13 Best Things To Sell On Etsy To Make Money In 2023

It’s long gone the day when you need a huge investment to open your proper store. Today it has never been easier, all you need is a computer, internet access, and the will to make money. And there’s no better place to open your online store than Etsy.com, a worldwide platform to sell and buy artisan-made goods, with over 80 million buyers and 10.28 billion dollars in gross sales.

The best thing about Etsy is it’s still growing, opening a room for new artists, sellers, or even side hustlers like yourself to make extra money or a living from Etsy. If you are interested in knowing the best things to sell on Etsy to make money, then enjoy reading your full guide about 13 of the best things to sell on Etsy to make money in 2023.

Before diving into the bulk of this article, we want to fully prepare you to sell products on Etsy by answering the most related question about the best-selling items on Etsy, Here is all the answers you need:

What is Etsy?

The internet phonebook has a slot for Etsy describing itself as an online marketplace focusing on small businesses, and unique and hand-crafted items. Basically, Etsy connects buyers with sellers on an online platform that facilitates their interoperations. Etsy has been around since 2005 and has a great reputation and trust among both buyers and sellers, who admire Etsy’s effort and million-dollar spending on advertising their products so they could focus only on creating.

How to sign up? And how to sell items on Etsy?

It’s as easy as drinking water to set up your store on the Etsy platform. You need a few minutes, an internet connection, and voila you are ready to sell on Etsy.

You can sign up to Etsy as a new user with your email, google account, Facebook, or Apple account. You’ll need to fill up personal information before starting selling on Etsy, such as; name, age, shop preferences ranging from currency preference to language, shop name, shop stocks, payment method, and shop security.

Important things for you to consider when setting up your Etsy store:

Make sure to pick a cool name for your store and a name you like. The Etsy policy allows you to only change your store name once. You may not find the name you want available, so be open to trying different names.
Make sure you have products to list between opening an account on Etsy; the more items you have on your store, and the faster you list them, the more likely to succeed on Etsy and to make regular sales.
Make sure to add different photos for the product, from different angles. Show you how good your items are to the client.
It’s preferable to also include videos of your products, giving potential buyers a clear view of your products.

Once you finish setting up your account and store on Etsy, answering all the required questions, and listing your products, you are now eligible to start making sales with your new Etsy store.

How much money can you earn selling products with Etsy? Is selling on Etsy worth it?

The short answer is it depends. A lot of variables play a role in the amount of sales and money you make with your Etsy store including, time, effort, quality of the listed products, the diversity of the stock, and marketing. But to have a general idea, Jami King in her first year selling at Etsy made $53,000, 70% of which is pure profit. Jenny Waldrop made $4000 in one month, and Shay made $30k in her first year on Etsy.

No shop is the same as the other, but with determination, hard work, and adaptability, you can outsell these people and make a lot of money. Besides that, we have prepared you with a list of the best-selling items on Etsy.

How much does it cost to sell products with Etsy?

While signing up for Etsy is completely free, there’s a fee for listing items on your store and transactions. And they are the following:

$0.20 to list each item in your store, the listing lasts 4 months, after that, you’ll have to relist for another $0.20. You find deals and coupons for listing 40 items for free online, but we have the best one yet here.
A transaction fee of 5%
You can also promote your product with Etsy for 12% to 15% of the product price after it’s been sold.

Other costs are the tax and shipping fees, which vary from one country to another.

What can be sold on Etsy?

Etsy is not the place if you want to sell anything, it specializes in handmade and vintage products or craft supplies. And have a list of prohibited items to list, mainly: Pornography, drug paraphernalia, dangerous items and weapons, violent, illegal, or hate items and spell casting and reiki. If you listed any related products to these, your product will be removed. Therefore read the following line to find out the best-selling items on Etsy, and the best digital things to sell on Etsy.

How to be successful with Etsy?

Everything you didn’t plan, is condemned to failure and Etsy is no exception. Therefore it’s crucial to fully prepare and plan to sell products that are both in demand and profitable, optimizing your store SEO, and promoting it to make sure your Etsy shop will see nothing but success. You can also find digital things to sell on Etsy as they see great popularity at the moment.

Another overlooked factor of success is client service. You need to communicate politely and friendly with buyers, providing all the information they require. This will ensure you get excellent reviews and therefore improve your reputation which leads to more sales.

How to find best-selling products for Etsy?

To find best-selling products on Etsy, you can either google it or use eRank, one of the best product insight providers for Etsy. eRank comes in two main packages: a free one, and a premium version for a monthly subscription of $5.99.

The main use for eRank is to create titles that generate clicks for your product in accordance with the most searched words on Etsy. Also, you see your store metrics with eRank and Etsy’s most-sold products and other cool data. This would help boost your sales.

Other similar apps and websites are Handmade Hunt and Etsy Hunt. These tools help you track your competitors and determine the most competitive and suitable pricing for your products.

Now, here are the 13 best things to sell on Etsy to make money in 2023

Best things to sell on Etsy

There’s no single answer for the best thing to sell on Etsy to make money, or to the most popular items on Etsy, it all depends. But we made you a list to choose from and here it is:

Jewelry, the best of the best business ideas

The synonym of Etsy is basically jewelry, and it’s by far the most sold product on Etsy with the majority of the top 100 stores being jewelry stores. Custom and handmade jewelry is in high demand, for people wanting them for themselves to look unique and for gifts.

Jewelry is a broad niche, it includes hundreds of different types, styles, and materials. But we went the extra mile and got you the most popular types of jewelry that sell on Etsy:

Beaded Jewelry
Engraved jewelry
Stamped jewelry
Gemstone Jewelry
Laser cut jewelry
Polymer clay earrings
Wooden jewelry
Macrame earrings
Beaded Covid-19 mask chains

Overall, the most popular Etsy items are the ones related to uniqueness, people crave something that no one else has. And that’s a reason to invest in engravers, laser cutters, or hand stampers to make your products totally unique.

Jewelry supplies

One of the easiest, most profitable, and most popular products to sell on Etsy, jewelry supplies are the king on Etsy for mainly two reasons. People buy jewelry supplies to make their own jewelry to give to family members and friends. Ans people buy jewelry suppliers to make saleable unique jewelry.

It might not be your first choice when opening your store on Etsy but it’s in high demand and you should consider selling jewelry supplies falling into the following list:

Beads
Chains
Charms
Gems
Dried flowers and plants
Clasps
Tools
Glues
Resins
Pendants
Organizers

Stickers, one of the easy things to sell on Etsy

A good product to start selling on Etsy and one of the best-selling crafts, since these days it’s super easy to print awesome stickers at home for a small investment at a sticker printer. The super low shipping cost for shipping a sticker pack, and sometimes the nonexisting cost, encourage the seller to provide free shipping which buyers love and look for.

It’s always a good idea to consider current events when designing your stickers, holidays, season, and popular events among others are good themes to attract potential customers.

Party decorations

Not only weddings, birthday parties, bachelor parties, or even some weird ones like divorce parties, all need decoration, and that might be your hidden job to reach good sale numbers on Etsy.

You can create and list on your Etsy store cake toppers, banners, place cards, centerpieces, party invites that can be customized by the client, confetti, party bags and so much more.

Digital downloads and printable products

A competitive niche, but if you can break into it, you can make money on Etsy by tons with little to no overhead cost. The digital downloads and printable products niche need no shipping, it’s all done online, even if you live somewhere where your sales are low. You still can make decent profits with the absence of shipping costs. If you find digital things to sell on Etsy, you’ll get rich.

Printable products include planners, timetables, to-do lists, checklists, digital art, and calendars. While digital downloads can be anything digital-related. These were the best digital products to sell on Etsy.

Homemade self-care and beauty products

Like Tylor from the movie Fight Club, selling homemade, organic, natural, or vegan products can make you a fortune on Etsy. You don’t need to have experience or high-tech equipment, these tutorials are enough to teach you how to create beautiful products. And here’s a list of the most popular self-care products on Etsy:

Homemade soaps
Bath bombs
Bath salts
Lotions
Moisturizers
Lip balms
Hair masks
Face masks
Exfoliating creams
Massage oils and lotions

These products can take any scents you want or desire by the client, like coffee, lavender, rose water, orange, herbs, and spices, it’s all yours.

Pet supplies

The emotional bond between people and pets makes it a good niche to make money selling on Etsy. Basically, people try to make their pets happy, and you deliver that happiness in the form of personalized pet supplies, the industry itself worth 100 billion dollars.

But no worries there’s always room for your store in it, since the industry is still growing, you only need to sell one of the next popular pet products:

Leashes and leads
Collars
Toys
Chews
Snacks
Soft toys
Beds
Scratching posts
Name tags
Cleaning supplies
Pet clothes and outfits
Pet accessories

When selling supplies, always consider Christmas and holidays, people include their pets in the purchase of gifts and outfits for these events, and you shall use that to make money.

Vintage items

History has a price, and it’s high on Etsy. Anything that’s 20 years old or older is considered a vintage product. These products take the form of clothes, jewelry, furniture, records, decorations, accessories, or posters and signs. Most buyers choose vintage products from the ’80s, ’70s, and ’60s but anything that was produced before the 2000s has value in that niche.

If you can find cheap vintage items, and restore them to their initial form, you can sell them on Etsy for a pretty good price.

Children and baby items

Safety must be your first concern when choosing to sell children and baby items on your Etsy store. You can’t sell toys or products that include small parts, they can be chewed or choke babies and toddlers. Also listing products that are easily cleaned is a plus, and here are examples of the most popular products for children:

Wooden toys
Teethers
Gender reveals accessories and ideas
Baby announcement printables and digital products
Rattles
Puzzles
Keepsake boxes
Headbands
Busy boards
Knitted kids’ clothing
Pacifiers

Other than that, always take the chance to put customization service to your clients to add uniqueness to their kid’s toys and items.

Fabric and sewing supplies

Well, similar to jewelry supplies, people surf Etsy to find good deals for supplies that would make them clothes. Fabric and sewing supplies are on the top of the best-selling products list on Etsy, soft toys, and soft furnishings too. Also Here’s a list of the most popular sewing supplies:

Fabrics
Buttons
Zippers
Embroidery
Lace
Thread
Needles
Wool

The golden rule is to list rare and hard sewing supplies to find, people usually don’t hunt for generic items and you could look for these items in your thrift stores, charity stores, or yard sales and list them for double the price.

Personalized gifts

These days, everything can be personalized, including mugs, jewelry, cutting boards, ornaments, socks, key chains, stickers, clothing, towels, pillows, phone cases, laptop bags, notebooks, and stationery. If you consider niching in personalization, then maybe you should consider getting a Cricut machine.

A Cricut machine can cut and grave detailed designs on a broad product like mugs, or materials including leather, fabrics, vinyl, balsa wood, and paper. You can create your own designs or find pre-existing ones online, and use Cricut design space software to engrave them on your product of choice.

If you are a beginner it’s advisable to take a look at this page for inspiration and to start with vinyl as it’s a fairly easy material for a beginner.

Fashion accessories

If you work as a Taylor, or have a gift for creating beautiful accessories then you should consider listing your creations on Etsy. People are always looking for handmade unique fashion accessories, some you can try are Handbags, Purses, Scarves, Headbands, Gloves, Belts, Shrugs, Hats, and Sunglasses.

If you have the talent and the mastery to produce fine accessories then go for this niche, if not pick one of the other ideas that are most related to you.

Zero waste products

Whether you are a millennial or a climate activist, or just a normal person who cares about the environment, 100% environment-friendly products are super popular on Etsy these days.

Zero waste products are produced responsibly, reusing and recovering all materials to ensure nothing goes to waste in the process of production. Also using minimal energy and water to create them. These products are made of materials such as bamboo and are all cruelty-free which makes them popular among vegans too. Some examples of the most popular zero-waste products on Etsy are:

Soaps
Deodorants
Shampoos
Conditioners
Toothbrushes
Hairbrushes
Combs
Notebooks
Toothpaste

This growing niche is ideal for the environmentally conscientious seller. If that’s you, then be sure to check out this store. You might find some inspiration.

Final thoughts, best things to sell on Etsy to make money in 2023.

Etsy provides both stability and security for creative people, and it’s a platform to make money selling your handmade goodies. But, if you are not that creative, you can always break into the market selling supplies or drop shipping art from your artist friend for a profit. By now, you have learned about the best things to sell on Etsy to make money in 2023.

The golden rule for Etsy is to focus on top-selling items and scale them up to make easy money. So, what’s your ideal Etsy store?