Make $650 A Day Selling PNG Files On Etsy - Digital Downloads Tutorial

[@Digidesignresortcom]

Melissa, Etsy fees are really high - so when you sell for 600 something dollars you might get about 400 something dollars out - which is still great but it's a good amount you need to spend on Etsy as well.

[@MelissasMoneyMindset]

You're absolutely right and that's an important point! Most, if not all, POD platforms charge a fee. Personally, I think it's more than worth it to pay a fee or have a smaller royalty split to have access to the much larger audiences of, say, Amazon or Etsy. $400 is still $400, like you said! If you want to navigate around the fees, you could try selling on your own website, but you'll likely still need to pay to run traffic to your site.

[@VoiceTechHub]

Hi Melissa how many designs do you need to create into the file before uploading

[@MelissasMoneyMindset]

You could upload a single PNG image. There isn't a minimum limit

[@ivancsapod]

Hi, Melissa, so if I understand it right, you are selling the complete T-shirt and also the PNG design file in a separate listing? I was also thinking about doing that. I'm using Creative Fabrica items to design my t-shirts, am I allowed to also sell the design files made with Creative Fabrica fonts, graphics etc., or are there different copyright rules for PNG files?

[@Digidesignresortcom]

You can actually do that - in short: as long as you do not use them as they are but create something new I'd say. And: You shouldn't sell them as a file where others can extract the original item

[@MelissasMoneyMindset]

That's correct! I have two separate listings - one for the t-shirt with the PNG printed on it and the other for the PNG itself. I'm honestly not familiar with Creative Fabrica, but I do see that they have a pretty detailed License page. I would be sure to read all the fine print (especially the digital end products section). It sounds like you need to have an active subscription to be able to use their original files. However, if you edit those files and make the designs unique, you may be able to continue using them for POD purposes even after your subscription has expired. I'm editing a video now that uses PlaceIt to make similar items, and they allow you full rights to the products even after your subscription has expired. Could be worth checking them out as well!

[@Jojorocks23]

Interesting tutorial, thank you. So I pay for Sales Samuri and Creative Fabrica, hire a VA, pay for Canva if I want decent designs, pay Etsy fees and maybe ads… they I charge less than $3.00 for my png that I hope will sell and not be ripped off? I can see this working on an established site with other products that is 4 years old as you showed, but for a beginner would you agree that this is not feasible. I don’t know how it can be $20k/mth as the store only hit that a few days in the middle of the month. That could have been a sales promotion from ads. With over 200 pngs I have, I can’t see making money on these products but losing. Maybe I am missing something here. Can you clarify? Thsank you.

[@MelissasMoneyMindset]

Thanks for the comment! You got me thinking a bit, and I believe the approach here is multi-faceted. I may end up making a video about this because you bring up some great points. 1. You said you pay for Sales Samurai, Creative Fabrica, and Canva. These are all fairly similar design tools (though SS offers research options too). I would consider cutting this back to 1 tool (maybe 2), because yes those could be an expense, especially at the beginning when people likely aren't making sales yet 2. Hiring a VA - I didn't do this until I was probably 4 years into my self-employment journey. If you have the means to do so then more power to you - that's great! But I bootstrapped and uploaded everything myself for years. I know it's hard to find time in the day, but even 30 minutes here and there, or a few hours on the weekend is great. 3. Etsy fees - I agree, fees suck. But to have an audience and reach that's millions and millions of people (or billions with amazon), I do think it's worth it. If you have a way to build an audience, then you could potentially sell the items on your own website down the road, but you'll likely still need to pay to run ads/traffic to your site. This is inevitable in the e-commerce space. 4. Etsy ads - I'm not a fan. They don't seem super helpful to me, but I know some people in certain niches who have seen success. Try them out. If they're a waste of money, it's totally fine to turn them off! 4. The idea of scaling - so yes, you're correct that all of the above steps don't make sense to make $3. However, I want to emphasize that the goal here is to scale your business. If you have the tools above, and you put in some time, you could realistically make, let's say, 30 designs minimum a month (1 design a day roughly). This design can be uploaded via the method I'm talking about by using Printful and sold on hundreds of products on Etsy, Seller Central, Merch On Demand, Redbubble, Teepublic, Teespring etc, etc. I have a few hundred thousand designs (after doing this for 7 years) across multiple platforms, and so the act of scaling an e-commerce business is what makes it feasible and sustainable. 5. Is this possible today? - I started my journey 7 years ago, and the shops I showed in this video were a few years old, but there are people starting successful e-commerce businesses all the time (even now). The market is likely more saturated, but that's why I talk about the importance of market research. If you're making designs without researching the likelihood of them selling...then you're just wasting your own time. So be sure to check out all of the tools I've discussed on my channel. On some platforms you can even utilize the help of AI to make some really amazing designs (check out Midjourney/Ideogram). 6. Realistic expectations for income - You aren't going to make $20k your first month, and I don't want to set that expectation. I built up my e-commerce businesses for 4 years while I worked as a nurse before I felt like it was financially safe to step away from a traditional day job and become self-employed. If you're just starting out, I would expect a few sales in your first month. Maybe a steady few hundred bucks a month for a least the first 6-12 months unless you're constantly working at it. But it's not unrealistic to think that you could scale an e-commerce business to make 20k a month, especially once you have built a name for yourself or your store and have some customer reviews. Everyone has to start someone (believe me, I know that). Let me know if you have any other questions. Best of luck!

[@Jojorocks23]

Thank you for the time you took to reply. I think the thumbnail could have said “how to expand on your established site to make… etc. I look forward to you expanding on this topic but with other printables for as beginners as PNG would not be good to start. What is your growth like for POD?

[@micaherfe8261]

Does anyone here need an Etsy VA?

[@yogeshs6575]

mam i dont know about you but i hope we both grow in our own ways that is yourself in youtube and myself in etsy selling ! and also i dont know how to contact you regarding my etsy doubts ! thanks geez

[@FRWNY]

Hey Melissa, Darrien here. I sent an email to your gmail address regarding your editing and content. Please let me know if you got it