How to Make and Sell Stickers Online in 5 Easy Steps

But What Are Custom DIY Stickers?

First, we should understand what a custom sticker is before proceeding with the steps on how to make your own. You may believe that a sticker is just a sticker: you remove it and stick it to a surface, and that's it! You are not wrong, but there is more to it than that.

A custom sticker is a sheet of adhesive paper or plastic with up to five layers that can be customised to suit your requirements. These layers include:

Laminate (optional): Protective.

Ink: Includes your own design, usually created using the CMYK colour system.

Media: The paper or plastic that your design is printed on.

Adhesive: This is the sticky part of a sticker.

Backing paper: This is the paper that protects your sticker and makes it easy to peel off and stick on.

Why Make Custom Stickers?

As mentioned above, stickers are extremely versatile and there is a large online market for them. You can create custom stickers featuring your illustrations or photographs to sell online. You can also create stickers in different sizes and shapes with special finishes to suit different items and audiences.

Thanks to their unlimited creative potential, stickers can be adapted to any style or genre you desire. It's not difficult to find consumers interested in your specific style. Stickers are relatively cheap to produce, whether in small or large quantities, and shipping is inexpensive, too — all you need is a rigid envelope.

Assuming the above has convinced you to start selling your stickers online, we can get straight down to business and see how you can get started quickly!

How To Prepare Stickers For Online Sale

Designing and selling stickers online is not that difficult, but, as with anything worthwhile, you will have to overcome a few challenges. The hardest stage of making DIY stickers is the first of five steps.

1.Designing Your Sticker

When designing, we recommend tapping into your hobbies, interests and artistic styles that inspire you, or symbols that reflect your business or personality.

Once you have found your inspiration, you can create stickers that reflect it. We recommend using the CMYK colour system for your designs, since this is the standard for print materials.

2.Select A Printing Method

When deciding how to print your stickers, you can either print them yourself or get professionals to do it for you.

Home printing is more time-consuming and labour-intensive, but you have full control and can print stickers on demand. However, you will need the right equipment, and there are fewer customisation options for materials and finishes when producing stickers at home.

You will also need a Cricut machine to cut your stickers. Begin by calibrating your Cricut machine using the accompanying software. We recommend doing some test cuts first, as printing at home involves trial and error.

After calibration, select your file on your computer, connect it to your printer and print it onto your sticker paper. Then add any lamination or finishes, and use your Cricut machine to cut out the stickers.

Another option is to use a printing or manufacturing firm. This eliminates the guesswork and hassle, providing more freedom to customise your design with professional assistance. Professional printing companies can print large-volume orders quickly and cheaply, and provide better finishes and original templates that are not available at home.

If you need a custom sticker or label, Winpack Printing can help. They eliminate the hassle and provide a high degree of customisation that you won't be able to achieve when making stickers at home.

3.Where To Sell?

Once you have designed your stickers at home or with the help of a professional printing firm, you need to decide where to sell your products online. Fortunately, there are many options.

With Etsy, you are responsible for making, shipping and handling the orders yourself, and you have very limited options for customising your storefront. A recurring listing fee of £0.20 is charged on every new product, as well as a transactional commission of 5%. Nevertheless, Etsy is easy to set up and has a large user base, so it's a great way to introduce your brand to people.

With Redbubble, you don't have to manufacture or deliver the products, so selling is not a problem. Redbubble enables you to submit your sticker artwork at no cost, and they will handle production and fulfilment. However, when a customer purchases an item, you will incur the manufacturing and shipping costs, which will decrease your profit margin.

With Shopify, you can customise your web storefront with branding, designs, and promotions. However, you have to pay a monthly fee to maintain your shop. You will also need to advertise the store through social media, online influencers or email marketing.

4.Pricing Your Sticker Design

Once you have decided where to sell your stickers, how should you price them? After spending much time and effort creating the ideal sticker, it can be difficult to establish a reasonable price. Your competitors are the best source for setting a reasonable price.

Most stickers on the internet cost between 2 and 6 dollars on average, but you should also take into consideration the size, the material used (e.g. holographic paper) and the complexity of the design. Ideally, you should make a profit, so consider the time you have spent and the materials you have used when setting a price.

5.Shipping Your DIY Stickers

The last step is to post your stickers! We mentioned that Redbubble does this, but if you are using an alternative, you need to consider how best to deliver your stickers to consumers. Fortunately, it's easy to ship stickers! All you need is a stamp and a hard mailer to make sure your stickers don't get damaged.

However, if you want to stand out from the competition, online sticker stores are known for their creative packaging. You could also add handwritten thank-you cards, branded stickers or other custom inserts to make your packaging more eye-catching.

Types Of Stickers You Can Make And Cuts

Firstly, you need to decide what kind of sticker you want to create before you can consider posting it online. Stickers have two main types of cut: die-cut and kiss-cut.

Die-cut stickers are cut to the precise dimensions of the design. They can be as simple as a circle or as complex as a leaf on a tree. With this technique, both the sticker and the supporting paper are cut to the shape of the sticker.

Kiss-cut stickers are stickers where the cut is made through the top layer only. When the sticker is removed, the backing paper is left behind, allowing sheets of stickers with several different designs to be created.

Sticker Materials And Finishes

As well as the various cuts you can make to your sticker design, stickers can be printed on different materials to give them a different look and feel. Matte emphasises smaller details, whereas holographic does the same with more dramatic designs. Some popular choices are mentioned below:

• Glossy paper or vinyl

• Matte

• UV coating

• Hot foil stamping

• Holographic

• Scratch-off

We suggest trying out various finishes to find the most suitable one for your sticker design.

Stickers are a fantastic product to sell online and a wonderful way to express your creativity, personality and artistry. They are applicable across all industries, genres and styles, and are used not only by indie artists and small businesses, but also by large businesses.

If you want to start creating your own stickers to sell online, look no further than Winpack Printing. Call one of our professional packaging experts today to learn more about custom stickers and labels!