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2021 update – Creative Market has made some significant changes to it’s model including adding a $.96 “Platform fee” to each transaction, increasing their commission and setting a minimum price requirement for seller’s products.
I’ve been selling my designs on Etsy since October 2011 and it’s brought me so many opportunities I could never have imagined. Recently I decided to try selling my clipart and digital papers on Creative Market, a digital marketplace that primarily sells fonts, clipart, patterns, textures, and website templates.
There are some differences between Etsy and Creative Market – they both have their pro’s and con’s. If you’re thinking about opening a shop on either site I suggest you read this post first so you understand the differences.
File Size Limit
If you’re planning to offer digital downloads – Creative Market allows for much bigger file sizes than Etsy. This saves me time in not having to manually email orders out to customers.
Etsy – 20MB (Maximum upload of 5 zip files)
Creative Market (CM) – 500MB
Listing Fee
When you have hundreds of products, $.20 per product can add up pretty quick. You pay a listing fee whenever you add or renew a product listing. I average about $60-$80 a month in listing fees.
Etsy – $.20 per listing
CM – Free
Listing Renewal Fee
I love that with Creative Market I don’t even need to renew a sold listing. With Etsy I need to make sure a listing is renewed as soon as it’s sold or a customer looking for it may not find it!
Etsy – $.20
CM – Free
Payout Plan
I like that Etsy puts money in my wallet so quickly. If I were depending on a large payment and had to wait two weeks for Creative Market to payout – that could be a problem.
Etsy – PayPal payments go directly into your PayPal account, Direct Checkout (credit card) every Monday.
CM – Requested payouts will be totaled at the end of the month, and paid out on the 15th of the following month.
Commission Plan
Creative Market takes a huge commission. If they didn’t have free listings and allow for large file sizes I don’t know that I would sign up with them.
Etsy takes 5%. For instance if you sell a product for $14.00 – you receive $13.30.
Creative Market takes 40%. For instance if you sell a product for $14.00 – you receive $8.40.
Conclusion
Overall I think Etsy is a better choice for selling digital products. If I had to only choose one platform, it would be Etsy. The good news is that you never have to choose just one platform. It pays to use all platforms for your products as long as you’re aware of the pros and cons for each.
In 2021, Creative Market upset many sellers by making some significant changes. On top of already increasing the commission by an additional 10% (up from 30%), buyer’s now have to pay a $.96 “Platform Fee”. The fee does not go to sellers, instead it goes to Creative Market.
Creative Market also rolled out a new change where they set a minimum price requirement for all products. Meaning, if you chose to sell a product for a low price, let’s say $4, the new minimum price set by CM is $6.
Seller’s have also reported a huge drop in sales since Creative Market has made these recent changes.
Free Graphics & Fonts
Did you know Creative Market gives away FREE goods each week? All you have to do is signup for their email!
What do you think of this article? Do you have any questions for me? Ask me in the comments box below!
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Hi, there! Happy to read this post, I’m thinking about to sell my wordpress theme on CM and Etsy, do you know is there anyone probably to buy the theme on ETSY?
Sure, I see a lot of themes on Etsy – good luck!
Hi there. Great article & very helpful, so thank you for publishing it. I have a quick question, I have been led to believe that you can upload full size images for the customer to download directly from Etsy, but I have just checked out the Easy guidelines, & they are saying that only images of up to 1000 pixels wide are allowed? Well, if I’m selling hi res, full size stock imagery, 1000 pixels won’t be big enough. Do you have any ideas how I could get around this or point me in the right direction as to where I might find the answer?
Many thanks. Louise
Thanks Louise! You’re correct that Etsy has an instant download feature. I don’t believe there is a restriction in the height or width of the file however there is a restriction on the file size (20MB). You can upload up to 5 separate files that are max 20MB (so 100MB total). I think you’ll be fine with 1000px wide image. Good luck!
Hey there ~ Thank you so much for this. Super helpful, since I’m looking to start either an Etsy or Creative Market shop. After reading this, I think I’ll start with Etsy, get the hang of it, and then move into Creative Market later! 🙂
Hey Britt! I’m glad you enjoyed. Good luck with your shop!
thank u for the info, it helps me lot
will etsy allow putting your art on creativemarket and vice versa? or do they require exclusivity ?
Absolutely! Your work is not owned by Etsy you can post it anywhere.
Thank you for this article. I am already a seller on etsy and I just found out about Clevermarket. I think I will start selling there too. But you should mention that Etsy has other fees too. Except from the 3,5% comm. and the 0.20 for listings, they charge the transaction fees $0.25 (from each order you sell, not for a total amount) plus the tax.
As I red in CM support, they do not have transaction fees. Please correct me if I m wrong.
Again, your article was so complete and to the point!
Thank you.
Hey Casey, you mentioned that you often email large digital files to your Etsy customers after they purchase from you. Do you offer a smaller size file (under 20mb) for them to download initially? And then follow up with an email containing the larger file? What’s your process getting large files to customers and assuring them that the files will arrive in a timely manner?
Hey Josh, That’s a good point to offer them an initial download but I would be afraid it could confuse my customers (you know how so many people never read the details before purchasing). I still occasionally send large files through Google Drive. I’ll mark the order as complete and then send them the link to download the file!
Thanks for all useful infos. Right on point:
Hi Casey,
Thank you for sharing views.
It is very helpful for new entrepreneur like me.
Other than Etsy and CM, Which online marketplace you will suggest to sell pattern designs and graphics.
Thank you
You’re welcome! I’ve only used Etsy and CM. Design Bundles is another site you might want to check out!
Hi Casey, Thank you. I live in a country where we cannot use Etsy. I was only able to make $4.6 from a $23. it’s so disappointing that creatives do not make enough from their creations on CM. The best option for anyone not able to get on Etsy is to invest in their own website.
You’re most welcome! Creative Market has changed a lot, I should update this post. They now offer a membership and I agree, the earnings from CM are not what they used to be. I’ve been exploring using other sites like AppSumo, Creative Fabrica, and Design Bundles. It cost’s nothing to add your work to these sites, just your time and effort so I believe it’s worth trying other sites that have a different audience.
Just hopped over to your blog from Google after spotting the headline. You have a lot of good information about Etsy vs. Creative Market. I am getting ready to launch a new store for my 4K digital wallpapers that I create as digital art, as well as some with my photography. As of this comment I have a website in mind, but haven’t started building it yet… but I’m working on it. I’ve already picked out the available domain. So it’s just a matter of time. I didn’t realize that Creative Market has such high fees, but if you think about it, if they are not charging you anything up front to list your items, and your items never expire (even after selling for digital work), then you are probably getting a bargain in regards to building a huge portfolio for your customers. It looks like they also automatically (I assume) watermark your uploaded images for protection. That is a big plus for a free listing. As I understand it, they do not limit how many items you can list, and I’ve seen some stores on that platform with hundreds, even thousands of listings. I couldn’t imagine paying a 20 cent listing fee for a 1,000 listings each month, or even each quarter lol. That’s crazy… unless you are just a really big dog in what you are selling. I believe based off of the information I read here, that probably my best bet is to launch my store on Creative Market, and use my website for promoting that store and my digital products. My wallpapers cost me nothing but my brain power and my time to create and produce. I can put my initial funds toward the purchase and set up of my website. Then if and when a time comes that one of my wallpapers sell, I’m not really losing anything. I just wouldn’t make as high a profit as I might have on Etsy. But like you said, both platforms have a lot of pros and cons and they are going to get you in fees one way or the other. I just know that for me, I feel like starting this new business would kill me in fees if I start on Etsy. So I’m pretty sure I’m gonna give Creative Market a try.