How to Sell & Make Money with Etsy for Beginners

Pete Dibble

In this article, I’m going to show you how to make $2,000 a month passively on Etsy.  Yes, I said passively, we are not talking about the normal taking orders and shipping merchandise model, this is something new, exciting and passive.

This is a unique model that you can start using to make a significant side gig income.  Some  Save Your Bucks readers report making in the neighborhood $2,000 a month with this unique Etsy strategy. 

So, without further ado, let’s get right into how to sell and make money with this money-making Etsy strategy.

We are going to outline the basics of this $2,000 a month Etsy Strategy. This is a basic overview that I hope you find as cool as we do. I personally believe in today’s world of ecommerce, everyone should be making money at home online. This Etsy strategy is a great place to start.

We all need to be taking advantage of this time and place in history. It will never get any easier to make profits online than it is right now. So let me share with you this unique money-making Etsy model.

The first thing you want to do is head over to Etsy.com. If you are not that familiar with Etsy, it is basically a marketplace where people buy and sell handmade crafts and vintage items.

Usually very well made, high-quality items, everything from necklaces to doormats. So when you log on to Etsy the first thing you want to do is search for Printable Stickers.

You will find pages and pages of printable stickers on Etsy. At the top of the page, you will also see several more printable categories. This money-making Etsy system can work in each one of these categories as well, anything that is printable.

The printable planner stickers are printable pages, layouts and templates that people create. The customers can literally just print these out on their own computer. As an example, I am looking at a printable sticker set for the Fall season.

Customers can buy this for $3.48. After the purchase is made, Etsy sends them a file that they can print right from their home printer.

That is why we think this Etsy money-making business model is so cool, the seller never has to ship anything. The entire process is completely 100% digital.

For the seller, this method creates an income that is automatic and passive, you don’t have to ship anything, you don’t have to worry about your labels, packaging and trips to the post office. So, all you have to do is log on to Etsy,  literally search up printable and you will find there are tons of printable stickers and other merchandise. Cards, posters, games printable quote, the list goes on and on.

You will find dozens of party games, people can print out on demand. So, for example, I am looking at one now, it’s called the 60th birthday party game. For someone who’s turning 60 years old, it’s a little printable game that a customer can print out. According to the description, this is some type of trivia game where participants guess the songs from the 50s, TV Shows, etc; and accumulate points. So literally when a customer buys the game for $5.00, The seller earns $5.00 minus a small Etsy fee. Then Etsy will send the digital, downloadable card game file to the buyer themselves. The seller is hands-off after the sale is made.

All you have to do is upload the files to Etsy ONE TIME and Etsy will continue to deliver the files to the customers over and over, immediately after every sale is made.

This unique Etsy money-making method is a very easy way to get started with e-commerce because you don’t have to worry about physical product fulfillment. It’s even easier than drop shipping because there’s literally no shipping at all. It’s all a digital download.

So, this unique model is a great way to start selling on Etsy. This is something that we’ve used in various niches to create a nice cash flow. We have sold cards, quote stickers, games, planners, seasonal stickers, and more.

I have zero graphic design skills, we outsource each of our projects, and you can too.  The key is just to look at what’s selling and then getting something similar created for you.  Unless of course, you have graphic and design skills and if that is the case you should be getting very excited about it now.

Let’s take the 60’s birthday party game as an example. It wouldn’t be fairly easy to have something similar designed that you could sell yourself on Etsy.

Everything we currently sell we had designed by freelancer’s we found on Fiverr.  If you are not familiar with Fiverr it is a huge marketplace where you can hire freelancers from all over the world that have a variety of talents. We have found many people on Fiverr in our businesses over the years that we have developed wonderful long-term business relationships.

This is the next piece to this Etsy money-making system that I want to share with your right now.

All you need to do is head over the Fiverr, go ahead do a search for a graphic artist.  You will find hundreds of graphic artists from around the world that would love to design your sticker ideas, or anything else and jobs start at JUST $5.00.

Now here is something very important for you to think about.

Off the top of your head, what kind of stickers would you like designed?

We will use the Fall Scenes example.

Now let’s assume you hire a graphic designer to create a page full of 4 different Fall themes for $5.00 and then you upload the file and advertise your sticker sheet on Etsy. (Posting is Free). How many sheets would you need to sell to recoup your $5.00 investment?

Yesterday, my family went to a minor league baseball game, and we had a wonderful time. When I got home we had multiple sales from our online stores, including 3 printable items we sold on Etsy. So yes, it is possible, and there are tens of thousands of Save Your Buck readers who are taking advantage of the money-making opportunities we share on this website every week.

Hiring outsourced on Fiverr is a very quick and simple process. We hire multiple freelancers for various projects every month in our businesses.

I hope your mind is already thinking about sticker ideas, or maybe a quote poster, or game you can have a design mockup for you.

I hope you can see yourself making something that is similar to a printable that is already selling on Etsy, but maybe a different color, different fonts, maybe change up the name of the content actually on the game if you’re doing games. You just need to make tweaks like that.

You don’t need to copy people, just draw inspiration from them. Etsy has a strict policy with copyright infringements, and honest sellers are glad they do.

So, make sure to differentiate yourself and your work, and there is no need or no excuse for ripping off people’s designs.

You are already probably thinking of ideas, but you need to make sure that your designer is clear you have no desire to knock off other merchants’ designs.

So, that’s a basic outline of the whole idea of how to earn passive income on Etsy. You really just want to check out printable stickers and everything else in the printable category on Etsy & come up with your ideas.

There are numerous categories to consider, printable planner, wedding invitation quotes, calendar, a planner sticker, baby shower invitations, and on and on. Check out what’s selling, check something that maybe you’d be able to explain well to a designer after you add your own unique twist.

Just make sure you’re doing that so you differentiate yourself. Then what you want to do is search Fiverr for a designer to hire for your project. As I mentioned earlier, jobs start at just $5.00 + a $2.00 Fiverr fee. After you hire your designer your printable will normally be back to you within 24 -48 hours. While you are waiting you want to create your Etsy account if you don’t already have one, and become familiar with the website.  When your designs are delivered to you, simply upload, create a listing, and then when you create a listing, make sure you categorize it as a digital download, this is important!  

LIST YOUR ITEM AS A PRINTABLE DOWNLOAD.

And I’m not going to walk through the entire process in this article, but I will try to find some videos to include and add them to this page that will walk you through the process.

I highly suggest that you find a digital download item on Etsy you are interested in and buy it. That way you can personally experience the process and the layout of how it all flows together.

We have shared with you a proven, passive business model that you can actually start on today, like right now.

I want to thank you for reading this article on how to start selling on Etsy and make passive income. I hope you enjoyed it and your comments, and feedback are always appreciated.

I want to encourage you to continue to learn, grow, improve and get better. There are a number of money-making opportunities all around us. We write about them every week here at SaveYourBucks.com  Find those that make sense for you and TAKE ACTION!