Etsy is a popular marketplace for selling digital products, handmade goods, vintage and print-on-demand items, and more. It has 96.2 million active buyers, and most are loyal to the platform.
Digital products are the first choice for most sellers here because they are easy to create and don’t require inventory or shipping.
The best part? You can use design tools like Canva to quickly make your digital products and list them on Etsy!
Canva as we know, is a powerful graphic design tool that you can use to create logos, presentations, social media images, and even designs for sale.
It lets you create designs from scratch or use existing templates. After customizing designs using the platform’s various elements, you can download and use them.
But the question we are going to discuss in this post is whether or not you can sell Canva designs on Etsy.
The short and quick answer to this is yes, Etsy supports Canva-made designs.
Let’s talk about it in detail.
Conditions for Selling Canva-Made Designs on Etsy
While you can sell Canva designs on your Etsy shop, there are conditions to abide by.
Use Canva Pro
To begin with, you need a Canva Pro account to design digital products and sell them on Etsy.
Canva’s free version has limited features and restricts you from using designs for commercial purposes. However, the free version is perfect for tinkering around with various designs to see how they appear.
So, upgrade to Canva Pro if you want to create designs for online sales.
Don’t Use Pre-Made Templates
Second, you must create unique designs. In other words, you can’t download pre-made Canva designs and upload them to your Etsy shop.
It’s always a good idea to create designs from scratch. You can download free images from sites like Pexels or Pixabay and upload them to Canva to build your designs. The idea is not to infringe any copyrights.
The best part? You can use Canva elements, icons, and images to make and sell your designs.
For more information, check out Canva’s information on licenses needed to use its designs for commercial projects.
Benefits of Selling Canva-Based Designs on Etsy
Here is why you should sell your Canva-made designs on this platform.
Large Digital Products Marketplace
Here are the digital products (designed with Canva) that sell well on Etsy.
Canva Templates
- Ebook templates
- Business forms
- Branding templates, such as logos, brand kits, and brand materials
- Airbnb host templates
- Brand stationery templates, including thank you cards, business cards, and letterheads
- Customizable cards such as Christmas cards, moving announcement cards, and the like
- Recipe books
- Portfolio templates
- Pricing books (for business owners and photographers)
- Planner templates
- Presentation templates
- Product packaging templates
- Cover letter and resume templates
- Teacher templates
- Workbook templates
- Social media templates
- Wedding templates
- Fillable forms
Other Non-Template Digital Products to Sell on Etsy
- Coloring pages
- Calendars
- Gift tags
- Greeting cards
- Habit trackers
- Goal setting printables
- Checklists
- Organizers
- Manifestation cards
- Grocery lists
- Monthly, weekly, and daily planners
- Printable games
- Games for bridal showers and bachelor and bachelorette parties
- Gift tags
- Wall art
- Digital art
- Productivity printables
Also Read: Etsy Millionaires & Success Stories To Inspire
It’s Easy to Create, List, and Sell Digital Products
Creating
Creating products to sell on Etsy is straightforward. You just need to visit the platform, see what other sellers are doing, and create something similar. This doesn’t mean you should copy their designs, though. Instead, use it as inspiration to craft your own products.
You can also modify templates on platforms like Canva within minutes and upload them for sale on Etsy.
Listing
Listing digital products on Etsy is easy. It only requires taking images of the product from different angles and uploading them. Listing mockup product images is also recommended, as mockups are easy to create or find online.
Selling
Selling digital items on Etsy is easy and inexpensive. For the most part, you don’t need a physical inventory and a fulfillment or shipping service to start an Etsy store.
If you are selling digital products, such as Canva templates, you can design the template and give customers a link to customize the design and download it further.
If you sell print-on-demand items, such as t-shirts, hats, and socks, you can design and let the print-on-demand company handle the shipping.
Also Read: Best Sites To Sell Handmade Items Besides Etsy
A Fantastic Way to Earn Passive Income
With the increasing demands of life, having a single income source isn’t enough. Even if you have a day job, you can create a passive income online to cushion you during those emergencies or even replace your job one day.
An Etsy shop is a powerful way to create a passive income stream. As mentioned, Etsy has almost 100 million buyers, meaning you won’t need to work so hard to market your digital products. You can get sales from Etsy’s already existing loyal customer base.
You also save time and money on shipping, packaging, and delivery. Plus, once you design your digital products, you don’t have to recreate them.
Global Reach
Etsy gives you a global reach with your digital products. Etsy sellers are from 234 countries, with the United States having a whopping 62% of the sellers.
With no geographical barriers, you can tap into the global customer base and increase your passive income potential.
Unlimited Inventory
Digital products let you create an unlimited inventory. After creating a digital product, easily sell it on Etsy infinitely.
The scalability lets you embark on making high-quality products and serve an increasing customer base.
Flexible Pricing
Etsy lets you set your digital products’ pricing based on various factors, such as competitors’ pricing and the value you provide.
There’s also room to try various pricing techniques, such as offering discounts or bundling products to entice customers and increase sales.
Check Out: Zazzle vs Etsy
Built-in Marketing Tools
Etsy is integrated with marketing features for promoting your digital products. For example, you can optimize your tags, titles, and descriptions with keywords, use Etsy’s ads, add a video, and take advantage of the ten items per listing to maximize your products’ visibility.
Community Support and Resources
Etsy has a community of sellers where new sellers can learn from experienced sellers, ask questions, and more. The Etsy staff posts valuable insights in the community from time to time, as well.
Besides, Etsy offers insightful guides, educational material, and forums to help you grow your store.
How to Sell Canva Designs on Etsy?
Here are the steps to make money listing Canva designs on your Etsy shop.
Research Your Niche and Competition
Canva designs are in different niches and sub-niches, so it helps to find what aligns with your interests.
You may already have some ideas based on your experience, skills, educational background, or interests.
Use the Etsy Search Bar
The Etsy search bar is the best place to start researching a niche. So, head there and type in ‘Canva’ followed by the design you have in mind.
For example, if I am interested in selling Canva templates on Etsy, I will type ‘Canva template for,’ and this is what appears in the Etsy search bar:
Also Read: Ripl vs Canva
The results show even more sub-niches in the Canva template space, such as realtors, weddings, teachers, real estate, and more. I can focus on creating templates for a specific audience or several of them.
I can also type in a different design idea, such as a Canva planner, Canva organizer, etc., and see Etsy’s autosuggestions.
But here’s a better way:
Type the word Canva followed by each letter of the alphabet to gather as many ideas as possible. For example, I typed ‘Canva d’ to see suggestions under the letter ‘d’, and here’s what popped up:
You can type in each letter of the alphabet, see the suggestions, and note down the ideas you are interested in.
Once you see a keyword suggestion you are happy with, click on it to see the listings already selling products in that niche. Check the listings for inspiration.
While keyword suggestions from the Etsy search bar are insightful, they are rather basic and don’t provide detailed data about the shops selling a specific design, their monthly sales, keywords, and more.
That’s where Etsy keyword tools shine.
Also Read: PicMonkey vs Canva
Use an Etsy Keyword Tool
Do you want to analyze the competition more and find ways to outrank them? Use an Etsy keyword tool.
There are several Etsy keyword tools out there, but most of them assess four essential metrics, including:
Search volume: The search volume shows how often people search a keyword on the platform. Go for keywords with higher search volumes, which means they are popular and can generate more visibility. But a popular keyword can be competitive.
Competition: A competitive keyword can be difficult to rank when starting. That said, target low-competition keywords to up the odds of ranking.
Long-tail keywords – These are Etsy searches with three or more words. Generally, long-tail keywords have lower search volumes and target specific customers who are likely to make a purchase.
Relevance – This metric refers to a keyword’s ability to match a particular product search intent. Simply put, when your listings have relevant keywords, interested customers will likely see them.
If you want to create an Etsy shop and start making sales quicker, using an Etsy keyword tool can help.
Here are some of the popular tools you may want to check out:
- EtsyHunt – Helps you identify and prioritize the best keywords and gives a detailed product report, including performance for the past seven days, reviews, total sales, and more
- Sale Samurai – Generates long-tail keywords that match the buyers’ intent
- Marmalead – Gives insights into search volume, keyword trends, and competition levels
- Alura – Generates the most popular tags to help you optimize your product listings. It also gives actionable information like the number of competing shops and the keyword’s demand.
- EverBee – Offers Etsy product analytics, keyword research, and keyword analytics
- eRank – Offers insights into the most popular keywords and analyzes trending search terms, helping you grasp Etsy’s best-selling products
- KeySearch – Helps you find suitable, low-competition tags to boost your sales
- Merch Titans – Help. you generate the top Etsy tags
Also Read: RedBubble vs Etsy
What to Keep in Mind When Researching the Competition
The above tools will give you valuable insights into the competition.
The best way to research the competition is to search for the niche or product you want to sell.
When results show, look at the listings, taking note of consistent themes, what works, and what doesn’t.
Click on listings with the highest number of star ratings or reviews and take note of the listing images, fonts, colors, backgrounds, and more.
You want to come up with similar designs, but better.
Read through the reviews and see what five-star reviews say about the product. But also look at complaints from low ratings and take notes.
Decide Which Templates You Would Like To Sell
As explained above, once you complete the initial Canva designs research, create a list of the best Canva designs you would like to sell.
You don’t need thousands of product ideas right now, but you need a decent list to start working with. Ensure the keywords you select have high search volumes and low competition.
You can start with designs that aren’t complicated and branch out to others later. For example, you can start with something like a Canva email signature template and later on, focus on creating email signature templates for a specific audience, such as real estate professionals, coaches, or influencers.
Create a Canva Template from Scratch
Go to Canva.com and sign up for a Pro account. Canva gives a 30-day free trial for the Pro account, so you can quickly start creating your Canva designs.
Type the design you would like to create in the search bar. For example, if you want to create Pinterest pin templates, you can type it in and select 1000 x 1500 as shown below:
After clicking on it, several templates will populate the page. You can scroll through and select a suitable one for customization.
In that case, ensure you change the fonts, elements, words, background color, etc.
However, I recommend choosing a blank one and creating your design from scratch.
Create a PDF File with a Template Link
After creating your template, the next step is converting it into a format anyone can use.
The best approach is to create a shareable template link from the design and put the link in a simple PDF file.
Creating a shareable template link is easy: Open the template or a set of templates you just created and click the Share button on the upper right.
Check Out: Best Canva Fonts For Tshirt
Next, click on More to see the template link.
You will see the template link button.
Click on the template link to see the URL to your templates. Copy the link and paste it into a notepad. We will use it in the next step.
How to Create a PDF File with Your Template Link
Etsy doesn’t allow sellers to upload any links to digital designs. So, you need to upload a PDF file containing a link to the Canva design (template).
You can create a PDF file using Canva. To do it:
- Go to Canva and click Create a design, then Custom size.
- Select 2000px by 20000px. This is the size requirement for Etsy listing files.
- Click Create a new design, and a canvas will open.
This design is simple: Add a title of your downloaded product, details on how customers can use it, and a link to the Canva template.
It will look something like this:
Check Out: Canva vs Piktochart
- Next, you want to go to Share > Download. Under file type, select PDF Standard and click download.
Create a 10-page Product Listing
Go to Canva and create a new design with the Etsy listing dimensions shared earlier. Duplicate the design so you have 10 pages in total.
Page 1: Create a catchy cover image for the listing. This page should contain the product name, a short description, and key product features. Remember to use eye-catching colors and fonts to stand out.
Pages 2 – 9: These pages should include mockups of the product. You can create mockups in Canva or download them from other platforms like Creative Fabrica.
Include a brief description of your digital product features and a watermark label to protect the digital assets you created.
Page 10: The last page serves as the summary page or back cover. This page should contain the shop’s logo and name, a short “Thank You” text to your customers, important links to your social media profiles, website, or Etsy shop, and other essential details.
Create an Etsy Shop
Setting up an Etsy shop is an intuitive process. Go to Etsy.com and scroll to the footer, then click on ‘Sell on Etsy’.
Next, click Get Started and follow the prompts to complete your shop setup.
You will be required to provide a shop name and basic details and set up the payment information.
Don’t forget to fill out the ‘About’ part to make your seller profile stand out.
The idea is to build a brand relevant to your products. A solid brand adds professionalism to your shop, so don’t leave out any details.
Upload Your Product Listings on Etsy
After setting up your shop, it’s time to upload the listings you created via Canva earlier.
Remember to optimize your product listings by adding relevant keywords in the title, description, and tags. The keyword tools we mentioned earlier should make this process easy.
In your listings, mention unique selling points, like special features, bonuses, or customization options.
Create a short video walkthrough to guide your buyers on accessing and using your products.
Remember, Etsy charges $0.20 per listing and 6.5% of your selling price for each transaction.
However, Etsy deducts these fees after you start making sales, so it’s nothing to worry about.
Also Read: Can You Use Canva Images For Commercial Use?
Proven Strategies to Increase Sales for Your Canva Designs on Etsy
- Create a website around your niche and post relevant content with links from the website to your Etsy shop. The strategy can enhance brand awareness and boost sales.
- Set up a Pinterest business account and upload pins linking to your Etsy products.
- Create a TikTok account and post niche-specific videos and product explainers to increase traffic to your shop.
- Create a branded Facebook page to share about your Etsy products and also share other helpful information to engage users.
- Set up an Instagram account and share product photos, glowing customer reviews, and videos showing products in use.
- Build an email list through your website or social media pages. An email list lets you make repeat purchases by providing coupons. You can also alert your list about existing products, offers, and more.
Also Read: Canva vs Creatopy
Here’s an easy way to get email subscribers: give one of your Canva designs for free.
- Use Etsy ads to promote your products. This approach is optional but helpful to help you drive sales. That said, don’t implement it before learning how Etsy ads work.
- Provide stellar customer service by responding to customer reviews promptly. Also, fix any mistakes customers complain about, include a freebie related to the product, and follow up with customers to ask for a review or if they need help with anything.
- Create bundles of related products and sell them at a discount to increase sales.
Creating a Pricing Strategy for Your Canva Designs
Creating an effective pricing strategy for Etsy digital products requires thoughtful planning.
Begin by checking what your competitors charge for similar products. Next, analyze the uniqueness and value of your design and select a price that matches their worth.
Consider the duration you took to create the products, too. Besides, take into account any taxes and fees that Etsy will charge.
Also Read: Best Bluey Fonts On Canva
Conclusion
Can you sell Canva designs on Etsy? Yes, you can.
However, you need a Canva Pro account to make various Etsy designs, like templates, wall art, digital art, recipe books, etc. The designs need to be created from scratch.
Follow the guidelines above to bring your Canva designs to life and start selling them on Etsy.
