Best Things to Sell on Etsy (2026): Categories, Margins, and What Actually Moves

Etsy has over 90 million active buyers. That’s the good news. The bad news is that 9 million sellers are competing for their attention — and most of them are selling the same personalised tumblers, stickers, and digital planners as everyone else.

Choosing what to sell on Etsy isn’t a creative decision. It’s a strategic one. The difference between a shop doing $200/month and one doing $5,000/month usually isn’t marketing or SEO — it’s product selection. Picking the right category, with the right margins, in the right competition level, before you list a single product.

This guide isn’t about “50 things you could sell on Etsy.” It’s about understanding which categories have real demand, what margins look like after Etsy’s fees eat into your revenue, and how to evaluate whether a product idea is worth your time.

First — This Is Important…

Hey, my name is Mark.

After 15+ years testing income methods, Etsy can work — but most sellers underestimate the competition and overestimate their margins. Platform dependency is also real: Etsy changes fees and algorithms regularly.

The most reliable income model I’ve found is local lead generation. I build simple websites that show up in Google and generate leads for local businesses. Each site pays $500–$1,200 monthly, recurring, with 92–97% margins. No inventory, no shipping, no marketplace fees.

Go here to see the exact system I use to do this

Now — here’s what actually sells on Etsy and what the margins look like.

Understanding Etsy Fees Before Choosing Products

Your product margins mean nothing if you don’t understand Etsy’s fee structure first.

Listing fee: $0.20 per listing (renews every 4 months or when sold). Transaction fee: 6.5% of the sale price (including shipping). Payment processing: 3% + $0.25 per transaction. Offsite ads fee: 15% of sale price if the sale came from Etsy’s offsite advertising (mandatory for shops earning $10K+/year, optional for smaller shops). Etsy Ads (optional): Pay-per-click for promoted listings within Etsy.

Total effective fee on a $30 item (with $5 shipping):

• Transaction: $2.28 (6.5% of $35)
• Payment processing: $1.30 (3% of $35 + $0.25)
• Listing: $0.20
• Total fees: $3.78 (10.8% of sale price)
• With offsite ads: add $5.25 (15% of $35) → $9.03 total (25.8%)

This is before your product cost, packaging, and shipping materials. Margins matter.

12 Best Product Categories for Etsy in 2026

Digital Products (Highest Margins)

1. Digital planners and templates

• Price range: $5–$25
• Cost: $0 after creation
• Margin: 85–90% after Etsy fees
• Competition: Very high
• Why it works: Create once, sell unlimited times. No shipping. Scales infinitely.
• Reality check: Market is extremely saturated. Standing out requires unique design or niche targeting (wedding planners for specific cultural traditions, ADHD-specific planners, industry-specific business templates).

2. Printable wall art

• Price range: $3–$15
• Cost: $0 after creation
• Margin: 85–90%
• Competition: Very high
• Why it works: Huge gift market. Low price point means impulse buys.
• Reality check: Hard to differentiate. Success requires either unique artistic style or niche targeting (specific aesthetics, custom typography, cultural motifs).

3. SVG files and design assets

• Price range: $2–$10 per file, $15–$50 for bundles
• Cost: $0 after creation
• Margin: 85–90%
• Competition: High
• Why it works: Cricut and Silhouette machine users need new designs constantly. Recurring buyers.
• Reality check: Requires graphic design skills. Volume selling (hundreds of designs) is necessary for meaningful income.

For more on digital product models, see digital assets that pay monthly and online business with no inventory.

Personalised Physical Products (Steady Demand)

4. Personalised jewellery

• Price range: $15–$80
• Product cost: $3–$15
• Margin: 50–70% after fees
• Competition: High
• Why it works: Gift market is enormous. Personalisation commands premium pricing. Repeat buyers for different occasions.

5. Custom engraved items (cutting boards, glasses, etc.)

• Price range: $25–$75
• Product cost: $8–$20
• Margin: 50–65%
• Competition: Medium-high
• Why it works: Wedding and housewarming gift market is consistently strong. Engraving equipment is a one-time investment.

6. Personalised pet products

• Price range: $15–$50
• Product cost: $5–$15
• Margin: 50–65%
• Competition: Medium
• Why it works: Pet owners spend lavishly. Custom pet portraits, personalised collars, pet memorial items have strong emotional appeal.

Handmade/Craft Products (Lower Competition)

7. Candles and home fragrances

• Price range: $12–$35
• Product cost: $2–$6
• Margin: 55–70%
• Competition: Medium
• Why it works: Consumable product means repeat purchases. High perceived value relative to production cost.
• Reality check: Shipping fragile items requires careful packaging. Soy candle making has a learning curve.

8. Handmade soap and bath products

• Price range: $8–$25
• Product cost: $1.50–$5
• Margin: 55–70%
• Competition: Medium
• Why it works: Consumable, giftable, and the “handmade” premium is genuine. Natural/organic positioning commands higher prices.

9. Pottery and ceramics

• Price range: $20–$100+
• Product cost: $3–$15 materials
• Margin: 60–75%
• Competition: Lower (skill barrier)
• Why it works: Genuine craft barrier to entry reduces competition. Each piece is unique. Premium pricing is accepted.

Print-on-Demand (Low Risk, Lower Margins)

10. Custom t-shirts and apparel

• Price range: $20–$35
• Product cost: $10–$18 (print-on-demand fulfilment)
• Margin: 25–40%
• Competition: Extremely high
• Why it works: Niche-specific designs (dog breeds, professions, hobbies) find passionate buyers.
• Reality check: Margins are thin after POD costs and Etsy fees. Volume required. Thousands of competitors in every niche.

11. Mugs, tote bags, and accessories

• Price range: $15–$30
• Product cost: $7–$15 (POD)
• Margin: 25–40%
• Competition: Very high
• Similar dynamics to apparel. Works best with unique, niche-specific designs.

Vintage and Curated (Unique Model)

12. Vintage items (20+ years old)

• Price range: $15–$500+
• Product cost: Sourcing dependent
• Margin: Highly variable (50–300%+ on well-sourced items)
• Competition: Medium (limited supply of each item)
• Why it works: Each item is unique — no direct price comparison. Vintage is an Etsy core category with dedicated buyers.
• Reality check: Requires sourcing knowledge, storage space, and individual listing creation for every item. Not scalable like digital products.

Emerging Categories Worth Watching

13. Pet memorial products

• Price range: $20–$75
• Growing niche as pet owners increasingly seek meaningful ways to honour deceased pets. Custom portraits, engraved memorial stones, paw print jewellery. Emotional purchases command premium pricing.

14. Sustainability-focused products

• Price range: varies widely
• Upcycled decor, organic apparel, low-waste home goods. Etsy’s buyer base skews environmentally conscious. Products with clear sustainability messaging and transparent material sourcing earn premium prices and strong reviews.

15. AI-assisted custom design services

• Price range: $25–$200
• Custom illustrations, logos, and design work created with AI tools and refined by human designers. Controversial in the Etsy community but growing. Must clearly represent your own creative work — Etsy’s 2026 policies require 3D-printed and AI-generated items to be genuinely original.

What Top Etsy Sellers Do Differently

Looking at shops with millions of sales reveals patterns that small sellers can learn from.

CaitlynMinimalist (jewellery, millions of sales): Focuses exclusively on personalised minimalist jewellery. Every product is a variation of the same theme — custom names, initials, coordinates. The narrow focus creates brand recognition and streamlines production. Lesson: niche dominance beats product diversity.

Successful digital product shops: The top-performing digital sellers have 200–500+ listings. They create template “families” — one planner design in 10 colour variations counts as 10 listings. More listings = more search visibility = more sales. They also update listings seasonally (adding “2026” to planner titles, refreshing seasonal products).

High-volume POD sellers: They test dozens of designs and double down on winners. If a design sells 10 units in its first week, they create variations (different colours, related phrases, complementary products). If it sells zero in two weeks, they remove it. Constant testing and iteration.

Etsy SEO: Why Products Succeed or Fail

Your product might be perfect, but if nobody finds it, sales are zero. Etsy SEO determines visibility.

Title optimisation: Use all 140 characters. Front-load with the most important search terms. Example: “Personalised Dog Collar Leather — Custom Engraved Pet Name Tag, Puppy Gift” beats “Beautiful Handmade Collar for Dogs.”

Tags: Etsy gives you 13 tags per listing. Use all 13. Include long-tail variations (not just “necklace” — use “personalised name necklace gold,” “custom initial pendant gift for her,” etc.). Research what buyers actually search for using eRank or Marmalead.

Photos: First photo is everything. Use natural lighting, clean backgrounds, and lifestyle shots showing the product in use. Include scale references (items next to common objects so buyers understand size). 10 photo slots available — use them all.

Description: Front-load the first 40 words (this appears in search previews). Include relevant keywords naturally. Describe materials, dimensions, customisation options, and shipping timeline.

Profit Margin Comparison Table

Category	Avg Price	Avg Cost	Etsy Fees	Net Margin	Scalability
Digital products	$10	$0	~$1.25	~87%	Unlimited
Personalised jewellery	$40	$8	~$5	~67%	Limited by production time
Custom engraved	$50	$12	~$6.25	~64%	Limited by production time
Candles	$25	$4	~$3.25	~71%	Moderate (batch production)
Print-on-demand	$25	$13	~$3.25	~35%	High (automated fulfilment)
Vintage	$50	$10–$20	~$6.25	~48–68%	Limited by sourcing

Income Math: What Etsy Success Looks Like

Scenario 1: Digital product shop (solo, part-time)

• 100 listings, average price $10
• 150 sales/month (1.5 sales/listing)
• Revenue: $1,500/month
• Fees: ~$188 (12.5%)
• Product cost: $0
• Net: ~$1,312/month

Scenario 2: Personalised jewellery shop (full-time)

• 50 listings, average price $40
• 200 orders/month
• Revenue: $8,000/month
• Fees: ~$1,000
• Product costs: ~$1,600
• Packaging/shipping: ~$400
• Net: ~$5,000/month

Scenario 3: Print-on-demand (side hustle)

• 200 listings, average price $25
• 100 sales/month
• Revenue: $2,500/month
• Fees: ~$313
• POD fulfilment: ~$1,300
• Net: ~$887/month

Competition Assessment

Before committing to any product, search for it on Etsy and evaluate the results.

High competition signals: First page results all have 1,000+ sales and hundreds of reviews, more than 10,000 results for your exact search term, prices are being driven down by oversupply.

Opportunity signals: Some first-page results have under 100 reviews, fewer than 5,000 total results for your search term, prices are consistent (not racing to the bottom), clear gaps in design style or niche targeting.

The niche-down strategy: “Personalised mug” has 500,000+ results. “Personalised mug for veterinarian” has a fraction of that. Narrowing your niche reduces competition dramatically while attracting buyers who are willing to pay more for something that feels made for them.

Seasonal Trends: Timing Your Product Launches

Etsy sales aren’t constant throughout the year. Understanding the seasonal patterns helps you stock (or create) the right products at the right time.

Q4 (October–December): Peak season. Christmas gifts drive 40–60% of many Etsy shops’ annual revenue. Personalised items, gift sets, and custom products surge. List holiday products by September to build ranking before the rush.

Q1 (January–March): Post-holiday dip then recovery. January is typically the slowest month. Valentine’s Day (personalised jewellery, custom gifts) provides a mid-Q1 spike. New Year’s resolution products (planners, journals, fitness trackers) sell well in January.

Q2 (April–June): Steady growth. Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduation season, and wedding season create consistent demand for personalised and custom products.

Q3 (July–September): Summer and back-to-school. Teacher gifts, back-to-school supplies, and early holiday shopping begin. Smart sellers use Q3 to prepare and list Q4 inventory.

Digital product advantage: No seasonal inventory risk. The same digital planner sells year-round. Seasonal variations can be addressed by creating themed versions without leftover physical inventory.

Getting Started: First 30 Days

Week 1: Research 3–5 product ideas using Etsy search. Check competition levels and pricing. Choose your initial niche. Set up your Etsy shop (free, takes 30 minutes).

Week 2: Create or source your first 5–10 products. For digital: design in Canva or Adobe. For physical: produce initial inventory or set up print-on-demand integration (Printful, Printify).

Week 3: Write optimised listings. Use relevant keywords in titles and tags (Etsy SEO tools like eRank or Marmalead help). Take professional-quality photos (natural light, clean background, lifestyle shots showing the product in use).

Week 4: Launch, promote on social media, and begin iterating. Track which listings get views and favourites. Adjust pricing, tags, and photos based on data.

Budget to start: Digital products: $0–$50 (Canva Pro subscription optional). Physical products: $100–$500 (materials, packaging, shipping supplies). Print-on-demand: $0–$30 (listing fees only, no inventory cost).

Pros and Cons of Selling on Etsy

Pros: Built-in marketplace with 90+ million buyers, lower marketing cost than standalone website, strong gift-buying culture, digital products have exceptional margins, established trust with buyers, SEO within Etsy can drive consistent traffic.

Cons: Fee structure cuts into margins (10–25%), platform dependency (Etsy changes rules frequently), intense competition in popular categories, algorithm changes can tank your visibility overnight, offsite ads fee is mandatory above $10K revenue, building on rented land (you don’t own the platform).

Who This Is NOT For

Etsy isn’t the right platform if you want passive income from day one (even digital products require ongoing listing optimisation), can’t handle the fee structure eating into your margins, aren’t willing to invest in product photography and listing quality, or want to build a brand independent of a marketplace.

For alternative models, see realistic online income expectations and best business model for long-term income.

Digital vs. Physical Products: Which Path Is Right for You?

This is the fundamental decision for new Etsy sellers. Here’s an honest comparison beyond just margins.

Digital products are better if you:

Want to avoid shipping logistics entirely. Have design skills (or are willing to learn Canva/Adobe). Want unlimited scalability (sell one design to 10,000 people). Prefer working from anywhere with no inventory storage. Want the highest possible margins (85–90% after fees).

The digital product trap: The barrier to entry is so low that competition is extreme. Anyone with Canva can create a planner template. The market for generic digital planners, wall art, and SVGs is flooded. Success requires either genuinely superior design skills or extremely specific niche targeting.

What works in digital (2026 specific): Interactive/fillable PDFs (not just static printables), AI-enhanced custom design services, niche-specific templates (not “wedding planner” — “destination wedding in Italy planner”), education/workbook content with genuine expertise behind it, Canva templates for specific industries (real estate agents, yoga studios, bakeries).

Physical products are better if you:

Enjoy making things with your hands. Have a craft skill that creates genuine differentiation. Want lower competition (skill barrier reduces entrants). Are willing to handle shipping, inventory, and customer service. Value higher perceived value and stronger customer relationships.

The physical product trap: Shipping is expensive and complicated. Breakage during transit creates customer service headaches. Production time limits scalability. You’re trading time for money until you systematise or hire.

What works in physical (2026 specific): Anything truly handmade with visible craftsmanship, personalised items that command premium pricing, consumable products (candles, soap, food items) that create repeat customers, items with strong gift appeal (weddings, birthdays, holidays drive Etsy sales).

The hybrid approach (what top sellers do):

Sell digital products for volume and margin. Sell a smaller line of physical products for premium pricing and brand building. Use digital products to fund physical product development. This combination maximises revenue while managing risk.

Frequently Asked Questions

What sells best on Etsy right now? Digital downloads (planners, wall art, SVGs), personalised jewellery, and custom engraved gifts consistently rank among top sellers. The best strategy is finding a niche within these categories rather than competing broadly.

Can you make a full-time income on Etsy? Yes, but it requires treating it as a business: strong product selection, professional photography, Etsy SEO knowledge, and consistent listing creation. Most full-time Etsy sellers earn $3,000–$10,000/month after 12–24 months.

Are digital products better than physical on Etsy? Digital products have higher margins (85–90% vs. 35–70%) and unlimited scalability, but physical products generally have lower competition and higher perceived value. Many successful shops sell both.

How many listings do I need? More listings generally mean more sales, but quality matters more than quantity. Start with 20–30 well-optimised listings, then scale based on what performs.

The Bottom Line

The best things to sell on Etsy share three traits: strong demand from the Etsy buyer base, margins that survive the fee structure, and a niche position that reduces direct competition.

Digital products win on margins and scalability. Personalised physical products win on perceived value and gift demand. The worst strategy is jumping into an oversaturated category with thin margins and competing on price.

For where Etsy fits in the broader income landscape, see local lead generation. And if you want recurring revenue without marketplace dependency — here’s the model I recommend for building websites that show up in Google and generate leads on autopilot.