How to design and sell your own greeting cards online

Hands painting stationery on a wooden table
(Westend61 / Getty Photographs)

You don’t need to be employed by Hallmark to earn money with greeting playing cards. Certainly, when you have a intelligent wit and the power to drag collectively enticing or humorous illustrations, you might be able to faucet into the $7-billion U.S. greeting card market with out ever investing in paper or printing.

That’s largely as a result of an array of on-line platforms can assist you market and produce your designs. You merely dream up the concepts and add photos. The net platforms will flip your design into playing cards and market them in your behalf.

How does it work and how are you going to get began?

Generate profits with greeting playing cards

There are 5 on-line platforms that encourage artists, designers and wordsmiths to create greeting playing cards that they’ll produce for you. 4 of the 5 work in comparable style, whereas one — Minted — is pretty distinct.

If you wish to produce the playing cards your self, you are able to do that too, with Etsy. So, potential card designers have six alternatives.

Listed here are your choices, beginning with the 4 “print on demand” outlets that SideHusl.com recommends most extremely for card designers.

Zazzle

Zazzle means that you can add your artwork and make it out there on all the pieces from greeting playing cards to tote baggage. Artists who work with the platform say one of many causes it stands out for greeting card designers is the location is likely one of the few that permits clients to personalize your design. That may enhance gross sales for issues reminiscent of marriage ceremony bulletins, bridal and child showers, and different occasions that cry out for private particulars.

Notably, you don’t deal with the manufacturing or delivery. You merely present the cardboard template, artwork and wording and earn a royalty each time certainly one of your card designs is bought. How a lot do you earn? Typically 10% to fifteen% of the gross sales value. Your royalty charge is formally as much as you. However Zazzle penalizes those that set their charges above 15% by hitting them with extra charges.

RedBubble and FineArtAmerica

Redbubble and FineArtAmerica function in a lot the identical manner. Nevertheless, the place some print-on-demand operations prohibit the quantity you possibly can earn from royalties, these two websites have dynamic pricing formulation that allow you to set your personal margin. Your margin determines the ultimate price of the product.

To make clear, every website has a “base value” for the merchandise it sells. Artists are ready so as to add their very own margin to that base value. The sum of the bottom value, plus the artist’s margin, equals the gross sales value. For example, if a greeting card has a $2 base value, you possibly can select a normal 20% markup to promote the cardboard for $2.40. Or you possibly can go for a 50% markup, which might enhance the cardboard’s value to $3. You aren't penalized in any manner for setting your royalties as excessive as you need.

One other optimistic: You aren't restricted to simply promoting greeting playing cards. If you happen to create a wonderful or intelligent design that will work effectively on a T-shirt or espresso mug, you possibly can instruct these websites to promote it on no matter you’d like. Each websites have the power to promote your designs on a wide ranging array of various merchandise from bathe curtains to hoodies, puzzles to prints.

It’s essential to notice that you just retain the rights to your work, so you possibly can promote your designs utilizing the websites’ rivals too, together with Zazzle and Society6.

Society6

Society6 is one other well-regarded print-on-demand operation that means that you can add artwork that can be utilized as an example all the pieces from greeting playing cards to telephone circumstances. It operates very like the opposite three, however Society6 units the royalty charge for you on most merchandise, typically at 10% of the gross sales value.

Minted

Just like the others, Minted will create merchandise out of your designs and promote them, paying you a royalty. Nevertheless, aside from that, the location is exclusive.

With the opposite websites, you be part of and add your artwork. You don’t want any particular invitation or credential. With Minted, with a purpose to promote greeting playing cards, you want to enter and win a contest on the location. Minted’s greeting card competitions provide prizes of as a lot as $3,500 for first place. If you happen to win any prize — not simply the highest prize — you additionally get a free retailer on Minted the place you possibly can promote this design and others.

If you happen to occur to be a first- and even second-place winner, this is usually a whole lot. You get each a beneficiant upfront cost and royalties of three% to six% on each future sale.

However you’re not assured a beneficiant prize. In truth, you could possibly win as little as $100. And, your prize comes with a giant caveat: If you happen to promote this design on Minted, you aren't allowed to promote it anyplace else.

Etsy

If you wish to manufacture your personal greeting playing cards on the market, you are able to do that by means of Etsy. Etsy is likely one of the oldest and best-established websites to promote something handmade or classic. Right here you might be primarily operating your personal enterprise — figuring out what to make, the best way to make it and the best way to value your wares.

Etsy expenses simply 20 cents per itemizing — 5 listings for $1. If you happen to promote something, you’ll additionally pay a 6.5% transaction charge, plus a 3% cost processing charge. The location additionally added an “outdoors promoting” charge starting from 12% to fifteen%, which applies to you if one of many website’s advertisements sends a sale your manner. (In case your store sells lower than $10,000 in items yearly, you possibly can decide out of this system. It’s necessary in case your store earns extra.) So, when you promote right here, you should definitely give your self a fats revenue margin to account for doubtlessly sudden charges.

Kristof is the editor of SideHusl.com, an impartial web site that evaluations moneymaking alternatives within the gig economic system.

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