How to Decide What to Sell on Etsy (When Everyone Uses the Same Research Tools)

 

If you open a research tool right now and search for what’s selling on Etsy, you’ll get a list of products with really good numbers. But so will everyone else who searched that day.

So if we’re all looking at the same data, how do you decide what to actually make?

I sell digital wall art and print-on-demand products across a few Etsy shops, and I use research tools every week. This isn’t a post telling you to stop using them. But I’ve learnt that the tools are much better at checking an idea than finding one. Here’s the order I do it in now.

Why research tools send everyone to the same products

When you sort a research tool by sales or revenue, you’re looking at what has already sold. It’s past demand. That’s useful, but you’re seeing a product after it’s proven itself, and usually after a lot of other sellers have seen it too.

Everyone uses the same filters: high sales, low competition, good price. So the same handful of products come up for everyone, and that’s how a niche goes from “this looks great” to crowded in a few months.

The numbers are also estimates. They don’t show a shop’s profit, whether it’s running ads, how long a listing has been building reviews, or whether one big order is skewing it. They’re clues, not proof.

Step 1: Look for patterns across shops, not one listing

One bestselling listing can be luck. It might be an old listing with years of reviews, or a shop spending a lot on ads. But when the same idea keeps showing up across lots of shops that sell consistently, that’s real demand.

Pick a niche and look at five to ten shops that are clearly selling. Don’t focus on any one design. Write down what repeats:

• the theme or subject
• the style and colours
• the format: a single print, a set of three, or a bundle
• who it’s for, and what occasion
• the price range

A simple note with those columns is enough. After five or six shops, the patterns jump out. [Fill: one real pattern you’ve noticed, from the video.]

Also look for newer shops getting traction. A shop that opened in the last six months and is already making regular sales is showing you what’s working now, not two years ago. It’s often the earliest sign of a trend.

Step 2: Turn the pattern into your own idea

There’s a big difference between following demand and copying someone. A pattern is what buyers want: personalised family prints, botanical art for a bathroom. Nobody owns that. But the artwork, wording and photos in those shops belong to the people who made them. Changing the colours on someone else’s design isn’t a new product. It’s copying, and it can land you an intellectual property complaint.

Once I know what buyers want, I close those shops and ask myself four questions:

• Who else wants this? Is there a buyer nobody’s really making it for, like grandparents or a blended family?
• When do they buy it? Everyday decor might also work as a housewarming gift or for a nursery.
• What would I actually make? My own artwork, style and colours.
• How would they want it? A single print, a set of three, a bundle, or a Frame TV version.

Step 3: Look beyond Etsy

A lot of ideas show up somewhere else before they get competitive on Etsy.

• Pinterest: search your niche and look at the suggested searches and what people are saving. That’s people planning what they want, often before they search Etsy.
• Instagram and TikTok: home decor and styling accounts show you the colours and styles that keep repeating.
• Seasonal timing: most buyers shop for an occasion a few months ahead, so think a season ahead.
• Big retailers: when a style lands in stores like Target or Kmart, it’s going mainstream, and buyers will look for their own version.

This isn’t about chasing every trend. It’s about noticing what buyers are drawn to, so when you come back to Etsy you’re looking for a gap, not following the crowd.

Step 4: Use the tools last, to check the idea

Once I’ve got an idea, I open a research tool (I use ProfitTree) to check whether it’s worth making:

• Are people actually searching for it?
• How many listings am I up against?
• What are people charging?
• Are any newer listings selling, or is it all old shops with thousands of reviews?

[Fill: your go/no-go rule, from the video.]

The tool isn’t choosing the idea. It’s checking the one I’ve already found. The tools check it. Your eye finds it.

How to build the eye for it

Set aside 20 minutes a week to look at shops and Pinterest in your niche and write down what you notice. After a month, you’ll start seeing things before they show up in the tools.

If you want the full process for spotting AI art ideas early, read how I find AI art to sell on Etsy before it’s saturated. Once you’ve picked a product, my Etsy titles and tags process covers getting it found. The research tools I use are on my tools page, and my free Etsy resources include the prompt I use to work out why a bestseller sells.

FAQs

How do I decide what to sell on Etsy?

Look for patterns across several selling shops, turn what buyers want into your own idea, check outside Etsy for what’s coming next, then use a research tool to confirm demand before you make it.

Are Etsy research tools accurate?

They’re useful, but their sales figures are estimates. They don’t show profit, ad spend or how long a listing has been building reviews, so treat them as clues, not proof.

How do I find Etsy trends before they get saturated?

Watch newer shops that are getting traction, Pinterest suggested searches and saves, decor accounts on Instagram and TikTok, and what big retailers are stocking.

Is it copying to make something similar to a bestseller?

Following demand isn’t copying, but reproducing someone’s artwork, wording or photos is. Use the pattern to understand what buyers want, then make something that’s genuinely yours.

Should I only sell what research tools say is selling?

No. If you only make what the tools show, you’ll be making the same thing as everyone else. Use the tools to check an idea, not to find one.