Overview

Etsy is a great platform for selling digital products. The biggest advantages of digital products are the low upfront costs and potential for passive income. A purely digital store eliminates the need for physical inventory, which can be a major expense for e-Commerce businesses. 

With shipping removed from the picture, creators who are ready to monetize their skills may have an easy entry point to sell digital products on Etsy and other platforms if they can make items shoppers desire. Digital products also tend to have low upfront investments with high margins since there are no physical product costs involved. 

However, competition for digital products to sell on Etsy is fierce, with many sellers vying for customers’ attention. Not only that, because digital products are getting more and more popular, many other digital product platforms are targeting more niche consumers and selling digital products in new categories.

So, how to sell digital products on Etsy? What are the best digital products to sell on Etsy? And what alternative platforms can we consider to make money selling digital products? 

How to sell digital products on Etsy

Selling digital products on Etsy has become a profitable and low-maintenance way to monetize your creative skills by selling your:

• Printables
• Digital planners
• Custom website themes
• Fonts
• Logos
• Graphics
• Digital art
• Social media templates
• eBooks 
• Stock photography 

These digital products are just some of the digital downloads that you can sell on Etsy. Creating digital downloads is easy, and you do not need to be a professional designer to do it. 

Tools like Canva and Adobe Illustrator can help you create digital art and designs to sell. If you’re a travel content creator, you can use NanoWhat to convert your travel content into a digital product to sell on Etsy, or list it on NanoWhat’s travel tip marketplace. 

When publishing digital downloads on Etsy, vendors can choose between instant downloads or made-to-order. Listing a few designs at the beginning and reviewing customers’ responses can provide insight into what’s selling and what’s not.

Vendors must pay attention to pricing, product quality, customer service, and marketing to increase sales and reach new customers. Etsy’s established and trusted marketplace, along with its massive customer base, makes it an ideal platform for vendors to start selling digital products immediately.

Best digital products to sell on Etsy

Etsy is a platform that’s popular among crafters and makers. The best-selling digital product categories on Etsy vary, but some of the most common include arts and crafts digital products. Crochet patterns, for instance, can sell for over $12 a piece and sellers like HappyPattyCrochet show how lucrative this category can be, with almost 50k digital products sold to date. 

Sewing patterns and coloring books for adults are also popular and can attract thousands of sales. In the graphic design category, Lightroom presets and Procreate designs are sought after, ideal for amateur photographers and artists. 

Etsy is a platform worth exploring for arts and crafts creators who are looking for a low-cost entry into e-commerce, you can also refer to these 8 digital products to sell on Etsy if you’re a travel content creator. 

Let’s go through the most popular Etsy products one by one:

Graphic Design Digital Products to Sell on Etsy

When it comes to selling graphic design digital products to sell on Etsy, there are a few key points to keep in mind. To start with, it’s crucial to use professional-looking product photos that clearly show what the customer needs to know. This is what people will notice first when searching for products on Etsy, so it’s important to use images that stand out and represent what buyers can expect to receive if they make a purchase. When it comes to digital products, there typically isn’t something to take photos of, but there are plenty of free and paid options to help you create beautiful digital mockups.

Alongside good images, a well-written product description is also essential. Use keywords in your descriptions so that your products are easily found on Etsy, and think about what words customers are likely to use when searching for products like yours. 

Additionally, be mindful of the tags and categories that you choose, as these can help your products to be discovered by potential buyers. Offering personalization options can also be a great way to get discovered by more people.

Arts and Crafts Digital Products to Sell on Etsy

Arts and crafts digital products are one of the most popular categories on Etsy. To be successful in this category, it is important to know what customers are looking for. 

Crochet patterns are one of the top-selling digital products. They offer step-by-step instructions and diagrams to create fabrics using a hook and loops of yarn. Sewing patterns are also popular, with over 21K sales to date. They contain layout templates and visual instructions to turn fabric into clothing. 

Adult coloring books have also gained popularity, with thousands of sales, as customers tend to be more artistically inclined. During holidays, digital wrapping paper patterns are a hit as they save customers the hassle and cost of buying retail store wrapping papers. To succeed in the arts and crafts category when selling digital products to sell on Etsy, try to identify emerging fashion trends and follow what are best selling garments on eCommerce websites that buyers might want to try constructing themself.

Photography and Printable Digital Products to Sell on Etsy

Photography and printable products have gained immense popularity in recent years, especially on platforms like Etsy. Offering unique, seasonal, or customized photos and printables could drive sales during holiday times and give you an edge over competitors. To ensure you have a successful sales volume, there are some crucial factors that should be considered. 

Product descriptions for digital photo downloads should highlight a few elements that are unique to this category. It’s important to be clear about your rights and usage agreements for digital images, and or consider if you want to repurpose existing images to create bundled products at different sizes. 

Some digital products are meant to stay digital, like a screensaver or a Zoom background that include your photography, but if the item is meant to be printed once it’s downloaded, try to include notes that will help the buyer choose the right paper or file settings to guarantee your photos look high quality.

On the logistical side, Printify’s guide to selling digital products to sell on Etsy reminds Creators that Etsy allows you to upload up to 5 files at 20MB each. And, don’t forget to enable the automatic listing renewal feature – if you skip this in your product setup the item will show as ‘sold out’ and you won’t be able to keep selling more downloads.

Comparison of Etsy with Other Online Marketplaces

While Etsy may be the go-to marketplace for many sellers, it is not always the best fit for those solely selling digital downloads. Additionally, in 2022, Etsy increased transaction fees 30% and now take a larger cut from your earnings. It might be time to consider alternative platforms that better cater to your needs. 

Luckily, there are many specialized e-commerce platforms available that offer benefits such as unlimited storage, lower fees, and the ability to sell on social media. In the next section, we’ll explore some of the top Etsy alternatives for digital creators.

How to sell digital products on Gumroad

Gumroad is a platform that allows digital entrepreneurs and creators to sell digital products, memberships, and physical goods online seamlessly. With Gumroad, sellers can charge their customers in their local currency or allow their customers to pay what they want for the goods. Gumroad also offers tools for creators to grow and engage their audience, let alone integrate it with their current stack. 

One of the easiest ways to get started on Gumroad is to sell eBooks, which only entails opening a Google Docs or Microsoft Word account and creating a Gumroad account. Another way is to create video courses for those who prefer watching, and templates and designs for designers, artists, photographers, and web designers. Selling digital and physical goods requires a strategic approach and groundwork, including identifying the target market, understanding your audience’s needs, and creating something unique and valuable. 

The 9 steps to start selling on Gumroad include setting up a store, conducting research, creating a great product, gathering information about competitors and their products, setting an appropriate price, creating an appealing product page, making the payment and delivery process clear, marketing the product effectively, and engaging with customers to provide excellent customer service. Overall, Gumroad provides a platform where digital entrepreneurs and creators can experiment with different ideas and formats until they find a digital product that resonates with their community and generates income.

How to sell digital products on NanoWhat

NanoWhat is a platform that encourages the discovery of local experiences and exploration of hidden gems. It allows creators to share their unique viewpoints and curate adventures that are authentic to them. 

NanoWhat provides a unique “Content Conversion” service that can turn your travel blogs, social media posts and all kinds of travel content directly into a sellable map. It saves time and resolves a big problem for sellers who already spent a lot of time creating content, but turning that existing content into a map takes very little effort.

To sell a digital product on NanoWhat, anyone can create a map shop on the platform for free and set their own selling price. NanoWhat only keeps a 10% commission on each map sold to cover platform costs, while the remaining 90% goes to the creator.

How to sell digital products on Amazon

Amazon is a well-known eCommerce marketplace that offers a variety of products to its customers. They are known for their physical products and fast shipping times, but it is possible to sell digital products on Amazon, however it is not a well known category. The benefit for sellers is access to the platforms’ aggregated demand from millions of global customers. Many content creators want to sell their digital products on Amazon, but are unsure of how to do so.

Amazon Digital Services is a platform that handles digital product delivery, including Kindle Direct Publishing and TuneCore. The best-selling digital products on Amazon include ebooks, online courses, prints, graphic design templates, and music. 

Learning how to sell digital products on Amazon, content creators need focus, willpower, and consistency in their content creation. They should also know enough about their topic to make credible content and continuously create new content around it. 

Finally, creators will need to gain critical skills in marketing their content to stand out from the millions of other sellers. Stores require upkeep, data analysis, and launching new and improved products on a regular basis. 

Tips for Successful Digital Product Sales on Etsy

First, niche marketing is crucial to creating a growable and scalable business, and competitors should be analyzed for research purposes. To make money on Etsy with digital downloads, it is important to put in time and effort, and sustain the income long-term. 

Here we also analyze some pros and cons of selling digital products on Etsy, hope you can better understand and use Etsy for your business:

Pros:

• Profitable and somewhat passive way of generating income
• Only have to create digital products one time and can sell them multiple times over
• No need to worry about product storage, fulfillment, shipping, or returns
• Access to Etsy’s pre-existing audience and massive customer base
• Can start selling digital downloads immediately even if you’re a beginner
• Wide variety of digital downloads can be sold, including printables, custom website themes, fonts, graphics, digital art, ebooks, and more
• Can use online graphic design software like Canva to create digital products easily
• Higher profit margins compared to physical products
• Low start-up costs

Cons:

• Need to learn about Etsy SEO and how to effectively market your digital products
• High competition with other sellers on the platform
• May need to continually create new digital products to stay relevant and keep up with customer demand
• Relatively low price points which may require high sales volume to reach desired income levels
• Limited ability to differentiate between original and copied digital products
• Potential for piracy and unauthorized sharing of digital downloads

Conclusion

According to projections, the digital marketplace industry is expected to continue thriving in the future. This trend was largely influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has accelerated the shift towards online shopping. As a result, more and more businesses are turning towards e-Commerce to drive sales. This has led to an increase in the popularity of online marketplaces like Etsy, Amazon, and others. 

One such trend is the growing demand for mobile commerce, which is expected to account for over 40% of e-Commerce sales by 2024. 

Another trend is the rise of SaaS (Software as a Service) businesses, which offer subscription-based products that can generate recurring revenue. Selling digital products like software, eBooks, and web-based applications is a great way to generate passive income, with a strictly digital inventory.

As the digital marketplace industry continues to evolve, creators and businesses need to stay updated on the latest trends. Creators possess a lot of power to influence purchasing decisions and develop products tailored to the preferences of their communities. 

Stay true to your passion, share the things you love with the world and keep the end user in mind when you design digital products to sell on a platform that fits your niche.