Etsy is an awesome marketplace for so many reasons. For one, the reach and variety that it allows you to have with the products you make is second-to-none!
In this article we’ll be looking at how you can take something that seems quite innocuous — just a simple sticker! — and turn it into a big earner on the platform. We’ll talk about why Etsy is a great choice, and then dig into the specific tips.
So, let’s get into it!
Why Should You Sell Stickers on Etsy?
Existing Market
Etsy is a great place to sell things because it’s been around for so long. Many people remember or will have heard of Etsy — it’s up there with other giants of the online shopping space such as Amazon and eBay.
On top of that, Etsy has a carefully crafted reputation for providing arty goods. As a result, when people are looking for stickers and other arts and crafts products, it’s one of the first places they’ll look.
So, you have a well-established online marketplace which is known for selling your sort of product. That’s a perfect springboard for launching a business!
Reasonable Seller Fees
Etsy charges you 20c for every item you list on the site, and takes a 6.5% cut of every sale.
Etsy can also charge other fees depending on where you engage with their services and how you do so, but in most cases these won’t be too worrying.
In general, Etsy’s various fees can be considered to be quite reasonable. For some perspective, eBay takes 15% out of every sale up to the first $1000 made, then 6.5% afterwards.
The seller fees are also predictable. They don’t change on a whim if you suddenly go over a particular revenue threshold (or fail to meet it).
Shipping
Etsy’s shipping assistance service simplifies the process of getting your products to customers by a significant amount. They can help with order tracking, getting discounts on some major parcel carriers, and giving assistance with customs if needed.
Shipping can be an area that you really get bogged down in when selling online, so having Etsy’s help here is incredibly useful.
Your Own Store
Although you’ll be using Etsy for the actual infrastructure, you effectively have your own web store with none of the hassle.
You’re able to brand your store with your own images and icons, list however many products you like, and comes with many other features that you’d normally only get with your own dedicated website.
Things to Know Before Making Stickers to Sell on Etsy
Competition
Understand what other people are selling! There are lots of sellers on Etsy (upwards of 7 million!), and at least a few of those will be selling stickers. It’s likely some are even selling stickers with a similar theme or style to yours.
Understanding that competition for your target market exists is a key step in moving forward with your Etsy store and making effective sales.
Etsy Fees
We’ve mentioned them above, but they fall in this section too. Etsy fees are impossible to escape, and you will lose some of your revenue to these fees.
That means you’ll need to be pricing your stickers so that you at least break even. You can’t sell them for 20c, unless you want to make a loss. In fact, with the Etsy seller fees as we’ve discussed them, the minimum price would be 22c without shipping.
However, that wouldn’t be paying you anything for your labor or manufacturing costs — so aim a little higher!
It Takes Hard Work
Although it might look all rosy from the outside, selling things on the internet takes hard work.
For every person who has blown up with no effort, there are hundreds of thousands who never got anywhere because they didn’t put in the hours.
You have to be ready to commit to your store and to your customers before you get fully into the process of setting up your products and page.
How to Make Stickers to Sell on Etsy
1. Always Do Your Research First
Make sure people want to buy your products! Ask yourself:
- Is there a market for your stickers?
- What kind of stickers are you selling?
- How much profit margin can you add and still have customers interested?
Without understanding the people you’re trying to sell to, you won’t be able to effectively create and price your products. Therefore, this is paramount to a successful store.
2. Have a Goal
It doesn’t have to be big! However, goals are a key way to keep yourself interacting with the store and staying motivated. Just look at how many people are listing their goals!
Maybe it’s to sell just one sticker, or to make a certain amount of money or number of sales within a month. Perhaps you’re just looking to get a bigger following for your brand and products.
Whatever it is, get it written down somewhere! Stick it above your computer screen if you want to.
3. Look at the Trends
Understanding how the Etsy customer base is interacting with the market is a great way to make sure that your stickers will sell.
Are people buying stickers at all at the moment? Which ones, in particular, are selling well?
Don’t just look at Etsy sales, though — keep an eye on trends in the wider world too.
If a new fantasy book series or movie is gaining popularity, people might be becoming more interested in buying fantasy-themed stickers.
Making sure that you’re keeping an eye on trends and taking advantage of them is one of the best ways to maintain or increase your sales.
4. Competitor Analysis
Analyzing your competitors is also an incredibly important part of running a successful Etsy store. Key questions to ask:
- Where is their traffic coming from?
- Are they utilizing better SEO practices than you are?
- What do their products look like?
- Do their reviews pick up anything interesting?
Good competitor analysis focuses on your strengths and weaknesses, and your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, and generates ideas for opportunities and awareness of threats from the overlap of these two.
This is also known as the SWOT method.
5. Know Your Target Market
Understanding who your target market is is key to making appealing products. Don’t make retro stickers of nineties celebs if you’re selling to Pokémon-obsessed teenagers.
If you understand your target market better, you’ll be better able to make products that are attractive to them.
6. Establish Avatars
An avatar is the first thing your customer sees when they interact with your store. In the case of Etsy, it’s your profile picture!
Make sure that your avatar is something that your target audience will want to engage with, and something that represents your brand.
7. Know Your Niche
Know where you fit in around your competitors. The competitive analysis we mentioned above will let you know where you can push for more of the market than your competitors can — use that!
8. Create Your Stickers
Phew! Now that we’ve got through all of that, we can actually get to the important part — creating the stickers!
Odds are that if you’re reading this article, you’ve got some artistic experience under your belt. You’ve probably even made some stickers before!
When designing your stickers, think about what you want to be involved. Does your store have a certain theme? What does your target audience want to see?
9. Print Your Stickers
Making sure that you print your stickers effectively and quickly is super important. If you’re looking at filling large orders, it might be worth engaging the services of a commercial printer.
Most stores won’t be starting at this stage, however, so you should be able to get away with a good home printer or semi-regular visits to your local print shop.
10. Open Your Etsy Store
Now that you’ve designed your stickers, you can open up your Etsy store! Etsy guides
you through the process to make it as easy and stress-free as possible.
11. Make Listings and Prices For Your Stickers
Listing your stickers will take you an afternoon of clicking through the various Etsy menus. It’s not too tricky to do, and you’ll get used to it after the first few times.
However, what might take you longer is picking the prices for your stickers. Remember, you need to be pricing them to include seller fees, printing fees, your labor– and ideally a little bit of profit too!
12. Optimize Your Store
Making sure your store is easily readable, well-presented, and logically and thoughtfully laid out is incredibly important.
Editing and refining product descriptions is another important part of this process.
13. Be Consistent with Your Branding
Don’t use one logo in one part of your site and another in a different part! Make sure that you have a consistent brand image across your entire store.
Try to use similar color schemes and fonts in all your banners and profile images.
14. Consider SEO
Keywords, keywords, keywords! Make sure your store is hitting all of the keywords and phrases needed for customers to find you.
If you’re really serious about it, you could consider using a third-party tool to maximize your SEO effectiveness.
15. Keep Promoting
Just because your Etsy store is up and ready to go doesn’t mean you’re all done!
Make sure you’re promoting your stickers wherever you can, whether that’s through social media, traditional advertising, or talking to your friends.
If you can, go to maker fairs or arts and crafts expos to try to drum up interest and sales there as well.
The Bottom Line
Selling stickers on Etsy can be hard work, but it all pays off (literally and figuratively!) when you make sales.
Remember to prepare well before your store goes live:
- Understand your audience and your competition
- Make sure you have enough stock to fill any orders.
Good luck!