How to Set Up an Etsy Store for Digital Products
There is a lot of buzz about Etsy in the small business community. If you’re wondering how to set up an Etsy store for digital products or if you should even be on Etsy in the first place, keep reading!
How to Set Up an Etsy Store for Digital Products
To Etsy or not to Etsy? That’s the first question you’re probably still asking yourself so let’s get that outta the way right now.
Get the Digital Product Blueprint
Should you be on Etsy?
Heck, yah! Do it yesterday.
Ignore all of the wimpy whiners and naysayers complaining about Etsy fees, copycats and market saturation. I’m not even going to justify any of these ridiculous objections. These are just people looking for excuses to do nothing and who feel the world owes them something. Ignore them and get your Etsy store set up and start making money.
Yes, you could waste time going down the whole Etsy sucks rabbithole of despair or you could listen to those little ka-ching $$ sounds from your phone telling you that you just made an Etsy sale. I know which one I’d rather listen to. What about you?
Is selling on Etsy different for digital products vs physical ones?
Kinda, sorta but not really. The only difference is that you don’t have to worry about shipping, packaging and all that nonsense. In the Listing Details for each and every single product, you’ll be prompted to select Type. There are only 2 choices: Physical vs Digital.
Once you select digital, the rest of the listing input form will change to remove all shipping related prompts like weight, size, packaging, etc. You’ll be given prompts related to your digital product, instead!
Before You Hit Start
I know what you’re thinking…let me just click that “Open a Store” button on Etsy and start typing away. I mean, you could, but you’re not going to get very far if you don’t have all your information and images ready. So let’s get this thing done in one sitting by preparing first.
First things first
You need an Etsy account.
>> PRO TIP: Use a different email for purchasing vs selling
- Pick out a Shop Name – you only got 20 characters to work with so don’t be surprised if your first 10 choices are gone already! Make a list of 20-character store words you like.
- Have at least one listing (more is better) ready to go
- Create an Etsy banner – don’t worry about the sizing. Canva will do it for you, so hop on over there and select Etsy banner as the template size.
- Have a business bank account ready to go both for payments and for paying Etsy listing fees. You don’t need to worry about taking payments via Stripe or Paypal. Etsy will take care of all payments and then give you your share afterwards.
- Set up an EIN (Employer Identification Number) if you don’t want to share your SSN (Social Security Number) on Etsy.
- Have your Logo and Shop Description ready, as well as any policies you want to share with customers.
Second: Your digital products must be done and ready to go
Yep, that’s right. You can’t set up a shell Etsy Shop and then add products later. Etsy used to let you do that in 20 BC but today, you gotta have something ready to sell before you even get to finish the setup process. So if you don’t have that done yet, stop what you’re doing and go do make some products.
Third: Gather your Etsy listing materials ahead of time
Here’s what you’re going to need to do next:
- Have your digital download ready to go – it must be under 20 MB
- Have your sales images ready to go – they should have a 5:4 ratio. I suggest a 3000 pixel width x 2400 pixel height
- Have your product name and description ready so you can copy + paste – take a peek at your competitors to see what the standard is for the amount and type of information to give. Don’t copy + paste, just look for research + inspiration
- Know what you’re going to charge for your product – again, look at what the market will bear, not how much you personally feel it’s worth. Just because it took you 30 hours to create it, doesn’t mean you should multiply your hourly rate by $30. Just don’t do it.
Finally: Go list it!
Etsy is always changing things around on their site but when you visit etsy.com, scroll to the bottom and select Sell On Etsy. Then click the big button on the top right that says Open Your Etsy Shop and voila – you’re ready to go!
