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Etsy is known as the place to sell vintage and handcrafted items. But did you know it’s possible to sell digital goods there, too?
Stay tuned as we explain how to sell digital downloads on Etsy. You’ll be able to create a source of passive income in no time.
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What exactly are digital downloads?
Digital downloads are products that customers can purchase and download online without needing physical handling or shipping.
While some are designed for printing, often called Etsy printables, others, like fonts, eBooks, and software are fully digital. Both types can be sold on platforms like Etsy.
Other profitable ways to sell digital downloads include creating digital products to apply on print-on-demand merchandise or offering them as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The only limit is your creativity.
Why it’s worth selling digital downloads on Etsy
Etsy is trusted and well-established, having an audience of 91.6 million active buyers in 2024. Etsy sellers have a source of massive traffic. There are additional benefits of creating digital downloads to sell on the platform:
- Generate passive income – create and upload once, then sell repeatedly without extra work.
- Etsy handles payment processing, charging $0.20 per listing and 6.5% per sale, with taxes based on location.
- No product handling or shipping is required.
- Many digital products don’t need special skills – just find the right niche, and efforts can pay off quickly.
- There’s always demand for downloads and printables, especially for daily organization and DIY projects.
Read our How to sell on Etsy for beginners guide to learn all the basics for a profitable business.
How to create digital downloads to sell on Etsy in 5 steps
We’ve broken down the process of selling digital products on the Etsy marketplace into five easy steps.
Pick a niche
A niche is a segmented portion of a market. It’s an audience with specific preferences, needs, and characteristics. Think road-trip enthusiasts, soup connoisseurs, or yoga moms.
A well-defined niche will help you create Etsy digital downloads that escape the ordinary.
Combining your preferences with the market demand and Etsy keyword research is the best way to get ideas for your niche.
Go to the Etsy search bar and type a generic term for your niche – let’s say, cute animal downloadables. Observe what appears and what niches stand out. Check those stores and their reviews. Observe customer feedback, what they love and dislike about the products, and make yours better.
Get Etsy keywords related to your digital market and look for them on Google Trends and Semrush keyword tools. Observe which terms appear together, the questions people ask, and note the patterns you see. Use this information to carve your unique, well-defined niche.
Create your products
Create and offer digital downloads yourself, use pre-made assets, or hire a professional. Let’s look at how to proceed in each case.
Tweak pre-made digital products.
Creating and selling digital downloads is possible even without design skills.
Get pre-made materials with commercial licenses, make changes, and sell them as Etsy digital downloads. We’ve selected the best platforms to help you.
1. Unsplash is one of the top stock platforms, offering free high-quality photos with a commercial license. The images are shared by contributors worldwide and need to be modified before being used for online selling.
2. Shutterstock is a well-known stock platform with a complex subscription system. Credit packs start at $29 for two credits. It integrates with other platforms, including Printify, allowing users to apply designs to merchandise without upfront costs – only paying for sold products. Additionally, the service offers a free trial that includes ten images.
3. Adobe Stock is integrated with Adobe Creative Cloud and offers photos, videos, vectors, fonts, and plugins. However, it’s quite expensive and is primarily worth it for professionals who already have a subscription to an Adobe service.
Design Etsy digital downloads yourself.
Create digital downloads from scratch or use templates and models depending on your skills and preferred platforms. Here are some top options to check while you’re exploring how to sell downloadable files on Etsy:
1. Adobe’s Creative Cloud is a well-established industry standard, offering over 20 products, including Photoshop and Illustrator, costing $31.49 per month (monthly plan). Adobe Express, a versatile design tool, offers templates for social media posts, marketing materials, and more.
It features a free and premium plan for $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, unlocking advanced features like access to 200 million Adobe Stock assets and AI-powered design tools. Discounts for Adobe Express or Adobe Photoshop are available through Printify.
2. Affinity provides a professional alternative to Adobe, offering three core tools: Affinity Designer (for vector and raster work), Affinity Photo (photo editing), and Affinity Publisher (for book and journal design). Each is $69.99, or you can buy all three with a universal license for $164.99 – no subscription required. These tools are compatible with Windows, Mac, and iPad.
3. GIMP is a free, open-source alternative to Photoshop. While powerful, it has a steeper learning curve but doesn’t charge any subscription fees or display ads, making it a great choice for those looking for a professional but cost-free option.
4. Inkscape, similar to Adobe Illustrator, is a free, open-source tool for vector graphics, making it ideal for anyone needing high-quality vector design without the cost.
5. Photopea is an online freemium editor compatible with Adobe and GIMP files. Both its free and $3.33/month paid versions offer the same features, with the paid plan removing ads and adding customer support. It’s perfect for working with various formats, including Sketchup files.
6. A fun and creative way to do it is by using Midjourney prompts. Create detective stories from the 19th century in comic, gothic, or ultra-realistic style, or cute animals in Cubism or Renaissance fashion. To stand out, offer something unique – create designs for your niche and set your imagination free.
Hire a professional.
Consider hiring someone to produce designs for your Etsy digital products – it’s an investment that can pay off. There are platforms to help you hire reliable professionals at reasonable prices. Explore the following options:
- Fiverr helps you find professionals in various creative fields.
- Upwork has an ample database of creative and technical experts.
Sign up to Printify, create and apply digital designs to custom merch with our free Product Creator (previously known as the Mockup Generator), sell them in your Etsy store, and diversify your sources of income.
If you don’t have an Etsy Seller account yet, creating one is easier after you have at least one digital download ready to upload. Etsy requires a listing right from the start – creating a mockup is possible, but each new listing costs $0.20 and takes time to complete.
Register and prepare your Etsy shop
Go to the Etsy website, then click Sign in in the upper-right corner.
This is a Customer account, but you’ll need a Merchant account to become an Etsy seller. Create yours by clicking the round icon with your photo in the upper-right menu. Choose Sell on Etsy.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Open your Etsy shop.
Complete these steps. You can alter your input later:
- Fill in localization information – language, country, currency.
- Confirm if you’re going to be a full or part-time seller.
- Give your Etsy shop a name. Use a name generator like Namelix if necessary.
- Create your first Etsy listing.
- Set up payment and billing options. Provide a bank account or a card number. Cards are verified through micro-transactions, which may take a few days.
Check out our step-by-step guide on how to start an Etsy shop.
Publish products and start selling
Once you’re ready to start selling digital downloads, create photo mockups for your product listings. Aim for good image quality to highlight key features and attract new customers, but keep it low enough to prevent unauthorized use without purchase.
To prevent copying, display mockups in everyday situations, like someone using a computer with your product on-screen or a child coloring a page of your digital art. Upload up to ten product photos and one video.
To list your digital download, sign in and open the Shop Manager in the upper-right corner.
Then select Listings on the left-hand menu.
Go to the upper corner button and click Add a Listing.
Select Digital files, and under Who made it, choose I did, then click Apply. Indicate if you created the digital download with AI assistance and move on.
Click Add file or drag and drop your digital product. Upload up to five files of 20MB each, totaling 100MB.
Etsy supports the following formats: .bmp, .doc, .ePUB, .gif, .iBook, .jpeg, .jpg, .mobi, .mov, .mp3, .mpeg, .pdf, .png, .psp, .rtf, .stl, .txt, .zip.
The following steps are similar to creating a physical listing, like in our Etsy guide. However, be mindful of some details when configuring your digital items.
Etsy SEO.
Consider Etsy SEO when choosing titles, descriptions, and tags. Use all 13 tags and the relevant keywords (preferably long-tail) with attributes and features of your products.
Pricing.
Do market research, get a price range, and adapt it to your target audience. Many shops sell digital prints on Etsy or even social media templates for around $5-10.
Some niches may be priced higher, including software and plugins or educational content like homeschooling materials, eBooks, woodworking plans, and sewing patterns.
To establish a fair price, you need to have a precise idea of your competition’s margins and your own production costs. Watch our video about product pricing, and use tools like eRank to analyze competitors and get the best price for you and your customers.
Automatic renewal.
Scroll down to the Settings section and enable the automatic listing renewal option. Otherwise, your digital download will appear out of stock after a sale.
After everything is up to your standards, scroll down and click Publish. Save the listing as a draft if you need to pause or preview how it looks.
Start your Etsy print-on-demand business today!
Market your Etsy store
To increase your product sales, learn the basics of Etsy marketing. Consider some of these effective marketing strategies:
- Refine your niche and target audience.
Explore marketing strategies for various niches on our blog about how to sell art on Etsy.
- Optimize your content with Etsy SEO. Use keywords naturally wherever possible, including titles, descriptions, and tags.
- Follow the Etsy guidelines to optimize your product and store images.
- Share your listings on your website or social media platforms. Use Pinterest pins and boards, Facebook posts and groups, and Instagram Reels and posts.
- Use email marketing tools to increase your reach.
- Consider using Etsy advertising after you’ve established organic traffic to identify which products may need adjustments or a boost from Etsy ads.
Best-selling digital products to sell on Etsy
Etsy offers a wide range of opportunities for selling digital products, providing sellers with flexibility, low overhead, and the ability to reach a large audience. Whether you’re a graphic designer, writer, or hobbyist, there’s a niche for everyone. Let’s explore some of the best digital products to sell on Etsy to maximize your success.
1. Exclusive digital assets
Exclusive digital assets are in high demand and are designed for use in digital projects or tools, rather than for printing. These include fonts, software, custom website themes, plugins, social media templates, Lightroom presets, and even collections of AI prompts for tools like MidJourney and DALL-E. They’re ideal for creative professionals looking to enhance their digital workflows.
2. eBooks and manuals
eBooks and instructional manuals offer value through knowledge and expertise in a digital format. These can be anything from how-to guides, self-help books, or educational content. With minimal production cost, they can be easily updated or expanded, making them a sustainable source of income for writers and educators.
3. Event printables
Event printables include digital designs for weddings, birthday parties, graduations, and other special occasions. Popular items in this category are invitations, gift tags, banners, and thank-you cards. These designs are often customizable, allowing customers to personalize them for their event, which increases their appeal.
4. Baby and children theme
Digital prints for babies and children often include baby shower decorations, milestone trackers, and learning materials. Parents frequently search for unique and educational content for their kids, including growth charts, printable activity sheets, and nursery art. These products help parents organize their child’s life or contribute to themed celebrations.
5. Leisure printables
Leisure printables cater to both children and adults looking for entertainment or relaxation. Products such as coloring pages, crossword puzzles, and printable games are popular for personal use or party activities. Coloring pages for adults, in particular, have grown in popularity as a form of mindfulness and stress relief.
6. Utility downloads and digital printables for household chores
This category includes practical tools to help manage daily tasks and home organization. For example, sell digital planners, printable calendars, checklists, and jar labels. These products assist customers in organizing their homes, managing tasks, or even preparing for special events like holidays with items like candy bar wrappers.
7. Hobbies, DIY, and craft guides
These digital products appeal to hobbyists and DIY enthusiasts. They include crochet, embroidery and knitting patterns, woodworking plans, and electronics schematics. Customers look for these to pursue their interests or to start new creative projects, and clear, easy-to-follow instructions add immense value to the purchase.
8. Business-related products
Business-related digital products provide essential tools for small business owners and entrepreneurs. These include business cards, logos, resumé templates, and printable custom stickers. They allow customers to present themselves professionally while saving time and money by choosing pre-made templates that can be customized to fit their branding.
9. Art-related products
Artists and designers can invest in selling digital art on Etsy with printable wall art, stock images, photography, and even NFTs. Customers use these products to decorate their homes or websites, while some items, like stock photos, can be used in their own projects. This category offers limitless creative possibilities for digital artists.
10. Religious content
These are some of the most popular digital downloads in the US. Religious content includes scriptures from sacred books, prayer worksheets, and event calendars for religious holidays and observances. These products serve religious communities seeking spiritual guidance and organizational tools, often customized for specific faiths or rituals.
Check out our blog for up-to-date articles and tips, and learn how to make money on Etsy.
How much can you make selling digital downloads on Etsy?
Some shop owners report monthly earnings from $1,000-10,000 selling digital downloads on Etsy.
For example, Emily McDermott started earning $700 in her first month selling printables and templates, then scaled her earnings to $7,000 per month within three months by expanding her product range and offering bundles. Success largely depends on the quality of your products, the number of listings, and how well you meet customer demand.
Start a print-on-demand business on Etsy
Create a POD business with Printify and get more sales on Etsy. Choose from over 1000 products to apply your custom designs and digital art. Sell custom merch alongside digital products and maximize your profit.
FAQ
Yes, selling digital downloads on Etsy can be very rewarding, thanks to its low cost, simple setup, and potential for passive income. With over 90 million active buyers, Etsy offers an excellent opportunity to reach a wide customer base.
Since digital products don’t require physical shipping or inventory, you can sell the same item repeatedly with minimal ongoing effort after the initial setup. If you create high-quality products that cater to a popular niche, it can become a profitable and scalable business.
Understand the legal requirements for selling digital prints on Etsy in your country, and ensure compliance with both Etsy’s policies and local laws. Follow these steps:
- Create your original digital products or ensure you have the necessary commercial licenses for any pre-made assets or design elements you use.
- Avoid copyright infringement by not using protected content without permission (e.g., high-quality images, fonts, or designs created by others without a commercial license).
- Set up your Etsy seller account and follow Etsy’s guidelines for listing digital products, ensuring they’re clearly marked as digital items.
- Follow tax regulations for your country or state, as Etsy may require you to submit tax information and collect sales tax on applicable transactions.
- Comply with Etsy’s terms of service to avoid any potential account suspension or removal due to policy violations.
The marketplace charges $0.20 per listing along with a 6.5% fee of the selling price. Aside from these costs, you can start selling digital products on Etsy at no additional expense. Use free programs or platforms like Canva and GIMP to create your products.
Depending on your skills and goals, you can hire design, programming, or writing professionals on platforms like Printify Experts, starting at $20 an hour. Fully understand how much Etsy takes per sale on our blog.
To summarize
You’ve just learned how to sell digital downloads on Etsy in five steps:
- Choose your niche.
- Create best-selling digital products.
- Open your own Etsy shop.
- Create and publish your listings.
- Market your products.
Earn extra income alongside your full-time job by selling digital downloads. You can always count on Printify to support your new shop!
