How to sell digital goods on Etsy – Handmade BIZ
Selling digital goods allows you to make money almost passively. I can’t say it’s 100% passive income, as you still need to spend some time creating the product, answering buyers’ questions, and posting new listings.
What is a digital commodity?
A digital commodity is anything that is delivered electronically rather than physically. It can be vector illustrations, fonts, e-books or step-by-step guides, logos, etc.
How to design a listing for a digital product
Formatting a listing is almost no different than a physical listing. After clicking “Add a listing,” mark it as a digital item (“Digital”).
Selecting an item as a digital item adds the option at the bottom of the same page to upload up to 5 files that will go to the buyer immediately after payment.
The files will be available for download in your personal Etsy account under “Purchases”, plus, Etsy will email the buyer a link to download the file.
We all know that buyers are very different. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to specify that it is a digital product and not a physical product. You can do this in the title of the product. You can also allocate one paragraph to describe how the buyer will receive his file.
What else can and should be included in the description? List data such as file format, number of files, sizes, what programs can open the purchased file, instructions for use, etc. Some customers need to know everything before they buy.
It’s also important to include some information about what customers are allowed to do with the finished products – can customers sell products made from your file or is it for personal use only. Indicate how different the colors are on the monitor and in print, and whether you support returns. It will also be helpful to put this information in your store policy as well.
How many digital items do you need to start your store
Before you open your store, you need to create your first few items. If you have 1-3 listings in your store, this may scare away customers. Yes, and the selection will be, you know, not wow.
A good start is at least 6-8 items ready to sell. That way your store will look more complete.
How the purchase happens
There’s a digital purchase going on, what do you do? ……. NOTHING!
After completing the purchase, the buyer downloads his file. He also receives an email from Etsy with a button to download the file. The order is automatically marked as “Completed”. You can see the order in all its details, just as you would for a physical item.
The order will be marked whether or not the item has been downloaded.
This can be useful when the file has been uploaded and the buyer demands a refund because he has not received the item. Remember, there are all kinds of buyers.
Also, this feature is useful when the buyer, especially a guest (that is, not registered on Etsy), does not download files for a long time. He can send files by mail with a cover message and a link to his store. In my practice, there have been solid thank yous. Half of them forget they made the purchase, and some just lose the link to the store.
Why digital goods are beneficial
The beauty of a digital product is that you create a product once and sell it over and over again. But don’t relax either, publishing new products on a regular basis will help you show up in search results more often.
Promoting digital products is just as important as physical ones. But in the case of a digital product, I think it’s much easier. You can find themed groups on Facebook for this purpose. For example, you make jewelry weaving schemes from beads or macramé, find groups where craftsmen share their work or discuss how to make something.
If your audience is not only a foreign customer, use VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. On Instagram, photos of the final product will look great, or a digital preview, depending on what your product is.