How To Sell Cards On Etsy In 2024 – Easy Steps For Beginners

Are you here because you want to get into the card business on Etsy but don’t know where to start and how to sell cards on Etsy?

Good news! I have just the solution for you, and these are personalized solutions!

I’m currently helping my sister set up her Etsy store and have discovered a few tips and tricks that I want to share with you that you can apply to selling cards on Etsy, too!

You can see her new etsy store here! 

Anyway, in this article, I’ll dive into the steps you can take, from what card to sell, how to set up your Etsy shop, how to price your product, and more.

If you are new to Etsy, it is vital to understand the fees and payment options on Etsy. I will cover this in the article and some useful tips to help kick-start your Etsy shop.

Summary

• How To Sell Cards On Etsy
• Etsy’s Fees And Payment Options
• Tips To Kick Start Your Etsy Shop
• Why Should You Sell Cards On Etsy
• FAQs On How To Sell Cards On Etsy

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How To Sell Cards On Etsy

1. Decide On The Type Of Card You Want To Sell On Etsy

There are many ways to sell cards on Etsy. But before you start selling, you must know what type of card you want to sell. 

Do you want to sell handmade cards, print-on-demand cards, ready-stocked cards, printable cards, or all of the above?

I don’t recommend doing it all at once if you are just starting out. 

Picking one type to start with, like printables or digital cards, will make it easier to figure out how to make digital cards to sell on Etsy and how to sell printable cards on Etsy.

Or, if you decide to sell physical cards, you can go through the process of how to print cards to sell on Etsy, sourcing the materials, postage, and so on.

So, a good start is to decide on what type of card you want to sell, and then you can go through the right process of selling it.

2. Choose A Niche

The next step in how to sell cards on Etsy is to figure out a niche. Having a niche does not necessarily mean restricting yourself to making just one type of card. 

Having one can help you focus on making your cards for a specific market segment. You can choose a niche in something you like and in something you’re good at. 

Let’s say you are good at doodling. You can create and sell digital hand-drawn doodle cards and even offer customized ones from photos your customers send. 

Hey, I would buy a custom doodle card of my cat Sandy! That would be amazing.

If you need some help figuring out an Etsy niche , here are some steps you can follow:

1. List down your skills and interests.

2. Do research with a keyword research tool like Sale Samurai.

3. Look up the autocomplete on the Etsy search bar.

4. Conduct competitor analysis.

5. Examine the customer reviews of the top sellers on Etsy.

6. See what is trending.

3. Learn How To Make Your Card To Sell On Etsy

Once you have narrowed down your niche, the next step is to figure out how to make your cards. 

Depending on the type of cards you plan to sell, here are some ways to make your cards for your Etsy store. 

• Handcrafted Cards

Making handcrafted cards is like a passion project. You can do the entire process at home with the tools you already have. 

However, you must ensure that your cards are high quality and durable enough to be shipped out. 

When picking the right type of paper for your card, consider factors like texture, weight, and durability. 

If you are planning to draw or write on the card, check if the paper will bleed the ink. 

The rules for selling handmade cards are that you want your customers to receive quality greeting cards free of wonky blobs or smudges unless you purposely do them for your design.

Creating handcrafted cards is a work of art, and art requires patience. 

You can make your life easier by getting the right tools, such as high-quality scissors, scoring boards, and paper trimmers, for a cleaner end product.

• Digital Card or Printables

If you are wondering how to sell digital cards on Etsy, creating printables is relatively easier than making handmade cards. 

Design your card using design software, then offer it as an instant digital download on Etsy. You don’t even need expensive design software to do this. 

Plenty of top-selling Etsy sellers make their digital downloads using free or affordable software tools. 

Here are some tools you can use to make your printables.

• Canva 
• Gimp 
• Google Docs
• Inkscape
• PicMonkey 
• Procreate 

If you are totally new to this software, fret not- they come with guides and templates that are easy to understand and use.

• Print-On-Demand (POD) Cards

Print-on-demand cards are great because you don’t need to hold inventory. 

All you need to do is design the cards, and a POD supplier will fulfill all the orders and ship them directly to your customers.

The great thing about print-on-demand cards is that they are highly customizable. But do your due diligence and check the quality of your suppliers. 

You can order a pack of sample cards to make sure the cards you will be selling in your Etsy shop meet your quality expectations.

Here are some POD sellers that can manufacture cards:

1. Prodigi

2. Printify

3. Gelato

4. StationeryHQ

5. Merchize

6. Card Isle

4. Desingning Your Cards

Now comes the exciting part of designing your cards! Here is where you can let your creativity run free. Having a unique design is what will set you apart from other sellers.

Keep in mind your niche and the research that you have conducted; understand what your buyers will like.

Finding your signature design can take a lot of trial and error, so be open to experimenting with different techniques and visuals, such as digital watercolor, illustration, calligraphy, and doodles.

If you find it challenging to design your card, you can always outsource this. You can hire graphic designers on Fiverr to help you develop some designs for your cards.

5. Setting Up Your Etsy Shop

Now that you have your card design sorted, you are ready to set up shop. Opening an Etsy account is easy.

Just follow these steps, and you can start selling greeting cards on Etsy in no time.

1. Create an account on Etsy. On the upper right of your Etsy home page, click Sell on Etsy under your profile.

2. Fill out your shop preferences. Select your language, shop country, and shop currency for your Etsy store.

3. Give your Etsy shop a unique name under 20 characters.

4. Create your listing. This section requires you to fill in photos, listing details, pricing and inventory, product variation, and shipping information.

5. Set your payment. This is how you will get paid.

6. Enter a valid credit card for your Etsy fees.

7. Click “Open your shop.”

6. How To Price Your Cards

When pricing your cards, you have to ensure you cover your costs. These include the materials, your hourly labor, packaging, shipping, and any Etsy fees. 

Check out what your competitors are charging and try to achieve something within their range, too. 

Overpricing might deter sales if your store is new, and you won’t want to undercharge and end up at a loss. 

Typically, the profit margins for cards are between 10% and 30%; this heavily depends on factors like your operational cost, marketing cost, and the demand for your cards.

7. Listing Your Product

A crucial part of selling on Etsy is getting your listing right. Let’s say you are selling greeting cards on Etsy; there are thousands of other greeting cards.

So how do you make greeting cards to sell on Etsy from your store?

Your listing descriptions can help engage buyers and optimize your shop to be on top of Etsy search. Here are some tips for writing your listing descriptions:

• Concisely place important information on top.
• Learn how to use Search Engine Optimization strategies for your listing.
• Use bullet points to describe your listing.
• Write how you would sell your items in person so the descriptions would be more conversational.
• Don’t oversell your items – Honesty is crucial for the sustainability of your store in the long run.
• Avoid grammatical errors to reflect professionalism and gain credibility for your store.
• Include details in your shipping policy, like international shipping conditions, availability to track the shipping, and any additional fees.

8. Promoting Your Etsy Shop

Etsy is fantastic. Setting up an Etsy store is free and easy, and there are millions of users on the platform, so there is an excellent chance of selling your cards. 

Well, almost. Because of this, there is also a sea of sellers that will sell the same thing as you. So, how do you navigate this? The key is a good marketing strategy!

Here are some marketing tips and strategies you can adopt to boost your Etsy shop.

• Take Good Picture Of Your Product

Selling on Etsy is very much about attracting buyers with great pictures. A great product shot has crips images and is free of unnecessary clutter. 

Use the best photo as the first photo, as this is what buyers will see on Etsy search.

• Don’t Neglect SEO For Etsy

Etsy is a search engine-based platform, so get familiar with all the ranking factors that Etsy uses for its search. 

Etsy even has a handbook on all the strategies for optimizing your shop and listings.

• Keep Your Listing Relevant

Relevancy is one of the factors that Etsy uses in its search engine algorithm. New products are often pushed to the top. 

Take advantage of this by frequently re-posting your listings.

• Post Your Products On Social Media

Instagram and Pinterest are powerful tools to drive traffic to your Etsy Store. 

You can create a solid community with social media and get recurring sales from your existing customers.

• Etsy Ads

Etsy ads boost product visibility. You can allocate a daily budget on Etsy for this service. I recommend doing this if your store is new. 

Once you have generated sales, encourage your customers to leave reviews to boost your organic search results ranking.

Etsy’s Fees And Payment Options

Understanding Etsy’s fees should be an essential part of your pricing process. It is worth noting that all Etsy fees are deducted automatically from your payment account. 

So, overlooking the cost of the fees can eat up part of your profit margins. To help you with that, here is a breakdown of Etsy’s different types of Etsy Selling fees.

1. Listing Fee

There is a $0.20 flat rate for listing your product for sale, and the listing will stay active for four months or until the item is sold.

2. Auto-Renew Sold Fees

If you have set automatic renewals for a listing, Etsy will charge you $0.20 for each of these listings after the end of every four months. You can cancel this feature anytime.

3. Multi-quantity Listing Fees

This fee is for listings where you sell more than one item in an order. You will be charged $0.20 for the listing and $0.20 each for the extra items you sell.

4. Private Listing Fees

You can create a custom private listing for your buyer. Etsy will charge you $0.20 after the private listing is sold.

5. Transaction Fees

Each sale you make on Etsy will be charged a transaction fee of 6.5% of the total cost of the sale (price you display + shipping). 

This fee will be automatically deducted from your balance and is reflected in your payment account.

6. Payment Processing Fees

Transactions made through Etsy Payments will be charged a processing fee based on the location of your bank. 

It will be based on the total amount of the sale, which includes tax and shipping. 

Tips To Kick Start Your Etsy Shop

• Build a brand around your store: You want to create a concept or a feeling around your shop and products. 

It could be from anything like selling cards with crayon illustrations or punch line-themed cards, but the key is to be consistent.

Building a brand voice can give personality to your store so your customers can have a vision or idea of what to expect from your shop.

• Start email marketing early on. You can offer coupons to customers who sign up for your email list. 

An email list can help build a solid customer relationship, allowing recurring sales.

• Communicate with your customers: You can do this by warmly responding to your Etsy reviews. 

Good customer service can make you stand out from the other Etsy sellers and make customers favor you in the future.

• Learn from the best: It can be daunting to be a new seller on Etsy, but take a step back and see what the best-sellers are doing. 

You can get inspiration from their stores and study their strategies, but never outright copy their products.

• Master the art of writing great product descriptions – This is important to boost traffic to your store. 

A good product description uses SEO strategies to help your listing rank on Etsy search. 

Using convincing language is one way you can improve your sales conversion rate when selling cards on Etsy.

• Invest in packaging – Always put a personal touch on your packaging as this can win over your customers to purchase from you instead of from big retailers or another Etsy store. 

It does not necessarily need to be expensive; even a personalized note or patterned wrapping paper can get you good reviews.

FAQs On How To Sell Cards On Etsy

Why Should You Sell Cards On Etsy?

One of the main reasons why should you sell cards on Etsy is because you’re in full control of setting prices and designing your store’s appearance, with no rent or utilities to pay. 

So, there is no upfront cost to set up your online card shop on Etsy.

Can I Sell Handmade Cards On Etsy?

If you are asking, can I sell handmade cards on Etsy? Yes! You can sell your own crafted custom greeting cards on Etsy. 

This online marketplace was made for selling handmade, one-of-a-kind crafts.

You can design and fully control your online store, but note that Etsy charges a fee for each item you sell.

How To Sell Printable Cards On Etsy?

Looking for how to sell printable cards on Etsy? You can  start selling printables on Etsy with these steps:

1. Find your niche and target market.

2. Connect with a print-on-demand service.

3. Start designing your printables.

4. Open your Etsy Store.

5. Set your prices for your printables.

6. Market and promote your Etsy printable business.

Do Digital Greeting Cards Sell On Etsy?

If you are wondering, do digital greeting cards sell on Etsy? They do! and the profit opportunity of Etsy Digital Cards is real and can be high. 

This is because there is no upfront cost to sell on Etsy, and since it doesn’t involve any physical inventory, you can take home 90% of the sales revenue.

What Is Not Allowed To Sell On Etsy?

Before opening an Etsy store, you need to know what is not allowed to sell on Etsy. According to Etsy’s Prohibited Items Policy, you are not allowed to sell:

• Alcohol and drugs
• Human remains, live animals, and certain animal products
• Hazardous Materials and Weapons
• Hate items that demean people
• Illegal and highly regulated items
• Mature Content
• Violent item

If you have reached the end of the article, congratulations! Now that you know how to sell cards on Etsy taking action will be much more easier than just winging it. 

With the right process and strategies, you will be able to launch your Etsy store and make your first sale in no time. 

Etsy has great support for its sellers, so don’t be afraid to reach out if you encounter any issues.

For more resources on Etsy, check out the related post link below.

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