Make and Sell Stickers Online: A 5-Step Guide (2024)

The internet is awash with creative custom stickers for every taste and style imaginable. Whether you want to add a personal touch to your water bottle, customize your phone case, or make your luggage easier to spot at the airport, stickers are an affordable way to transform everyday items into unique, personal expressions.

For artists, turning their illustrations into stickers is a simple process. Likewise, starting a sticker business is a viable and cost-effective venture for entrepreneurs. This article explores the basic steps to designing and printing stickers, as well as the most effective ways to sell stickers online. Plus, it features insights and inspiration from successful entrepreneurs in the sticker industry.

How to Design and Sell Stickers
Designing stickers: Making stickers typically begins with the use of illustration software or graphic design tools. Artists can start from a digital zero or start with a hand-drawn design that is then scanned in high resolution. It’s critical to ensure that the uploaded image meets a minimum 300 dpi (dots per inch) resolution and is saved in CMYK format to maintain color accuracy.

Here are some popular software options for designing stickers:

Procreate: Designed specifically for iOS tablets, Procreate offers powerful tools for creating detailed digital artwork, including customizable brushes and textures.

Adobe Illustrator: Professional-grade software for creating vector graphics, perfect for complex designs and scalable artwork.

Canva: Beginner-friendly, with customizable templates and a rich library of fonts and images, it’s ideal for easily creating stickers.

Choose the right sticker finish: The choice of sticker material and finish can significantly affect the appearance and durability of your sticker. When choosing a finish, consider where and how the sticker will be used—whether it’s indoors, outdoors, or on surfaces like laptops or water bottles.

Common sticker finishes include:

Custom Vinyl Stickers: Known for their durability and weather resistance, they’re suitable for outdoor applications.

Matte: Offers a non-reflective surface that enhances clarity and detail.

Holographic and Prismatic: Creates eye-catching effects through light-refracting properties.

Clear: Made from clear materials that provide a seamless look on surfaces.

2. Print Stickers: Stickers can be printed using a variety of methods

Print at Home: Requires adhesive sticker paper and a cutter that’s compatible with your printer for precise cutting.

Professional Printing Service: Use a specialized sticker printing service to ensure high-quality output and material compatibility.
Dropshipping/Print on Demand: Allows stickers to be printed on demand, minimizing upfront costs and inventory management.

3. Selling stickers online

There are several effective ways to sell stickers online:

Marketplaces: Leverage established platforms like Etsy, Amazon, or eBay to reach a large pool of potential buyers.
Personal e-commerce store: Create your own online store using platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce to have more control over your brand and customer experience.
Social media: Leverage platforms like Instagram or Facebook to showcase your designs, engage with customers through posts and stories, and run targeted ads.
Collaborations and wholesale: Partner with influencers, retailers, or businesses to expand your reach through collaborations or wholesale agreements.
Learn from successful entrepreneurs

Get insights from sticker business owners who have achieved remarkable success:

Milkteanco: Shares their journey and key strategies that contributed to their success.

By Christine: Highlights their achievements and insights in the sticker business.

By following these steps and drawing inspiration from established entrepreneurs, aspiring sticker creators can effectively design, produce, and market their stickers to a wide audience, turning their creative passion into a profitable online business.

The internet offers a wide variety of creative stickers to suit every taste and style. Whether you want to personalize your water bottle, add a splash of color to your phone case, or identify your luggage at the airport, stickers are an affordable way to customize everyday items.

For artists, turning their illustrations into stickers is simple. Likewise, starting a sticker business is convenient and cost-effective for entrepreneurs. This article explores the basic steps to designing and printing stickers, as well as effective ways to sell stickers online. It also draws inspiration from successful entrepreneurs in the sticker industry.

Professional sticker printing:

Another option for making stickers is to hire the services of a printing company. Online platforms such as Nova are popular for their rave reviews. Alternatively, a local printer may offer a faster turnaround time.

Once you upload your design and select your materials and finish, the company will take care of the entire process of printing, cutting, and shipping your stickers. This option is particularly useful for managing large orders when you don’t have the time or equipment to print at home. However, keep in mind that you won’t see the final product until it arrives.

In addition, prepayment is required to purchase bulk stickers. The larger the order, the lower the cost per sticker, which drives your decision whether to order in bulk to reduce the unit price or choose a smaller quantity.

If considering a printing company, it would be wise to ask if they offer sample packs so that you can evaluate different types of stickers before ordering in bulk.

Dropshipping stickers:

Another way to print stickers is through a dropshipping service. By uploading your designs to a platform like Printful or Printify, which integrates with Shopify, you can delegate the printing, cutting, and dropshipping of orders to your customers.

While dropshipping minimizes hands-on work, it also means giving up some control over the production process. To reduce risk, ordering samples allows you to check the finished product before offering it to your customers.

Cutting Stickers:

When cutting stickers, there are two main methods:

Custom Die-cut Stickers: Die-cutting machines use a blade to precisely cut stickers according to a programmed path defined in the software. These machines can cut complex shapes from a variety of materials, including the sticker itself and its backing. This method ensures that the sticker is an exact match to your design, whether it is a simple shape or an intricate detail like a plant leaf. Popular die-cutting machines include the Cricut Maker and the Silhouette Cameo.

Kiss-cutting: Kiss-cutting involves cutting the top layer of a sticker while leaving the paper backing intact. This technique is often used for stickers that contain multiple designs, allowing individual stickers to be peeled off while the backing remains intact.

By following these steps and taking inspiration from established entrepreneurs, aspiring sticker creators can effectively design, produce, and market their stickers to a wide audience, turning creativity into a profitable online business.