Selling print on demand products (POD) on the big marketplaces like Etsy is one of the best ways to building a passive income stream.
I have been selling POD products for many years now, but only on Amazon. I have seen many do real well on Etsy, but I only started using the platform seriously a few months after I got the first sale from listing less than 10 products.
In this article, I’ll show you how to get started selling print on demand products on Etsy so you can follow what I do quickly.
Why Sell Print on Demand Products on Etsy?
Well, as for my own motive, I saw other people crushing sales on Etsy and it seemed as though they are doing well on Etsy compared to Amazon. So I want to get a piece of the pie 🙂
As I already have almost 100,000 products listed on Amazon, I can put them all on Etsy fairly easily. No need to create the new designs. Just put the ones that have been sold on Amazon to Etsy.
According to Similarweb, Etsy has over 200,000,000 total visits a month. That’s a lot of visitors.
Although Amazon has over two billion visits a month, Etsy has far less competition than Amazon.
Most of the people on Etsy usually look for a gift or other handmade products, so print on demand products are a perfect fit for them.
Another good thing is, Etsy has very strong SEO. If you check the traffic sources stats on Similarweb, 42.41% of the traffic is from searches. That’s almost half of overall traffic!
I tried searching Google with the keyword “funny father’s day mug” and found that Etsy beats Amazon on this keyword.
Try this again with the keyword “teacher mug”.
Again, Etsy has a better ranking on this keyword than Amazon does.
So if we have many products on Etsy and we do good keyword research, our products can be sold better than on Amazon given the superior search traffic.
Anyway, these Etsy links on Google are pointed to the category page that contains multiple products in the same keywords. So you have to figure out how to be at the top ranking.
5-Steps to Start Selling POD Products on Etsy
Selling print-on-demand products on Etsy is not that difficult. You can get started easily and quickly by following these five steps:
Step 1: Open an Etsy Account – You can click here to open your shop. There is no fee to open the store but you will have to pay some listing fees when you list the product.
Step 2:Setup the profile name and image – These things will show up on your front store page so make sure to use some friendly images. Then enter some other details for your shop such as the Shop Policy, About, Frequently Asked Questions, etc.
Step 3: Set up the payment info – You have to set up the payment for receiving the money from your customers and paying Etsy for the listing fees. I use PayPal for these two activities.
Step 4: Create the account with the print on demand supplier – There are many print on demand platforms out there on the market. For my shop, I use Gearbubble because they provide Etsy integration. Next, you have to create the production partner and insert the supplier’s information.
Step 5: Start listing the product – Now you’re ready to add some products to your store and make some sales. There is $0.20 you have to pay every four months to list a product.
That’s it!
How To Do Etsy Keyword Research
Unfortunately, I haven’t done much on Etsy so I’m not sure whether my keyword research strategy is good or not.
What I do know is that Etsy gets a lot of traffic from search engines. So what I do currently is use the Google Keyword tool to find which keywords have high search volume and low competitors. I’ll add those keywords to my title and product tags.
Also, I still keep doing the same spaghetti method that I use on Amazon too. I list many products in many niches and see what can be sold, and scale from there.
So far, I have already had many hundreds of views from just a few products and made some sales. I’ll write more in detail about the keyword strategy later when I make more sales.
For now, it’s just throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks.
Prevent your Account from Etsy Suspension
Actually, I already started selling POD products on Etsy since last year, but my account got suspended automatically after I made the first sale.
This is what they said:
After a close review of your account, my team and I have determined that your items and business do not meet our Seller Policy and we can no longer accommodate your business on Etsy. As a result, your account has been closed.
I didn’t know how my items didn’t meet their policy because there are tons of print on demand products on Etsy. I tried to send the appeal, but it didn’t work. They replied to me with the same email (just like a robot).
So I gave up and went back to work on other things.
In the last few months, I tried to open a new account again with a new identity. I also changed the device to register an account too. I used my mobile phone with the cellular network to create the new account.
And this time, I listed the products manually and slowly. I’m not sure if I listed too many products too fast last year and the Etsy system noticed this and suspended my account. So I do it slowly this time.
Also, I remember last year I traveled to many countries. I created the account when I was in Thailand. I listed some products when I was in Japan. I made the first sale when I traveled to New Zealand and my account got suspended after that.
There are so many possibilities, so I listed some products slowly and now I access my Etsy account only when I’m in Thailand.
It has been about two months now. I have made a few sales and my account is still active. YAY!
So I think if your Etsy account is new, don’t list the product too fast. Try to make some sales before speeding up the listings. Also, don’t access to your account with multiple IP addresses. Try to stay off their radar.
What I will do Next on Etsy
Well, I’m going to keep listing new products on Etsy. I have over 34,000 designs that were used to create almost 100,000 products on Amazon. I’ll create them here on Etsy (but at a slower speed in order to stay off the radar).
I won’t do it by myself because it takes too much time for me. I also won’t hire a VA to do this as well, because Etsy doesn’t like the account that is accessed by multiple IP addresses.
My programmer creates the automated system for me to list the products on Etsy. What I have to do is just insert the designs and product info into the system. Then, the system will automatically create the product mockups and create products on Etsy automatically.
I then just have to open Etsy, edit 2 or 3 things that the system can’t do for me, and click “Publish”. It could take me just 10-15 seconds to do this for one product.
You can watch the video below to see how this system works 🙂
The system will work even when you’re asleep!
Not only listing products on Etsy, my programmer also helps me to make this system list the products on eBay, WooCommerce, and Shopify too. We’re planning to do it with Amazon as well, but we’re waiting for the approval to use their system.
The good news is, we’re going to open this system to the public soon and we have some special things in store for the people who get the access to the system early.
If you are interested in building a print on demand business on autopilot, you can join the waiting list here try it now.
