How Much Can You Make Selling Digital Downloads on Etsy?: 12 Ideas that Make $3k Or More

Although Etsy has become very well known as a place to sell crafts and unique items, its marketplace is open to various types of products, including digital downloads.

One question we get quite often is, how much can I make selling digital products on Etsy?

Is It Worth Selling Digital Products On Etsy?

Throwing out numbers like three to five thousand dollars per month is great, but what is profit like, and is it worth it after Etsy takes out their fees?

Although Etsy fees vary on a large number of factors, you can typically expect that Etsy will take 9.5% + $0.20 of each transaction.

Beyond a few dollars in fees, The only other real cost of selling digital products on Etsy would be if you choose to run Etsy ads.

This means you’ll get to walk away with a little over 90% of every dollar you make in gross sales on the platform.

If that’s not worth it, I don’t know what is.

12 Etsy Digital Product Ideas That Make $3k Or More Per Month

Now that you understand What is possible selling digital products on Etsy, let’s take a look at a few examples.

I know it may have sounded a bit crazy when I said sellers are making three to $5,000 per month or more, so let’s take a look at 12 different examples that are all doing that with a single digital product.

Digital Photography Backdrops

The first example I wanted to take a look at is a set of 10 digital backdrops for photographers.

If you’re not familiar with the concept, photographers (or anyone with a picture and a few basic Photoshop skills) can superimpose a photo on these backgrounds and then print them.

We use these a lot back in my photography days to take one photo and turn it into a bunch of different pictures for our clients.

How Much Are They Making?

So how much is this listing making?

As of the time of writing this article, we can see that they are making 537 sales per month at a retail price of $19.95.

If all of those sales are at the full $19.95, that means this one individual listing is making $10,713 per month.

It’s important to note, that this listing has a listing age of only one month, which means it made over $10,000 in its first month alone (around Valentine’s Day).

Digital Photography Backdrops #2

Just to show that our first example wasn’t a fluke, I wanted to find another example in the same niche, and man was my mind blown

The second set of backgrounds is much less seasonal and likely to be used by photographers all year round.

How Much Are They Making

Although this particular listing isn’t doing quite as well as the other one that we saw, this is nothing to shake a stick at.

Even though again this listing has only been around for one month, EverBee is estimating that this has resulted in 336 sales with a retail price of $20.36.

If my math is correct, this listing has made over $6,000 in just its first month on site.

More importantly, it’s received 518 favorites and more than 8,000 views, meaning the sales potential of this listing has a long way to go.

Wedding Weekend Itinerary

We’ve seen a few examples in the photography space, so let’s take a look at something totally different, shall we?

One of the most popular niches on Etsy is weddings, which lead me down a wonderful rabbit hole of digital products for weddings, where I found this.

A 60+ template Itinerary for your wedding weekend. That’s right….just the weekend itself (which makes me wonder if other digital products are doing well in the space…more on that later).

How Much Are They Making

This template is beautiful no doubt, but are people buying it?

Absolutely.

By taking a look at the EverBee overlay, we can see that listing has sold more than 4,200 times since it was created 8 months ago.

At $10.85 per sale, that means this ONE digital download has created more than $46,000 in revenue on Etsy and is making about $5,500 Per Month.

150+ Page Wedding Planner

After seeing how well the wedding planner for only the weekend of the wedding was doing, it made me wonder how well a planet would go for the entire event.

In just a few minutes, I was able to find this 150+ page wedding planner and checklist.

It appears to be designed to be the ” ultimate resource” For wedding planning with eight different checklists, a 13-page honeymoon planner, and, model seating charts.

How Much Are They Making

So how much are they making?

Although this listing was only created 3 months ago, this listing is averaging 561 sales per month and appears to be making 15,000 in revenue.

Why do I say appears to be making $15,000?

This is an important time to talk about projected revenue versus actual.

While I am looking at this product, it is currently on sale within the anti-platform for $9.06, despite having a list price of $30.21. 

Although we can’t necessarily assume that every sale on the listing was at that lower price, we should when we are checking how much a listing is making, because it’s always better to underestimate than to overestimate.

That being said, even if we take the sale price of $9.06 and multiply that by the 561 sales that EverBee shows us, this product is still making over $5,000 per month on Etsy.

Bridesmaid Info Card Template

While I was looking for the wedding planner we just took a look at, I stumbled across something that I never knew existed.

Those of you that have planned a bunch of weddings might be laughing, but this product certainly has my attention

This info card for bridesmaids is designed as an editable template and gives them all the things they need to know.

It includes a color guide for dresses, their duties, the date and location of the wedding, as well as style and accessory notes.

How Much Are They Making

Indeed something this simple and niche can’t possibly be making $3,000 a month, can it?

As you can see from the numbers, it’s not. It’s making over $6,000 per month and is averaging 663 monthly sales over the last year.

Just like with the wedding planner, when I looked at this listing it was on sale.

Although it’s listed for $9.99, when I found it it was $5.99.

Even if we assume their monthly sales are all at this lower price, they are still making almost $4,000 per month from this one product.

Chicken Coop Plans

Now that we’ve taken a few looks at some things in the wedding space, I was looking for something a little more out of the box and I found it. 

That’s right, plans and a video to make a chicken coop with a chicken run.

When people purchase this item, they receive a 27-page digital blueprint and directions on how to build a chicken coop and chicken run.

They’re also linked to a public YouTube video showing them exactly how to put it together.

How Much Are They Making

I was dying to know how much this product made, so I ran it through the product analytics tool from EverBee.

This listing has been live for a little more than 13 months and is averaging 221 sales per month.

It’s selling and listed at $15, which means these chicken plans are making more than $3,300 per month.

Plans for a Picnic Table For Chickens

If You thought it was crazy that plans for a chicken coop? We’re making more than $3,000 per month, strap in.

As I was looking at our last example, I came across plans for a picnic table for chickens.

In addition to being one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, this picnic table is designed to be built using only one picket from any wooden picket fence.

This means, in addition to the cost of the picnic table, buyers will only have to shell out about $2 in material costs for the project.

Once a user makes a purchase, they’re sent the digital guide, as well as a YouTube video.

How Much Are They Making

This particular set of plans is currently listed at $7.50.

If we take a look at their estimated monthly sales of 419, that gives us an estimated monthly revenue of $3,143.

The mind-boggling thing about this is that this listing has only existed for 2 months and has a lot of room to grow as we move further into the spring and summer when people are even more active with their chickens.

Monthly Budget Spreadsheet

So if chicken stuff can make over $3,000 a month, what about something that pretty much everyone needs?

Although I’m not much of a spreadsheet person myself, I know there are lots of people that like to keep track of their expenses.

That led me to look at a few different options related to budgeting and finance.

I very quickly stumbled across this google sheets template, which is designed to be the ultimate budget spreadsheet.

It includes financial planning, budget templates, spend tracking, and even a debt tracker in one Google sheet.

It’s also important to note that they have a separate listing with essentially the same product, but for Excel.

How Much Are They Making

So is serving people who are trying to keep better track of their finances digital downloads a good idea?

The numbers say yes. Yes. And yes.

This particular planner sells just under 700 units per month at an estimated monthly revenue of just under $14,000.

Since its creation 8 months ago, it’s had 5,632 sales.

That being said, this listing is currently on sale for $9.95, which means if every unit they sell this month is at that price they’ll only be making $6,935.

You may remember that I mentioned above, they created an Excel version of this same spreadsheet.

For just a little bit more work in creating the template in both Excel and Google sheets, they’re making an additional $4,200 per month (for $2,100 if we use the sale price of $9.95).

That’s right, all told this one spreadsheet is making its creator somewhere between $6,300 and just over $18,000 per month.

Bi-Weekly Paycheck Planner

After finding one digital product making more than $18,000 per month in the personal finance space, I wanted to see if there were a few more.

After a few minutes of digging, I found this bi-weekly paycheck planner.

This paycheck planner is designed to be used on a tablet, such as an iPad, and includes a calendar and financial breakdown to help you better understand where your money is coming from and where it’s going.

How Much Are They Making

Taking a quick look at the numbers, we can see that this listing has been around for just over 7 months and has almost 5,800 total sales.

At a list price of $5, this bi-weekly planner is making a little over $4,000 per month.

Digital Planner For iPad

After seeing the planner designed specifically for tablets, it made me wonder what other kinds of templates people are buying to use with their tablets.

A few clicks later, I found this custom digital planner design specifically for use with the iPad.

When someone buys this iPad planner, they get access to the plan builder, and 750 different variations, including a bunch of different templates for lifestyle, wellness, finance, and productivity.

How Much Are They Making

Having a great-looking digital product is great, but what is this planner generating?

A quick look at the numbers and my jaw nearly hit the floor.

Since being created 15 months ago, this single digital product has generated 29,276 sales and has an estimated monthly revenue of $50,952.

Even if we take into account that the planner is currently on sale for $13.56, we can expect an estimated monthly revenue of over $26,000.

Folding Workbench Plans

After picking my jaw up off the floor. I wanted to take a look at another passion of mine, woodworking.

I quickly stumbled across the plans for a fairly simple folding workbench.

These plans include 26 pages of written instructions and a 19-minute instructional video to make sure that everyone can build this foldable and wall-mounted basic workbench.

Additionally, it includes a few different lists including materials, tools, and a cost estimate.

How Much Are They Making

This listing is yet again proof that something simple can also be mighty.

Although this listing is just one month old, it’s already brought in 720 sales.

And at a list price of $15, this means this one digital product is making more than $10,000 per month on Etsy.

Not too shabby!

Concealment Plan Bundle

Seeing that a very basic woodworking project with making more than $10,000 per month, I started digging around for a few more.

That’s when I stumbled across this bundle of different blueprints.

The bundle is made up of four different plans designed to help you build useful household products that have hidden storage compartments.

When you make a purchase, you’ll get the digital plans for all four different objects, including a floating shelf, a coat rack, a coffee table, and a mantle.

How Much Are They Making

By taking a quick look at the numbers we can see this listing has had 1079 sales in the 10 months since its creation

At its list price of $30, this listing is generating a little over $3,200 per month.

But it doesn’t stop there, this particular seller is also selling each of the plans included in the bundle individually.

When we take a look at the listings on their own, we can see that these individual listings are generating an additional $1475 monthly.

That brings our total to just over 4600 per month for these listings alone (this same seller sells the chicken coop plans we talked about above as well!)

Quick Recap

So how much can you make by selling digital products on Etsy, it appears the sky’s the limit.

As we mentioned above, once you’ve selected your niche, it’s not uncommon for sellers to start to see a few hundred dollars per month in their first few months on the platform.

From there, it’s up to you.

I can show you all of the examples in the world of individual digital products making $3,000, $5,000, or even $10,000 per month, but you can’t make even a penny of that until you get yours listed.