I’ve earned more in a month on AppSumo than on Etsy
With just a few products
I started my Etsy shop in August 2019. and knew absolutely nothing when it comes to SEO, selling and marketing your products. I was creating planners for myself and thought how it would be nice to earn some money for them. I didn’t invest my time in learning about Etsy in my first year which obviously led to no sales. The moment I decided to take it more seriously and start learning about all that stuff I started noticing some traction that ultimately led to sales.
My shop has between 30 and 40 printable planners and workbooks. It’s a small shop, and I have no intention in filling it up with products (as some gurus are suggesting). As in any business, some months are better than others no matter how hard you promote and work on all the side things.
In March this year I started exploring other platforms to expand my small business. AppSumo was my choice, but I don’t remember why. AppSumo is the platform where you can find all the tools you need to grow your business. It has everything from ebooks to software.
First I uploaded just one product and didn’t look at my dashboard until July where I started getting emails from AppSumo telling me to set up a payment system so they can transfers my earnings. Honestly, I didn’t expect to sell anything and in reality, I’ve earned $30 with one product priced at $4.2. I know it might not seem as much to you, but it does to me.
AppSumo
What I love about AppSumo is that you don’t have to do anything after you upload your product. You can promote via social media or email marketing but it’s not a must. And there is no SEO thing you can’t understand. It’s simple to use and low maintenance. There is no listing fee, but there is a transaction fee that depends on the product price. You get to see the fee when you set up your listing and upload it.
Etsy
Etsy is tricky, there is more competition and there is a lot to learn about the platform and there is a lot of work and hours to put into your shop. When you see how much effort you invested in your shop to have just a few sales, it’s discouraging. Not to mention the $0.20 listing fee every three months plus transaction fees for every sold listing which you don’t see until the item is sold.
My August stats
AppSumo
So far, August has been my most lucrative month on this platform. With 6 products from 28 sales I made a little over $63 with a bit lower prices compared to Etsy.
Etsy
August was a slower month on Etsy and 6 sales resulted with a litle over $41 earned. Only two products are on both platforms, and sales from those two is a bit lower than $12.
I earned $50 more on AppSumo.
I will continue to upload products that fit to AppSumo platform because the sales are better and there is not much time I need to invest in. At the end of the day, it’s a side hustle not a real business. I would probably to things differently if it was my primary income stream.
Start selling your digital products
To start selling on AppSumo all you need is your product and a sales copy to upload.
If you want to start selling on Etsy, here are 40 free listings to get you started. That’s $8 saved.
You don’t know where to start
I wrote this blog post a few weeks ago, and it has some great resources to check out.
Disclosure This article contains referral links. I may receive a referral bonus for sign-ups made through the links.
