Since being founded in 2005, Etsy has become the internet’s largest market for crafts and vintage finds. But did you know it’s also a bustling marketplace for digital downloads?
From sewing pattern PDFs and ebooks, to digital art and Procreate brushes, creators now use the platform to sell all kinds of digital products — and customers are lining up to purchase them. The e-commerce platform’s digital media market is blowing up, and now’s the time to cash in!
Etsy has a powerful search engine and over 96 million buyers it can deliver directly to your shop with zero marketing effort on your part. It supports a ton of different file formats, meaning you can sell just about any digital product on the platform.
Want to get in? Read on as we show you how to sell digital downloads on Etsy in just four steps, as well as tips and tricks to boost your sales, and deets on some of the platform’s most profitable products.
4 Steps to sell digital downloads on Etsy
So you want to know how to start selling digital products on Etsy? Here, we break down the process into four simple steps, from market research to marketing.
Step 1: Research
Don’t know what Etsy digital downloads you should sell? Don’t sweat it! That’s exactly what the market research stage is for.
The goal of market research is to pinpoint gaps in existing markets. This will help you determine which products will provide real solutions, and ultimately earn you sales and cash.
Determine your audience’s needs
To come up with digital product ideas, you’ll want to determine your audience’s needs. For this step, creators have it pretty easy, as the majority of social media platforms have tools for connecting directly with their audience. Use your platform’s community and polling features to ask your audience what kinds of products and solutions they’re looking for.
Do some keyword research
Now that you have digital product ideas, it’s time for some keyword research. By playing around with the Etsy search bar and paying close attention to auto-populated keywords, you can get a good idea of what products are being sought after within your niche and precisely what to call them.
Sure, you might be selling “printable wrapping paper,” but did you know that “digital wrapping paper” actually gets more hits? You can also perform keyword research with tools like Google Trends to help target traffic outside of Etsy.
Scope out your competitors
After keyword research, it’s time to look at what the competition’s doing.
Search for similar digital downloads on Etsy and take notes on pricing, listing assets, and product details. This will give you an idea of how much you should be selling your products for and what details to include in your listing images and description.
Note what competitors’ products might be lacking, and then build a better version!
Plan the process
Once you’ve finished all that valuable research, you’re ready to start plotting out the production process. This means planning out everything from ideation to launch, including your budget, your resources, your timeline, and of course your launch date.
Be realistic with your deadlines. Templates don’t just fall into place, and an ebook doesn’t write itself in a day! And don’t forget to factor in post-launch endeavors like marketing initiatives to get your product in front of people!.
Pro tip: Download the Leap’s free Digital Product Launch Checklist for more tips on how to go from planning your digital product to making your first sale!
Step 2: Create digital downloads
Now, it’s time to create your digital product. This is definitely the toughest part of the process, but if you put in the effort to create a high-value digital download, the payoff can be enormous. No matter what you decide to create, you have one of three options.
Tweak something that already exists
There are tons of free assets all over the internet that you can use as a base for your free product. Want to build a worksheet for kids learning their alphabet? Just Google “copyright-free worksheet” and start from there. Thinking of creating a budget tracker? Start prowling the internet for free templates, find one to your liking, and adapt it to your audience’s needs.
If you choose this option, just make sure to double-check the licensing and copyright for the assets you use. Not all free assets are copyright-free, and you might get in trouble if you use them for your own digital products.
Build something from scratch yourself
If you’ve got some design skills — or you’re willing to learn — you can build your product yourself. Just remember to:
- Start small: While you might have an elaborate idea for your digital product, it pays to start small. Make your first digital product simple so you don’t spend months building something before putting it up on Etsy. You can always refine it later or create a new version once you’ve sold a few.
- Choose the right tools: For some products, you’ll need to spring for more expensive tools. If you’re selling presets for Adobe Lightroom, for example, you’ll have to buy a subscription for that tool. In most cases though, there are tons of free tools you can use to make your product. Some examples include:
- Canva (freemium app for creating templates, printables, and other digital designs)
- Affinity Photo and Editor (free alternative to Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom)
- Gimp (free alternative to Adobe Photoshop)
- Inkscape (free alternative to Adobe Illustrator)
- Apple KeyNote (free Mac app for creating digital planners and journals on Goodnotes and other PDF readers)
- Focus on done instead of perfect: Your first digital product isn’t going to be perfect, and that’s ok. You can always refine and rework it later. Just focus on finishing a quality product that’ll give some kind of value to your audience and list it on Etsy.
Outsource to a pro
Maybe you don’t have the time or the skills to make a product yourself, but you’ve got a great idea and the cash to make it happen. No worries, you can still get killer digital products for your Etsy shop!
Just go to a platform like Fiverr or Upwork and look up a collaborator with the skills to make your product happen, like a designer or web developer. You don’t need to shell out a ton of cash to get someone with the right skills to build a great product. It might take a few weeks, but at the end of the process, you’ll have a great product for your audience!
3. Set up your Etsy shop and list your product
Phew, your digital product is finally finished and ready to be unleashed on the world. To do that, you’ll need to set up your Etsy shop and list your product.
Set up your Etsy shop
Setting up your own Esty shop isn’t too complicated. Here’s everything you need to do:
First, create an Etsy account. Just go to Etsy, hit Sign in followed by Register.
Then you’ll just need to give your first name, an email address, and a password to create your account. Hit Register.
Next, add a profile picture and bio. Just hit the grey Your Account button in the top right then View your profile.
Hit Edit public profile to add a bio and the little camera next to that line to add a profile picture.
Once you’ve got an account, go to etsy.com/sell then hit Get started to create your Etsy shop.
From there, you’ll have to answer a few questions about where you’re from, how much business experience you have, and if you want access to extra resources for sellers. After that, verify your identity (usually with a government ID), set up your payment details, and customize your shop to your tastes, and you’re ready to list your product!
List your product
Listing a product on your Etsy store is super simple:
- Sign in to Etsy and go to the Shop Manager.
- Hit Listings.
- Hit Add a listing.
- Give your product a name and a description, then add a few images of it.
- Hit Publish.
That’s literally it. You can create a product listing in the time it takes to wait for your coffee at Starbucks. It might take up to 48 hours for your listing to show up in search results on Etsy, but you can start posting content about it right away!
Speaking of which…
Step 4: Promote your Etsy digital downloads
Etsy’s search engine does a great job of connecting your digital products with the customers who want them. However, if you want to truly max out your sales, you’ll want to do some marketing.
Promote your digital downloads through content
By promoting through content, you’ll get your digital download in front of your audience’s eyes — they are your target market, after all! Create content about your digital products, especially when it’s just launched. Your content can walk people through how to use your product, compare it to similar products, or even show the work you did to create it.
Just remember to add a link to your Etsy listing in your content and bio!
Use Etsy Ads
Got a marketing budget? Etsy Ads is the platform’s paid advertising program, which allows sellers to advertise their products in Etsy search results and other pages on the platform.
Simply set your budget and Etsy does the rest, optimizing your campaigns to advertise your product listings in the places where they perform best, including category pages and market pages on Etsy.com and the Etsy app.
Send marketing emails
In the world of social media, emails might seem outdated, but newsletters are still some of the most effective marketing tools around.
While Etsy doesn’t offer built-in email marketing, you can use a third-party platform like Mailchimp or The Leap to collect emails and build a contact list. Then, whenever you launch a new product — or put an existing product on sale — you can send an email to everyone on your list. You’d be surprised how effective this can be!
What kind of Etsy digital downloads can you sell?
Because Etsy supports such a wide variety of file formats, there’s almost no limit to the kinds of digital products you can sell on the platform, making it a great place for a variety of creators to set up shop.
That being said, certain categories of digital products perform better than others on the platform. This is because Etsy caters primarily to a specific set of niches, including arts and crafts, design, and wellness. It almost goes without saying that Etsy sellers — and digital downloads — within these areas tend to make more sales compared to others.
Sewing patterns
Etsy is the internet’s #1 marketplace for crafts, so it comes as no surprise that some of the platform’s best-selling digital downloads cater to the arts and crafts niche. Among them, printable sewing patterns perform particularly well.
Sewing patterns show users how to sew fabrics into soft goods with step-by-step instructions and paper templates for pattern-cutting. Printable sewing patterns can be created in design programs like Adobe Illustrator and, as their name suggests, are intended to be printed off for use at home.
From clothing and housewares to toys, sewing patterns exist for a wide variety of soft goods categories. On Etsy, digital sewing patterns for clothing tend to sell the best. For example, Aura Patterns, one of the platform’s most popular purveyors of digital sewing patterns, has made over 66,000 sales.
Printable stationery
Printable stationery is one of Etsy’s most lucrative digital download markets, with some of the niche’s most popular boutiques, like Willow Lane Paperie and A Wild Bloom Designs, boasting over 300,000 sales.
In addition to being hugely profitable, the category is large and wide-ranging, encompassing cards, invitations, labels, gift tags, and more, giving creators plenty of opportunity to flex their design skills — and to rake it in.
Pushing 390,000 digital product sales, Minty Paperie Shop is one of the category’s top performers and corners Etsy’s booming bridal niche. Some of the shop’s best-selling digital downloads include a printable baby shower bundle, a bridesmaids info card, and an event welcome letter-slash-itinerary.
Digital planners and journals
Have experience in graphic design and a knack for organization? Then you’ll want to consider cashing in on Etsy’s booming digital planners and journals market.
As their name suggests, digital planners and journals are organizational tools designed to be used on digital devices, like computers and smartphones via PDF annotation apps like Goodnotes or Notability. That being said, many digital planners and journals double as printable products, and can be printed off for analogue use.
Digital planner templates typically include sections for calendars, daily to-do lists, and goal trackers, but they can also include more niche tools. For example, this all-inclusive planner by Creative Dreamers Co features an additional meal planner and expenses tracker. Digital journals, on the other hand, include lined or grid pages for long-form or bullet journalling, alongside organizational extras like to-do lists or daily affirmations.
Printable wall art
Is Etsy the new art market? With over 2.5 million digital prints currently available on the platform, it sure seems like it.
Today, Etsy is the go-to for savvy consumers looking to spruce up their homes or office spaces. And artsy creators are cashing in, transforming their paintings, illustrations, and photographs into digital art.
Illustrator Emilie Muggleton has cashed in by creating a series of digital posters that can be printed off, framed, and hung up at home. Her best-selling styles include her popular zodiac series as well as this adorable Japanese cat poster, which all start at $12. To date, Emilie has made over 7,000 sales of her digital illustrations.
Digital art brush packs
If you’re a digital artist, you’ve likely used a brush pack at some point in your career. Did you know you can make bank creating your own? Some brushes allow artists to mimic real textures, from crayons to paints, while others are essentially shortcuts to painting believable grass, cloth, and other textures.
Illustrator Mimi Purnell has over 40 listings on her Etsy shop, including brush packs that simulate different pens, markers, and crayons.
Website templates and themes
Entrepreneurs, creatives, and content creators all need websites. Platforms like Squarespace, Wix, or Shopify have tons of built-in templates but they can feel pretty generic and samey. If you’ve got design skills, you can make your own templates and sell them on your Etsy shop.
Creator Blog Pixie does exactly that. Her Etsy store has dozens of Shopify themes and templates as well as social media templates, digital planners, and more.
Budget trackers
Big in the personal finance space, a budget tracker allows people to track how much money they’re bringing in and where it’s going every month. Usually built in spreadsheet tools like Google Sheets or Excel, making these yourself can be daunting, which is why these templates are so popular.
If you know your way around a spreadsheet — and your spending categories — you can make your own template and sell it on Etsy. Some templates are super simple while others have charts, graphs, and everything someone might need to get into the nitty-gritty of their budget.
Worksheet
If you’re a creator educator who makes content for kids, just know there’s a massive demand for worksheets and workbooks out there. Teachers and parents alike go to platforms like Etsy to get these products for teaching or just to keep kids busy.
CounsellorCronan creates content about mental health and dealing with anxiety. Her Etsy store is full of worksheets — for adults and kids alike — designed to help people through the toughest mental health challenges.
Want more digital product ideas? Discover 34 of the best-selling digital products on Etsy.
Tips for maximizing your digital download sales on Etsy
Marketing initiatives are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to maximizing your digital download sales on Etsy. From amping up your branding to polishing up your product pictures, there are many other ways you can increase your sales.
Run a sale
A great way to boost your sales is to, well, run a sale! Luckily, Etsy makes setting up a sale easy — everything can be done through your Shop Manager in just a few clicks.
Etsy’s user-friendly “Run a Sale” page allows sellers to create their custom sale by filling in a few parameters including discount percentages, length of sale, and free shipping. Once your sale starts, the app will automatically display your products’ discounted prices on their listing pages, your store’s home page, and in Etsy search results.
From there, it’s up to you how you choose to promote your sale, through content, newsletter, or Etsy direct messages.
Upload high-quality images and videos
Want to make your digital products pop? Create eye-catching product images!
Your digital product’s hero image is the first (and only) thing a potential customer sees while browsing Etsy search results. So it’s important that this image is eye-catching enough to warrant a click.
Unlike IRL products like vintage clothes or housewares, digital products can’t be photographed. Instead, digital products are captured and displayed through graphics, like digital collages. This means that, if you haven’t already, you’ll need brush up on your design skills in apps like InDesign or Canva to make the most of your product listings.
Here are a few pointers to make your product images pop:
- Use white or light colored backgrounds so your products stand out.
- Create clean, uncluttered layouts.
- Don’t be afraid of high contrast or bright colours.
Etsy also allows sellers to add videos to their listings alongside images. You can leverage these engaging sales tools by taking screen captures that walk users through your product’s functionality.
Sell bundles
Everyone loves a deal! Sell your customers more for less with bundles. On Etsy, a bundle is a set of digital products that are being sold at one discount price, under one listing. In the platform’s digital media market, bundles are incredibly popular among sellers and buyers.
Bundles entice customers to spend more money in your shop, offering them the opportunity to buy multiple products at a discounted rate. On the flip side, this means more sales — and profits — for you.
When it comes to selling bundles, you should sell products that make sense together. You wouldn’t want to bundle pantry labels with gift tags, for example. However, if you’re cornering the market on event printables, you’d likely want to bundle all your wedding-related products together, so your customers can purchase everything they need for the big day in one fell swoop — and at bundle pricing.
How much can you make selling digital products on Etsy?
Etsy’s digital downloads game is incredibly lucrative. How much you can earn, however, depends on a number of factors, including the size of your following, the niche you’re catering to, and the amount of effort you put into your Etsy shop. If you’re willing to put in the work, you can definitely earn a living off of digital downloads.
Take it from Rachel Jimenez, owner of successful Etsy shop Prosperous Printables. With her store, Rachel has cornered the market on Etsy’s printable templates category, offering digital downloads of business contracts and forms, puzzles and games, and income trackers. In May 2023, just over a year after launching her Etsy shop, Rachel told Business Insider that she was earning $9,500 per month on average in digital product sales alone.
From January to December 2020, Etsy shop Amma Rose Designs earned its owner Kayla over $93K in revenue. The graphic designer-slash-creator uses the platform to sell digital and printable notebooks, planners, and journals. Currently, Kayla’s best-selling digital downloads are her business planner bundles, which sell for $28.
Elsewhere on the platform, Brian Timothy earns over $70K in income by selling digital art through his shop Neptune Art Prints. The graphic designer and creator sells his digital art for $7.99 to $35.99 per print and, to date, has made over 39,000 sales. That’s a pretty penny!
Is Etsy the best platform for selling digital products?
Etsy is a massive platform for selling crafts, art, and digital products. You can get access to a massive user base that might otherwise never come across your products if you just promoted them on social channels. But does that necessarily make Etsy the best platform for selling your products?
Not necessarily.
For one, Etsy will charge you the following fees:
- Set-up fee: Etsy charges $15 just for setting up your new Etsy shop.
- Listing fee: Expect to pay $0.20 for each new product listing. A listing lasts four months, and you’ll have to pay that fee again if you want to renew your listing. That means keeping up a product listing for a year will cost you $0.60. Not too bad if you only have a few products, but many creators put up dozens, if not hundreds of products.
- Transaction fee: For every sale you make on Etsy, you’ll be charged 6.5% of the price of that sale. This is significantly higher than transaction fees on other platforms, like TikTok Shop, Stan Store, or Linktree.
Another issue with Etsy? It might be a great — if expensive — place to sell your digital products, but that’s all it can do. You’ll need other tools to actually build your products, host other links, and integrate your other projects.
But what if you could get one tool that does it all? For free?
That’s where The Leap comes in.
The Leap is a free, mobile-first, AI-powered digital product builder and online storefront. It’s your one-stop shop for everything you need to turn followers into customers. Build your first product, promote it through content, and sell it all from a single place.
The best part? You only need to pay a 2.9% transaction fee on each sale. No set-up fees, no listing fees, and no monthly subscriptions.
The Leap is the best place to sell your digital products. Period.
Build, market, and sell digital products all in one spot with The Leap!
Get in on Etsy
So now you know how to sell digital downloads on Etsy. After reading this guide, you might now be wondering whether it’s worth it. Take it from us: the answer is yes!
Because of its massive global user base, powerful search engine, and built-in marketing features, Etsy has become one of the most lucrative places to sell digital downloads online. Want to cash in? The first place to start is by creating your first digital product — oh, and signing up for an Etsy account!
Ready to start earning? Download the Leap’s free (that’s right, free!) Digital Product Launch Checklist for more useful tips on how to unlock your passive income potential.
FAQ: How to sell digital downloads on Etsy
Is selling digital downloads on Etsy worth it?
Yes! Selling digital downloads on Etsy allows creators to earn passive income. You’ll also save time and money on making the product (compared to physical products) and on your marketing efforts. That’s because Etsy’s marketplace functionality and powerful search engine connect your products with a market of over 96 million potential customers.
Can you make a lot of money selling digital downloads on Etsy?
Absolutely! An Etsy seller can make bank with digital products, especially in categories like sewing patterns, printable stationery, templates for websites, digital journals and planners, digital art, and Lightroom presets.
What tools do I need to create digital products to sell on Etsy?
The tools you’ll need depend on what products you make. Popular tools for digital printables and templates include Adobe InDesign and Canva, while creators making digital art might turn to Adobe Illustrator or Procreate. Other popular digital tools include Adobe Lightroom for Lightroom presets, and Apple KeyNote for digital journals and planners.
How much does it cost to sell digital products on Etsy?
Etsy charges three fees for selling on its platform:
- Transaction fee: 6.5% of the price of your digital product for each sale.
- Set-up fee: Etsy charges $15 just for setting up your new Etsy shop.
- Listing fee: $0.20 per listing when you create it and when it’s renewed every four months.
Follow The Leap on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube for more creator platform walk-throughs. We also make a newsletter.
Further reading
- 34 Best Digital Products To Sell on Etsy in 2023 (+ Real Examples)
- The Best Platforms To Sell Digital Products Online
- The Best Etsy Alternatives for Selling Digital Products
- 15 Profitable Digital Products To Sell Online (+Real Examples)
- How To Sell Digital Products Online: A 6-Step Launch Checklist
- How To Make Money Selling Ebooks Online
