The Best Print on Demand Products to Sell on Etsy

ByJ.B. Updated on
Modern blue workspace with computer displaying The best print on demand products to sell on Etsy right now text
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read my full disclosure here.

If you’ve been searching for the best print on demand products to sell on Etsy, you’ve probably already gone down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos, Reddit threads, and TikToks that all say the same thing: start with t-shirts.

And I’m here to look you dead in the eyes and say, respectfully, do not do that.

At least not to START. And, I get it. T-shirts feel obvious. They feel safe. They feel like the thing everyone does because it must work, right?

T-shirts are so saturated that listing one as a beginner is basically whispering into a stadium full of noise.

You deserve better than that. You deserve to open your Etsy shop and actually get some traction, some early sales, some proof that this whole print on demand thing is real and that it can work for you. That proof matters.

It builds momentum. And momentum is everything when you’re just starting out and you’re trying to convince yourself and maybe a skeptical partner or friend that this business is worth your time.

So let’s talk strategy. Let’s talk about what’s actually selling, what’s actually low competition, and where you should be putting your creative energy in 2026 if you want your Etsy shop to grow into a freedom-first business that makes money while you sleep, while you travel, and while you live your actual life.

Why Product Selection Is Your Most Important First Decision

Here’s something that doesn’t get said enough in the Etsy POD world: your product choice is your strategy. It is not just a detail. It is the whole game at the beginning.

You can have the most gorgeous design in the world, but if you slap it on a product that is buried under 500,000 other listings, you are not going to get found. Etsy’s algorithm rewards relevance, conversion, and traffic.

If you’re in a category with very little organic traffic coming to you, you are starting in a hole.

Low competition plus active search volume is the golden combination you are hunting for when you are new to Etsy POD.

That’s why homeware and home living products are where you want to be right now. People are constantly searching for something unique and beautiful to put in their homes.

And unlike apparel, home decor has this incredible quality: it is less trend-dependent in terms of size, color, and fit.

The Best Print on Demand Products to Sell on Etsy Right Now

Canvases and Wall Decor: The Profit Margin Queen

Let’s start with wall decor because Etsy has literally told us with their own trend data that searches for wall decor are up and have been consistently growing. Someone is always looking for something to hang on their wall. Always.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a new homeowner, a college student decorating their first apartment, or someone going through a divorce and starting over with a blank space and a fresh perspective.

Framed canvases and pulled canvases have incredible profit margins. When you look at what it costs to produce a canvas through a platform like Printify versus what people happily pay for beautiful art on Etsy, the math is genuinely exciting.

Matte canvases are listed as bestsellers in Printify’s catalog and with good reason.

Wall decor is one of those rare categories where buyers expect to pay a premium, and the production cost still leaves you with a healthy margin.

If your design style leans toward beautiful illustrations, nature art, abstract imagery, or anything that looks stunning at scale, start here. This is your lane.

And tapestries deserve their own moment in the spotlight here too because medieval tapestries are actively trending right now with strong search data and surprisingly low competition. That is exactly the kind of opportunity you want to run toward.

Medieval tapestry wall hanging featuring two elegant women in ornate robes surrounded by floral border patterns

Blankets and Woven Throws: Cozy, Giftable, and Underrated

Blankets are one of those products that makes so much sense when you think about it, but not enough people are actually selling them on Etsy.

The velveteen plush blanket through Printify is relatively affordable to produce, has a beautiful print quality, and makes for an absolutely incredible gift.

Think about every birthday, housewarming, holiday, baby shower, and graduation that happens every single year. People are always looking for a gift that feels personal, thoughtful, and a little bit special. A custom blanket with a meaningful design, a personalized name, a family photo, or even just a stunning pattern hits all of those notes.

Woven blankets also fall neatly into the medieval tapestry and bohemian home decor trend that is currently very much alive and well on Etsy. You do not have to choose between the blanket category and the tapestry trend. You can serve both audiences with thoughtful design work.

Blankets are a repeat-purchase gift product, which means once you nail your niche, you will get buyers coming back every single gift-giving season.

Mugs: The Classic That Still Delivers

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Mugs? Really? But hear me out because accent coffee mugs are consistently bestsellers on Printify for a reason, and the mug category on Etsy is not nearly as saturated as t-shirts when you approach it with the right niche strategy.

Person holding white coffee mug with I'M UNHINGED text, wearing black and white striped shirt with dark red nails

Mugs work especially well for text-based designs. Funny sayings, affirmations, niche humor, cultural references, occupational pride, you name it. If you can write a line that makes someone laugh or feel deeply seen, you can sell it on a mug.

And mugs are giftable, which means they get shared, saved on Pinterest, and gifted repeatedly throughout the year.

Desk Mats and Mousepads: Low Competition, High Interest

This is a category that genuinely surprises people when they hear it, and that surprise is exactly why it’s a goldmine right now. Desk mats and mousepads are products that people are actively searching for on Etsy, but not enough sellers are offering truly beautiful, niche-specific options.

Cozy home office desk with tropical botanical desk mat, plants, keyboard, mouse, and natural wood furniture by window

Think about the work-from-home era that we are still very much living in. People have invested in their home office setups. They want a desk that feels curated and personal.

A stunning desk mat with a gorgeous botanical print, an astrology map, a cityscape of their favorite place, or a motivational layout is the kind of thing that makes someone’s whole desk feel intentional.

Desk mats are one of those “I didn’t know I needed this until I saw it” products, and that is exactly the kind of impulse buy energy that drives Etsy sales.

The competition in this category is light enough that a well-optimized listing with a scroll-stopping mockup can rank relatively quickly. That is a huge win for a new seller who needs those early views and sales to build momentum.

Journals: The Evergreen Gift That Keeps on Giving

Journal searches on Etsy are trending upward, and the production cost for a hardcover matte journal through Printify is genuinely impressive at under seven dollars. This is the kind of product that has a really strong price-to-perceived-value ratio, meaning customers expect to pay significantly more than it costs you to produce.

Pink gratitude journal with elastic band on white desk next to black pen and potted plants in modern workspace

Journals work for so many niches. Mental health and mindfulness communities love them. Creatives love them. Travelers love them. Students love them. Parents buy them for kids. Friends buy them for friends who are going through something.

They are a deeply human product that connects to something real in people’s lives.

If you are designing for a specific community or identity, a journal is often a low-risk, high-resonance product to add to your shop. And because of the low production cost, your pricing flexibility is pretty significant.

Phone Cases: The Underdog Opportunity

Here’s a real talk moment: a lot of Etsy POD sellers avoid phone cases because of the fear that new phone models will make their listings obsolete.

And that fear is understandable. I had it too!

But here’s the thing about fear-driven decisions in business: they often leave massive gaps that you can walk right through.

Anime phone case featuring two characters with pink and blonde hair on black iPhone held in hand

Because so many sellers are avoiding phone cases for that exact reason, the competition in this category is lower than you might expect.

Yes, you will need to update your listings when new phone models drop. But that maintenance is manageable, and the opportunity is real. Once you get over the mental block, phone cases open up a whole world of niche-specific design possibilities.

The sellers who are willing to do the maintenance that others avoid are the ones who get to claim the low-competition traffic that others left on the table.

Engraved Whiskey Glasses and Specialty Drinkware: Personalization Wins

Personalized products perform exceptionally well on Etsy, and engraved whiskey glasses are having a real moment.

Personalized whiskey glasses with LETR engraving filled with bourbon, bottle and orange slice on wooden table

The combination of personalization, gifting appeal, and the rising cocktail culture that has absolutely taken over social media makes this a product worth considering seriously.

The key to making specialty drinkware work is the mockup. This is where tools like Ideogram and Gemini’s Nano Banana become genuinely valuable.

You do not have to use only the default mockups provided by Printify or Etsy. You can create lifestyle mockups that tell a whole story, a glass on a leather bar cart, a personalized set wrapped for a groomsmen gift, a cozy evening scene. Those scroll-stopping images are what make someone stop, click, and buy.

Bath Mats and Garden Flags: The Truly Unexpected Winners

Bath mats are one of those products that almost nobody thinks to sell on Etsy, and that is precisely the point. When very few sellers are offering a product that buyers are actively searching for, you have a window of opportunity that is very much worth climbing through.

The same logic applies to garden flags. They are seasonal, they are giftable, they are niche-specific, and they are not flooded with competition the way that apparel is.

White garden flag with green text I LIKE plants TOO MUCH displayed on black pole in yard with plants in background

Someone looking for a garden flag for their grandmother’s butterfly garden, or a personalized one for a new home, or a fun seasonal one for their front porch is not going to find a million options.

Your listing can stand out with very little effort compared to what it would take in a saturated category.

This is the whole philosophy behind starting with low-competition products: you want your listing to have a fighting chance in the early days when your shop has zero reviews and zero sales history. Give yourself the gift of a fair starting point.

Hats: If You Want Apparel, Do It Differently

If you really want to be in the apparel space, I hear you. Apparel has energy and personality and it’s deeply personal. But skip the standard t-shirt and go straight to hats instead.

Woman wearing beige baseball cap with UNHINGED embroidered text in brown letters, looking down with wavy brown hair

Hats are great entry point because the competition drops significantly and the niche possibilities are enormous.

Text-based designs work really well on hats. A simple, well-rendered phrase that speaks to a specific identity, a hobby, a city, a cultural reference, or a sense of humor can absolutely move on a hat.

And since hats are worn in public, they function as walking advertisements, which is something a desk mat cannot do.

How to Validate Your Product Choices Before You List

Use the Tools That Give You Real Data

Before you commit to a product category, do your research. Tools like eRank and E-Hunt are incredibly useful for understanding what is actually being searched on Etsy versus what looks like it might sell based on vibes alone.

eRank specifically helps you identify low-competition, high-search niches, which is the combination you are always hunting for.

E-Hunt has a Chrome extension that lets you see estimated sales data for individual Etsy listings, which is basically like being able to peek at a competitor’s report card. Use this information to validate that real buyers are purchasing in the categories you’re considering.

You are not guessing. You are using data to make confident decisions, and that is what separates shops that grow from shops that stall.

Check Printify’s Bestseller List With a Critical Eye

Printify’s bestseller list is useful, but you have to know how to read it. Yes, t-shirts will always appear near the top of any bestseller list because they are produced in the highest volume.

That does not mean they are the best choice for a new seller. It means they are the most ordered product overall, which reflects saturation, not opportunity.

Scroll past the t-shirts and look at what else is appearing.

Accent coffee mugs, matte canvases, velveteen blankets, hardcover journals. These are the bestsellers that represent real opportunity because they are bestselling within a much less crowded landscape.

If you want a structured way to audit your shop choices, niche strategy, and listing quality, grab the Self-Audit Cheat Sheet which walks you through evaluating your own shop with fresh eyes.

It is free and genuinely helpful, especially if you have already listed some products and want to figure out why they are not getting traction yet.

Building a Shop That Works With Your Life, Not Against It

The real reason most of us are here is not just to make a few extra bucks. It’s to build something that gives us options. Options to leave the job that drains you. Options to travel more, stress less, and spend your days doing things that actually feel like living.

Passive income from Etsy is a real thing, and it builds over time as your listings accumulate, your shop history grows, and your SEO starts to compound.

But here’s what I want you to hear: the early days are about learning by doing. You are not going to pick the perfect products and the perfect designs and have everything figured out before you list your first item. That is not how this works. You list. You learn. You adjust. You list again.

The sellers who figure this out fastest are the ones who treat each new product as a rep, a practice round, an experiment. You build skill through volume. You build confidence through doing. And you build a business by refusing to quit when the early data is slow.

Your job in the beginning is not to be perfect. Your job is to be consistent and curious.

If you want a deeper roadmap for building your shop from the ground up with strategy, clarity, and a real plan, check out Freedom Unclocked, which is the course and community I put together specifically for people who are done with vague advice and ready to build with intention.

And if you want to stay ahead of what is trending in the Etsy POD space, The Opportunity Report is your secret weapon for finding niches before they blow up.

Final Thoughts: Start Smart, Not Hard

The best print on demand products to sell on Etsy are not necessarily the ones you see everywhere. They are the ones that balance searchability, low competition, profit margin, and your own creative energy.

Canvases, blankets, mugs, desk mats, journals, phone cases, hats, bath mats, garden flags, and specialty drinkware.

These are your starting points, and each one is a legitimate path to building a shop that generates real income.

Stop waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect design, or the perfect niche to reveal itself from the heavens. The data is there. The tools are available. The opportunity is wide open in these categories right now. Get in, do the reps, and build.

The shop you build today, even imperfectly, is the one that starts paying you back in twelve months.

You have got this. Now go list something.

The Best SEO and Design Tools for an Etsy Shop:

These are the only tools I use for my shop!

Canva: Canva is the most amazing tool. It is user friendly, and always improving! The tools that Canva has have evolved so much since I first started using it in 2022 for the better. I use it almost everyday. I use it to create designs, to edit AI designs, and to create product mockups.

Ideogram: Ideogram is an AI design tool that generates high-quality graphics with exceptionally accurate text rendering, making it ideal for creating quote-based and typography-focused designs. I also use the prompt based editing for mockups, making it a wonderful alternative to Photoshop, which is expensive.

Midjourney: Midjourney is an AI image tool that blows my mind every time I use it. It takes some time to get the prompts down. Once you play with it, you will get better at creating images and art to include on your print on demand products.

E-Hunt: E-Hunt is fantastic for competitor research and some light keyword research. My favorite aspect of E-Hunt is the Chrome extension that allows you to see the sales amount for an individual item on Etsy. Check out this article to see an example.

eRank: eRank is an SEO data tool that also allows you to search the competition and will also give you key words for your Etsy listing. It is also a low cost tool that will help you find low competition and highly searched niches.

Printify: Printify is a print-on-demand (POD) service that allows individuals and businesses to create and sell custom-designed products without needing to manage inventory or handle fulfillment. I put my designs on products offered by Printify. When an item sells, Printify prints and ships to my customer.

📌 Share on Pinterest

Best print on demand products to sell on Etsy in 2026 with low competition picks that make money

Looking for more information on print on demand? Check out these articles:

Janeen is a former attorney and Etsy print on demand coach who started her shop at 40, retired early from corporate life at 42, and moved her family to Portugal. She now teaches others the strategic path to building portable income, while exploring and documenting the most beautiful country she gets to call home.