6 Popular DIY Items That You Can Sell on Etsy

If you’re a creative looking for an extra source of income or to add a passive income stream for your business while working from home, then Etsy is a good place for you. The marketplace is famous for selling unique products that customers might struggle to find elsewhere. With a growing number of over 500 million monthly visitors, you have an endless market opportunity even as a new seller. 

But just that isn’t enough to be a successful seller on Etsy. You have to understand the market, consumer demands, and competition so that you can turn your hobby and ideas into products that will sell. Here are some top-selling products on Esty you can easily list from home.

Since the products sold are handmade, you won’t have to worry about other sellers posting the exact pieces. You can personalize the gifts in your shop by engraving names, incorporating birthstones or customizing their shapes and designs.

Research has shown that most jewel sales on Etsy were non-luxurious. To distinguish yourself from the competitors, focus on a specific style, use unique materials, and offer personalization services. Some of the highly demanded pieces are bracelets, earrings, rings, necklaces and pendants.

People save up thousands of dollars to spend on weddings. They are willing to splurge on even the tiniest of details to make the special day perfect. You can offer wedding accessories and gifts such as customized tiaras, bridal robes, cake toppers, garters and guest books, and wedding invitations.

This is a favorite for many creatives because you can start creating printables with $0 and make thousands of dollars in passive income. They are the easiest to create and sell on Esty and have an ever-growing market. It’s also a smart way to avoid shipping and printing costs for your digital items.

To be a successful seller in this category, start by asking yourself what checklist you would need if you were the buyer. Don’t just go for anything at random. The checklists should be extensive lists including even the most minute details for the event. Some checklists doing well on Etsy are event planning, daily and weekly checklists, and health and fitness checklists.

You can use the thousands of templates available on design tools like Canva and Planify to inspire your planners and worksheets. Every little modification you make to your planner or worksheet sets you apart from your competitors, so play around with the different design tools. 

Some popular planners are daily, weekly and monthly planners, productivity planners and financial planners. Some worksheets you can look into are goal setting, self-improvement, budgeting, and time management worksheets.

Although coming up with a complete eBook from scratch is tedious and time-consuming, the sales are completely passive. Some popular eBooks are how-to guides, self-improvement planners and guides, organizational books, and cookbooks.

Some popular craft supplies you can sell on Etsy are specialty yarn, painting and drawing supplies, DIY kits, cardstock, beads, custom fabrics, embroidery and sewing supplies, and crafting blanks. You can also sell party supplies like confetti under this category. However, ready-to-use blanks cannot be listed under craft supplies.

Etsy is the best place to show off your knitting prowess and get paid to do it. The demand for knitted items has been steadily growing in the last decade, with well-established crotchet shop owners on Etsy making over 5 figures a month. The best crochet items on Etsy are amigurumi toys and characters, crotchet accessories like beanies and scarves, knitted baby clothes and blankets, knitted pet accessories, and crotchet patterns.

Most people are now keen on choosing biodegradable products, not just as a trend, but also as a lifestyle. If you’re looking to make an environmental impact and become a seasoned seller, this should be your first pick. There are many products you can craft and sell such as biodegradable toothbrushes, straws, earbuds, food wraps, shopping bags and stationery. You can also recycle and upcycle items and sell them at the shop.

If you’re into collectables, you can serve other people drawn to history. Curators give life to old items, but there’s more to it. The items should be well-preserved and in good condition. Some of the best-selling vintage products are antique watches, vintage fabrics with bold patterns, retro home décor, collectable books and records, and vintage sewing supplies.

Sometimes we have an idea of what to sell, but it might get tricky to understand if it’s a top-seller. Before you set up shop in Etsy, do thorough product research and customer feedback from the already-existing shops and research platforms. 

You can also explore Etsy’s “Trending Now” section to see how the items in various categories are doing. Lastly, evaluate the competitors and plan on the modifications you would make to their best-selling crafts to make them better.

Similar to any other marketplace, Etsy has rules and regulations on the items that should be listed and those that shouldn’t be. Before you set up shop on the platform, you should be wary of the items that will get you banned from selling. The reasons for banning the items are that they might promote hatred and violence, be harmful to consume, might promote vulgarity, or present legal risks. 

They are such as: