DISCLOSURE: THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS, MEANING I EARN A COMMISSION IF YOU DECIDE TO MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINKS, AT NO COST TO YOU.
In late January, I opened an Etsy store. Two weeks later, I sold over one hundred Etsy printables.
Does that seem impossible or unbelievable? Before I opened my store, I would’ve thought so too.
Is it a fluke? Maybe. Lucky timing? Probably. Could it ever happen again? I have no idea, but I’m determined to find out.
Learning About Printables
In January, I knew absolutely nothing about creating printables or selling items on Etsy. Since I didn’t know the first thing about creating printables, I signed up for an E-Printables course through Gold City Ventures.
Then I spent seven days straight watching videos. I had a terrible cold in January, so I couldn’t do much else but lie in bed. Under the cozy comfort of my sheets, I watched video after video until I learned the basics.
With a little bit of knowledge under my belt and a whole lot of excitement, I opened up Canva and began experimenting.
Getting My Family Involved
One day, my seven-year-old crawled into bed beside me and asked what I was doing.
“I’m making a bingo board,” I told him.
“Can I help?” he asked.
And so, with his help, we picked images and designs for a Valentine’s Day bingo board. I fumbled through Canva, made a ridiculous number of mistakes, and spent all afternoon undoing and redoing changes.
In retrospect, I should’ve started with a much more straightforward printable. Most people start with a one-page printable, but I jumped in with forty-five pages!
A few days later, I created a second forty-five-page bingo game. I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone starting in the printable world.
Perfect Timing for Selling Printables
Etsy uses some special voodoo to rank and display listings on its pages. I don’t entirely understand that voodoo, but I think new listings often get bumped to Etsy’s first page for a bit.
At least, that’s what happened to me. My Valentine’s bingo board landed on the first page of Etsy’s printable Valentine’s listings, and people started buying it.
My inbox lit up with sale confirmations, and a few people returned to leave reviews of my products.
Within two weeks, I sold over one hundred printables! One hundred eleven bingo boards, to be exact.
Selling Printables on Etsy
Honestly, I didn’t think I would recoup the Gold City Ventures E-printables course cost. But I’m almost there!
Do I think everyone can achieve one hundred sales in two weeks? No, I don’t. When I log on to Etsy, it says I’ve sold more than 79% of Etsy sellers.
That means there are a lot of Etsy sellers out there that have yet to sell more than a few listings. I know some people who opened their stores months ago and haven’t sold a thing.
I thought I would be one of those sellers waiting for a purchase, and the jury is out on whether or not I will continue to see success.
Having Fun Making Printables for Etsy
I started this venture to see if I could make money on Etsy, but along the way, I’ve found a new outlet for my creativity. Writing is usually my go-to outlet for creativity, but designing in Canva has completely trumped my desire to write.
I’m playing with Canva tips and tricks to make new designs much quicker with fewer mistakes.
Best of all, my youngest son is the perfect age for printables. He asked me to create a bingo board, scavenger hunt, and escape room for his birthday.
He’s excited to see what I make and enjoys helping me pick the colors and designs. It’s fun to make things for him that others might like.
Selling one hundred eleven bingo boards could mean 3,330 kids played bingo on Valentine’s day!
Selling Etsy Printables
Can I continue to earn money selling Etsy printables? We’ll see. The Gold City Ventures course was incredibly helpful in getting started.
In addition, to demonstrating Canva techniques, the course talks a lot about SEO (the voodoo behind Etsy’s rankings) and marketing Etsy products which takes nearly as much work as making them.
Unfortunately, holiday designs have a limited window for sale. Once the holiday ends, purchases fizzle out.
To see if this was a one-time success, I’ll need to make more designs and wait to see what the future holds.
I’m not expecting to earn a million dollars on Etsy sales, but it’s fun to watch the number of sales increase.
Hi there – is this a sponsored post? Totally understand that it’s part of being paid for your hard work. I don’t see it mentioned but this post reads that way, so I wanted to check.
This is not a sponsored post, but it does contain affiliate links. I was shocked by my Etsy success. Shortly after I purchased the printables course I told a friend I’d never recoup the money from it. Two weeks later I nearly did! I was so surprised I decided to write about it. I was not paid to write this post. I include a disclosure statement on posts like this, but I noticed it wasn’t appearing properly in prominent typeface. I made it bigger and more apparent thanks to your comment.
I’ve heard about the course but have never taken it. Inspired by your post, I created some printables and posted them on an old dormant account. I sold 4 items on the first day! Unfortunately haven’t sold more since then. I think you are right about the voodoo.
I’m curious to see if you have continued on and have sold anything else. Any updates?
I’ve been wildly successful, but I do think behind the scenes voodoo is a big part of my success.