The Top 10 Mistakes that Etsy and Print On Demand Sellers Make and How to Avoid Them in 2024

Hey there!

As a print-on-demand business owner and instructor, I get asked A LOT of questions. I absolutely love everything about Print on Demand and could honestly talk about anything and everything in this industry for hours (and with enough wine in my system, I could go on for days haha).

However, one of the most common and recurring questions I get asked by individuals who are new to Etsy & POD or from my students of The Print on Demand Playbook are typically about how to get more sales or how to drive more traffic.

Etsy is an absolute BEAST of a platform and in order to achieve maximum success for your shop, you need to be able to ensure you are doing everything in your power as a seller to ensure your listings and shop are set up for success!

A lot of sellers have no idea how to do this and make common mistakes that jeopardize their products from ever being seen! They quit right at the beginning of their Etsy and POD journey because they didn't get any traction/sales to their shops.

However, most of the time, it’s because they are making the following 10 mistakes!

So in this post, I am going to be talking about these mistakes, teaching you how to avoid them, and giving you solutions to each one!

So whether you are a beginner or someone who is not getting enough sales/traction to your store, this post is for you!

Before we dive in, let me introduce myself!

Hey there! I’m Shay Lynn

I am a top 1% Etsy Seller, am the proud owner of a multi-six figure Print on Demand & Etsy Business, a six-figure Shopify Business, and creator of the Print on Demand Playbook and The Niche Navigator. In 2023, I did $250,000 in sales running my very own Print on Demand and Etsy business. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE what I do and want to help others achieve financial freedom and find success with their own Print on Demand Business Ventures!

Now that you know a little about me, let’s dive right on into the nitty gritty and talk about the top 10 mistakes and how to fix them!

Top 10 Etsy and POD Common Mistakes

1) NOT DESIGNING IN A NICHE THAT YOU LOVE OR ARE FAMILIAR WITH IN THE BEGINNING

Genuine passion for your niche of choice fuels creativity and innovation. For example, if you are a nurse who is passionate about their job and wants to make products for fellow nurses, you will know what this target audience is looking for, what designs/products could work, their interests, and what to avoid. You automatically have an inside scoop!

Your passion, enthusiasm, and knowledge will shine through your designs which will result in authentic and engaging products that will help you stand out in a crowded market space. It will make your business journey entirely more enjoyable because you will be making products you care about and know about. This will also help you avoid burnout when creating products and help you become a better designer. Once you understand what works and what doesn’t design wise, you can then take your winning designs and apply them to different niches!

2) NOT DOING APPROPRIATE MARKET RESEARCH TO SEE WHAT IS TRENDING IN YOUR NICHE

You can not simply design something and put it on Etsy and think you are going to have massive success. You MUST see what design styles are currently trending in your niche of choice and think of ways to improve upon them. Look at other top-selling shops in your niche of choice and see what styles they are using for their products. For example, if you are making a gift for a nurse, see what the top-selling products are and what fonts, colors, and graphics are being used. Get a good idea of what is currently trending and selling so you can improve upon it!

One way to do this is by using POD research tools. The absolute BEST tools to conduct research are Sales Samurai and Everbee. These are my Desert Island Print on Demand research tools and there is not a single day that I am not using these to make educated decisions on what I need to be doing as a designer! If you haven’t signed up yet click the links to start for free! You can also enter SHAY20 at checkout for Sales Samurai to get 20% off!

3) ONLY STICKING TO ONE DESIGN STYLE WHEN YOU ARE FIRST STARTING OUT

I am a victim of this one! What design style you start with might not be the design style you end up with! When you are first starting out, you should start in a passionate niche to find out what designs work. If you are not making any sales with your design style, it is OK TO TRY NEW THINGS. For example, when I first started, I was making retro/groovy designs on my products and wasn’t finding much success. As I grew and evolved as a designer and seller, my shop grew and evolved as well! I no longer carry ANY retro/groovy products because it did not work for me. I had to try new styles and new ideas until I found my best-sellers.

Need a little extra help? Have No idea what a niche is?

Want more Niche, Design, and Product ideas?

I got you! Check out my Niche Navigator! This guide is my baby and took me years as a Print on Demand owner to develop! In this guide, there are 30 EVERGREEN & PASSIONATE niches used by the top 1% of Etsy sellers. This guidebook has 30 niches, subniches, SEO, and OVER 1,000 keywords to help you get started! Level up your Etsy store with the most PROFITABLE niches to go into! Click the link or image to check this out while it’s on sale!

4) NOT INVESTING IN GOOD MOCKUPS ON DAY 1

If you take anything from this article PLEASE LET IT BE THIS ONE! Great mockups can make your shop seem clean, polished, and professional from day one! Yes, it will cost a little bit of money, however, good mockups legitimize your business and make you look like a seasoned pro even if you are a beginner. Nothing screams “sketchy” or “new seller” than stock photos! Think about it, you are going to be competing with seasoned Etsy veterans with your products. By having great mockups, your products will stand out and help you get sales! TRUST ME ON THIS! You don’t even need to have a lot of them. When starting I suggest having 3 great mockups for every product you would like to sell.

5) NOT COMPLETING YOUR SHOP SETUP

When you open your shop, please please please make sure you complete this in its entirety. You need to create your shop policies, have a banner, a shop title, a logo, a picture of yourself, and a completed about section. Again, when you are starting out, you need to establish that you are a legitimate business. By completing your shop set up, you will make your business stand out and look professional from day one!

6) NOT ADDING CONSISTENT NEW LISTINGS WHEN FIRST STARTING OUT

The only way to be successful on Etsy is by creating listings on a consistent basis. Etsy runs on an algorithm and promotes shops that are consistently adding value to their platform. So by making consistent listings, you not only will have a better opportunity to make more sales, you will also have a better opportunity for Etsy to promote your products organically. This doesn’t mean you should make 10 mediocre listings a day. Quality over quantity! So ask yourself how many pristine listings can I make a week? Whatever your answer is, make sure you then post that number on a consistent daily or weekly basis. (For example, if you answer 7, you can post one listing a day or all 7 once a week)

7) NOT TAKING SEO SERIOUSLY

SEO or “search engine optimization” is how you will drive customers to your products. You need to be focusing on your title, tags, and descriptions. This can literally make or break your product. You could have the best design in the world with incredible mockups, but if your SEO is not on point, your products will never get seen. So please, when listing a product, take your description, title, and tags seriously.

8) NOT DOING TRADEMARK SEARCHES/ COPYING OTHER PEOPLES LISTINGS

This is a one-way ticket to having your shop shut down. After you conduct market research, and before you start designing, you MUST conduct a trademark search to ensure you do not infringe on registered intellectual property. Businesses with registered trademarks can file IP infringement cases on Etsy. You can then have your listings removed or worse, be sued by these businesses. Etsy then can either give you a warning or COMPLETELY SHUT YOUR SHOP DOWN. The same goes for other seller’s listings. You can not copy their work at all. That would be copyright infringement and again, can land you in a world or hurt. So please, keep yourself and your business safe by conducting a trademark search.

10) NOT CREATING A SENSE OF URGENCY

One way to easily gain more sales is by creating a sense of urgency for your products. Big retailers do this to drive sales and you can too for your small POD and Etsy business. It is very simple and you can do this one of two ways. 1) Run a daily sale on all your products. (Be sure to factor in the discount into your total costs) or 2) Create a coupon code with a valid time period! This makes customers feel like they will miss out on a sale, creates a sense of urgency, and will be better persuaded to make a purchase!

Conclusion:

Navigating a new POD and Etsy business can be tough. I get it. It took me 3 months of poking around in the dark and making mistake after mistake before I got my first bestseller. I made every mistake in the book. It can be truly frustrating and downright infuriating at times! That is why I made this post today. To help individuals not fall into the pitfalls and mistakes that I made in the beginning of my POD and Etsy business journey.

I truly hope you found this information helpful!

If you are totally new to Print on Demand and would like to know how to start your business step by step, how to create products, conduct market research, and how to list products the right way on Etsy, then check out my course The Print on Demand Playbook! It’s got 8 hours and over 30 videos of POD content to help you start your business from scratch, help you create winning POD products, Content Calendars, Font Guides, and so much more! Click the link or the image below to take a peek!