As most of you may already know, I recently started selling my designs on Creative Market and Etsy and wanted to write a post comparing the two websites strictly on their ease of use when opening a shop. This isn’t going to be a numbers post where I compare the success I’ve had on both websites (don’t worry that is going to come much later), but instead I wanted to give you guys a clear idea of what it is like to open a shop on these two websites for graphic/surface pattern designers. I am going to be comparing both websites on 4 main points:

• How easy it is to apply for a shop
• The overall market for your designs (let’s call this the selling atmosphere)
• How easy it is to add products to your shop
• What each website charges you to sell on their website

To make this post shorter I am going to split this comparison up into two posts so check back next Monday to read the Etsy portion of this post.

Let’s start where it all began . . .

Creative Market

Applying for a Shop

Right off the bat, Creative Market is harder to get started because you actually have to apply and be accepted as a shop owner. To apply to open a shop, Creative Market requires you to do two things: link to a portfolio showing your designs and tell them why you want to open a shop. They also allow you to link to a shop where you are already selling your designs, but this step isn’t required. To find out more about how to open a shop click here. When your shop application is accepted, you then need to fill out your tax form so when tax time comes around they can send you the forms needed to fill out your taxes. I thought it would be a good idea for you guys to see the portfolio that got my application accepted for Creative Market so I will insert it here. At the time I made that portfolio, I had never made a portfolio and I don’t necessarily think that portfolio is a strong one, however, it showed my skills in a field ( surface patterns) that doesn’t have a big presence on Creative Market and it showed that I had a clear focus of what I want to sell on Creative Market. My biggest suggestion when creating a portfolio for your application is not to show Creative Market everything you can do. You want to show Creative Market a cohesive portfolio and too many times I have read in Creative Market discussions that people’s applications were rejected because they decided to show everything they could do. For example, someone might make mockups, fonts, and patterns which is great, but it ends up looking like a hodgepodge of designs in a portfolio. Chose your best skill and focus on that.

I actually like this initial step of applying for a shop because it makes the market less saturated/competitive. If you have 10,000 sellers of all skill levels selling wedding invitations someone of lesser skills might sell their wedding invitations for less money and, therefore, attract more customers, but with Creative Market you may have 1,000 sellers with semi-similar skill levels and price points competing for the same customers so there is more emphasis placed on making your designs unique.

Creative Market’s Selling Atmosphere

The only problem that I have with Creative Market pricing wise is Creative market heavily favors bundles so essentially you could have 20 fonts available in your shop worth around $20 each or a total of $400 and not have great sales, but you throw your 20 fonts into a bundle for $20 total to get a quick buck giving your customers 95% off. As a customer, 95% off sounds great, but as a seller devaluing your products to make a quick buck hurts your business. Unfortunately, people go to Creative Market because they know they can get more for less so having to offer bundles to get more sales is almost unavoidable.

Adding Products to Your Shop

For the most part, Creative Market is really user-friendly when it comes to uploading your designs. There are a few things I want to mention here. You cannot upload multiple files to one listing on Creative Market which is kind of annoying, but it is easily fixable by compressing all of your files to create a zip file. Also, if you are making a listing that is similar to a listing you made before you cannot copy the previous listing. Creative Market, however, allows you to create multiple listings using the bulk editor, but for some reason, it never works on my computer. I’ve also found that I cannot add in tags if I am using Safari on a Mac so if you find yourself having this problem try switching over to a new browser like Google Chrome. 

Creative Market’s Cut of Your Profits

Creative Market takes 30% of your sales which is pretty fair. As a surface pattern designer, I have seen websites offer as little as 10% to 20% of your sales so the fact that Creative Market is giving you 70% of the sale is great especially when you are selling your designs at a low price which I will explain more about in the Etsy portion of this comparison. 

That is all I wanted to talk about right now. If I think of anything else I think you should know about Creative Market I will update this post. What have your experiences been with Creative Market?

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