How To Make Passive Income on Etsy Selling Digital Products
Etsy is one of the largest platforms to sell digital and physical products, especially in 2024.
Etsy connects sellers and buyers to sell and buy vintage items, digital decor, and so much more.
If you want to learn how to make passive income on Etsy, I will say that it’s definitely attainable.
The best part is you don’t have to be a famous Youtuber, big brand name, or anything to make sales.
Literally, anyone is able to make passive income on Etsy.
According to LitCommerce, Etsy receives 465.3 million visits, which makes it one of the big 4 players in the marketplace, after Amazon, Ebay, and Walmart.
Passive income on Etsy is certainly possible.
I wouldn’t be writing this blog post, if I haven’t personally witnessed my success on Etsy.
It takes hard work, consistency, and patience, but you can make it happen.
Why sell on Etsy for passive income?
Etsy is an ideal marketplace to sell digital products. Amazon, on the other hand, focuses more on physical products to sell.
But Etsy has a vast range of sellers, from home decor creatives to digital planner enthusiasts.
You are able to find your footing in many different areas. You can basically sell anything on the marketplace, as long as you don’t violate Etsy’s policies.
What are digital products?
If you’ve been on Etsy for a while, you’ve likely come across digital products.
Digital products are designs that customers can download without receiving a physical item.
Digital products offer a huge advantage: once you create it, you can sell it an unlimited amount of times.
Once your product is out there, you don’t have to do anything else.
Selling digital products on Etsy allows you to make passive income. Imagine going to bed and waking up with 15 sales from one digital product that you published!
How much can I make on Etsy selling digital products?
This is the golden question that you’re probably wondering about!
Many beginner Etsy sellers can make around $5-200 a week.
How much you make will vary according to the products you create and the niche you’re in.
I made over $10,000 from printables in under a year after taking this Etsy printables course. This course changed how I viewed passive income and realized it could become MY reality.
In this course, 6-figure coaches, Jules and Cody teaches new and seasoned sellers how to create and sell profitable printables on Etsy!
The e-course includes many modules that teaches you how to create listings that sell and a list of best-selling products that will skyrocket your sales.
If I can make over $10,000 from printables, you can do it, too!
Check out the Etsy printables course here!
But if you cannot afford the full online course right now, they also created a great FREE ebook about the best seasonal products to sell on Etsy which you can get here!
Best Design Tools For Digital Products
There are many design tools out there for digital products that you might have stumbled across online.
These are personally design tools I have either used or recommend you starting with.
Canva is the design tool I use, and I love it so much!
I currently have Canva Pro since I specifically create wall decor, so having the pro subscription allows me to choose more graphics and fonts.
I also am not skilled in graphic design, haha, so it saves me a lot of time and energy.
- Easy to use interface: Canva makes it perfect for beginners who are just getting started with creating digital products
- Extensive vast library of illustrations: Even if you don’t purchase Canva Pro, there are many free graphics you can choose from
- Ready to use templates: Canva has many convenient ready to use templates already such as printables, resumés, and social media graphics
If you choose Canva Pro, it’s $14.99/month.
Honestly, I would recommend splitting the cost with someone else, lol, if they also use Canva Pro!
Corjl is another popular graphic design, editing platform. It specializes in editable templates such as business logos, client intake forms, wedding invitations, and more.
This is a great option for those who want to sell editable templates! Keep in mind, there is a learning curve for sellers and it may take time to understand the platform before selling.
- Specializes in editable templates: Increases user experience because they can personalize designs easily
- Allows for real-time editing: Customers can make changes in real-time to their purchase without using an external software
- 15-day trial: You can get a feel for the software and see if it fits your needs or not
You get a 15-day free trial, and then their annual plan starts at $9.99/month.
Templett is a user-friendly platform that makes it easy for Etsy sellers and customers to use. This design tool is also popular for editing templates such as wedding invites, baby shower templates, menu templates, and more.
- Design on any device: You can design on your desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone, making Templett convenient to use
- Many fonts and graphics: There are over 800 fonts and over 3 million elements for free if you use Templett!
- Advanced design tools: If you want to take your graphic design skills to the next level, you can use curved text, advanced gradients, clipped masks, and more
Create Profitable Digital Products
The key on how to make passive income on Etsy is to create profitable digital products.
But how do you do that, Melanie?!
You want to choose a niche that is low competition and high-in-demand.
A niche is an area in a marketplace that you can sell products in.
For example, a profitable niche on Etsy is editable ebooks for businesses.
Businesses are always looking for products to sell to their own customers or create informational ebooks that will establish trust among their customers.
Several profitable digital products in this niche (editable ebooks for businesses)
- Editable ebook for fitness coach
- Editable ebook for yoga instructor
- Editable ebook for AirBnB owner
- Editable ebook for marketing consultant
You can see that there are so many products you can create that’s specifically catered to a certain person/job!
This is a really summed-up version of how to create profitable digital products.
If you want to save time and energy finding the best digital products to sell on Etsy, you can get my free e-book here.
Utilize Clickable Product Photos
Etsy sellers tend to underestimate the power of having their product photos when they publish a listing.
The first thing that people look at when they are about to purchase a product is the appearance of it.
The difference between an Etsy customer choosing between two products can simply be the product photo!
It's so important to create clickable product photos that could potentially lead to sales from customers.
Here is an example of a clickable product photo I came across on Etsy:
It’s very well put together and you can clearly see what the Etsy seller is marketing.
It’s a wellness, nutrition, health e-book template that has more than 165+ pages.
I’d definitely be interested in investing my money in this if I was in the wellness industry.
Understand Etsy SEO
If you want to make passive income on Etsy, you need to understand Etsy SEO.
SEO is search engine optimization is the bread and butter of finding success on Etsy.
In simpler terms, SEO allows you to gain visibility and rank in search engines such as Google, Pinterest, including Etsy.
The first step to understanding Etsy SEO is to have a general idea of what products you want to create first.
Once you know what products to create, you can research your product’s keywords on the Etsy search bar.
Here’s an example:
Of course, you might not know you wanted to create “undated” digital planners.
You looked at your competitors and saw they were also selling digital planners.
Maybe some of them were selling boho, floral, or ADHD planners.
If you create an “undated boho digital planner,” you have the potential of ranking higher on Etsy’s search results.
You are specific about what product you’re creating.
Also the competition level is a lot lower compared to the average 50,000+ results when you type in “digital planners.”
Determine Prices For Products
When you’re just starting your Etsy shop, it can be confusing to figure out the prices for your products.
I definitely struggled to price my products in the beginning of my Etsy journey (still kind of do, tbh).
But there are several factors to pay attention to when pricing your products:
- Look at your competitor’s prices
- Determine the cost vs. profit margin
- The niche you’re in
These three factors will help you make a more informed decision about pricing your products.
If you’re creating digital planners, most sell for $10 and more. If you’re selling printable planners, you might sell them for $5 or less.
I would recommend pricing your items a bit lower around 10-20% lower than your competitors to make your products stand out more.
But just know that when you're a beginner on Etsy, don't focus so much on profit and focus more on getting reviews! I explain why in this post: How Do I Get More Reviews On Etsy? Your 5-Star Success Guide.
Market Your Products To The Right Audience
One of the best ways to make passive income on Etsy is to learn how to market correctly.
I’ve seen new Etsy sellers way too many times market their products to the wrong audience.
What I mean by this is that Amy (let’s say) is putting her Etsy store link in her personal IG account bio instead of a separate IG account dedicated to her Etsy shop.
The reason why this hurts your Etsy shop is because random people are just clicking on your Etsy shop link simply out of curiosity.
The majority of them are not interested in buying anything from you.
Why? Because they’re not your right audience!
That’s why you need to create a social media account to promote your Etsy shop.
It could look like creating IG reels or Instagram posts about your Etsy shop and using the right hashtags.
With the right marketing tactics, you’ll naturally gain followers who are actually interested in your Etsy shop and products.
Chances are these potential customers are way more likely to click on your Etsy shop link than your aunt, if you end up just having a personal IG account.
Real-Life Etsy Seller Success Story (Case Study)
We’re going to do a short case study of one of my Etsy shops that I started in October 2023. I’m writing this post exactly one month later, November 2023.
I’m providing this example to show you that it is possible to make money passively on Etsy.
My goal with this Etsy shop was to study Etsy’s trends and SEO strategies, not to gain fast money.
I wanted to experiment with different A/B testing and learn what clicks and doesn’t click with potential customers.
It allows me to share my best tips and tricks with you as I also gain more knowledge and skill as an Etsy seller.
So you can see that I’ve made 48 orders from this store, so far. I price my items around $1-4 dollars and currently have 50 products up.
But what’s interesting is that only around 3-4 out of my 50 products are making up the majority of my sales.
That’s why you cannot give up so early with your Etsy shop! You never know which product can take off and gain you the majority of your sales.
If I had stopped creating at my 30th product, I wouldn’t have been able to make $178 in revenue.
So I hope this gives you an idea that it is possible to make passive income on Etsy!
That’s why I highly recommend taking this Etsy Printables Course, that teaches you how to find the right niche and create printables that actually sell.
Or you can get this FREE ebook to learn how to capitalize on seasonal trends for your Etsy shop!
Want to choose a profitable Etsy digital product to sell today?
Final thoughts
If you’re wondering how to make passive income on Etsy, this is your go-to guide!
You certainly can make passive income doing this side hustle.
I speak from personal experience and have been blessed to make my Etsy shop a profitable side hustle for me.
I had no prior background or knowledge in graphic design or creating digital products.
But if you’re determined to make it work, you can make it happen!
Have any questions about starting your own Etsy shop? Comment below or send me an email! My inbox is always open. 🙂
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In this post, I have shared how to make passive income on Etsy. I hope you’ve found it helpful!
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Good day! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading this post reminds me
of my good old room mate! He always kept chatting about this.
I will forward this page to him. Pretty
sure he will have a good read. Many thanks for sharing!