5 things you can sell on Etsy right now in the UK
Etsy sellers of the UK we hear you! Selling on Etsy should be as easy as making a product and shipping it, but the questions are:
- What are good Etsy products you can sell? (And ultimately make you money)?
- Is it worth selling on Etsy?
- And of course, do you have to declare your Etsy income if you do start making some money?
We’re going to show you what Etsy products are performing well and how you can quickly start selling these products yourself. Consider this as a quick setup guide to Etsy.
If you’re looking at the nuts and bolts of how to become an Etsy seller then check out our step-by-step Etsy blog post here.
What things can you sell on Etsy?
Here are the top trending categories on Etsy that most people can hop on.
1. Sell Etsy craft kits
Selling Etsy craft kits involves bringing together and packaging the materials that people can use to do their own arts and crafts at home.
Etsy craft kit materials can include:
- Paints (acrylic, watercolour, oil)
- Glitter
- Ribbon
- String
- Clay
- Paper
- Paint brushes
You can source the materials in bulk at a low cost per item, package them into a craft kit and sell them on with a decent margin. It can be good to focus your Etsy craft kit on specific areas such as making a ceramic tile or pot, or origami with clear instructions for people to follow at home.
2. Sell Etsy Up-cycled Furniture
One of the most popular categories on Etsy is up-cycled furniture which ranks at number 2 as part of the home wares category.
Admittedly, this is easy if you want to shift a couple of old bits of furniture before a house move, but a bit more of a task if you want to do this as a regular gig.
It’s also a craft in itself to make changes to that wardrobe that’s been taking up space for too long. It could be a matter of re-varnishing it (relatively easy) or you could replace the doors with completely different ones from another period (bit harder) and create something completely new.
There are also good margins to be made on up-cycled furniture on Etsy. You can source materials at car boot sales and improve the piece’s value by using affordable raw materials.
Check out our Top 50 Side Hustles of 2022
3. Sell Etsy Up-cycled Clothes
In the fight against fast fashion never has there been a greater desire for good quality, unique clothing on Etsy. Focus on natural materials such as linen or felt, and look at how you can turn old clothing you don’t use into something of value for others. You might just need to hone in your sewing skills a little.
If you’re looking to ship vintage clothes then remember that they need to be at least 20 years old for Etsy to officially class them as such. The benefit of vintage clothing is that you aren’t expected to make alterations, so you could upload them to your shop straightaway.
Etsy did change its terms last year regarding counterfeit goods to include some up-cycled clothing that makes use of a logo, so be conscious that an item sold on the fact that it has a Nike tick could be removed. Generally, though you should be free to use your creativity and sell your highly personalised goods.
4. Sell Etsy wedding invites and envelopes
There’s about 2 years of weddings to catch up on at the minute. This means that one of the top categories being searched for on Etsy is wedding products, and what more straightforward a product is there than creating wedding invites and envelopes.
You can source materials such as:
- Parchment paper
- Inks
- Stamps
- Seals
- Prints
The materials for wedding invites can be sourced at fairly low cost in bulk and with high end customisable invites selling at around £30 per pack of ten, there are some reasonable margins once you get going. It just requires you to then add in the personal message and details of each invite as a service.
5. Sell Etsy Pet Portraits
Pet portraits on Etsy can be a great regular gig, who doesn’t want their pooch or parrot immortalised? Portraits can take many forms as well, whether as paintings or photography, or just printing a photo they’d previously taken onto a canvas. These do require some technological know-how and equipment. For a professional level canvas printer these start at about £250.
Some affordable camera equipment we recommend are:
- An Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV
- Canon EOS Rebel T8i
- Nikon D3500
And as a painter or artist you might want to invest in:
- Paints
- Pens and Pencils
- Canvas and paper
Check out our Podcasts to Help You Side Hustle
Is it worth selling on Etsy?
It’s worth selling on Etsy because it acts as one of the quickest ways to put your products online and get them shipped.
- It’s quick because you don’t have to make a website, and importantly you don’t have to worry about the visibility of your online shop appearing in search results, which can take a very long time when making your own site.
- It’s also low risk, as we explain in our guide to becoming an Etsy seller, you pay 20p per item you list, and when you make a sale Etsy takes 6.5% from you and 4% from the customer (so you may want to factor this into your pricing).
- There are of course things to consider first about selling on Etsy, you have more competition, you won’t get customer loyalty in the same way you would with your own offline or online shop and it’s easy for others to mimic your style.
- But as a starting point it’s an obvious first step, with the potential to become a fully fledged business. (There are 4 million active sellers to the site).
Check out our How to become an Amazon Seller
See also How to become an e-commerce seller
Do you have to declare your Etsy income?
If you want to know the full ins and outs of tax when you’re selling on Etsy: Check out our complete tax guide to sell on Etsy.
In most cases you do have to declare your income if you are earning through Etsy:
- This applies if you make more than £1,000 over the course of a year.
- If you make more than £85,000 then buyers will also need to pay VAT, which you need to include in your price and send to HMRC.
- If you’re one of the 11% of sellers set up as a limited company then you’ll need to pay corporation tax on the revenue you make which would be separate to the income you pay yourself from the company. Comprende?
Earnr is the tax companion app you’ve been waiting for
We love chatting with you about ideas for your Etsy shop but we also love doing the things you hate, which is managing your finances and bookkeeping, so you can focus on the meaningful part of running your business.
