20 Digital Products You Can Make and Sell in Your Etsy Shop

When most people think of Etsy, they think of hot glue guns, knitting needles, yarn, paintings, glitter, fabric, wood, and all kinds of things you clutter up your craft room with. To me, this sounds like heaven and where I’d want to spend all day every day, but to some people this sounds like a mess and a rabbit hole that they would never want to journey down into. But did you know that Etsy is and has been a platform for digital products for several years now? Digital products are awesome because there are no materials needed, and you don’t have to make them over and over with each order that comes in. You make it once, upload it, and just renew the listing when it sells. It is an amazing, modern way to grow your store and focus on creating rather than order fulfilling.

Here is a list of digital product ideas that you could create for your Etsy shop or website! If you are unsure of how to create these products, let me know, I will turn that into another blog post for you!

1. Printable planner pages and inserts. Did you know planners have basically turned into a lifestyle that has a huge community that coddles their planners like pampered pets? Check out a variation of a planner hashtag on Instagram or a “plan with me” video on YouTube. I will never forget the first time I discovered this. I instantly wanted all of the planners, all of the stickers, and I wanted to plan and track all of the things! People LOVE to find ways to make planners customized for their own needs, and printable planner pages are the perfect way to do that. It can be calendars, to do lists, grocery lists, organizers, workout trackers, food trackers, bill trackers, anything that people want to improve in their lives!
2. Printable stickers. Since cutting machines like the Silhouette and Cricut have come out, people have found all kinds of uses for them that were impossible, or at least tedious, before. There’s a crazy market for stickers on Etsy now! A lot of people love printable stickers because they only have to buy them once and then they can print more out as they need them. It’s a win – win for both buyer and seller!
3. Printable coloring pages. Since the whole “self care” idea has gone viral, people are looking for ways to relax, destress, and spend time doing things that make them happy to help them recharge and tackle everything else in life. I have no idea where this trend started, but someone decided that coloring is one of those activities. Don’t get me wrong, for me it totally is! I love coloring! It just got way more popular in recent years. Printable coloring sheets is a great product to sell! Or you could even bundle them and make a whole coloring “book”.
4. Printable art quotes. I’m not sure if that’s the right name for what I’m thinking of, but let me give some examples. Picture a pretty watercolor splash and a quote like, “Don’t be afraid to dream!” or, “Today is a great day to start!” in a fancy font across the front, in a frame on the wall of your office or studio. These are easy and fun printables to make because they’re quick with the help of some fonts and graphics and you can really be creative with your ideas. People love buying them digitally because they can then print them at whatever size they want, whether they just want a small note card sized frame on their desk, or a large framed version hanging on the wall.
5. Resume templates. This is pretty self-explanatory, and probably surprising as it’s not the “crafty” product most people think to find on Etsy, but there is a market for these too! Some people have a real knack for document layouts and can make it easier for people trying to make their resume impressive and unique.  Including a sheet of tips and advice would help add value to your product too!
6. Stationery paper. This is similar to creating planner pages and inserts, but these could be more decorative. Think of cute “thank you” notes, letter writing paper, or just note pad paper. Give the option to personalize with someone’s name or an inspiring quote! Add some colorful clipart and make it unique!
7. Flash cards and teaching printables. I know when you think of digital teaching resources, you think of Teachers Pay Teachers. I did too! But after having been on Etsy for two years and teaching online for almost as long, I started to notice that a lot of my customers on Etsy were teachers! Especially with the new and quickly growing population of online teachers, who need props readily available, printable teaching supplies are in demand. For the teachers, it’s much cheaper and less space consuming to buy printable props that they can laminate and stack. You could also offer to create the actual product and ship it for them for a few extra dollars, to save them some time!
8. Greeting cards. At first glance, I’m sure you wonder, “Why would anyone look on Etsy for greeting cards?” True, if you’re going to go this route, your cards have to be unique in some way. Maybe you do graphic design and have your own set of characters that customers fall in love with and can’t find anywhere else. Maybe your cards have a sarcastic, sassy tone that Hallmark wouldn’t dare put on their shelves. Not to mention, have you seen the price of a Hallmark card recently? I think I spent $5 on one! Price your printable cards lower than that and now people have a reason to come to you. And then they can reuse the card too! It’s definitely a win win for seller and customer.
9. Invitations. This is another awesome money saving idea for your customers. They can pay one price to print out as many invitations as they need! This is a fun product to make that will really challenge your creativity too! There are so many events that people need invitations for, and there are so many ways to design them with different fonts, layouts, and graphics. You can stick to a small niche like beach wedding invitations, or broaden your reach and make a little bit of everything. You may find out you have an area of expertise along the way!
10. Business card templates. The DIY crowd and first time business owners love things like this because it saves them money and your unique designs will help them stand out from the crowd. Offer to customize and format for the customer to save them time and build your reputation as a design expert!
11. “Cut files”, or SVG graphics. I’m not sure what the official name for these files are, but they’re basically graphics intended to be used with a cutting machine like the Cricut or Silhouette. Using these machines to make vinyl designs for shirts, bags, wine glasses, water bottles, drawer labels, wall decals, and pretty much any and everything else you can think of has become a huge market on Etsy. However, not everyone knows how to design the graphics to use with these machines and vinyl. So in turn, there is a big need for designs that people can use to make all these personalized products.
12. Business packaging labels. Going back to the cutting machine and making stickers, these could be stickers to help business owners with branding their packaging. You could make printable “thank you” stickers, offer to make stickers with their logo on them, or generic stickers with graphics related to what their business might be, like a ball of yarn for a crochet or knit shop, or a pencil for a stationery shop.
13. Crochet and/or knitting patterns. Making and selling crocheted or knit items is a very time-consuming business! One way to offset that and keep doing what you love is to create unique patterns and sell them in digital format. These are very popular, especially for amigurumis, or stuffed toys, and accessories like hats, scarves, and sweaters.
14. Sewing patterns and instructions. This might be a little tricky, but I’ve seen them out there and people are still looking for them! Even if figuring out how to get a sewing pattern into a PDF format is daunting, you could put together a how-to booklet with photos and step by step instructions for making things like a handbag, curtains, or pajama pants.
15. Foldable box templates. These are so cool! I have a feeling they require some origami know how and love of geometry, but if that’s your thing, there are so many ways you can go with this. Paper boxes in different shapes and sizes are great for wedding and baby showers, unique packaging for handmade items, and gift wrapping!
16. All of the wedding things. There are so many wedding items that you can make printable, so I decided to combine them into one category. You can either make a wedding one-stop-shop or choose a niche like wedding programs, save-the-dates, invitations, seating cards, favors, or decorative table numbers. Specializing in wedding designs is always a good idea!
17. Party games, banners, and decorations. I’m picturing bachelorette parties, children’s birthday parties, sweet sixteen parties, Super Bowl parties, graduation parties, and holiday parties. You can offer customized banners with a name or event on them. You can make printable games similar to “pin the tail on the donkey”. If you’ve always loved throwing parties and finding all the perfect decorations and activities, this might definitely be for you!
18. Reward systems for online teachers. You knew this one would make the list! This is a newer idea since teaching online has become a thing, but online teachers LOVE printable props and rewards to use in class. They make each class fun and keep the students interested and engaged! There are endless ideas for rewards and teachers are always looking for new ones to keep things fresh.
19. Clipart, “digital paper”, and digital textures. You’re probably not surprised to see this on the list. This is a major category and had to be included! You can draw clipart images to use in several of the products already mentioned, or you can use those images to create patterned “digital paper” or backgrounds. Think of them like scrapbook paper you can find at the craft store. Or if you super graphic design savvy, you can make digital textures, like glitter, watercolor, metal, and anything else you can think of.
20. And lastly, workbooks. These have become increasingly popular. They can be for planning, goals, business, mom things, self-improvement, home improvement, anything that people want to learn how to do better. If you think you can map out a process to help people achieve what they want out of life, then put it into a printable workbook!

And there you have it! Which ones can you see yourself doing? Which ones would you like to know more about? I hope this list inspires you to start something new or build upon what you already have! If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hear them! Thanks for reading!

Looking for more creative inspiration? Check out these books by Austin Kleon! He is one of my favorite authors who writes about creativity and business. He has a third book coming out in April!