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Selling art prints on Etsy is an extremely popular side hustle for many artists. However, the online market space is incredibly competitive and oversaturated. And without a proper approach, you might fail to make a decent profit worth your time and talent on this platform.
To help you figure out the fastest and most efficient way to succeed on Etsy, here’s a complete guide on how to sell art prints on Etsy.
Two types of art prints to sell on Etsy
There are two options to monetize your artwork on Etsy:
- Physical art prints: Use your own artwork to print on physical products from T-shirts, posters, and signs to more complex items like shoes, bags, hats, etc.
- Digital art prints: Create your digital artwork and sell these materials as digital files. Customers might be interested to buy your artwork to use on their own designs or print and use your art to decorate their spaces.
Which options should you choose?
- If you prefer a less time-consuming and more convenient type of side hustle, choose digital art prints. With this option, you can cross out all the processes regarding the making and shipping of products. Everything is processed virtually and passively without your involvement (once your products are out in the market).
- If you want to make the most money out of your art prints, choose physical art prints. With physical products, you can charge higher prices and earn better profits. But what comes along with it is more commitment and effort.
Depending on your priority and expectation, you can select the more suitable approach. Deciding what types of art prints you want to sell is the first step in your journey into Etsy art print business.
We have another article on how to sell printables on Etsy. But for this article, we will focus on how to sell physical art prints on Etsy.
How to sell art prints on Etsy
Physical products come with a lot of peaks. Yet, it should also be more complicated.
Of course, you can choose to either sell your original, handmade art like a painting, or drawing. But this option is not really sustainable for a marketplace like Etsy as it takes a lot of time to create and is hard to scale.
Here is what most artists opt for – selling art print products. With this option, you can use turn your original art into physical products. It could be posters, canvas, cards, signs, or wood prints, anything that is printed with your art.
Currently, there are various options that help artists to make physical products and sell them. Let’s go through each of these options and understand the pros and cons of each option before deciding which one is the most suitable for you.
Bulk printing – Most risky
Ordering bulk printing from a printer is a traditional way to make sell prints for sales. What you need to do is to find a local printer who have the machines and resource to print your art into products at a very good price.
But the catch is that most of these local printers require a certain minimum order quantity. It means that you have to pay upfront for all the products, which is considered very risky for new sellers.
To make this one work, you must be able to gauge the demand for your products. Even if you are very confident in the potential of your products, leave room for possible mistakes. Don’t make a large order on the first go, especially if you are new to running an Etsy business.
One common newbie mistake is not checking the product quality of the printing partner. After the quality check, you must get a sample before bulk printing to assure that the finished products are printed properly without any mistakes.
Make your own art prints – Most cost-effective
Rather than sourcing other printing companies, many artists choose to make art prints on their own, which is considered the most cost-effective option. Yet, it would require you to put upfront a considerable investment into printing equipment like printers, papers, inks, etc.
With this option, artists can save up a lot in the long run. However, for starters, it is still somehow risky as you won’t know whether you are able to make enough profit to cover up for the initial investment.
If you want to secure the less risky option for your art print business, don’t lose hope just yet. There’s still one last hope for a highly sustainable and low-entry method to start selling your art – Print on demand!
Sell art prints via print on demand – The safest option
Print on demand has become increasingly popular among artists and designers as a low-maintenance side hustle.
When selling print-on-demand art print, you won’t have to worry about the making of your products. All you have to worry about is creating appealing, mesmerizing art and promoting them to your audience. Everything, from printing, and packaging to shipping, is handled by the print on demand providers like Merchize.
What makes print-on-demand the least risky option is the fact that products are made on demand with the minimum order quality of only one. It means that your products are only made once the purchase is secured. It leaves you with zero risk of unsold inventory as well as losing upfront costs.
At Merchize, we offer seamless integration with Etsy store, allowing you to smoothly process all orders from Etsy.
What are the best art print products to sell on Etsy
Etsy is a special marketplace with a strong focus on selling aesthetic, crafty, handmade products. Here you can find plenty of hot-selling products with incredible design and look. Here are some best-selling art print products for your Esty store
Posters
Classified in the Home and Living, the best-selling category on Etsy, posters are the first type of products to come to mind when talking about art print products. Here are some good reasons why many artists choose to sell posters:
- Low cost and easy to print: Poster printing is quite simple and can be done with a simple setup at home. The total cost is also significantly affordable when compared to other types of products. The remaining challenge is creating designs that capture customers in a sea of many other similar products.
- Huge demand: Hanging posters is a quick and easy way to elevate and personalize a personal space. Plus, customers usually buy posters in bulk for the purpose of decoration and might replace them occasionally to refresh the space, which creates a huge, steady demand for this type of art print.
- Countless specific niches: Other than being a piece of decoration, posters make the perfect means for expressing personal tastes and special interests. It could open countless opportunities for you to create beautiful arts that resonate with specific groups of audience.
Canvas
Canvas can be considered the level-up version of posters. Here’s why canvas is the top choice for artists to monetize their art:
- Durability and better profit: Compared to posters, canvases are more durable and have higher perceived value, which helps you to extend the profit margins significantly.
- Optimized shipping cost: It also weighs less than regular framed prints, therefore it costs much less to ship.
- Ideal for mass selling: The truth is many people love and want to decorate their house with unique, stunning artworks but it could be a bit pricey to buy original art. Printed canvas could be an excellent idea if you want your artists to reach a larger audience.
Postcards and greeting cards
Don’t underestimate the power of small items such as postcards or greeting cards. In fact, these products can contribute greatly to your revenue stream as an artist.
- Great demand: Postcards and greeting cards are some of the best-selling products. Especially during special occasions like Valentine, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc, the demand for postcards will go uptick. It is estimated that around 1.3 billion Christmas greeting cards are sold everywhere.
Other than that, they are also suitable for many other events that happen around the year like birthdays, weddings, and many other anniversaries.
- Low cost, easy to make: Postcards/greeting cards take much less to print. With the advantage of affordable price points, these products are perfect to cross-sell with other products in your stores.
Stickers
Stickers also offer tremendous opportunities to make money from your art.
- Inexpensive cost: Stickers are relatively inexpensive to produce, making them a cost-effective product for artists. This affordability allows for a higher profit margin, especially when sold at a slightly higher price than production costs. It can cost less than $1 to make small stickers. If made in large numbers, the prices can go even lower.
- Versatile products: Stickers are highly versatile products that appeal to customers across the board. It can be used to decorate laptops, waterbottle, notebooks, phone cases, and so on. Other than decorative purposes, they can also be used for promotional purposes. Due to the low costs, many bought stickers to use as gifts for their customers.
> > Read more: How to sell stickers on Etsy in simple, easy-to-follow steps
Best art print ideas on Etsy
There are unlimited ideas for art prints to sell on Etsy. Depending on your target audience or the niches you are aiming at, you can find inspirations and ideas in the respective space.
It should be noted that whatever you want to sell on Etsy, it must be very niche-oriented. An important lesson for all new Etsy sellers is to avoid selling generic ideas at all costs.
Still, in case you are still stuck at the idea generation stage, here are some suggestions of the best art print ideas to give you some inspiration on what styles and niches to consider:
- Abstract art: Abstract art is very prominent in the interior design space. This art style goes well with the trending modern, minimal styles that have been around for a couple of years now. Therefore, abstract art always tops the best-selling products in the marketplace.
- Art Deco: Art Deco is becoming increasingly popular at the current time. It provides a simple and classic touch to the interior space.
- Vintage art: Lovely vintage art won’t ever seem to go out of style. It is also a very
- Personalized art, portraits: Personalized art is loved by Etsy customers. In fact, “personalized gifts” is always on the list of most-searched keywords on this market.
- Motivational and funny quotes: Arts are not only used for aesthetic reasons but they can also serve as a way to give people inspiration, motivation, and mood boosters. That’s why art prints with motivational and funny are always in demand.
Above are a few popular print ideas that can serve as the starting points for your idea research journey. We recommend you look further into each art genre and style to find specific niches that are less competitive.
Tips for selling art prints on Etsy
As an artist, you have a clear advantage over other sellers in the market. You can create beautiful arts and designs that are original and authentic. However, when it comes to building a business, it takes more than just your artistry talents.
To succeed in a populated space like Etsy, you will need to master the arts of marketing and business management. Here are some important tips for artists who just start selling art prints.
Build and engage with your audience
In this day and age, building an audience is incredibly critical, especially for people who are working in the creative industry.
Building strong relationships with the audience helps artists to establish their brand and open more opportunities to increase their income stream.
In this particular scenario, it helps to draw more visitors to your Etsy store and increase your sales.
If you don’t have a large following, what should you do?
Obviously, you can take advantage of the massic existing audience on Etsy. However, it is still a good idea in the long run to start building a close-knitted audience, if you want to succeed as a business owner and an artist.
But how can you do that?
Tiktok or Instagram are the best places for artists to grow and engage with the audience. Instagram has been the nurturing ground for many artists. But Tiktok is a real game changer where you can connect with enthusiast viewers. Making funny, relevant content about your art-making process is a good idea to draw in the audience and convert them into your potential customers.
A quick search through hashtags like #smallbusiness #smallartists or #supportartist will give you ideas and inspiration to start building your own channel! Don’t forget to promote Etsy Shop in your posts.
Narrow down your niches
This is a highly important tip that every Etsy seller should learn by heart: Avoid generic products and focus on smaller niches.
It is a tested and proven method that yields incredible results for many forerunners before you. There should be no questions to ask about the validity of this method. What you need to do is to dig deeper and find specific and highly potential niches.
Create good product images
Product images contribute greatly to the success of a product, especially in the online space. 83% of online shoppers report that product photos influenced their purchase decision.
When it comes to art prints and decoration items, if you have an impressive, appealing photo of your products, you have a significantly higher chance of closing the purchase.
