How I Earned $6,161 in 4 Months With a New Etsy Printables Shop

Are you interested in earning semi-passive income by selling printables on Etsy? Wondering if a new Etsy printables shop can still make money today?

Selling digital products is an excellent way to generate online income without managing inventory, shipping, or returns. With the right approach, you can design products once and sell them repeatedly—in many cases earning revenue around the clock.

Below is an interview with Cody, an experienced Etsy seller who turned printables into a profitable business. He previously appeared on Making Sense of Cents and recently launched a brand-new Etsy printables shop to prove it’s still possible to grow sales now.

In just four months, his new shop reached $1,000 in monthly revenue and totaled $6,161 by the end of that period. His results show that starting a successful Etsy printables shop remains achievable with the right strategy.

In this interview, Cody explains:

• The strategy he used to grow a new Etsy shop from zero to $2,500 per week
• The most profitable printable categories
• The realistic time investment required to succeed
• A step-by-step process for creating and listing printables
• How beginners with no technical skills can still make money
• Common mistakes new sellers make and how to avoid them

If you’ve been thinking about launching an Etsy shop but don’t know where to start, Cody’s insights are practical and actionable.

He also recommends a free training called “Earn Money Selling Printables,” which covers printable ideas, how to begin on Etsy, and tactics for making sales. There’s also a free ebook listing best-selling product ideas by month.

How I Made $6,161 in Just Four Months With a New Etsy Printables Shop

This interview is aimed at anyone who wants to start a printables business on Etsy today.

1. Background: How did you get started selling on Etsy?

I began selling printables on Etsy in 2018 after trying numerous side hustles like freelance writing, gig work, and website projects. Most side hustles are active—you only earn while you work. Printables changed that for me. I could create a digital product, list it, and buyers could purchase it at any time, generating income without ongoing manual effort.

I remember waking up to Etsy notifications while at the gym or on the road. That motivated me to focus on passive income and transition away from active gigs. A few months after opening my shop, I made over $718 in a single week during a Valentine’s Day surge—mostly from Valentine-related printables I had listed earlier. That week reshaped how I viewed time and money.

2. The new shop experiment: ideas, time commitment, and plans

After launching my first shop in 2018, someone claimed those results couldn’t be repeated today. That motivated me to start another shop in mid-August 2024 and aim for $1,000/month as fast as possible.

My approach was to build base templates and, using keyword research, create many niche-specific variations of each template. For example, a single “thank you” template could become teacher thank you cards, coach thank you cards, or grandfather thank you cards. This template method speeds up production—each new product (design, listing images, description, tags) can be created in 15–20 minutes.

During the initial challenge, I worked about 5–10 hours per week; now I maintain the shop with a couple of hours weekly. Since the shop performs well and needs little maintenance, I plan to keep adding products and expanding the offering.

3. Earnings from the new shop

My target was to reach $1,000/month in revenue; I achieved that in 116 days. Shortly after, sales accelerated and I earned over $2,500 in a single week about 4.5 months after launching. From mid-August through December 31st, the shop earned $6,161 total.

4. Expenses for a printables shop

Because printables are digital, ongoing costs are low. I pay about $22/month for tools (Canva Pro and a keyword research tool like eRank). Listing a product costs $0.20, Etsy takes 6.5% of each sale, and editable-item sales that use Corjl add roughly $0.50 per sale. I occasionally run ads for seasonal items.

Typical profit margins for digital products often exceed 80%, which is far higher than print-on-demand or physical goods sold on Etsy.

5. What is a printable and why do customers buy them?

A printable is a digital file customers buy to print or use digitally. Examples include cards, gift tags, invitations, planners, wall art, calendars, spreadsheets, social media templates, and games. People purchase printables for convenience: paying a small fee for a ready-made design is far easier than designing one themselves—similar to how people choose restaurants for convenience even though they can cook at home.

6. Why sell on Etsy rather than a personal website?

Etsy is the best marketplace for new printable sellers. You don’t need an email list, large social following, or website to reach buyers. With strong keyword research and SEO, Etsy can deliver traffic to your listings. The platform has millions of buyers and invests heavily in advertising to attract more customers. While Etsy’s fee (6.5%) is often criticized, that cost funds exposure and buyer acquisition, making it a reasonable trade-off for many sellers.

7. Profitability and income potential

Printables on Etsy are highly profitable—many sellers report 80%+ profit margins. The main investment is time: learning design basics, keyword research, and marketing. Once a shop has solid, well-optimized products, those listings can generate revenue for months or years. Earnings vary widely: some sellers make hundreds per month, others replace full-time income, and a few students have earned six figures by scaling their shops.

8. Is a printables shop passive income?

Selling printables is largely passive—about 95% passive in my view. Etsy automatically delivers digital files, so you don’t manually fulfill orders. The active portion mainly involves customer support, which can be handled quickly using saved responses. Once you reach a comfortable revenue level you can coast, but to grow income you’ll need to keep adding products. With the template method, each new product can take roughly 15–20 minutes to create, and I aim to add around 10 products per week when growing aggressively.

9. Best-selling printables and profitable niches

The most profitable printables are highly specific, niche-focused products that have good search volume but low competition—what I call “unicorns.” Generic products face heavy competition. Niching down (for example, a “school bus driver thank you card” instead of a generic “thank you card”) helps you stand out and match buyer intent more precisely. One of my best examples was a printable for a “Medical School Graduation Party,” which performs better than a general graduation product.

10. Can a complete beginner make printables?

Yes. You don’t need to be a top-tier graphic designer to succeed. Keyword research is more important than advanced design skills. Many students with no design background have made sales within days of opening a shop. While some niches like wedding stationery and wall art require stronger design, most printable categories only need to look “good enough.”

11. How to get views and traffic—competition level

Keyword research is the key. Focus on niche-specific products with solid search volume and low competition. Generic items face heavy competition; well-researched specific products face less. As you add more listings, your shop’s views and sales typically grow. External traffic sources like Pinterest can help but are optional for beginners.

12. Step-by-step process for selling printables

Here’s a concise workflow you can follow:

1. Brainstorm a long list of printable ideas using Etsy, Google, Pinterest, or AI tools.
2. Use a keyword research tool (e.g., eRank or Everbee) to find ideas with good search volume and low competition.
3. Design the best products using a tool like Canva and create reusable templates.
4. List the designs on Etsy with optimized images, titles, tags, and descriptions.
5. Repeat and scale—each iteration gets faster as you build a library of templates and listings.

I used this method to list over 350 digital products in just over four months by relying on templates and efficient listing practices.

13. Printable templates for students and their value

In the E-Printables Course, students receive 15+ Canva templates and additional monthly templates through the VIP membership. These ready-made designs help students get products listed quickly without starting from scratch. Templates are useful because one design can be adapted into many niche variations, speeding up momentum and increasing the chance of early sales. For the new shop experiment I did not use course templates—I built everything from scratch to demonstrate that anyone can replicate this process without a template library.

14. About the course: what it covers and how it helps

The E-Printables Course covers the entire process: idea generation, design, listing, shop setup, SEO and keyword research, creating editable items, customer service, seasonal strategies, and legal considerations. It’s self-paced with step-by-step tutorials and SEO strategies I use personally. Students who follow the lessons can have a functioning Etsy shop and multiple listings by course completion.

The course also offers a VIP membership with advanced lessons, a private support group, additional monthly templates, exclusive content, challenges, and shop audits. The course is designed to help both beginners launch shops and existing sellers scale their businesses.

Are you thinking about selling printables on Etsy? What kinds of printables would you create?

Recommended reading:

• Gold City Ventures Review: E-Printables Course Review
• How I Make $400,000 Per Year Selling Educational Printables
• How I Make $7,500 Monthly Selling Print-On-Demand Gifts
• 16 Best Things To Sell On Etsy To Make Money
• How To Sell On Etsy Successfully: A Beginner’s Guide
• 10 Types of Printables To Sell on Etsy To Make Money
• How To Start a Print On Demand Side Hustle With $0