How To Sell Templates On Etsy
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Etsy is the largest online marketplace for handmade and vintage goods, and has opened up so many possibilities for artists, designers, and creatives of all types to showcase and sell their work easily and cost-effectively.
It’s a place where you can sell anything, from hand-knitted beanies, to vintage purses, to print-at-home wedding stationery, and everything in between.
Canva has become an increasingly popular design tool, due to its easy-to-use interface and the huge range of elements and templates its free version offers.
It’s widely used by designers and entrepreneurs around the world to create brochures, invitations, social media graphics, printable products and a lot more.
When it comes to printable and digital products, the sky’s the limit. If you have a problem you want to solve with a printable or digital product, you’ll find it on Etsy.
So it’s easy to see that Etsy and Canva are a perfect match made for people who want to express their creativity and make some extra money selling templates, but don’t want a steep learning curve or a high financial outlay.
Can I Sell Canva Templates on Etsy?
The short answer to this is, absolutely!
But before jumping onto Etsy and selling your Canva templates, there are a few things you need to know.
Whilst you can definitely sell Canva templates on Etsy – according to Etsy’s terms and conditions, anything sold on the platform must be a handmade or vintage item, craft supply, or digital item created by the seller – there are some caveats to be aware of.
The Canva templates you list for sale must be your own original work and must not infringe the copyright of someone else’s design.
For instance, you can’t sell products containing Disney images, or the Apple logo (although you will see lots of sellers attempting to do just that).
It’s illegal and could get you into some very expensive trouble, so I can’t emphasize enough: do. not. do. it.
You also can’t use any Canva elements, fonts, or images that are protected by copyright.
How To Create Digital Templates To Sell
Canva makes it super simple for even someone with no design background (such as myself!) to create templates to sell on Etsy.
You can sign up for a free Canva account here. The free account has so many useful features, you might find you never need to upgrade to the paid account.
Before you create any templates, decide who your target audience is, then do some research into what their challenges and problems are; this will help you to decide what templates to create and give you the best chance of having a successful Etsy shop.
Create a design aesthetic for your template that will resonate with your target audience. Do they prefer a luxurious feel? Or maybe a boho vibe?
What Kind Of Canva Templates Can You Sell?
You can sell any kind of Canva templates that you have designed yourself, including social media graphics, invitations, e-books, and more.
Canva recommends designing from scratch and not using their pre-made templates.
The Best Templates To Sell On Etsy
To find inspiration for the best templates to sell on Etsy, type ‘canva template’ into the Etsy search bar and explore each of the searches that auto-populate. Currently, the top searches include Canva templates related to:
- Small businesses
- Weddings
- Teachers
- Mental health
- Planners
Templates that fall under these broad categories include:
- Instagram post and story templates
- Email marketing kits
- Invoice templates
- Wedding day binder templates
- Wedding weekend itinerary
- Meet the teacher templates
- Classroom ‘welcome’ sign
- ADHD braindump
- ADHD planners
- Planners that can be used in digital annotation apps like Goodnotes
- Planner stickers
There are an endless amount of Canva templates you can sell to buyers on Etsy.
I like to think of products I can make as a Canva template, fillable PDF, Excel template, and more. This way I am able to reuse a design to maximize the profit potential to different types of buyers.
How to Package Your Canva Template to Sell
When you sell your Canva template, you will want to provide a Canva template link to the buyer so that they can customize the template and not alter your original design.
To do this, you will get the link for your design by following these steps:
- Open the design.
- Click Share from the menu bar above the editor.
- Select the Template link.
- Click Create template link.
- You’ll see Live at the top of the Template link once done.
Next, you will want to embed this link on a Canva design you will save down as a PDF. You do this so that you can upload this file to Etsy. You cannot save Canva template links as a file to deliver to a customer in your product listing on Etsy.
Here is an example of what this template would look like. You can grab this template by clicking here.
Make it really easy for your customers to use their new purchase by providing instructions on how to customize the template; you could even include an instructional video, like this one.
I love create video tutorials for my products. You can check out my course on how to create videos to sell more digital products here.
Final Thoughts
Selling Canva templates on Etsy can be a great way to earn some extra money as well as a fun outlet for your creativity.
