How to Sell Stickers on Etsy: 7 Effective Steps to Kickstart!

Stickers – a small item but holds a powerful potential. They are a highly profitable niche on Etsy for any enthusiast seller to earn more money. So how to sell stickers on Etsy? No worries; you can learn everything with this guide.

This article gives you the most detailed guidance from the beginning until your Etsy shop is fully established. Every step will be accompanied by the most effective strategies to save your time and effort. Let’s turn your love for stickers into a lucrative passive income on Etsy.

How profitable is selling stickers on Etsy: Is it worth it?

Selling stickers on Etsy is one of the most profitable creative side hustles. Let us prove it to you:

✍️ Low startup cost: 

• • Accessible design tools:

The design tools are accessible, you can use Canva or Figma for free with many advanced features. Procreate is another very useful application on iPad that allows you to draw digitally at $12.99, a one-time payment only.

• • Affordable platform fee:

Etsy is considered one of the platforms that provide quite budget-friendly pricing in comparison with several other art-selling marketplaces. You just need to pay $0.20 per listing item and a 6.5% transaction fee on the sale price. This is much cheaper than Amazon ($1 per listing item, 15% referral fee on the sale price) or ArtFinder (35-42% on every product sold).

✍️ High demand:

According to Wifitalents, it is forecasted that the sticker market size is expected to reach approximately $13.4 billion by 2027. And the forecasted revenue will be about $53,822 million by 2025. This proves that the demand for personalized, unique stickers keeps growing and opening a clear opportunity for future sticker sellers.

Top seller revenue: The image below is from Alura – a useful tool for Etsy sellers, showing the revenues of the top 10 best-selling Etsy stores for stickers. It is undeniable that the revenue is huge for a side hustle business.

 

What are the best-selling stickers on Etsy?

From motivational quotes to minimalistic designs, the best-selling stickers on Etsy often cater to a specific niche. Among them, the most popular types of stickers on Etsy are:

• • Aesthetic stickers: Simple, visually pleasing designs.
  • Meme stickers: Cut out from the viral meme on the internet.
  • Custom name stickers: Useful to label items.
  • Planner stickers: Used for organizing planners and journals.
  • Pop culture-themed stickers: Fan-favorite designs inspired by TV shows, movies, etc.
  • Seasonal stickers: Stickers with the theme of the upcoming seasonal events: Halloween, Christmas, etc.
  • Water bottle stickers: Stickers that are made for water bottles, tumblers, etc, must be waterproof.

Whatever type of sticker you choose to start your Etsy stickers shop, you must understand that the secret lies in identifying a niche that both fits your interests and aligns with market demand.

How to sell stickers on Etsy: Get it done in 7 steps

You’ve collected all the basic information needed, now is the time to enjoy the main dish: Learning step-by-step how to sell stickers on Etsy. Let’s jump right in:

1. Understand the sticker market on Etsy

Starting a business without any knowledge of the platform’s rules or current trends is like a shot in the dark – you’re just hoping to hit the mark without knowing where you’re aiming. Therefore, make sure to spend time researching what’s hot and what’s not in the stickers market right now. Here are a few time-saving strategies:

✍️ Explore top sellers: 

Visit the Best-selling Etsy decals & Skin shops from Alura frequently to get real-time updates on the most successful sticker shops on this platform, or the shops that are on the rise. They all might be your future competitors. Analyze these aspects of those sticker shops.

• • Product range: Main types of stickers they sell (identify the most popular one)
  • Pricing: How they price their products.
  • Shop branding: The overall look of their shop includes visuals, font use, and messages.
  • Customer reviews: See the good and bad opinions from their customers.
  • Product photography: Quality and design of their listing photos.

✍️ Research the market: 

Use several tools such as the Etsy search bar with the filter function, Google Trends, or Pinterest trends to find out what kind of stickers are in demand. From here, identify their patterns in styles, materials, and themes.

✍️ Understand your audience: 

See who is likely to buy your products on Etsy by finding their age, gender, occupation, and interest.

✍️ Identify gaps: 

Are there any niches that are undeserved on Etsy? It is the perfect land for you to work on it. For example, is there a growing interest in eco-friendly stickers, but few shops offering them?

2. Select a niche & start creating sticker designs

At this step, you have all the information needed in hand to stand out from the competition. Now it is the time to pick the niche and learn how to make stickers to sell on Etsy.

✍️ Pick a sticker niche to sell on Etsy: 

You already know the gaps in the market, it’s time to decide on yours. To effectively choose a niche that you can be consistent with, think about your interests. Do you love motivational quotes or kawaii designs? Finding a suitable niche will help you target the right audience and stand out. You can always expand your product lines in the long run.

✍️ Create the sticker designs: 

Don’t worry if you’re not a pro at design. Follow these steps to make the design game easier:

• • Find inspiration:

Browsing social media, or some design-focused platforms such as Pinterest, Behance, or Dribbble to see good examples of sticker design. Learn from them (but do not copy – you must follow the Etsy intellectual property infringement.)

• • Choose a tool:

A large number of Etsy sellers start their shop with Canva due to the ease of use with vast amounts of premade templates, which make it easy for everyone, even the person with no design skills. This tool might require up to $120 per year for pro features. If you are more familiar with design tools and need a slightly more advanced tool, choose Figma. Otherwise, using Procreate on an iPad can be another good option. You will have all the power to draw your stickers digitally and sell them.

Here’s a tip: Using AI-driven platforms can help you create stunning designs quickly. Etsy does not limit the power of AI creation, as long as the prompt is made by yourself. Several famous AI tools are DallE, Midjourney, and Jasper.ai.

 

3. Decide the method to produce stickers

You have the plan, now how will you bring your designs to life? There are two common methods:

✍️ DIY production: 

If you choose to do it yourself, the way is to purchase a vinyl cutter, and printable sticker paper, and get to work at home. This gives you more control but at the same time, takes your time as you will have to manually produce every product to sell. Thus, you need to be ready to tackle some possible problems such as machine error, bad quality, or lack of materials.

✍️ Print-on-demand: 

Want to save time and effort? Outsource your sticker printing to a print-on-demand service. While this method gives you less control over the production process and might require you to produce a lot at once, this is more convenient and reduces your workload. These service providers are experienced with the tools and materials so can ensure the time and quality of the result. All you need to do is upload your design and wait!

4. Set up your Etsy sticker store

The next step in the journey of learning how to sell stickers on Etsy is to set up the Etsy shop. Here’s a streamlined process to open an Etsy stickers store:

✍️ Create an Etsy account: 

Build an account on Etsy first if you haven’t had one before. You can also log in to Etsy with your existing Google, Facebook, or Apple account.

 

✍️ Click “Sell on Etsy”: 

Locate the small avatar icon on the top right bar and click on it. You will see a drop-down menu. Find the line that says “Sell on Etsy” to select. This allows you to start your Etsy stickers shop.

Congratulations! You have just gone through the basic steps. From here, Etsy will guide you step-by-step to make this process even easier:

✍️ Decide your shop preference:  

Set a preferred language, country, and currency for your shop. Keep in mind that setting the language is permanent, so choose carefully!

✍️ Give your sticker shop a name: 

Remember, the shop name is meant to be catchy and memorable, reflecting your brand and what you sell. It therefore needs to give customers an idea of what to expect. Need inspiration? See our list of 200+ Etsy shop name ideas!

✍️ Add your first listing: 

Add at least one listing to officially make your Etsy shop go live. For now, you may fill in the basic details since useful listing tips and tricks will be covered in the next step.

✍️ Decide how you’ll get paid: 

To wisely set the payment method, make sure that you have caught up with the Etsy Payments requirements. You’ll also want to set up your payment account, declare what kind of seller you are, and add bank account info. Setting up an account may be slightly different based on one’s location.

✍️ Provide billing information: 

Prepare your card at hand to add it to the Etsy account. In fact, you will be asked for a credit card to pay for the fee on Etsy, too.

If you are still confused with the steps to open an Etsy sticker store, take a look at this blog on How to sell on Etsy for beginners: 12 easy steps to be guided in more detail.

5. Add more sticker listings & price your stickers

In your Etsy account, open the drop-down menu and select “Shop Manager”, find the “Listings” section, and click the “+ Create” button to start adding more product listings for your sticker shop.

 

Follow these tips for effective product listings:

✍️ Upload consistently: 

Adding new products over time can keep your shop fresh and signal activity to Etsy’s algorithm. Plus,

✍️ Write a good title and description: 

Create an alluring product title and description, highlighting what sets your shirt apart. You will want to include keywords in the title and description so your item will show up better. You can use free tools like Google Adwords,  Keywordtool.io, Alura Keyword Finder, or even Etsy’s suggestions that pop up when you type a word into the search bar to see keyword options for your title and description.

 

 

✍️ Price your stickers strategically: 

Start by researching your competition. Are they charging $2 or $5 for similar stickers? Make sure your pricing reflects your costs but remains competitive. Consider maintaining your profit margin to be at least 40-50% for each product to cover both costs and Etsy fees.

✍️ Tagging smartly: 

Make full use of the 13 tags to increase the chances of your customers finding you on the site. Tags applied should be relevant to the product being put up.

✍️ Showcase your sticker sets:

Stickers are always sold in a set, so make sure most of the stickers within a bundle are shown on the cover image to impress the customers.

The more listings you have, the more chances people will find your shop. But don’t just dump all your stickers at once. Make the smart move by taking the tips above.

 

6. Promote your Etsy sticker store

The work doesn’t end once you list your stickers. Earning more customers is always a long and not-so-easy process. However, it is very important to let many people know about your store. Promoting it with:

✍️ Social media: 

• • Pick focused platforms:

Consider your target audience and choose the most suitable platform from Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or TikTok.

• • Prepare the content:

No matter which platform you go to, it is important to create engaging content to attract and keep customers. For example, your store provides aesthetic packaging for your stickers, so you record the packing process and upload it. This can be an interesting topic to start.

• • Utilize hashtags:

On platforms like Instagram or Pinterest, hashtags can be extra useful. Add some hashtags like #stickerlover or #Etsyfinds can help you reach your target audience.

✍️ Etsy ads: 

This method requires some initial investment but in return, it is one of the fastest methods to promote your Etsy sticker store. Consider investing a small budget in Etsy ads. These boost your products’ visibility in search results, giving your store an early sales push.

✍️ Marketing campaign:

Apply diverse discount methods to boost conversion.

7. Manage and scale up your Etsy sticker store

Once your shop is up and running, it’s all about maintaining and scaling.

✍️ Stock management: 

Keep an eye on what’s selling fast and ensure you never run out of popular stickers.

✍️ Scale your designs/ product line: 

As you build a customer base, expand your sticker offerings. Additionally, besides stickers, sell your design as printables on Etsy. Read this article to learn how to sell printables on Etsy.

Tips to build a successful Etsy sticker store

Following the straightforward steps above gives you a complete Etsy store. However, it is always better to know more and take your sticker shop from good to great with these tips:

✍️ Remember the Etsy fee: 

Don’t forget to add the fee to your product pricing and sell your stickers without getting any profit. It includes a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee,  3% + $0.25 per transaction payment processing fees, 2.5% conversion fee (in case your shop currency is different from your payment account).

✍️ Focus on quality: 

In this competitive market, quality is key. Don’t be stingy with materials. Always give a customer something that’s waterproof, long-lasting, and won’t fade easily.

✍️ Keep on trend: 

Sticker trends move quickly, so always make sure to refresh your designs to stay with the current trend.

✍️ Engage your customers: 

Produce your product with personal touches, like thank-you notes or customized packaging. This can encourage buyers to come back for more. On the other hand, give them sticker packs in bundles that will eventually drive them to make more purchases in one go.

 

How to sell stickers on Etsy: The final words

This article contains everything one would want to launch and grow a sticker shop. Now you know how to sell stickers on Etsy. Remember, nobody ever got it right on the first day. Keep designing, keep learning, but above all, keep having fun! A successful business does not need much investment; it requires proper strategy.

Open up your Etsy shop today! Stop waiting to make a profit from your passion. Take the knowledge you learned from this guide and well on your way to building a successful sticker business.

Follow Masstic for more Etsy tips and tricks! We love helping creative entrepreneurs like yourself succeed. Very often, we share valuable product photography insights, marketing strategies, and how to stay ahead of Etsy’s curve.

FAQ on How to sell stickers on Etsy