Wondering what to sell on Etsy in 2021?
This list contains 10 of the most popular products on Etsy, including creating a shop and starting selling today.
Etsy is an excellent platform for independent creatives to make money on, and the sky’s the limit with earnings potential.
If you have a solid product lineup, high-quality product photos, optimized descriptions, and SEO down pat, your Etsy should start becoming profitable in no time.
Skip to:
– What is Etsy?
– Selling on Etsy Fees
– How to Sell Items on Etsy
– 10 Things to Sell on Etsy
Let’s get started!
Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links, where I may receive a small commission on purchases at no cost to you. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here.
What is Etsy?
Etsy is a global online marketplace for people to make, sell and buy different things like crafts, artwork, handmade products, and more!
Founded in 2005, Etsy has over 4.3 million sellers, tens of billions of dollars in sales, and 39+ million active buyers (source: Statista).
It’s a great platform to make extra money through selling products, and you’ll be able to get a store up and running in no time.
Sign up to Rakuten and spend $25 to receive $25 back!
Sell on Etsy Fees
Like all businesses, Etsy needs to make money somehow. While opening up a shop is free, Etsy makes money through listings fees, transaction fees, and more.
Here’s the complete list of Etsy fees:
- Listing fee: $0.20 USD for every item, expires after 4 months or until sold.
- Transaction fee: 5% of the displayed price + delivery and wrapping fees.
Optional fees: - Advertising: Set a daily budget to run Etsy ads, you can also do offsite advertising which can cost more.
- Subscription fee: $10 USD a month for Etsy Plus
- Currency conversion: If you sell in currency other than your own, you will be charged a 2.5% currency conversion fee.
- Taxes: You are responsible for your own taxes.
The way to combat these fees is to sell your item for about 5 – 8% more than initially priced.
It’s quite a lot of fees, but Etsy handles your store’s payments and makes it super easy to get products listed.
How to Sell Items on Etsy
Starting your own shop on Etsy is super simple. Follow these steps, and you’ll be started in no time!
- Create an Esty account (get 40 free listings through my link)
- Click on ‘Sell on Etsy‘
- Click ‘Open your Etsy shop‘
- Choose your shop language, currency, and country
- Write a shop name
- Start customizing & adding products
It’s as easy as that.
Helpful tips for selling on Etsy:
- Make your listing images size ‘2700 px wide x 2025 px tall’ . This will ensure that nothing gets cut off in Etsy’s search results.
- Post-high-quality product photos that are well-lit and color-corrected, these listings will drive more clicks.
- Maximize and use the 13 tags that Etsy gives you for each product listing.
- Check to see if the font you’re using is ‘commercial use allowed’. If not, change it immediately.
Remember, if you click through this link and make a shop, you’ll qualify for 40 free listings.
What to Sell on Etsy
1. Print on Demand Items
A great way to get started with selling on Etsy is to run a print-on-demand store. Print-on-demand means that you hold no inventory, and all of the products get made to order.
You don’t do anything apart from designing and pricing the product; the print-on-demand service also ships the order directly to the customer for you.
You can create products like clothing, phone cases, stickers, wall prints, and so much more.
All you have to do is set up your Etsy shop, connect your account with a service like Printful, push the products to your Etsy store, set the profit margins, and publish. It’s really that easy!
Print-on-demand services for Etsy:
– Printful
– Gooten
– Printify
The big downside to using a print-on-demand service is that there’s usually minimal space for design elements.
Related: How to Make $5000 a Month [5 Methods Revealed]
2. Homemade Jewelry
One of the best and most popular categories of products to sell on Etsy is homemade jewelry.
There are heaps of jewelry pieces you can make, including rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, anklets, and so much more.
You could create and sell handmade jewelry in big batches or even create personalized jewelry for a higher price.
Remember, set the prices according to the time and cost of making the jewelry, not solely competing with others.
Popular jewelry sellers:
– Alkimiceramics: Ceramic & porcelain jewelry (7500+ sales)
– MinervaBelle: Handmade jewelry by Denise (8400+ sales)
↓ Like free stuff? ↓
3. Stickers
Another fun product to sell on Etsy is stickers, and it’s one of the most popular products on the app.
Sell stickers individually, in packs, or even customize them to order.
You could create stickers on Procreate and print them yourself, or even use a print-on-demand service like Printful or Printify to fulfill the orders.
People also love using stickers in journals and planners, so you could create theme-related stickers that relate to days, months, seasons, etc.
Popular sticker sellers:
– FoxAndCactus: Hand drawn stickers (157,000+ sales)
– HappyCloudInc: Planner/journal stickers (6,000+ sales)
4. Custom Pet Portraits
If you’re experienced with digital art, a great way to make money on Etsy would be by selling custom pet portraits.
Often selling above $30 (for digital copies), it’s an excellent way to make money and avoid shipping and handling costs.
You can also set your prices to the amount of detail in the artwork, a simple pet portrait versus a highly realistic pet portrait will sell at vastly different pricing.
Popular pet portrait sellers:
– DrawYourPortrait: Painted pet portraits (33,000+ sales)
– JustArtinAround: Custom pet portraits (31,000+ sales)
5. Clothing
Clothing is a wildly popular category on Etsy, with over 10 million listings.
Selling unwanted or unused clothing in your closet is a great way to earn a bit of extra money.
You could also create, customize, and sell your own branded clothing items with a print-on-demand service.
Once the products start selling and you get an idea of what sells and what doesn’t, you could move on to ordering bulk from suppliers and shipping it yourself.
This will leave you a higher profit margin and allow for branded packaging and better quality materials.
Popular clothing sellers:
– Youga: Women’s clothing (15,000+ sales)
– NatureSpiritDesigns: Pixie and festival fashion (20,000+ sales)
6. Wall Art Prints
Another fun product to sell on Etsy is wall art prints. You can sell digital photographs or ship out framed/unframed copies to your customers.
Selling your art (or photography) as a digital print will reduce your overheads and allow for maximum profit. I’ve used Etsy to buy digital prints before, and I highly recommend it 🙂
This could be a great way to monetize your artwork or photography that’s just sitting around.
Popular wall art sellers:
– Digivites: Wall art prints (19,000+ sales)
– LaPaperPassionPrints: Nursery wall art (4,500+ sales)
7. Planners
Planners are one of the most popular products to sell on Etsy.
Not only can you sell planners, but you can sell add-ons like stickers, inserts, patterned tapes, and so much more!
You could create wedding planners, weekly planners, yearly planners, and so much more.
Popular planner sellers:
– PlannerKate1: Stickers and organization for planners (1.62+ million sales)
– ChasingPlannerPeace: Inserts and dividers for planners (15,000+ sales)
8. Candles
Candles, whether you love them or hate them, you can’t deny that they’re an insanely popular product, even in 2021.
Candle wax also isn’t too expensive, so just make sure to include fun and creative packaging, and you should sell some candles in no time.
Popular candle sellers:
– ElliesPaperie: Foil candles (6,500+ sales)
– ElementalsBotanica: Crystal candles (8,900+ sales)
9. Vintage Things
Do you have some vintage items lying around your house that might be worth something?
Well, Etsy might just be the right place to start selling them.
Customers absolutely love vintage items, including clothing, jewelry, collectibles, photography, and more.
To sell an item as vintage on Etsy, it must be at least 20 years old. Read Etsy’s ‘House Rules’ on vintage items here.
Popular vintage sellers:
– TheTarotStore: Retro tarot cards (15,000+ sales)
– StructureMinerals: Crystals and minerals (89,000+ sales)
10. Wedding Products
The last of the popular items to sell on Etsy is wedding products and accessories.
Etsy is a great place to sell custom wedding products like guest books, cake toppers, wedding invitations, hair accessories, and so much more.
If you’re talented at calligraphy writing, you’ll also likely be qualified to start selling wedding products on Etsy.
Popular wedding products sellers:
– CreatingMonkies: Personalized gifts for weddings (50,000+ sales)
– ALGiftware: Personalized cufflinks and more (10,000+ sales)
Wrapping Up
So there, we have the 10 most popular things to sell on Etsy in 2021. You can also check out these best-selling items on Etsy, which could give you many more ideas on products to market.
Remember, product photos are a vital part of getting clicks and sales on your Etsy. So, make sure to focus on product photography first and then your keyword descriptions.
Feel free to leave your Etsy shop name in the comments below; I’d love to check it out!
Start selling on Etsy (get 40 free listings)
What do you plan on selling with Etsy?
Read next:
– How to Make $5000 a Month [5 Methods Revealed]
– How to Make Money Blogging in 2021