Question / Discussion Looking for extra cash? Set up an Etsy shop selling simple digital downloads

[rich110991]

Just thought I’d share some stuff I know about Etsy if anyone wants to earn extra cash. I’m not advertising these listings, they’re not mine, just showing examples from different Etsy shops.

Take a look at this listing.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1149362456/heart-outline-heart-digital-download-svg/

It’s a basic image of a heart that anyone could download from Google, yet it’s a “Best Seller”. It’s only 70p, but they’ve sold 10+ in a week without doing anything.

Same here…

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1720408688/hearts-svg-bundle-heart-outline-svg

This one below is ridiculous! It’s so easy to make. They’re selling it for £2.19 and have sold 70+ in one week!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1543819469/fall-words-svg-cozy-sweaters-scarves-etc/

Personally I want to take a break from Etsy after doing it for 5 years, but when I see things like this, it makes me think twice! Just thought I would share as I see people commenting about survey sites and I wanted to share some tips because there’s easier ways to make money (and more of it).

 

[Arika]

Thanks for sharing this, @rich110991

 

[OptimusPrimeval]

Just thought I’d share some stuff I know about Etsy if anyone wants to earn extra cash. I’m not advertising these listings, they’re not mine, just showing examples from different Etsy shops.

Take a look at this listing.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1149362456/heart-outline-heart-digital-download-svg/

It’s a basic image of a heart that anyone could download from Google, yet it’s a “Best Seller”. It’s only 70p, but they’ve sold 10+ in a week without doing anything.

Same here…

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1720408688/hearts-svg-bundle-heart-outline-svg

This one below is ridiculous! It’s so easy to make. They’re selling it for £2.19 and have sold 70+ in one week!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1543819469/fall-words-svg-cozy-sweaters-scarves-etc/

Personally I want to take a break from Etsy after doing it for 5 years, but when I see things like this, it makes me think twice! Just thought I would share as I see people commenting about survey sites and I wanted to share some tips because there’s easier ways to make money (and more of it).

Thanks for sharing.

What's the best way to drive traffic though?

 

[rich110991]

Thanks for sharing.

What's the best way to drive traffic though?

You can pay to advertise at first, but with good listing titles, tags and SEO… and a good product/item, it’s not always necessary as they will just sell from my experience.

 

[rich110991]

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1512356617/loaded-brownies-letterbox-gifts-triple/

This is another crazy one but obviously a bit harder to do.

Letterbox brownies. £9.99-£17.99 + delivery and they’ve sold 100+ in a week, it said 200+ last night when I looked. If you can bake, why not give it a bash!

 

[Lemonade23]

Thanks for sharing rich, I just told my daughter about this. She's really good at art so it might be an option for her to think about. What's the Etsy platform like if you don't mind me asking. I've bought from there before but never been a seller. I do half recall some sort of a dispute between Etsy and sellers in the last twelve months.

 

[rich110991]

Thanks for sharing rich, I just told my daughter about this. She's really good at art so it might be an option for her to think about. What's the Etsy platform like if you don't mind me asking. I've bought from there before but never been a seller. I do half recall some sort of a dispute between Etsy and sellers in the last twelve months.

No problem! If she's really good at art then she could make a lot of money on Etsy. I wish I was a talented artist, I'd have made a killing!

The platform is okay mostly to be honest. It's served me well.

 

[BreeziOG]

Just thought I’d share some stuff I know about Etsy if anyone wants to earn extra cash. I’m not advertising these listings, they’re not mine, just showing examples from different Etsy shops.

Take a look at this listing.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1149362456/heart-outline-heart-digital-download-svg/

It’s a basic image of a heart that anyone could download from Google, yet it’s a “Best Seller”. It’s only 70p, but they’ve sold 10+ in a week without doing anything.

Same here…

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1720408688/hearts-svg-bundle-heart-outline-svg

This one below is ridiculous! It’s so easy to make. They’re selling it for £2.19 and have sold 70+ in one week!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1543819469/fall-words-svg-cozy-sweaters-scarves-etc/

Personally I want to take a break from Etsy after doing it for 5 years, but when I see things like this, it makes me think twice! Just thought I would share as I see people commenting about survey sites and I wanted to share some tips because there’s easier ways to make money (and more of it).

For that 70p listing, after Etsy and payment processing fees you make 27p. Sure it's passive... but it's hardly a money spinner unless you're already extremely familiar with the platform, can churn out decent designs, write well ranking listings, and sell a decent amount.

 

[rich110991]

For that 70p listing, after Etsy and payment processing fees you make 27p. Sure it's passive... but it's hardly a money spinner unless you're already extremely familiar with the platform, can churn out decent designs, write well ranking listings, and sell a decent amount.

Bit negative. That’s one listing. They don’t have to be 70p. Nothing stopping anyone getting familiar with the platform. You can also get free designs and fonts with a trial run on sites like Creative Fabrica. Making the listings and getting them ranked isn’t that difficult either, I did it with no experience?

Those listings were just a few examples, there’s plenty more.

I sold two digital download prints yesterday with no advertising, for about £7 each. As well as selling a few physical prints. I made the designs for free. People can make money from it.

 

[Lemonade23]

What kind of items do you sell rich? I appreciate the advice. I've been stuck at home off work since June so I'm considering doing something like with my daughter. Thankfully Prolific is keeping me afloat right now, but that could disappear at any time,

 

[rich110991]

What kind of items do you sell rich? I appreciate the advice. I've been stuck at home off work since June so I'm considering doing something like with my daughter. Thankfully Prolific is keeping me afloat right now, but that could disappear at any time,

I sell personalised prints, mainly family prints but I have some nursery ones too

 

[rich110991]

What kind of items do you sell rich? I appreciate the advice. I've been stuck at home off work since June so I'm considering doing something like with my daughter. Thankfully Prolific is keeping me afloat right now, but that could disappear at any time,

Here’s another example, it’s just a digital download, nothing physical is shipped so there’s no expenses once you’ve paid for the design from somewhere. They probably purchased these designs from a site like Creative Market (you can buy designs on Etsy too which you can then sell).

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1757783215/pink-nursery-gallery-wall-set-vintage/

It’s another best seller. 30+ sold in a week for £10.52. Once the fees come off you’ve made probably £6/£7 at a guess, but multiplied by 30+??? They’ve made at least £200 off that one listing alone in a week. The designs probably cost them £20 maximum.

Here’s another one, very easy to make, 10+ sold in a week…

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1671124048/original-wildflower-nursery-prints/

 

[Annie Beau]

Hi Rich- thanks for this thread, its really interesting. I bought a sublimation printer last year and did okay ish on a few xmas designs printed onto acrylic blanks but etsy is swamped with stuff like this and much cheaper than I woudl do them for. Theyre a bit of fafffing about to print and I'm not that good or quick at it. Even using relevant keyword though, my shop never ranks well.
I now have a cupboard full of sublimation blanks that I cant be a&sed with haha! Never thought of digital stuff, that wold save a lot of messing abiout with printing and packaging then standing in the post office.
Hope you're well, I haven't been on here for a while but its nice to see the regulars still here.

 

[rich110991]

Hi Rich- thanks for this thread, its really interesting. I bought a sublimation printer last year and did okay ish on a few xmas designs printed onto acrylic blanks but etsy is swamped with stuff like this and much cheaper than I woudl do them for. Theyre a bit of fafffing about to print and I'm not that good or quick at it. Even using relevant keyword though, my shop never ranks well.
I now have a cupboard full of sublimation blanks that I cant be a&sed with haha! Never thought of digital stuff, that wold save a lot of messing abiout with printing and packaging then standing in the post office.
Hope you're well, I haven't been on here for a while but its nice to see the regulars still here.

Hope you’re well too, if I ever open another Etsy shop in the future it will definitely be digital only.

 

[Lemonade23]

Thanks for the advice Rich. I said to my daughter she should have sold her art years ago, but we never really knew how to go about it. This is really interesting, and I have loads of time on my hands so I am going to look into it. Maybe she can even teach me, she has a lot of the kit and did digital art as a project at school. One other thing I'm curious about, is copyright. Do you bother with that? I imagine if considerable time was spent on something it might be worth it but not for simple designs. I've just seen your diary and am reading though that, what an impressive story

 

[rich110991]

Thanks for the advice Rich. I said to my daughter she should have sold her art years ago, but we never really knew how to go about it. This is really interesting, and I have loads of time on my hands so I am going to look into it. Maybe she can even teach me, she has a lot of the kit and did digital art as a project at school. One other thing I'm curious about, is copyright. Do you bother with that? I imagine if considerable time was spent on something it might be worth it but not for simple designs. I've just seen your diary and am reading though that, what an impressive story

No problem! Copyright is important yeah. I made a print which had a Harry Potter quote on it, I listed it on Etsy, I sold one on the first day, but then it got taken down the next day due to copyright, and if you get too many warnings Etsy will close your shop, so I never did it again!

 

[rich110991]

Thanks for the advice Rich. I said to my daughter she should have sold her art years ago, but we never really knew how to go about it. This is really interesting, and I have loads of time on my hands so I am going to look into it. Maybe she can even teach me, she has a lot of the kit and did digital art as a project at school. One other thing I'm curious about, is copyright. Do you bother with that? I imagine if considerable time was spent on something it might be worth it but not for simple designs. I've just seen your diary and am reading though that, what an impressive story

Sorry, I’ve just realised what you meant!

No I don’t bother with it haha. But if someone copies your listing then you can report them to Etsy.

 

[Lemonade23]

Both points are useful, thanks for sharing

 

[BreeziOG]

Bit negative. That’s one listing. They don’t have to be 70p. Nothing stopping anyone getting familiar with the platform. You can also get free designs and fonts with a trial run on sites like Creative Fabrica. Making the listings and getting them ranked isn’t that difficult either, I did it with no experience?

Those listings were just a few examples, there’s plenty more.

I sold two digital download prints yesterday with no advertising, for about £7 each. As well as selling a few physical prints. I made the designs for free. People can make money from it.

Probably is a bit negative, you're right. I really just meant to highlight how much you have to factor in platform fees to things. I've got an etsy shop myself, albeit for physical goods so I know money can be made from it, I'm probably just jaded by them changing the goalposts for sellers a lot xD

 

[rich110991]

Probably is a bit negative, you're right. I really just meant to highlight how much you have to factor in platform fees to things. I've got an etsy shop myself, albeit for physical goods so I know money can be made from it, I'm probably just jaded by them changing the goalposts for sellers a lot xD

The algorithm changes are definitely annoying, but I still think if you have a good enough item, it doesn’t matter. What do you sell mate?