22 Easy Things To Make And Sell For Extra Money Online

In terms of pricing your products, it’s absolutely okay to price higher than your competitors, especially if you offer something unique that your competitor doesn’t (i.e. personalization).

People WILL expect to pay a premium for this service.

Where I see most craft businesses go wrong with pricing? They undercharge and burn themselves out creating those products with very little monetary reward.

Ideally, you’ll want to calculate how much it costs you to create each product (factoring in the cost of added extras such as website hosting, business licences, one off  etc), and mark your profit margins from there.

The percentage you take home will be dependent on the item you create, but a good profit margin to shoot for would be in the 30-40% range.

If you can get that higher, even better.

This handy guide created by Crafty Base will help you to calculate the pricing mark-ups for your handmade products (as I’m terrible at maths!).

HOW TO START A PROFITABLE ONLINE CRAFT SHOP

1) Pick Your Product

Take a look at your creative skills and see which product business idea suits you best.

Remember to think about what makes you happy too! This list is by no means exhaustive either. The best product takes into consideration these things:

Create a product your audience wants but are struggling to find elsewhere;

Or create a product that they absolutely would fall in love with based on their interests (not necessarily solving a problem);

And make sure to:

• Do it in your own unique style;
• Create something you love to make;

= this is what makes a successful base product.

2) Choose a Creative, Catchy Name

Brainstorm a creative, catchy and memorable name for your business.

Don’t be afraid to choose something more distinct and outlandish. Often the weird and wacky names stand out!

3) Register Your Shop With a Selling Platform

When you’re just getting started, every penny counts. Shopify, Etsy, Sendowl and of course your own self-hosted website all make excellent choices for selling your products.

With Shopify, it’s free to set-up your seller account and incredibly easy to use.

When you’re ready to sell, only then do you need to start paying Shopify’s monthly fee.

Etsy charges around $0.20 per listing as well as additional VAT and taxes per item, but already has an existing audience of over 300 million people so once you’ve got Etsy SEO down to a T, you’ll start making sales quicker.

4) Start Selling

You’re ready to go! Once you’ve picked your creative idea, set up your store, and started advertising, you’re ready to start selling your beautiful handmade creations.

WHERE TO SELL YOUR CRAFTS & HANDMADE ITEMS ONLINE

• Teachable – they are one of the best platforms for selling online courses. Very user friendly and intuitive.
• Etsy – the go-to familiar for all things handmade and craft related.
• Amazon Handmade – tap into Amazon’s existing customer base and list your products here to make extra cash online.
• Hyena Cart – this platform has a focus on eco-friendly products.
• Zibbet – a relatively new online marketplace, Zibbet is becoming the place to discover up and coming artworks, crafts and designs by creative sellers like you.
• Aftcra – limited to US sellers only, Aftcra caters to handmade items.
• Handmadeology Market – an online marketplace that features anything well, handmade.
• ICraft Gifts – best suited for personalized items, crafts and gifts.

WHERE TO SELL YOUR CRAFTS AND HANDMADE ITEMS OFFLINE

Selling online is your best bet for reaching more engaged customers and expanding your audience size, but you may wish to flaunt your creations locally.

These are perhaps some of the best places to sell your crafts and items locally:

• Art Fairs
• Local Galleries
• Craft Fairs & Retailers
• Small Shops Looking to Stock Local Brands

PROS & CONS OF STARTING YOUR OWN DIY CRAFT BUSINESS

Before you jump into starting your own crafts business, you should know that any form of entrepreneurship requires some serious dedication and effort (even if those ‘gurus’ make it look easy).

There are some incredible pros to running your own DIY business, but you should absolutely be prepared for the cons too.

PROS:

• You establish your own working hours
• You don’t answer to anyone (except your customers)
• You have total control over your own brand and line of products
• The amount of money you can make is unlimited, especially if you’re selling batch-make items
• You can make extra money at home or even replace your full time income
• You get to be creative and come up with new ideas all the time
• Owning your own business can be seriously rewarding and a self-esteem booster

CONS:

• It can get a little lonely if you’re working by yourself
• There will be some upfront investment (as with any business)
• It can be more time consuming and tedious than you think
• Knowing tax-laws isn’t a nice to know, it’s an absolute must
• The entire success of the business is down to you (some people don’t like that pressure)
• You will have to keep generating enough money to pay for labelling, website hosting, renewal fees, inventory etc
• You will have to deal with unhappy customers or even scammers from time to time who always want a refund

HOW DO I MAKE THINGS TO SELL WHEN I’M A BEGINNER?

Nowadays you’ve got all the information you’ll ever need at the click of a button.

Before you select your products, I highly recommend heading to Youtube and checking out a few ‘how-to’ videos to see if your item is something you want to and more importantly, can make.

For example, if you absolutely HATE working with small, finicky details, any items that involve sewing probably aren’t the best fit for you as a creator.

But, if you LOVE graphic design, creating digital prints using Photoshop or even Canva might be just the business idea you’ve been looking for. Play to your skills.

WHAT HANDMADE ITEMS ARE IN DEMAND?

To check what things you can build at home to sell that are popular and are in demand, check out Google Trends, Pinterest Trends as well as the best-sellers on platforms such as Etsy and Amazon Homemade.

Pinterest in particular has clear and accurate data graphs which you use to spot key buying trends within the year.

There you have it, the ultimate guide on what handmade items sell best online.

I hope this guide has helped you to determine what business idea will suit you as well as ruled out ones that definitely wouldn’t.

Remember, you’re absolutely not limited to choosing just one item.

Some of the most successful craft shops out there sell both a blend of digital and physical items to ensure they’re making money all year-round.