Selling Stickers On Etsy

10/20/2021

( How to Set Up an Etsy Sticker Shop ) So you’re interested in starting an online sticker-selling venture, but you are not sure where to begin. The custom sticker market is a niche and growing industry with potential for vast profits if you know how to set things up in the right way - and in the right place.

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In our previous blog post, ‘Selling Stickers on Etsy - Part 1’ - we discussed some of the basics of using Etsy as a platform to sell custom stickers. We looked at the best types of stickers to sell and how much money you could make, as well as a few other things to help you decide whether selling stickers on Etsy is the right move for you.

If you haven’t read the post, check it out here before coming back and diving into part 2.

Today, we’re going to take things a step further and talk about how to set up your Etsy sticker shop for maximum success and get started selling right away.

Setting Up the Store:

Setting up your Etsy store may seem like a daunting task at first, but it’s actually easy to do once you know how.

Just follow these steps and you’ll be good to go...

Choose a Store Name. When it comes time to set up an Etsy shop, you’ll need to find the perfect name. It should be memorable, creative and convey what your store and your products are all about.
Hit the ‘Sell on Etsy’ tab and follow the instructions to sign up.
Select your store preferences - Country, Currency, etc.
Enter the store name you chose earlier and make sure it’s available.
Start listing some products - Etsy requires you to list at least one product to get started. If you don’t have any products just yet, you can wait until you do, or simply create a dummy listing.
All product listings require photographs, product title, description, available quantities, price, size, and shipping info, so make sure you have all these details to hand before you start.
Enter your payment & billing info – This is where Etsy pays you for your sales on the platform and deducts listing and transaction fees. You can set up a business bank account for your Etsy business - it certainly makes things easier to keep things separate right from the start. You will also need to ensure that your bank account is linked with your PayPal or Stripe accounts if using those services.

These are the basic steps to set up your shop. You can customize things afterward by adding your logo, an ‘about’ section, plus any returns info, etc.

Once you’re all set up, we recommend you list a good selection of stickers as soon as possible to get those shop ‘shelves’ filled up and looking as enticing as possible to your prospective customers.

What To Include:

One of the first things you need to decide before opening an Etsy sticker shop is what type(s) of custom stickers you will have for sale. In Part 1, we discussed various types that may work best depending on your budget, how much money you want to make, and how much time you have to dedicate to custom sticker creation.

You should definitely include at least one of these sticker types in your shop and aim to add more options as soon as you’re able. Once you get things going and start making a profit, you can begin adding more stickers to cater to a wider range of tastes.

There are a few key things to consider when it comes to custom sticker content. Your stickers should be unique, creative and convey your brand personality in some way. Otherwise, you’re going to end up with a ‘cookie-cutter’ looking shop that won't inspire much customer loyalty.

Take the time now to plan out your custom sticker content and make sure you’re happy with the selection before opening your shop.

In order for your product offering to be complete, you should consider offering die-cut, kiss-cut, and vinyl options, as well as different shapes and custom sizes.

Use Social Media to Promote Your Etsy Shop:

Promoting your Etsy shop is a great way to get more traffic and increase sales. There are many ways to do this, but social media is one of the best - try some of these methods for starters:

Instagram: Take pictures of your custom products and use relevant hashtags (for example #customstickers) and include a link to your shop in all posts. You can use Google to research the best tags to use.
Pinterest: Pin pictures of custom stickers or custom sticker shops and use the board to pin your shop as well. You can also include a link in each board description for people to go directly to your Etsy page.
Facebook: Create a custom Facebook page for your custom sticker business and post links to it on your personal profile regularly so that people know where they can go to find more info, access new additions to your store, or sign up for special offers, etc. If your budget allows, you could also try creating custom Facebook ads to target the right audience and increase sales.

Reviews:

Product reviews can make or break any online business and are a hugely important consideration for anyone wanting success as an Etsy shop owner. Generally, the more positive reviews your shop has, the better it will rank on Etsy’s internal search engine to help increase sales.

Reviews are also valuable because potential customers can read what other buyers thought about their experience before deciding whether or not they want to give you their business.

You can use the power of reviews to your advantage by offering free or discounted stickers in exchange for honest feedback about the product and service you provide.

Try to be proactive about collecting reviews - whenever you send out a new order of custom stickers, remember to send them with a note thanking the customer for their business and asking them to leave feedback.

Upselling:

Whenever you sell online, it’s always a good idea to upsell. This is where you recommend additional products that complement the custom stickers people are already buying - a great way to boost your profits on each sale.

Here are a few ways you can upsell to your customers:

Sell bundles/sticker packs. You could offer custom packs consisting of several sizes of the same design, or a pack of several different designs that complement each other.
Offer discounts for bulk orders (i.e., buy 20 custom die-cut vinyl stickers and get five free). Always include a price incentive to encourage customers to buy more than one item. For example: offer a pack of 5-10 stickers for a cheaper price than what they would cost if customers purchased them individually. The shipping costs will likely stay the same so you’ll make more money if customers buy multiple custom stickers in one order.
Upsell after the purchase. You can use Etsy’s ‘conversation feature to send thank-you messages and promotions/discount codes to customers who have just purchased custom sticker products from your store.

More Helpful Tips:

We’ve covered a lot of ground already, but there are a few more tips we wanted to share before we sign off:

Take a look at your competition’s set-up. It’s always a good idea to check out how other custom sticker shops have set up their Etsy stores. Pay attention to their marketing, as well as their images and product descriptions. There’s no need to re-invent the wheel - you can emulate the stores that are already doing this successfully while tweaking the content to match your brand and individual style.
Review other Etsy sticker shop stock. Research what kind of stickers/designs people are buying, and be sure to include similar offerings in your store. Don’t just post the same custom vinyl decals as everyone else - put some thought into it and think about how you can make it work for your particular brand.
Keep your designs fresh. Make sure you are always looking for new custom stickers ideas, and when you find something that works, adapt it to create custom die-cut stickers or vinyl decals that work within the context of your shop's overall brand.
Be consistent! It’s important that all of the content on your shop matches up - from descriptions, categories, photos, images, prices, etc. - People like to know exactly what they are buying and what to expect, so be consistent with your brand and make the buying experience as seamless as possible for them.

Hopefully, by now, you’re feeling confident that you can make some decent money by selling stickers on Etsy and how to get started. All that remains is to get your creativity flowing and start designing! If you want to get your Etsy business off to the best start, we offer a one-stop-shop for all your custom sticker printing, so feel free to get in touch to chat about how we can help you.