EN What Things to Sell on Etsy
You may be thinking about things to sell on Etsy. Perhaps because you want to make an extra income or you want to become a full-time Etsy seller.
Whichever the reason is, you have a lot of possibilities to choose from, but the first thing you should decide on is digital or physical products.
Both have numerous options, but also they have different conditions, you may need some prerequisites such as permits or authorizations.
In any case, don’t worry, because here you’ll find all the information about Etsy trends, policies, and everything you need to know about things to sell on Etsy.
Table of Contents
Things that Can’t Be Sold on Etsy
The best way to begin lists as huge as this is by reviewing the things that can’t be sold on Etsy. If we take a look at the list of prohibited items on Etsy, we can see the following:
- Alcohol, tobacco, and drugs (this includes references to drugs and medical drugs).
- Any kind of animal products and human remains.
- Dangerous Items such as hazardous materials, recalled items, and weapons.
- Hate items such as items that glorify, promote, or support hatred.
- Illegal items, items that promote illegal activities, and highly regulated items.
- Internationally regulated items.
- Pornography and mature content.
- Violent items such as items that glorify, promote, or support violence.
These are the only prohibited things to sell on Etsy, you can sell anything outside this list. Now, to the next step.
Things to Sell on Etsy: Physical or Digital
It would be easy to make a list of things to sell on Etsy naming popular categories like vintage items, jewelry, or craft supplies. However, they may not be your thing, perhaps you’re more into digital items or other kinds of physical products.
Whichever the case is, here you’ll find the benefits and disadvantages of physical and digital products.
Benefits and Disadvantages of Selling Digital Products on Etsy
The greatest part of digital products is that you only need to create them once. After that, it is available to be downloaded countless times. By the time an order comes in, you deliver the product in the same moment, there's no need for stock or anything, it's automatically given to the client.
Here are the benefits of selling digital products:
- Just need to create the product once.
- Better profit margins.
- You’ll never run out of stock.
- Instant delivery without any cost or shipping process.
- Easy automatic relisting on Etsy.
- Sell to anyone around the world unlimited by shipping restrictions.
- You just need a computer to create the products.
- No problems relating to shipping damages, delays, or losses.
However, not everything is perfect referring to digital products, here you have some of their disadvantages:
- It may have a lower perceived value.
- Etsy isn’t the first place to look for digital products so not everyone will be looking for them.
- Because of having fewer barriers to entry can make this market more competitive.
- May require more communication with the client if there are problems opening files or other technology-related issues.
With all these said, let's head to its physical counterpart.
Benefits and Disadvantages of Selling Physical Products on Etsy
Physical products are tangible items, commonly made by the seller themselves and need to be shipped to the customer.
However, this isn’t the only way to sell physical items on Etsy as some shops sell not handmade products, at least not made by themselves.
Their most notable advantages of selling physical items are:
- Increased perceived value.
- Easier to explain qualities, advantages, and design to customers.
- Because of having more barriers to entry, they may be less competition.
- It will be easier to distinguish your shop and brand from others.
- Harder for competitors to copy your handmade physical goods.
But also, there are some cons to selling physical items on Etsy:
- Higher initial capital investment or equipment is required.
- The added cost of shipping and handling plus the time it consumes.
- You have to create or have a stock of each order.
- Selling and creating physical products is more time-consuming overall.
- In the peak seasons (like Christmas) when everyone else rests, you’ll have to work the most.
So, after considering both benefits and disadvantages, it's time for you to choose which format you prefer to sell on Etsy. It's important to consider if you're already good at something. At least, if you have an affinity for technology or for working with physical tools and materials.
This is important because in the next step you’ll be choosing a product to sell, and it has to be a physical or digital one.
Best Physical Things to Sell on Etsy
We will break this list into physical and digital, so you can have a better idea of each product type and you can choose better what things to sell on Etsy. Let’s begin with physical products first.
- Accessories for Machines or Appliances
- Storage Solutions
- Earrings
- T-Shirts
- Custom Clothing
- Clothing Transfers
- Chocolate
- Honey
- Seeds
- Plants
- Rocks and Crystals
- Candy
- Cases and Covers
- Cards
- Wedding Favors
- Soap
- Candles
- Stickers and Car Decals
- Crocheted Goods
- Custom Mugs
- Hand Knitted Goods
- Baby Toys
- Pottery
Accessories for Machines or Appliances
Many Etsy shops are successful thanks to selling accessories for popular products as well as some niche ones. For instance, some decorative wraps for the Instant Pot, or personalized accessories for the Apple Watch.
Storage Solutions
Today everyone is interested in storage, and there is a huge marketplace of storage solutions on Etsy. It can be something generic and simple like an essential oil shelf or a makeup bag, to something more elaborated like personalized jewelry or watches boxes.
Earrings
Handmade custom earrings are one of the most profitable pieces of jewelry on Etsy. It may seem difficult to craft your own jewelry to sell, but a little practice is all you need.
T-Shirts
This may require work with some designer or some design notions, but producing personalized t-shirts it's a good deal on the Etsy market. The shirts can be personalized with photos or designs chosen by the client. Another great idea would be to stay tuned to viral trends and produce shirts as fast as possible to catch the wave.
Custom Clothing
In addition to t-shirts, there are many other custom apparel items that can be sold on Etsy. All kinds of custom sweatshirts, shoes, caps, hats, and so on. If you are a good knitter, this should be your choice.
Clothing Transfers
Heat transfers for apparel can be sold unapplied on t-shirts or sweatshirts for customers to apply themselves. You can offer many types of transfers in your Etsy store, such as HTV transfers, screen-printed transfers, or heat-applied embroidered patches.
Chocolate
Special and artisanal chocolate has a great reception among Etsy buyers. This interest is higher with more daring varieties of designs for bachelorette and bachelor parties (if you know what it means).
Honey
This is one of the lesser-known products that can be sold on Etsy. Honey, despite being an animal product, is not an animal remains, so it is allowed on Etsy.
You can sell only organic honey or if you are a beekeeper working with unusual and special types of honey the price increases considerably. For example, rose honey, forest flower honey, lavender honey, etc., sell very well.
Seeds
A product that has become popular lastly. With the increased use of organic produce, which has moved to seeds plus the ability to sell seeds on Etsy this market has been favored.
If you have your own garden with lots of insecticide and pesticide-free plants, you should consider selling excess seeds.
Plants
Plants, especially houseplants, have seen their demand grow on Etsy during the last pandemic. So why not sell succulents and cacti, herbs, flowering plants, or even fruit and vegetable plants on Etsy.
Rocks and Crystals
Of course, you can sell crystals, minerals, and rocks on Etsy, as long as they have a meaning or a purpose, and they're not radioactive. If you enjoy collecting and gathering special rocks, you should sell some on Etsy, you'll be surprised at how many people shares your passion.
Candy
Handmade specialty candies are a good idea if you have experience or skill in decorating with your hands. People are interested in this kind of candies for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gifts, birthday gifts or just to treat themselves, so why not help them.
Cases and Covers
Custom and unique cases and covers are a fairly simple but impactful project. People are always buying more and more of them because they want to have variety.
It doesn't matter if you make cases or covers for phones, sewing machines, guitars, or pillows. Anything that can be protected in a fashionable way people will buy a case for it.
Cards
Handmade cards sell quite frequently on Etsy, people love to give cards for birthdays, weddings, special days, and many other occasions.
If you also offer buyers the option to personalize their cards with a custom message or the recipient's name, you're sure to get a lot of requests.
Wedding Favors
Everything related to weddings is a big market on Etsy. Pretty much everything can be a wedding favor, from chocolate to coasters, as long as they are personalized and unforgettable.
This is a huge possibility because people looking for wedding favors are often willing to pay nice amounts of money if they find something unique.
Soap
Soaps are perhaps one of the best things to sell on Etsy. The possibilities of differentiating your products from others are incredibly high.
They are easy to make and you can do them in several different colors, shapes, sizes, and types. You can also make custom soaps with names or compositions on request.
Candles
If you are a crafty and creative person, candles are another great idea that is much like soaps (and perhaps you can do both).
They are really easy to make and you can make them in a wide variety of possibilities as they can be decorative, scented o for special purposes. Without mentioning how easily you can change the composition, color, and shape.
Stickers and Car Decals
Stickers can be one of the easiest things to sell on Etsy. All you need is a good printer, some sticker paper, and a cutting machine, and you're good to go.
You can sell them in specific quantities or by the sheet, and they can be personalized or made with fun viral trends, either way, you'll never be short of buyers. Very similar to this are car window decals, which have the same principle but need to be made of more resistant material such as vinyl.
Crocheted Goods
If you're good at crocheting you may be interested in doing some crocheted toys, clothing, or accessories to sell on Etsy. You can do from some typical hats, slippers, or scarves to something more unique like cute toys.
Custom Mugs
If you count with a mug heat press or you're willing to get one, you can make custom mugs on demand.
There are plenty of customers that want to personalize their mugs to look exactly as they want. However, there also are some others that will be happy with a unique design on it that they can't find in regular stores.
Hand Knitted Goods
Handmade knitted items, like hats and blankets, or the typical Christmas sweaters also have a customer base on Etsy. However knitted products for newborns are the best selling within this category.
Baby Toys
If you heard about Montessori toys for children you probably already know that they have become especially popular. These toys are handmade items created from natural materials such as cotton or wood that consist of teaching the child a skill.
Pottery
Any beautiful ceramic piece can be a product that sells well on Etsy. Mugs, plates, cups, mugs, vases, and all household items that can be handmade from ceramics really stand out on this platform. Even more so if they are hand-painted or with another kind of decoration.
Digital Things to Sell on Etsy
- Prints
- Printable Activity Worksheets
- Workbooks
- Digital Planners
- Clipart
- SVG and DXF Files
- Knitting and Sewing Patterns
- Sheet Music
- Instructions
- Excel Templates
Prints
It's all about creating fresh and unique designs of printable wall posters, for example. There are many Etsy buyers who are looking for more personalized prints that you could create. The best option would be to offer different print sizes so that customers can choose the best one for them.
Printable Activity Worksheets
These activity sheets for kids are very widespread and are usually targeted at some age groups like preschool, kindergarten, first grade, etc. The best part is that they can be easily designed using tools like Canva.
Workbooks
They are printable items very similar to activity sheets and are also aimed primarily at specific age groups. Workbooks, on the other hand, are designed for children to learn complex skills, such as reading and writing or another language.
Digital Planners
Make a yearly, event, vacation, or diet planner for use with digital devices (or printable) and put it in your Etsy store. Add goal pages, finance sheets, habit trackers, and anything else that can add extra value from a buyer's perspective to increase your sales.
Clipart
Clipart, as well as other graphic design products, is quite successful. This consists of applying a special artistic filter to a picture image, such as editing a la carte photos to look like a painting or vintage.
SVG and DXF Files
These are very popular digital file types for cutting machine crafts.
It doesn't matter if it's a simple design with a simple shape like a heart or a moon, or a very complex one like mandalas or Celtic knots. It can also be just words or phrases with beautiful handwritten fonts, as long as it is in one of these file types.
Something similar to these files is the embroidery patterns for use with embroidery machines, which are also in high demand.
Knitting and Sewing Patterns
Instead of selling physical finished knitted or sewn products, save some time and effort and simply create the patterns for people to download. Rather than having to hand-make each piece from scratch, you can sell the digital download multiple times.
Sheet Music
If you are skilled enough to write music, you should use your skill to help others by selling them sheet music. Lots of people need sheet music for piano, cello, violin, flute, and other instruments.
Instructions
Sell guides, manuals, and tutorials on Etsy. For example, plans on how to build a chicken coop, bongo drums, or a dog kennel. If you have the knowledge to do something in a proper way and can write precise instructions, you should start creating and selling your guides on Etsy.
Excel Templates
If you're handy with Google Sheets or Excel, start making and selling your templates on Etsy.
They can be planning and budgeting templates, invoice templates, or debt countdown templates. There are plenty of people that are willing to pay someone to relieve them of the time and headaches of designing one on their own.
Final Thoughts
When referring to things to sell on Etsy there are numerous products that we can talk about, and pretty everything has its space on the Etsy marketplace.
However not everyone has the same skills, and maybe you’re more into something that someone else can’t even think about. That’s the main reason we did this comprehensive list full of different ideas for you to find your place on the Etsy market.
Whichever your choice is don’t forget to use EHunt’s keyword tool to look for impactful keywords. Finally, it’s advisable to visit the blog to learn more about optimizing your shop and making it outstanding.
