Make Printables with Canva
Julie and Cody will teach you everything you need to know about how to create high-quality printables using the free software Canva. They’ll also give you their own Canva templates that you can easily use to sell on Etsy.
Module 5: How to Make Printables with Adobe Illustrator
Julie and Cody will teach you everything you need to know about how to create high-quality printables using Adobe Illustrator. Using this program, they’ll show you how to make greeting cards, habit trackers, banners, and more.
Plus, they’ll also give you their own Adobe Illustrator templates that you can easily use to sell on Etsy.
Module 6: Editable Printables
Here you’ll learn how to create editable printables that buyers and customize and personalize to their preference. It also includes how to do licenses for editable printables.
Module 7: Creating Editable Printables with Corji
Julie and Cody will teach you everything you need to know about how to create editable printables using Corji.
Module 8: Packaging Your Printable
Here you’ll learn the best practices, how to resize your printables, and how to printable multiple designs on one page.
Module 9: Making Listing Images
Here you’ll learn how to make listing images that stand out among the competition on Etsy, how to create custom mockups, and how to make listing images for bundles.
Moule 10: Listing Your Product
Julie and Cody will teach you everything you need to know about how to open your Etsy shop. This includes how to list your product, how much you should charge, how to make your shop look professional, and Etsy fees.
Module 11: Keyword Research Tools
Here you’ll learn how to find items that are trending on Etsy, how to find the best-selling products, and how to do keyword research using a free tool to help buyers find your items.
Module 12: Marketing and Advertising
Julie and Cody will teach you how to promote your Etsy shop to increase your sales, including how to use coupons and sales, Etsy Ads, make promotional videos, and how to promote your items on Pinterest.
Module 13: Optimizing Your Shop
Here you’ll learn 5 common traps for new sellers, how to understand your Etsy stats, how to use Google Analytics for your Etsy shop, how to improve your sales and boost your success, and call to action ideas.
Module 14: Etsy Sellers App
Julie and Cody will teach you everything you need to know about using the Etsy Sellers App to monitor your order and increase customer conversions.
When you sign up for the course, you’ll also receive:
- BONUS Module 1 – Everything you need to know about selling off Etsy and how to be successful with a small email list.
- BONUS Module 2 – A deep dive into other options to create editable printables.
- 30+ done-for-you templates for Canva and Adobe Illustrator that you can edit and list in your shop
- Plus, you’ll also get 5 additional free template packs each month as part of their VIP Membership Vault.
- Access to Julie and Cody’s VIP Membership Vault for FREE for 30 days.
- Step-by-step tutorials for beginners to help you create and sell your first printable
- Julie and Cody’s seasonal product strategy
- Actionable course material that is broken down into easy-to-follow sections (with a lifetime of FREE updates)
How much does E-Printables Side Hustle course cost?
The Etsy printables course costs $249, which is aone-time investmentthat gives you instant 24/7 lifetime access to the course material.
As you can see from previous students who launched their Etsy printable side hustle, many of themmade enough money in their first monthto earn a return on their investment after enrolling in the course.
$249 might seem like a lot of money to spend on a course. But your earning potential is unlimited.
Whether you want to make an extra $500 a month or scale to $10,000+ a month with your printable business, you can do it.
You can do this alone, or you canfast-track your successby learning from Julie and Cody who know exactly how to launch and grow a profitable Etsy printable business from scratch. Think of this as an investment in your future, for your career, and your family.
Plus, when you enroll in E-Printables Side Hustle, you’ll get access to theirsupportive Facebook communitywhere you can ask questions and get feedback from Julie and Cody, and your fellow peers.
This can help you get inspiration for what printables to make, ideas for your listing images, how to find trending products on Etsy, and so much more!
Ready to get started? Check out Julie and Cody’sfree workshop(details below). This workshop can help you decide if starting a printable side hustle on Etsy is right for you.
Free Etsy Printable Training
Julie and Cody have put together a free workshop called, Manifest Passive Income with Printables on Etsy. In this workshop, they’ll teach you:
- Ideas for printables – What should I sell to make money? What are some good ideas?
- Getting started on Etsy – What do I need to start an Etsy shop? How much does it cost?
- How to 10x your sales – What will help make sure your Etsy shop is a success and not a flop?
Their workshop is completely free to join. Just enter your name and email to watch it here.
