Selling digital products has become a lucrative business for creative entrepreneurs to generate income.
One of the most popular platforms for selling digital products is Etsy. Whether you sell art or digital products like planners, printables, or e-books, Etsy provides a seamless platform to showcase and sell your digital downloads.
In this guide, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of how to sell digital downloads on Etsy, from setting up your shop to choosing design tools, optimizing your listings, and marketing your products for success.
If you’re looking for alternatives to Etsy, here are 9 Etsy Competitors to sell your craft.
Table of Contents
- Step by Step How to Sell Digital Downloads on Etsy
- What are Digital Downloads on Etsy?
- Types of Digital Downloads on Etsy
- Prerequisites For Selling On Etsy
- How to Sell Digital Downloads on Etsy
- Costs Involved In Selling Etsy Digital Products
- Understanding Etsy’s Policies for Selling Digital Products
- Conclusion
- FAQs
Step by Step How to Sell Digital Downloads on Etsy
What are Digital Downloads on Etsy?
Digital downloads are products buyers can download online from an Etsy shop without the need of handling and shipping products by sellers. These digital downloads include planners, templates, ebooks, invitations, event planners, checklists, learning materials, etc.
Simply put, sellers can sell digital products from anywhere in the world, and they will reach customers without a delivery process. This means there’s no shipping involved and no need to restock on supplies.
| NOTE: On Etsy, the digital items listed in the shop must be made and/or designed by the seller. |
If you’re wondering if Etsy is the right place to sell your digital downloads or not, let’s answer a question and find it out.
Is it worth selling digital downloads on Etsy?
There are many reasons you should consider selling on Etsy; here are a few:
- Etsy has over 96 Million active buyers worldwide.
- Digital downloads are one of the most popular categories in the Etsy marketplace, and you can earn a passive income from them.
- Once you create a digital product, such as a planner or template, you can sell it indefinitely without any additional effort.
- Plus, you don’t have to store the product or ship it. Etsy takes care of it. You can sell to anyone, from anywhere.
- When it comes to finances, Etsy charges a fee of $0.20 per listing plus 6.5% per sale, and taxes depend on the country.
Types of Digital Downloads on Etsy
Following are the various types of digital products an Etsy seller can offer to their customers.
Digital downloads for printing: These are digital products that buyers can download and print later, such as a child growth tracking worksheet or a wedding invitation.
Digital downloads for online use: This type of digital product includes notebooks, revision sheets, planners, templates, and more. We will discuss it throughout the blog.
Digital downloads for print-on-demand products: Print-on-demand products include original and tailor-made designs on various products such as shirts, wall art, coffee cups, etc. This process involves creating a graphic, which is an original design. Connect with third-party Etsy print-on-demand partners to transform your digital download into a physical product.
Now, let’s move on to how to sell digital downloads on Etsy.
Prerequisites For Selling On Etsy
Before selling digital products, you must have an Etsy account. After creating an Etsy account, follow the steps below to set up your Etsy shop for selling digital downloads.
Setting Up Your Etsy Shop For Digital Downlaods.
To become an Etsy seller, you need a Merchant account.
- Go to your Etsy account, click the round icon with your photo in the upper-right menu, and choose ‘Sell on Etsy.’
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click ‘Open your Etsy shop.’
- You must fill in the following information. Please note that you can alter the information later.
- Enter details of your language, country, and currency.
- Confirm if you’re going to be a full or part-time seller.
- Name your Etsy shop.
| Pro Tip: Your Etsy shop name must be 4 to 20 characters without special symbols, spaces, or accented letters. You can also change your Etsy shop name. |
- Create your first Etsy listing.
| NOTE: You cannot skip this step and will be charged a $0.20 listing fee for this item. |
We will see more of this in the following sections. Jump to the listing digital products on Etsy section.
- Set up payment and billing options. This process might take a few days.
That’s it! Your Etsy account is now ready and you can start selling your first digital product. Did you know that you can also open a number of shops on Etsy? Learn more about managing multiple Etsy shops.
How to Sell Digital Downloads on Etsy
We will discuss the step by step process of how to sell digital downloads on Etsy. This section includes picking a niche, creating products, generating mockups, listing products on Etsy, managing them, and promoting them.
Well, the list is long. Let’s get started.
Pick a Niche
Selecting the type of digital product and narrowing it down to a specific category helps you serve a target audience with specific preferences, needs, and characteristics.
How do you choose a niche?
Performing some research on Etsy and keyword research will help you create a product that suits your choice and market demand.
Here’s how to do it:
The foremost step in finding the digital product you wish to sell is brainstorming. You must put down all your ideas on a paper or a spreadsheet.
For instance, you can consider listing down a digital product you have already made, it could be an online invitation or a digital calendar. It could be anything. Once you have ideas, list all of them in a single place.
The next step is to go to the Etsy search bar and search for a product you want to sell. For example, to create a wedding planner, go to Etsy and search “event planners.”
You’ll see a bunch of products, something like this:
When you look at those products, you will find downloads like party planner, the ultimate wedding day binder, and so on. You can keep adding these ideas to your list. And then, you can narrow down your search by going to the search bar and typing ‘wedding day binder’, you will find more ideas. Put them down on your sheet of paper.
| Make sure you’re using the term ‘digital’ in the product you’re selling. Otherwise, it might mislead potential customers into thinking you’re offering a physical product. |
By now, you have some ideas.
The next step is market research.
You will have to verify if the product you have chosen is in demand. To find out, Go to Etsy and type a product from your list. You will find various products from various shops.
Examine all the products, and when you find one that stands out, click on it. Visit the Etsy shop, analyze the offerings and USPs, go to the review section, see if the product has a best seller badge, and find out the customers’ opinions about the products, especially their likes and dislikes.
Next, perform in-depth keyword research using Etsy SEO keywords tool such as Etsy Hunt, Sale Samurai, Alura, and more and identify high-demand and low-competition keywords. This step ensures you are choosing a trending and in-demand product.
Go on to your Etsy keyword research tool and type in your product. Let’s say, you enter a wedding planner, you will see tons of products. Click on one of them and look out for the sales it has made, the search volume, and whether it’s trending or not.
Additionally, test your product ideas with small audiences or surveys to validate demand.
And once you get this data, fill in the information on your sheet.
After this process, you’ll be able to figure out your niche.
If you’re still unsure about finding a product or the niche, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
Here’s a list of top-selling digital products on Etsy.
Top Selling Digital Downloads On Etsy
| Category | Description |
| Exclusively digital assets | Custom website themes, plugins, fonts, apps, software, social media templates, lightroom presets, or collections of prompts for MidJourney and Dall-e. |
| eBooks and manuals | Digital products in a written format such as PDFs, ebooks, and manuals. |
| Event printables | Digital downloads and printables for wedding invitations, graduation ceremonies, birthday parties, or gift tags and cards. |
| Baby and children | Digital downloads and printables for baby showers or tracking baby growth and learning material for children. |
| Leisure printables | Printables include coloring pages for children and adults, crossword puzzles, and games. |
| Utility downloads and printables | Digital prints include calendars, digital planners, to-do lists, checklists, jar labels, and candy bar wrappers. |
| Hobbies, DIY, and craft guides | Crochet, embroidery and knitting patterns, woodworking plans, electronics schematics. |
You have chosen the product. How do you make it?
Let’s get to that part.
How To Create Digital Downloads To Sell On Etsy?
There are two methods to create digital downloads on Etsy:
- Design Digital Products Using Design Tools
The first method is to design products using tools. Various design tools are available in the market and are suitable for beginners and seasoned professionals.
They come with free plans to premium ones and offer a range of features to create digital products for Etsy.
These tools include:
Canva
Pricing: Offers a free plan and a free trial. Starts from $0 to $100/year/person. Plus, there’s an enterprise plan.
Picmonkey – This design tool is an alternative to Canva.
Pricing: has a free trial. Pricing starts from $72/year to $228/year.
Procreate – This is for creating digital illustrations and for iPad users.
Pricing: Costs $12.99; it’s a one-time purchase.
Adobe Photoshop
Pricing: Starts from $9/month and goes up to $89/month.
Affinity Photo & Designer
Pricing: Available for a one-time payment of $164.99.
GIMP– This is a free tool and the best alternative to Photoshop.
Pricing: It is a free tool.
Inkscape – This tool is free and alternative to Illustrator.
Pricing: This tool is free to use.
With these design tools, you can create designs from scratch or pick a template and edit. Please note that you must manually create designs and these are not automatically generated.
Canva is a great tool for both beginners and professionals. It makes it easy to edit a template or design from scratch.
How to sell digital downloads on Etsy using Canva?
If you’re planning to sell templates on Etsy, here’s a complete guide on how to use Canva to design and sell templates on Etsy. Templates created in Canva that you can sell on Etsy include:
- e-Books
- Business Cards
- Forms
- Invitations
- Flyers
| NOTE: You can’t sell premade Canva templates without editing them. You must modify the template before you sell it as a digital download. |
The best part about using Canva is that you don’t have to upgrade to Canva Pro to design these templates; you can create them with the free plan.
For editable digital downloads: After creating the template, share the link with your customers so that they can make changes according to their needs.
Watch this video to learn how to make templates.
- Create Digital Products By Hiring a Professional
Another way to create digital products is to hire an expert. You can easily find one on Printify Experts, Upwork, and Fiverr platforms.
Hiring a professional might be costlier than using design tools, but the payoff is worth it. Ensure you’re hiring a candidate with relevant skills.
Listing Your Digital Products On Etsy
While listing products on Etsy, you must upload the mockup designs of your product. So, let’s understand creating mockup designs and then move onto listing them.
Mockups For Etsy Digital Downloads
Before you list your products on Etsy, you must create mockups for your product photos.
Most Etsy sellers claim this is the most important step and can’t stress more about high-quality images.
When creating mockups, you must provide great image quality and showcase the product features.
Let us Understand What are Mockup Designs:
| What is a Mockup Design?A mockup represents a digital creation showing how your product would appear in the real world. |
There are two types of mockups.
- Lifestyle Mockup: You use a photo as a background image to place your product in a real-life setting.
For example, You put an image of your ebook cover over an e-reader in a stock photo.
- Graphical Mockup: It’s a graphics-based interpretation of your product.
For example:
Here are the steps to create mockups on Canva:
For demonstration purposes, we are choosing wall art for explaining the process.
- Have your digital art ready.
- Go on to Canva and search wall art mockup.
- You will get various templates to showcase your product, similar to this:
- Choose one and click on the edit template.
You will see a screen something like this:
- Next, on the left-hand side menu, you will see an option to upload files. Here upload your digital file.
- Now, align your digital file to fit into the template. For wall art example, as you see in the picture above, insert your original art into those two wall frames.
- Likewise, you can choose multiple templates to showcase your products.
- Once you’re done editing mockup designs, download them.
- You will find the download option on top, right-hand side of menu.
- You can now upload these templates while listing your products.
That brings us to the next step, which is listing your products.
Let’s do it!
Listing Products On Etsy
Here’s the detailed process of creating product listings with downloadables on Etsy.
When uploading digital items on Etsy, choose one of the following categories.
- Instant downloads: In this category, there are ready-made files that the buyer can instantly access upon purchase.
- Made-to-order downloads: This category includes custom files created according to a buyer’s specifications and sent to them upon completion.
Follow the instructions to list an item on Etsy.
STEP 1: Sign in to your Etsy account and open the Etsy Shop Manager in the upper-right corner → select listings on the left-hand menu → click on ‘Add a Listing’ on the upper corner button.
You will see a page something like this:
STEP 2: Under ‘category’→ choose Digital item.
Start filling in the following fields.
STEP 3: To create a made-to-order digital listing:
Go to the ‘When was it made?’ dropdown → select ‘Made To Order.’
| NOTE: Creating a digital product listing differs slightly from creating a physical item. Before entering any further information, specify that the product is digital – if not, all data will be lost when converting the listing to digital format. |
STEP 4: After filling in all the details, click ‘Save and continue.’
You will be taken to the About section.
STEP 5: Fill the title and description of your product. In these fields, tell your brand story, achievements, history of your business that connects shoppers to your brand on a personal level.
Next, click Add file or drag and drop your digital product. You can upload up to five files of 20MB each, totaling 100 MB.
| NOTE: Etsy supports the following formats: .bmp, .doc, .ePUB, .gif, .iBook, .jpeg, .jpg, .mobi, .mov, .mp3, .mpeg, .pdf, .png, .psp, .rtf, .stl, .txt, .zip. |
You must upload digital files to list ‘instant download’ items.
- Ensure that your digital files are named properly, as your buyers will also view these file names. There’s no option to edit the name after uploading, so name your files appropriately.
- File names are limited to 70 alphanumeric characters, periods, underscores, or hyphens.
On the same page, scroll down for the pricing section and other information. You must set the pricing and enable the automatic renewal option.
STEP 6: Pricing
The average price for digital items ranges from $2 to $15, which could be higher for certain products.
However, the price you set depends upon other factors, such as the amount of time and effort you’ve put in and the product type. For example, if the product is in high demand, you might want to price it higher.
Here’s how to price your digital item effectively:-
Search On Etsy: Type in your product in the Etsy search bar. You will see various results. Look at the top-selling and other products.
Go to their shop, review their pricing and offerings, compare the top-selling product with other products, and find reviews.
Gather all the information, understand their product, and figure out the average pricing for your product and your competitors’ USPs.
This step will give you enough information to set a pricing for your product.
Ensure that your product offers something unique, create an attractive cover image, include a video along with instructions on how to use it, and then price it a bit lower than the top-selling product.
If your product is unique and stands apart, don’t be afraid to keep the price higher than the top-selling product.
As I said, pricing depends on the value and effort you put into the product.
Another piece of advice while setting a price is to keep in mind the future sales you will be running. If you’re offering 10% or 20% off, you will want to still make profits.
Hence, ensure you’re getting the right price.
STEP 7: Automatic Renewal
Scroll down on the same page to enable the automatic listing renewal option. If you do not enable this option, digital downloads on Etsy will appear out of stock after a sale if disabled.
After everything is set up, scroll down and click ‘Publish.’
Your products are now up on Etsy.
Manage Listings On Etsy
In this section, we will see how you can add or edit listings.
Replacing a File In An Instant Digital Listing
To change the existing file, you only have to remove it by clicking the trash icon next to its file name.
You can do so when adding or editing a listing. After removing it, you can add new files to the listing using the Upload Files button.
Also, note that you cannot publish or save an instant digital listing if no file is attached.
Completing a Made-to-order Digital Order
Unlike instant downloads, you won’t be able to upload a file for a made-to-order digital listing. To share the file with the buyer, follow these steps:
Go to your Shop Manager → select ‘Orders & Shipping; → Incomplete orders are displayed in the new tab → Check the box of the specific order(you want to complete) → choose ‘Complete order.’
Then
Select the ‘Upload file’ button → attach up to five files with a maximum size of 20MB each → Click the ‘Complete Order’ button.
The buyer will receive an email that their order is now available for download.
Marketing Your Etsy Digital Downloads
You’ve listed your products, and they are live on Etsy. However, to get them in front of your buyers, you must promote them.
There are a few strategies to market the products to increase visibility and boost Etsy sales.
Utilizing Etsy SEO
Let’s start with Etsy SEO. Promoting your products organically reaps benefits in the long term, and you won’t need to make additional investments.
A listing comprises a product title, description, tags, and many more attributes. Here’s how to optimize them:
Product Titles:
- They should be between 70-120 characters.
- Words at the beginning of the title are the most important, known as primary keywords. Use keywords at the beginning of the title.
- Avoid repeating the same keywords.
- Use phrases buyers search for on search engines.
- Make your title unique so that Etsy can differentiate you from your competition.
- They must be concise and informative.
- If you run Etsy offsite ads, you must consider how your title looks on Google and other channels.
Tags
An Etsy tag is a short word or phrase that describes your product. You can add up to 13 tags.
- Use long-tail keywords to tap into more niche markets. For example: “green stone necklace” instead of just “necklace”
- Do not repeat tags.
- Use purpose-focused and descriptive tags, including key phrases like “gifts for sister” and “spiritual planner.”
- Keep updating the tags and remove those that don’t perform well.
- You don’t have to use the plural forms of the tag; Etsy recognizes the root word.
If you need help finding tags for your business, you can use tools like Etsy Hunt and Sale Samurai.
Product Descriptions
- Write a detailed and easy-to-understand description.
- Talk about your Unique Selling Points (USPs).
- Use bullet points to highlight the main benefits of your product.
- Embed a link to promote other similar products at the end of the description.
Offering Promotions and Discounts
There are three types of discounts you can offer on Etsy:
Sales: This option allows you to offer a discount on selected or all items for certain audiences and at a certain time.
Promo Codes: You can offer buyers a promo code that enables them to receive a discount during checkout. This discount can be a percentage or fixed amount, and you can also offer free shipping (on physical products).
Targeted Offers: These offers are promo codes automatically emailed to buyers who have shown interest in your products. These emails are sent when specific actions take place. Etsy allows to send emails for 3 specific actions, these include:
- Abandoned cart
- Recently Favorited
- Post-purchase thank you
Buyers can enter this promo code during checkout.
Internal Marketing
Here’s how to promote your digital products on Etsy.
Etsy Ads
Etsy promoted listings are also referred to as Etsy ads. There are two types of Etsy ads: on-site ads and off-site ads. The main difference between the two is where they appear and how you can control them.
Onsite ads work on a PPC model. Sellers bid on keywords to advertise on the Etsy platform, i.e., on the website and mobile app. Onsite ads charge $0.02 to $0.03 per click.
On the other hand, offsite ads let you promote your Etsy shop on other platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Instagram. Sellers are automatically enrolled in offsite ads and only pay when they make a sale. On average, sellers pay a commission fee of 12% to 15% on each sale.
Read Also: How to Sell on Facebook & How to Sell on Instagram.
Etsy Community
You can participate in Etsy teams and forums to collaborate with like-minded people for joint product launches, cross-promotions, or featured collaborations in each other’s shops.
In addition, there are Etsy seller programs such as The Etsy Market, Etsy U, Etsy Design Awards, and the Etsy Summit.
Lauren Peterson, Community Manager at Etsy, describes the Seller programs as
“A place where sellers can find inspiration, educational resources, and opportunities to collaborate. “
—- Lauren Peterson, Community Manager at Etsy
External Marketing
Pinterest and Instagram are powerful tools for promoting your Etsy shop. They’re the most popular social media tools for digital downloads because they are visual apps i.e., the content on these platforms is based on visuals, images videos, and more. By optimizing your profile, creating engaging content, and building relationships, you can effectively drive traffic to your Etsy shop and grow your customer base.
Here’s how to promote Etsy digital products on Pinterest:
- Set Up a Pinterest Business Account: Create and optimize your profile by incorporating search terms to help potential clients easily find your shop. Include keywords in your name and ‘About’ section.
- Curate Pinterest Boards: Create boards inspired by your Etsy shop categories and optimize them with keywords. Pin multiple relevant products across different boards to increase visibility.
- Pin Your Etsy Listings: When introducing a new digital product on Etsy, it’s important to feature it on Pinterest. Scheduling tools like Tailwind can make this process seamless by allowing you to schedule and automate pinning and repinning across different boards, reducing manual effort.
- Use Pinterest Video Pins: Leverage video pins to engage users and drive traffic. For instance, you can create tutorials or animations showcasing how to use your digital products, such as planners and worksheets. Another advantage of video pins is that Pinterest allows you to upload videos up to 15 minutes long.
- Create Engaging Pinterest Pins: Design eye-catching pins using tools like Canva, Adobe, GIMP, etc. For a diverse strategy, incorporate keyword-rich overlays, infographics, and varied formats (static, video, infographics).
- Pinning Frequency: Start by pinning once a day and aim to increase to five pins daily as your Etsy business grows.
- Maintain a Balanced Strategy: Combine video pins, static pins, and infographics and showcase your digital items for an engaging Pinterest experience.
- Avoid Spam Filters: Space out your pins, pin them thrice a day, and avoid overloading your Pinterest feed to prevent suspension.
Let’s look at how we can promote Etsy digital items on Instagram.
- Set up a dedicated Instagram account for your Etsy shop to create a professional brand image.
- Optimize your bio with keywords and include a link to your Etsy shop.
- Display your digital items using clear, high-resolution images. Instead of using your Etsy listing photos, create Instagram-specific shots to keep the feed fresh and visually appealing.
Consider unique backgrounds and show your digital products in a real-world setting.
- Stories can impact more than posts since they are displayed prominently in followers’ feeds.
- Remember to connect with other digital product sellers on Instagram and engage with their content meaningfully.
- Use contests and shoutouts to increase visibility.
- Once you have a steady content flow, explore Instagram Loop Giveaways and Engagement Pods to increase followers. For example, You can give away a sample of your digital item before its launch in exchange for mentioning you on their Instagram handle.
- Collaborate with influencers to represent your brand, ensuring their content aligns with your products.
Email Marketing
77% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months.
It remains the same for Etsy, too. However, Etsy doesn’t allow sellers to have an automated email collection system. Instead, sellers must manually collect email IDs from Etsy and build subscribers strategically.
When promoting Etsy digital downloads through email marketing, here’s what you can do to build your email list.
STEP 1: Create a Lead Magnet
For digital products, a lead magnet could be a planner, checklist, or PDF resource (it need not be your entire product; maybe a mini version of your main product) that you can offer as a freebie to your potential customers to download instantly.
You get their email address or mobile number in exchange for the lead magnet.
STEP 2: Select an Email Service Provider
You need software to send emails and track data. Tools like Convertkit, Mailchimp, and GetResponse allow you to create and send emails in bulk. These tools help you collect emails and build a subscriber list.
STEP 3: Creating a Landing Page
You can set up a simple form to collect the details of your potential customers and, through the same form, set up automated lead magnet delivery.
When they click submit, they are taken to a confirmation page where they can download the freebie. Ensure that they can access it automatically.
STEP 4: Promote Your Freebie
You can promote this freebie on social media by saying, “Sign up here to download the checklist or planner,” and so on.
Using this email marketing software, you can create a welcome sequence and automatically deliver emails on day 1, day 2, etc. Provide tons of value in these emails so your brand stays on top of their minds.
Follow a routine of sending weekly or monthly emails with educational content, new product launch announcements, BTS, or product promotions.
This way, you don’t sound salesy. Providing valuable content helps you build trust that makes your readers happy to receive your emails.
This marks the end of how to sell digital downloads on Etsy. We hope you now have a handful of information to get started with selling digital items on Etsy.
While we have completed the essential part of the process, there are a few important things you must be aware of. Let’s look at those!
Costs Involved In Selling Etsy Digital Products
Below is the list of initial and ongoing costs you will encounter when selling digital items on Etsy or any type of product.
Etsy costs and fees for U.S. sellers include:
Cost to open a shop on Etsy: Free
Listing cost: 20 cents per listing (must be renewed every four months)
Payment processing fee: 3% + 25 cents per sale
Transaction fee: 6.5% per transaction
Offsite ads fee: 12 – 15% commission fee.
Design Tool (Canva) Price: $0 to $100/year/person.
Hiring a Professional Costs: Starts from $18/hour and can go upto $145/hour and more.
Apart from these fees, there are currency conversion fees and Etsy pattern fees. Learn more about Etsy fee charges.
I agree; looking at all these costs would overwhelm and confuse you. That is why here’s a tool that can help you calculate the overall fees.
How much does a seller make selling digital downloads on Etsy?
The answer entirely depends on the amount of effort you put in.
Below are a few case studies of Etsy sellers who became profitable and thriving in digital products.
Let’s consider Rachel Jones’s story. She started selling digital printables on Etsy as a side hustle and initially earned a modest income. With the strategic use of SEO and tools, she grew her shop to earn over $10,000 monthly by 2021. She maintains this profitability level today, focusing on high-quality products and effective marketing.
DarlingJadore, run by Sierra, is a profitable Etsy shop specializing in digital crochet and knitting patterns. With a niche focus on high-quality patterns and a passive income model, where products are sold as instant downloads, the shop has gained over 64,000 sales, making it one of the top sellers in this category.
LoveJunkJournals is another successful Etsy shop that sells vintage-themed printable kits for scrapbooking and journaling. With over 64,700 sales, LoveJunkJournals has built a thriving business selling digital downloads by focusing on a passionate crafting community and offering unique designs.
It’s time to understand the policies for selling digital products on Etsy.
Understanding Etsy’s Policies for Selling Digital Products
Any Etsy Seller must abide by the following rules and guidelines:
Apart from these, sellers promoting digital products must abide by the Etsy creativity standards.
Please note that every listing on Etsy must either be made, designed, handpicked, or sourced by a seller.
Etsy outlines creativity standards and categorizes the products as Made by a seller, designed by a seller, handpicked by a seller, and sourced by a seller. For selling digital products, one must look into ‘designed by a seller’ and ‘handpicked by a seller’ categories.
For digital products:
- Items ‘designed by a seller’ include only the following:
Digital products made by sellers with original designs. For example, a digital file of a graphic design, audio, text document, or scanned copy of physical artwork.
- Items ‘handpicked by a seller’ include:
Under digital items, Etsy considers vintage items 20+ years old, personally curated, or collected by the seller.
The items include digital files of scanned vintage content such as photographs, books, or patterns, as long as they comply with the Etsy Intellectual Property Policy.
For example, a Rockabilly dress from the 1950s and a copy of the book “The Little Prince” from the 1940s.
| NOTE: Etsy may ask for additional photo documentation or information about vintage items in your shop, such as their source, age, designer, or materials. |
- Etsy shop owners selling digital goods and who deliver them for automatic download to customers in European Union member countries are required to collect and pay VAT based on the VAT rates of the country where the customer is located.
- Additionally, as a seller who offers digital products, you can’t have variations for such products.
These are all the policies and guidelines an Etsy seller must follow to sell digital products.
Conclusion
Selling digital downloads on Etsy opens up opportunities for creators looking to earn passive income while reaching a global audience. By learning how to create and sell digital downloads on Etsy, optimizing your shop for SEO, offering high-quality digital products, and leveraging SEO strategies, you can maximize your chances of success on the platform.
FAQs
Is it profitable to sell digital art on Etsy?
Yes, you can be profitable selling art on Etsy. Popular art categories on Etsy include digital prints, watercolor paintings, and minimalist illustrations. Follow Etsy’s rules and guidelines and list your products, optimizing them for SEO. Market your products using strategies like ads and social media promotion.
How do I legally sell digital downloads on Etsy?
You should abide by a few laws to legally sell digital downloads on Etsy. Digital products, such as printables and digital downloads, are subject to copyright laws. As an Etsy seller, ensure that your products are original and do not violate the intellectual property rights of others.
How much can you make selling digital downloads on Etsy?
While an average Etsy seller makes $43,000 to $46,000 per year, a seller with digital products could make anything between $2000 to $10,000 per month. However, it varies depending on the type of product you’re selling, its pricing, and other factors.
How can digital products on Etsy be sold fast?
There isn’t a particular way to sell digital products faster. However, to ensure a smooth process, you can follow the steps outlined in the blog.
How do you sell digital products on Etsy for beginners?
The process for creating and selling digital products remains the same for beginners as well as professional Etsy sellers. For beginners, you can start with a beginner-friendly tool like Canva, create templates, and set attractive pricing.
How do you sell custom digital downloads on Etsy?
To offer a custom digital item for sellers, you must select made-to-order while listing the product.
Follow the steps below:
Go to the shop manager→ and add a listing → under category → enter ‘digital item’ → under ‘when did you make it’ category → select ‘made-to-order.
How do you sell editable digital downloads on Etsy?
If you’re using tools like Canva, you will find a sharable link on the same page after creating a template or designing an item. You can share this link with your customers so that they can make changes to it. Ensure that you provide an ‘edit’ link for your customers to access and make the changes to the file.
How do customers receive their digital downloads?
Customers can receive files in two ways: via email and direct download. Through email, customers can access a link and download the item. Through the direct download method, they can instantly access it after purchasing.
Can I offer multiple files or formats in a single listing?
Yes, you can upload multiple files for a single listing. However, Etsy only allows a few formats. Hence, make sure to follow the format specified. The supported formats include .bmp, .doc, .ePUB, .gif, .iBook, .jpeg, .jpg, .mobi, .mov, .mp3, .mpeg, .pdf, .png, .psp, .rtf, .stl, .txt, .zip.
