Etsy operates as the premier online marketplace for bespoke and handmade items. In 2023, shoppers on Etsy spent more than $13 billion on the platform. By December 2024, the platform hosted more than 90 million buyers and around six million sellers worldwide. For creative entrepreneurs, Etsy is a way to get your products—vintage collectibles, digital printables, and artisanal ceramics—to shoppers without building a full ecommerce site.
Joining the marketplace takes minutes and is low-cost. Plus, you benefit from an audience of Etsy customers already looking for handcrafted and vintage products. Unlike other selling sites, merchants need to create or design their own original products (or sell legitimate vintage items); dropshipping is not allowed on Etsy. This policy keeps the marketplace focused on original creations, meaning your path to making money on Etsy is about offering distinct products.
How to make money on Etsy
- Pinpoint profitable product opportunities
- Explore digital products
- Formulate discounts and product bundles
- Earmark a budget for Etsy Ads campaigns
- Team up with micro-influencers
- Try multi-channel selling
- Cross-promote on Pinterest and Instagram
- Build buyer confidence through stellar reviews
Whether you’re a hobby crafter or looking to grow a full-time ecommerce business, these eight tips will help you make money with your own Etsy shop:
1. Pinpoint profitable product opportunities
Growth on Etsy starts with selling the right product. Successful Etsy shop owners look for items that have strong demand but aren’t completely oversaturated with competition. To help with this, explore Etsy-specific research tools like eRank and Koalanda. These websites give you data on common search terms, trending Etsy keywords, and awareness of what top shops are selling. Tracking what shoppers look for and scoping out your competition can lead to spotting winning product ideas and finding corners of the market nobody’s claimed yet.
You might discover that “personalized pet gifts” or “boho wedding decor” are trending with thousands of searches but relatively few quality listings. Focus on products that have a higher profit margin—this better positions your Etsy online store for profit after fees, shipping, and your valuable time.
2. Explore digital products
Not all bestsellers on Etsy are items you can hold. Digital products have become a profitable option for creative entrepreneurs because they’re easy to deliver and can be sold over and over. Creating and distributing digital products like printables and templates is a passive income path because you create the item once but continue earning from it repeatedly.
Think about skills or content you can turn into digital downloads for your own Etsy store. If you’re a candle maker but wax and shipping costs devour your profits, think about branching into higher-margin offerings like digital candle-making guides or selling candle labels as printables.
Here are some digital products you can explore as an Etsy seller:
-
Printable wall art
-
Sewing or crochet patterns
-
Wedding invitation templates
-
Personal finance/budget templates
-
Resume or social media templates
3. Formulate discounts and product bundles
Etsy’s platform offers a handful of built-in marketing options that encourage sales by nudging customers to load up their shopping baskets. For instance, you can try running promotions with order minimums. Using the Discounts & Promotions feature in your Shop Manager, create percentage-off deals that only apply when a shopper meets a certain threshold—for example, “10% off orders of $55 or more” or “15% off when you buy three or more items.” These conditional offers prompt customers to add a few extra things to their checkout cart, elevating your average order value (AOV).
You’ll also find a “Offer listings together for less” feature you can access through your Etsy account. This lets you bundle up to three products and offer them at a discounted combined price. You simply select the listings that pair well together and choose a percentage-off discount. Etsy will automatically display this bundle offer on each included item’s listing page, so shoppers know they can get a deal by buying the set. Customers can add all the bundle items to their checkout cart with a single click, with the discount applied automatically at checkout.
4. Earmark a budget for Etsy Ads campaigns
Even with great products, you might need a visibility boost to reach more buyers on Etsy. That’s where Etsy Ads come in. Etsy offers two main types of advertising: onsite ads and offsite ads. Onsite ads are the sponsored listings you see on Etsy’s website and app. As an Etsy seller, you pay per click to have your products appear at the top of Etsy search results or in buyers’ discovery feeds. Offsite ads are advertisements that Etsy places externally (like on Facebook, Google, or Instagram) featuring your listings, and you only pay a fee if those ads lead to a sale.
Set a modest daily budget and promote a few of your bestselling or most eye-catching items. With onsite ads, monitor which keywords and listings get the most clicks and sales—you may discover certain product tags or titles perform better. It’s wise to experiment: Run a campaign for a couple of weeks and check your stats. If you see a good return on investment (profit after ad costs), keep it up. If not, iterate your approach by trying different items or keywords.
Offsite ads require less hands-on management (Etsy does the work of placing them), but remember that if a sale comes through an offsite ad, Etsy will deduct an advertising fee from that sale.
5. Team up with micro-influencers
One of the most powerful ways to promote Etsy products is in partnership with social media influencers—specifically, micro-influencers in your product niche. Micro-influencers are individuals on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube who might have anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 followers and focus on a specific interest area. If your Etsy store sells vintage homeware, for example, a small Instagram home décor influencer who loves thrifting could be the perfect partner—their followers are exactly the type of people who appreciate unique, vintage finds.
Collaborating can be as simple as sending a free product sample or two to the micro-influencer and asking them to share their honest review or styling of it. Some influencers might prefer an affiliate marketing arrangement (earning a small commission for any sales they drive to your storefront on Etsy via a special link or coupon code). Either way, when a micro-influencer shares your item in use—a real person modeling your handmade goods or a blogger posting a styled photo of your art print in their living room—it provides authentic social proof. This kind of content can drive their followers directly to your Etsy shop.
6. Try multichannel selling
While the Etsy marketplace is a fantastic platform, you may not want to put all your eggs in one basket. Multichannel selling is a way to offer your products across more than just Etsy. A popular approach is to integrate Etsy with your branded ecommerce store using a platform like Shopify. This approach means you can tap into the best of both worlds—access the existing customer base of Etsy, and the control and brand-building opportunities a website offers.
Integrating your Shopify store with Etsy also allows you to sync your inventory and stay coordinated. To do this, add the Marketplace Connect app to your admin section in Shopify, which will sync your inventory and allow you to import your catalog of products from Shopify to Etsy. This integration lets you manage all your orders from a unified dashboard, making it easy to monitor your inventory across both platforms while maintaining separate storefronts.
Multichannel selling captures different types of shoppers: Some people will find you through Etsy search, while some could happen upon your Shopify website via Google or social media and prefer to buy there. Additionally, having your own site lets you do things Etsy doesn’t easily allow, like collecting email subscribers for marketing or creating detailed product category pages and blogs.
7. Cross-promote on Pinterest and Instagram
Because Etsy is such a visual marketplace, it pays to promote your product inventory on Pinterest and Instagram. Both the web and app versions of these social sites can drive extra traffic to your shop by targeting audiences who love discovering beautiful and unique items.
Pinterest acts like a visual search engine—users go there to find inspiration for home décor, gifts, fashion, DIY projects, and more. By creating eye-catching pins of your products (with links back to your listings on Etsy), you grab the attention of people searching for inspiration. Pinterest content has a long lifespan: A single well-optimized pin of your handmade jewelry or digital art can keep circulating and bringing visitors to your shop for months or even years.
On Instagram, you can post high-quality photos or short videos (Reels) of your items being made, used, or styled. Behind-the-scenes and lifestyle content help create a bond with potential shoppers. While you can’t put clickable links in regular posts, you can direct users to your bio (which should be your Etsy URL or a Linktree with your shop link). If you have the ability to add links to Instagram Stories (a feature available as your account grows), take advantage of that to share new listings or promotions with a “Swipe up to shop” link.
8. Build buyer confidence through stellar reviews
A collection of glowing five-star reviews builds assurance in your shop, directly impacts your sales, and identifies you as a reliable and successful Etsy seller. Etsy’s search algorithm also factors in your shop’s reputation. Use these techniques to encourage customer feedback:
-
Deliver quality products. By centering customer satisfaction, you’ll naturally gather more positive reviews. Craft your items with care, and triple-check that listings have accurate photos and descriptions. When customers get exactly what they expected (or something even better), they’re more inclined to leave a glowing review.
-
Communicate proactively. Send a kind message to buyers after they place an order, thanking them and confirming details like personalization or shipping times. When the item ships, use Etsy’s messaging to let them know it’s on the way. This kind of attentiveness can translate into happier reviews.
-
Make it personal. Include a thank-you note in the package, ideally handwritten or uniquely designed, expressing your appreciation for their purchase. You can gently remind them that reviews help your Etsy business (for example, “I’d love to hear your feedback!”)
-
Handle missteps with grace. Not every transaction will be perfect. If a customer is unhappy or something goes wrong (like late delivery or damage), address it quickly and generously. Offer a fix—a replacement, a refund, or another solution.
How to make money on Etsy FAQ
How much does Etsy take from a $100 sale?
Etsy’s fees for a $100 sale typically amount to around 10% of the transaction (about $10). This includes the 6.5% transaction fee on the item price, a payment processing fee (roughly 3% + 25¢), and a 20¢ listing fee (per item listed).
What is the most profitable thing to sell on Etsy?
It depends, but digital products often have high profit margins since they cost little to reproduce—for example, printable planners or graphic templates can be very profitable. Additionally, unique handmade items that you can produce efficiently (or vintage items sourced cheaply) can be high-return if there’s strong buyer demand for them.
What are the top 10 items sold on Etsy?
The top-selling items on Etsy tend to fall into popular categories like pendant necklaces, stickers, mugs, party and gifting, wall hangs, and craft supplies and tools.
