We all know that Etsy is a great place to find unique handmade objects for sale.

But did you know that you can also generate passive income on Etsy by selling printables?

With minimal overhead or upfront costs, this is an ideal and profitable side hustle for anyone who is creative and resourceful.

So how do you do it?

Here’s everything you need to know about selling printables on Etsy.

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What Are Printables?

A printable is a digital product which customers can purchase, download and print for themselves.

Printables can take the form of art, drawings, and various kinds of templates.

Printables are easy to sell on Etsy because all you need to do is create the product. The platform takes care of just about everything else.

However, you do need to pay a small fee to Etsy for the service. They will charge you $0.20 per listing and take 5% off each sale.

How To Create Printables

Creating printables to sell on Etsy is amazingly easy. That’s because a variety of cheap or free tools exist which can help you.

In some cases, as long as you honor the terms of a commercial use license, you can even purchase pre-made printables and sell them in your Etsy store.

One of the most popular sites for creating printables is Canva.

Canva is what I use for all my graphics and I love it. It’s easy to learn and it’s so much fun to use.

The site is free to use and offers a wonderful variety of design elements that you can use in creative ways.

I have the pro version only because I use Canva for everything and you get more choices with the pro version.

But you don’t have to stick with Canva. Here’s a couple more suggestions:

• Adobe Illustrator – I have never used this because I have always read that it can be quite challenging to learn. And they don’t have a free version but they do have a free trial.
• Adobe Photoshop – This is probably one of the most popular and well-known photo and graphics design editing software. Photoshop is easy to start but will take time and practice to master.
• Kittl – Kittl is similar to Canva and it also is a free program with the choice to upgrade for a monthly fee.  I follow Sandra Di on her You Tube channel and she has a video promoting Kittl and Kittl also has their own You Tube learning channel.

Best-Selling Printables

Before you start creating and selling printables on Etsy, it’s helpful to know what kinds of printables tend to sell the best. Most of these are fairly easy to design with minimal knowledge or expertise.

If you don’t feel confident that you have all the skills needed to create printables that will sell, you might want to consider partnering with an expert to help.

Another great option, in addition to those listed here, is selling your own digital art in your Etsy store.

Here are some other ideas.

Wedding-Related

Wedding-related printables are a sure winner on Etsy. They will almost always bring in plenty of profit.

Customers are eager to find and download just about everything wedding-themed including:

•     Games for the wedding shower and/or bachelorette party
•     Wedding favors
•     Wedding planners and checklists
•     Table numbers
•     Advice cards for the happy couple
•     Invitations and guest books

There is so much planning and excitement that goes into a wedding so feel free to be creative when deciding what kinds of products you can offer.

Baby-Related

A plethora of printable products can help new parents celebrate the birth of a new baby.

Consider selling items that are in demand, such as:

•     Baby shower games, lists, invitations, signs and favors
•     Birth plans
•     Pregnancy journals
•     Advice and prediction cards
•     First birthday photo display templates
•     Wish/prayer for baby cards
•     Astrology birth charts
•     Baby memory books

When designing baby-related printables, think about what would be most helpful to new parents or parents-to-be. And of course, the cuteness factor is important, too.

Planners

While many of us now rely on digital calendars, there is still a need for hands-on, paper planners. And once downloaded, your printable can be reprinted and reused by your customers on an ongoing basis.

These planners can serve a variety of functions. Customers can use them to plan daily activities or set reminders for chores. They can even function as handy meal planners.

Monthly calendars and daily agenda-style planners will never go out of style, and they are sure to find a solid target market on Etsy.

Coloring Pages

How many of us have wonderful childhood memories of enjoying our favorite coloring book?

It’s a time-honored activity, encouraging quiet and creativity. Young moms often seek out easily accessible coloring pages to keep their children occupied. And because it helps to ease symptoms of stress, this activity now appeals to adults, too.

If you’re skilled at creating coloring pages, you can sell them on Etsy for $1-$2 apiece. This might not sound like a good income, but remember that once you’ve created and listed your coloring page printables, there is very little more that you need to do. The coloring pages will earn money for you.

Opening Your Etsy Store

Make sure that you set aside plenty of time in your schedule for the task of opening your Etsy store. Although it’s a simple enough process, it can be time-consuming.

Before opening your store, first make sure that your files are ready to publish and sell.

Then go ahead and create your Etsy account by entering your email address and setting a password.

Next, you’ll set up your country and language preferences, give your shop a name, and begin adding listings.

Pricing

When setting your price, factor in your cost in creating your printables. These costs may be minimal; but if you pay for any kind of design program, you should keep this in mind when setting prices. In addition, track how much time you’ve put in so that you can be fairly compensated for that time. The price of your printables will be automatically set to the currency that you selected in your store preferences.

Selling

Once you’ve gone through all these steps, you’re ready to start selling.

First, save your file in a PDF format and then create a mockup of your printable. The mockup will be displayed as a photo in your main listing so potential customers can see what it is you’re selling. You can upload as many as ten photos for each listing:

• Your primary photo
• Different pages of your printable
• Different angles of your printable
• How it would look when used
• And some closeups

Using this mockup, create your listing and upload the file you are selling. Be sure to select “Digital” for your product type. This designation makes it possible for the customer to immediately download your printable after purchase.

Your listing images are pretty much what sells your products. Take your time with your listing mockups.

Also, you want to check out what your competitors are doing with their listings. Do not copy them by any means, but use their listing images to give you ideas.

When you are describing your printable under Description – make sure to include:

• Who your printable can help
• Why they need your printable
• Can it make things easier in their life

You want to touch on their emotions, whether it’s for coloring activities to keep your young ones occupied so you can get stuff done around the house, or having everything prepared for an emergency evacuation because you never know what can happen.

Marketing

One of the best things about Etsy is that the platform will do a lot of the marketing for you. However, to make sales, you’ll probably need more than the organic traffic that Etsy can generate.

Etsy ads are a wonderfully cost-effective way to market products. They can cost as little as $1 a day and are almost certain to boost the visibility of your product and attract potential customers.

I use Pinterest for all of my printables and get excellent traffic using this method.

Conclusion

By following these simple steps, you’ll be well on your way to generating passive income by selling printables on Etsy.

There are also some wonderful courses you can take that walk you through every step you need to take to get your self up and running:

• Gold City Ventures – This was my first course I took on Printables. It’s with Julie Berninger and Cody Berman. This course was my introduction into Printables and Etsy and by the time I finished I had my Etsy shop set up and was making printables on Canva. They are very thorough and walk you through everything.
• Printables by Numbers – by Suzi and John Whitford. I also took this course because you always learn something different in other courses and this one did not let me down. They have a whole section for PowerPoint so if you are familiar with PowerPoint this may be the right course for you.

You can also find youtube videos that can help get you started if you don’t want to spend any money on courses.

Like I mentioned earlier, Sandra Di has an excellent You Tube channel on printables. If you watch her channel you will definitely learn a lot, even setting up your Etsy shop.

So do something right now – take some kind of action to get yourself going with your printables business.

You’ll love it!

Have a Wonderful Day!