How to Make and Sell Printables Online

Last updated: March 27, 2026

Printables are one of the most popular items to sell online in the digital product space. This booming market includes everything from coloring book pages, daily planners, budget sheets, meal planners, party invitations, and more. If customers can print it, you can sell it. Printables are easy to make and fun to sell.

In this guide on how to sell printables, we’ll cover…

• What exactly printables are
• Why you should consider selling them
• Which tools you need to make them
• How to make and price them
• Where to sell them online
• How to promote your printables

We’ve also spoken with Nancy Badillo and Tam, both seasoned sellers of printables online. They’ll chime in with their advice throughout this guide.

What Are Printables?

Printables are items you’re able to print out. They can range from simple documents, such as lists and planners, to labels that help people organize their documents.

Here are some common examples of printables:

• Calendars
• Coloring pages
• Food plans
• Checklists
• Stickers
• Worksheets
• Party invitations
• Flash cards
• Art prints
• Games
• Sewing or knitting patterns
• Activity packs
• Bookmarks
• Charts (example: chore charts)
• Gift tags
• Stickers
• Greeting cards (birthday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day)

Some of the best-selling printables include patterns, planners, stationery, clipart, and wedding invitations. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find success with different types of printables! There are so many printables you can make and sell.

Why Sell Printables?

1. Low startup cost

Selling printables has a low startup cost. Overall, you design the products you sell, and then you get to work selling them. While selling other products might have fees involved, for example, buying inventory, these products don’t cost much to produce beyond your time. 

2. No shipping or logistics

You should sell printables because there’s no shipping or logistics involved. You could sell all items digitally, allowing you to save your customers money on shipping. The customer also receives the product immediately at the time of the sale, so they can start printing what you sell quickly. 

3. Good source of passive income

Selling printables is a good source of passive income, allowing you to earn money at any time of day, including when you sleep or take a day off. You could earn more by selling more styles too. The more you create, the more options there are to sell. People will be able to search for your products on your website. 

4. Large range of niches

There are so many different types of niches you can do printables in. For example, weddings is a huge market for printables: games, invitations, planning binder, program, and more. You can choose to create your niche around your printables (all niches) or around the audience you serve (weddings, finance, party games)

5. Flexible schedule

Selling printables allows you to maintain a flexible schedule, especially if you’re always on the go. Moms can easily create printables to sell and earn extra income, since there’s no set schedule for when items need to appear on the website. You can fit in the product creation when you have time, at your own pace.

“The number one lesson I learned from selling printables is that I should’ve started sooner,” says Tam. “It’s a joy to sell printables.”

But surely it can’t be that lucrative if it’s fast and easy to make? Actually, it’s possible to make tens of thousands of dollars by selling printables online.

Granted, that was back in 2017. But a quick look at the search volume for printables reveals that printables are still a hot topic.

Worth noting: It’s a huge advantage if you already have a creative flair or a little bit of experience with design programs. That said, we’ve linked to some useful tutorials below.

What Tools Do You Need to Make Printables?

The tools you need will very much depend on the type of printable you want to produce. However, there are a few tools that can be used for several types of printables.

Here are some of the tools to make printables — click the links for tutorials:

• Design apps like Microsoft Publisher or Adobe InDesign
• Spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets
• Web applications like Canva
• Word processors like Microsoft Word or Google Docs
• Font libraries like Google Fonts
• Mockup tools like PlaceIt
• Stock photo sites like Unsplash or Pexels
• PDF tools

That said, you can use any tool that allows you to insert and edit text and graphics. You may already have an app on your smartphone that does this!

How to Make Printables to Sell

Making printables is a creative endeavor, which means there are no hard-and-fast rules for the process. However, there are some basic steps you can take to ensure your success.

Here’s how to get started with making printables:

1. Brainstorm ideas for printables

First, brainstorm ideas for printables to sell. During this time, you could do keyword research in tools like Ahrefs or Google’s Keyword Planner. This research will help you learn if there’s demand for the types of products you want to make. You could also use tools like Google Trends to determine the popularity of the items you want to make. 

2. Make printables

Next, you’ll want to start making printables to sell. For example, you could use a tool like Canva to design printables, such as calendars, invitations, games, and more. Then you could save the file as a PDF to sell on your store.

3. Print a few test samples

After you’ve saved the file, it’s time to do a test run to see how it looks when printing. Make sure you create printables in both black and white and in color, so people can print them in black and white to save on printing costs.

As you can see, it’s equal parts art and science. The artistic aspect relies on your own creativity, and the scientific part comes down to trial and error.

How to Price Printables

Pricing is always difficult. You don’t want to charge too much and put off any potential customers. At the same time, you don’t want to charge so little that you lose out.

There are two common pricing models: cost-based and value-based.

• Cost-based pricing involves tallying all the expenses associated with creating your printables (such as materials and labor) and setting the price accordingly.
• Value-based pricing requires a deeper understanding of the value your printables deliver to your customers. Price it according to how much they think they’re worth.

That said, there’s also the competition to factor in. Neither model will work if your prices end up radically different from your competitors’ — so do some competitor analysis first!

What About Copyright?

You don’t want to steal someone else’s work. That can land you in hot water. Best case scenario? Your products will be taken down. Worst case? You’ll be taken to court.

Make sure that whatever images you use are either royalty-free or have a licensing option that you can subscribe to. It might be worth paying the license fee if you can make it back in sales.

Use these resources to find royalty-free images you can use:

• Unsplash
• Pixabay
• Pexels

Where to Sell Your Printables Online

The best place to sell your printables is Payhip. Payhip has a free forever plan with no monthly subscription. It allows you to build a website with all the features you need to start selling online, even on the free plan. 

Payhip is also a platform with its own marketplace, Payhip Marketplace where you can sell printables to a pre-existing audience once you’ve made $10 in sales and have been approved by a staff member. 

On top of that, Payhip provides all the tools you need to start selling, such as an affiliate marketing program, email marketing, upselling and cross-selling, referrals, customer reviews, and more. All these tools will allow you to make more money selling printables.

How to Set up an Online Store for Your Printables

You could learn about web design or hire someone to do it for you. But there’s a much easier and cheaper way for you to create an online store.

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide on how to do it:

1. Head over to Payhip and create an account
2. Upload your printables via the dashboard
3. Connect your PayPal or Stripe account for instant payouts

That’s it! Three simple steps and you’re good to go.

Once a customer buys one of your printables, they’re automatically delivered to them and you get paid immediately.

Just a word of advice from Nancy Badillo: “Make sure you have it clearly stated in your listing description that they are buying a printable and nothing will be shipped to them,” she says. “By clearly stating this disclaimer in your listing description, you will help avoid negative feedback.”

How to Market Your Printables

Now that you’re all set up, there’s only one thing left to do: get the word out about your new printables. How you promote your store is only limited by your imagination.

Here are a few tips to get your marketing campaign started:

• Use social media like Instagram and Pinterest to show images of your work to customers.
• Add your Payhip store link to your profile and bio on all social media so people can click through to it.
• Create coupon codes for first-time buyers to incentivize them to try your products.
• Offer social discounts for people who share your printables with their friends on social media.
• Give out free printables in exchange for signing up to your mailing list (see the next point below).
• Build a mailing list and send exclusive offers to build and nurture relationships with buyers.

Generally, you should promote your printables on the platforms where your potential customers are.

“The key to building a successful printable shop is targeting the right people and finding a niche,” Nancy Badillo says. “Making sure you are selling printables for the right audience with a niche that resonates with what they are looking for is where you want to be,” Tam concurs.

So, which platform is best for promotion?

Tam says, “If I were to choose one as a beginner, it would be to upload them to Pinterest,” and Nancy Badillo agrees: “My favorite platform when it comes to marketing my printables is Pinterest.”

That should be enough to get you off to a good start.

Start the Press!

Now you know how to sell printables on your blog and how lucrative it can be. It’s time to pull up the drawing board and brainstorm some ideas for your next printable product.

To start selling printables on your own website and on a marketplace, you can sign up for free on Payhip today.