Selling products online doesn’t necessarily mean becoming a reseller of existing brands. By venturing into DIY (Do It Yourself), you can bring your own ideas to life and achieve your first online sale in no time.

Creating trendy products by yourself and selling them online is a purely entrepreneurial approach. If you have crafting skills and a passion for creativity, you can turn your expertise into a Business thanks to the widespread availability of online sales.

Today, selling on the internet allows thousands of artisans to reach a wide range of customers, both in B2B and B2C, through their online stores. E-commerce has expanded the possibilities for creators, and the available applications now make it easier for them to sell online, giving them more time to focus on what they are most passionate about: their craftsmanship.

Over the years, we’ve explored various types of businesses and have developed success stories and guides to assist you in turning your passion and ideas into a source of income.

The idea of selling your creations online appeals to you, but you may not be sure about how to go about it, or perhaps you haven’t yet found the artisanal activity that suits you best?

To support you in this endeavor and help you finally get started, here are 11 DIY creation ideas to sell online.

11 things to create and sell:

1. Soaps and bath bombs
2. T-shirts and items with printed designs
3. Jewelry
4. Subscription box and gift sets
5. Candles
6. Sweets and desserts
7. Art and photo prints
8. Digital products
9. Enamel pins
10. Handmade rugs
11. Traditional handmade crafts

1. Soaps and bath bombs

A quick Google and YouTube search will reveal hundreds of tutorials guiding you in making your own soaps, bath bombs, and cosmetics, all from the comfort of your own home. These tutorials come in various forms, ranging from simple bath salts recipes to more complex formulations involving emulsions and preservatives.

This business idea offers numerous advantages. First and foremost, it requires minimal financial investment and uncomplicated equipment. Moreover, you don’t need to be a seasoned artisan to start, as it’s quite easy to acquire high-quality molds.

The real challenge? Providing high-quality and unique packaging and branding is essential to stand out in the beauty industry. Consider seeking the services of a professional brand image consultant, freelance graphic designer, or designer.

Tips:

1. Store small quantities. Bath bombs produce more fizz when they are fresh, and natural ingredients (like essential oils) in soaps may have expiration dates.
2. Thoroughly examine your sources of raw ingredients to ensure that the components you use are of cosmetic quality and dermatologically tested.
3. Get in touch with local health authorities to ensure that the place where you manufacture your products (even if it’s your kitchen) meets recommended sanitary standards. Some countries specify standards for ventilation, air control, and surfaces.

2. T-shirts and items with printed designs

This DIY business idea is particularly appealing for selling online because it can suit even those who don’t want to get hands-on. Your designs can be created and printed on various items—such as t-shirts, mugs, storage bags, bandanas, cushions, and more. These items are then shipped directly to your customers. It’s an automated activity with a very low barrier to entry.

To get started: How to start a business in 2023, all the steps

Tips:

1. T-shirts and printed items can complement an existing business. For example, gyms, musicians, and associations can sell printed items with their logos to their communities. Such initiatives help build brand recognition.
2. Not a designer? Join platforms like Upwork or Creative Market, where you can find talented individuals who can help transform your ideas into designs for your t-shirt selling venture.
3. Rely on a Print On Demand (POD) printing and fulfillment service like Printful or Teelaunch. These services offer applications that can integrate with your Shopify store. They handle the printing, processing, and shipping tasks for each order on your behalf.

3. Jewelry

Selling jewelry is another tempting business idea, but the manufacturing process can be time-consuming and complex, depending on the type of jewelry you want to market. The time and complexity of production can vary greatly depending on whether you choose to focus on jewelry accessible to the general public (such as making pearl necklaces or woven bracelets) or pieces that require specialized expertise and professional equipment (such as goldsmithing). Moreover, it’s a saturated market. That’s why it’s crucial to conduct market research in advance to identify effective differentiation strategies. Is there a niche market you believe you can serve?

To get started: The guide to starting your own jewelry-making business.

Tips:

1. The fashion market is ever-changing. Validate your idea by staying updated on trends and following the most popular fashion blogs and influencers.
2. Consider using apps like Jewelfie to help your customers easily choose ring and jewelry sizes.
3. Product photography is crucial in an online jewelry business. Jewelry is reflective, making it challenging to photograph. To overcome this, you can follow our jewelry photography guide or enlist the services of a professional. You could also consider collaborating with clothing brands for shared lookbook costs.

4. Boxes and gift boxes on subscription

The subscription box and gift set business is ideal for entrepreneurs who don’t possess a specific artisanal skill but have a passion for curation. Unlike on-demand t-shirt printing, which can be largely automated, the subscription box business requires a significant time investment. The arrangement and presentation of products in the boxes must be carefully thought out. However, this type of business has advantages for online selling: subscription boxes are typically packed at the same time each month and have the same dimensions, significantly simplifying the shipping process.

Tips:

1. Evaluate your storage and packaging space needs. Can you manage your business from home, or will you need to rent additional space?
2. Encourage your customers to subscribe intelligently. Offer a substantial discount to those who pay for their subscription in advance or provide a free first month of subscription.
3. Use an application to manage subscriptions (e.g., Recurring Orders and Subscriptions).

5. Candles

Online sales in the candle market reach several billion euros, and there are numerous niches to explore: birthday candles, organic and natural candles, scented candles, beeswax-based candles, colored candles, vegan candles, and more. Much like with bath bombs, you’ll have no trouble finding beginner tutorials using very simple melting and pouring methods that require little to no specialized skills.

Tips:

1. Obtain insurance and use safety labeling. Due to the high risks of injury or fire that can result from handling candles, you need to protect your business from potential civil lawsuits stemming from the use of your products.
2. Serve a well-defined niche to have a chance to stand out in a saturated market. For example, Frostbeard Studio targets book enthusiasts with cleverly named scented candles and website content full of literary references.
3. Pay special attention to branding and packaging. Since all candles are made from similar ingredients, it’s through attractive packaging and well-crafted branding that your products can sell online and appeal to new audiences.

6. Sweets and Desserts

Candies, cookies, pastries, cakes, chocolates, and jams; you’ll never run out of ideas when it comes to crafting delightful treats to satisfy sweet cravings. This realm comes with its own challenges, such as food regulations, labeling, shelf life, etc. But the potential is certainly there. Niche markets include personalized recipes for special diets, holidays and occasions, gift baskets, and much more. For example, the brand Shanty Biscuit came up with the brilliant idea of offering customizable cookies. Make sure to assess the viability of selling your product online. Are there factors that might complicate shipping, like refrigeration and fragility?

Tips:

1. “Follow the supply chain,” advises food law specialist Glenford Jameson. Choose your raw ingredient suppliers carefully to ensure you get quality ingredients.
2. Consult a lawyer or a food inspection agency to ensure your labeling complies with local requirements for nutritional content, ingredients, and allergy warnings.
3. “Rotate your stock,” recommends artisan brewer Casandra Campbell, and “make sure everyone responsible for managing your stock does the same.”

7. Artworks and photo prints

Let go of the cliché of the struggling artist. There has never been a better time to create works of art and sell them online! Whether you’re into visual arts or photography, you can reach large audiences and sell your artwork internationally.

Tips:

1. Collaborate with a well-established art gallery to showcase your work to the public and start building an audience for your online art shop.
2. Have your works professionally photographed, or for a more cost-effective option, follow our guide to learn how to take professional shots and edit them in Photoshop.
3. Consider reproducing your artistic creations in different formats and on various media—prints, cards, mugs, t-shirts, and more. You can do this independently by partnering with a printing and fulfillment service or license your work to other e-commerce brands.

8. Digital products

Selling digital products is a safe bet. Creating and selling digital products—such as courses, webinars, various templates, designs, and more—does require a significant time investment, but once the business is up and running, most operations can be automated. Overall costs are very low, and certain issues associated with selling physical products (inventory management, shipping) are nonexistent.

Tips:

1. Use an automatic download delivery service. Applications like Digital Downloads and Sky Pilot integrate with your Shopify store to automatically send purchased digital products via email or provide a download link to each customer.
2. If you’re hosting files on Shopify, ensure they weigh less than 5 GB. Try to compress larger files into ZIP format.

9. Enamel Brooches and Pins

Enamel brooches and pins are as popular as ever and are even on the rise. You’ll likely need to collaborate with a manufacturer to produce your own enamel brooches and pins. However, you can be fully involved in the design of your jewelry—create your own designs or collaborate with a graphic designer to bring your concept to life.

Tips:

• If you choose to design your own pins and brooches, use image editing software like Photoshop, Illustrator, or free alternatives like Pixlr and GIMP. Opt for solid colors (no gradients) and avoid intricate details.
• Whether you source your products from abroad or locally, make sure to ask the right questions to your manufacturer: What types of clasps and materials do you offer? Can you send me physical samples? What types of packaging do you provide?

10. Handmade Rugs

The tufting trend, which refers to the making of rugs, is continuously gaining popularity. While it does require some skill, the tufting technique can be easily learned with tutorials available on YouTube. Additionally, the required equipment is not very expensive (tufting gun, wooden frame, canvas, and yarn). The only downside is that it’s a time-consuming activity, but buyers are generally willing to spend a good budget on a quality handmade rug.

Tips:

• To feel more confident in your technique, consider taking one or two classes with a professional. This will help you gain confidence and avoid wasting canvas or yarn unnecessarily.
• Use acrylic yarn, at least for your beginnings, to save some money.
• Start selling on Instagram and Pinterest: Establish a strong presence on these social media platforms where tufting is a trending topic that works very well.

11. Traditional handicraft products

Leather-working, woodworking, embroidery, and pottery are all artisanal crafts that generate significant interest. Nowadays, consumers are increasingly looking to support artisans, artists, and small businesses that offer high-quality handmade products while considering sustainability and environmental protection. Many of these disciplines typically require skills that are acquired over several years, but you can nurture your inner creator and strive to master these skills more quickly through online tutorials, training workshops, and an experimental approach.

Tips:

• The appeal of handmade products is often closely tied to the artisan’s story. Infuse your own story into your product pages, a compelling About Us page, and even your packaging.
• How will you handle growth? If your idea proves successful, how will you maintain your artisanal (“handmade”) production while producing large quantities: will you be able to hire other artisans? Can some of your process operations be outsourced without affecting the artisanal production method?

Recommended reading: Niche product: how to find profitable ideas + 8 examples of themes!

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