How To Sell Canva Templates and Make Money Online (2024)

How To Sell Canva Templates and Make Money Online

Are you wondering how to sell Canva templates online and make money with Canva?

That’s great because selling Canva templates is a great passive income idea and one of the best ways to make money with Canva!

I sell all different kinds of templates on my blog and it’s a nice addition to my blog income. So if you’re looking for a side hustle to make some extra money, I highly recommend giving this a go!

Follow along with the steps below and find out how to make Canva templates with the Canva template creator function and how to sell your own Canva templates on Etsy or your blog.

Let’s get started!

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I may earn a small commission for affiliate links in this post at no extra cost to you. Please read my disclaimer for more information.

How to make money selling Canva templates

There are three ways to sell Canva templates:

1. On Canva as a contributor
2. In your own online store on your website or blog
3. On platforms like Etsy, Shopify, Creative Market, Gumroad or Fiverr.

At the time of writing, Canva is not accepting contributions, but it might become available again so if you want to sell templates on Canva make sure to check out how to become a Canva contributor here.

In this post I’ll mainly focus on selling Canva templates on Etsy or from your website or blog.

What are Canva templates

Canva templates are pre-designed layouts for Canva users that will allow them to create things like social media graphics, planners or any document that requires some level of design. Canva templates are a great way to speed up document creation so if this is something your audience needs help with, selling templates could be perfect for you!

How much money can you make selling Canva templates

Creating Canva templates to sell online is a legit business model that can bring in thousands of dollars each month. Of course it will depend on how many different kind of templates you sell and how many platforms you’re selling your templates on. But with high-quality templates and consistent Pinterest promotion you should be able to earn a full time income selling templates.

Many bloggers sell Canva templates on their blog as extra income stream. But even if you don’t have a blog you can still make money with Canva templates by selling on Etsy or another online marketplace.

Here’s an example of an Etsy shop that has made over 42k sales selling templates and printables.

Best selling Canva templates

The best things to make on Canva to sell online are… templates!

Pre-made templates are always in high demand with online business owners who want to increase their productivity and save on graphic designer costs. So if you create some professional-looking designs targeted at small businesses you’ll be sure to make sales!

Some of best selling Canva templates are:

• eBook templates
• Planner templates
• Social media templates
• Presentation slide templates
• Course workbook template
• Media kit templates

If you want to create social media templates, you could divide this in social media template bundles for Instagram (Instagram post templates and instagram story templates), Pinterest (Pinterest pin templates and Idea Pin templates) and Facebook (Facebook post templates, banner templates and Facebook ad templates.)

If you have a template idea but you’re not sure if it will sell it’s a good idea to do some market research on Etsy (or similar digital marketplaces). Check to see what other Canva creators are selling and find out what their best selling templates are. The most important thing to keep in mind when brainstorming template ideas is that your templates are super helpful for your ideal customer.

How to create Canva templates

Ok enough chitchat, let’s have a look at how to make Canva templates…

You probably have heard of the Canva platform, a great design tool known for its ease of use and awesome free plan, so let’s get started!

Step 1. Create a Canva account

Go to the Canva website and sign up for a free Canva account.

If you want more functionality (like resize a document in a few clicks, brand kit, or get access to more folders to keep your template designs organised in) you could sign up for Canva Pro, you can try the Canva Pro 30 day free trial with this link.

Step 2. Decide what kind of templates you want to sell

To be successful at selling templates it is important to have a specific target audience. Niching down on one specific topic can help you become the go-to person for these types of templates, which will create loyal followers and return customers.

Here’s a few examples:

You might want to focus on selling Canva templates for coaches or online business owners.

Or maybe you want to create Canva templates for wedding planners and design things like wedding invitation templates or editable wedding itinerary templates.

As you can see these two examples have very different audiences, so only targeting one audience will lead to less confusion with potential buyers and keep your customers coming back for more.

Step 3. Design your Canva templates

Once you know what type of template you want to make, it’s time to design your templates in Canva.

The beauty about Canva is that it has an extremely user-friendly interface, so even if you have no design skills it’s fairly easy to create a custom template.

First you need to set up your document size. Canva has templates for all types of document sizes so depending on what you’re creating you can pick a template size from the dropdown menu or choose Custom size to select your own sizing.

Next you need to design your layout and add photos, graphics and text. You can use photos and graphics from the Canva library in your design but you’re only allowed to use free photos and graphics in your design if you want to resell them in a template.

I also recommend only using free photos and graphics because this way your customers can still use the photos in your template design even if they don’t have a Canva Pro account

Alternatively you can use image placeholders, you can find image placeholders on the left menu under Elements > scroll down to Frames.

For eBook templates or other more text based designs, you may want to add dummy text in your layout, you can use Lorem Ipsum for this.

If you want to sell your templates you should design your templates from scratch and make sure they are 100% your own work.

For inspiration however, you may want to check out similar templates on Etsy or Creative Market. Please don’t copy anyone else’s work though, but checking out other template designs is a great way to get new ideas.

For more Canva editing tips and techniques, make sure to read:

Step 4. Save your Canva design as a template

So your big question probably is: How to save your Canva design as a template?

Well, you don’t actually save your Canva design as a template but you share it as a template.

But before you do this you want to make sure you save it in a separate folder with a recognisable name, so you can easily find it again in case you need to make changes. If you want access to more than 2 folders you need to upgrade to Canva Pro, you can try Canva Pro for free here.

Step 5. Share your Canva templates

Once your template is finished it’s time to share it with your buyers. No matter where you sell your templates, you’ll need the Canva template link to be able to share it.

The best way to share this link is to create a PDF document in Canva. On this PDF you thank your customer for their purchase and tell them a bit more about your templates and how to edit them. Then you write something along the lines of: Access Your Templates Here

(Make it stand out in Bold or highlighted text) and link this text to your Canva template link.

Here’s how you access your Canva template link:

In the Canva dashboard go to the top right corner and click Share. In the dropdown under Collaboration link you select Anyone with the link and in the dropdown next to it you need to select Can edit. Next you click on Template link.

Now it will show you the template link. Copy the link, and go to your PDF document.

In your PDF document you highlight the text you want to add the link to and then a little link symbol will pop up somewhere on the page. Click on this and in the box that pops up you’ll be able to past your link. (If this link symbol doesn’t show up, check in the top menu bar for a link symbol.)

Step 6. Download your PDF file

Once you’ve added your template link you can download this page as a PDF.

Step 7. Store & share your PDF

To be able to share this PDF with your buyers, you need to store it somewhere online. You can store files on your website, in DropBox or Google Drive.

I use Google Drive to store my online documents, it’s easy to use and it lets you store up to 15 GB for free.

How to share your PDF fie with your Canva template link

1. Go to Google Drive and create a free account
2. Upload your PDF
3. Click on the PDF doc to open it
4. In the top right of the screen click on the 3 dots menu
5. Click Share
6. In the pop up box, under General access select Anyone with the link
7. Click on the Copy link button

Now you have a link to your PDF that has the Canva template links on it.

This is the link that you add as the product link that someone receives after they make a purchase.

How does your client access their Canva templates

When someone buys your Canva templates they’ll receive a link to the PDF that has your Canva template links on it (as explained above.)

When they click on a Canva template link it will open a page that says: A template created by [your business name] was shared with you, start designing now.

Your client can then click on a button that says Use template and this will open the Canva template in their Canva account as a copy.

Now it’s a good idea to remind your client to make several copies of the original before they start editing to make sure they don’t lose the original.

Where to sell Canva templates

Creating Canva templates is one thing, but now you have to sell them!

But this is also the fun part… whoop whoop!

So what is the best platform to make money selling templates?

Well luckily there are a few options, I kind of mentioned them before, but the most popular ways to sell templates are:

• Etsy
• Creative Market
• Shopify
• Gumroad
• Fiverr
• Your own website

My personal favourites are Etsy and your own website… so in this post I’ll show you how to sell Canva templates on Etsy and your own site.

How to sell Canva templates on Etsy

Selling templates on Etsy is not complicated at all so anyone should be able to do this.

Step 1

First you need to start an Etsy shop, you can use this link to start your Etsy shop and get 40 free listings.

(Without this link you’ll have to pay for each listing, so make sure to use it!)

Step 2

Next you need to set your shop preferences. Here you’ll choose your shop language, shop country, and shop currency. Select your choice from the dropdown menu and click Save & Continue.

Step 3

Now you need to name your Etsy shop. You can use your business name if you already have one and make sure to add keywords to your byline so people can find you.

Step 4

Now it’s time to add your first product listing.

In the left menu click on Listings and then in the top right click on the button + Add a listing. This will take you to the listing page where you can add all the details about your product.

Here you can upload your template images, add a product title and a detailed description with plenty of keywords. You can also add 13 SEO tags that will help your product get found in Etsy searches. Make sure to use them!

The main setting for selling digital products on Etsy is the Product Type Setting, here you need to select Digital: A digital file that buyers will download.

Once you got this selected, a Digital files box will appear further down the page where you can upload the PDF with the link to your Canva templates (as explained above.)

Step 5

Last but not least you need to set your prices. Before pricing your digital products it’s a good idea to check out what other Etsy sellers charge for similar products.

Keep in mind that Etsy charges a 6.5% transaction fee, so set your price lower and then with the Etsy fee, your price will be in the “normal”price range.

This is how you sell editable Canva templates on Etsy

As you can see it is very quick and easy to set up an Etsy account and sell Canva templates on Etsy.

How to sell Canva templates from your blog

Before you start selling Canva templates from your blog, you need to make sure that your audience is actually interested in buying templates.

Canva templates are mostly used by business owners, so if your readers don’t own a business it’s not likely they need templates.

If your blog doesn’t cater for business owners you could however create printables for your audience.

Printables are often helpful resources that your customer can print out, like a homeschooling calendar, menu planner, mindfulness journal etc.

For more info on how to create printables, please read:

How To Make Printables To Sell

Ok, but let’s have a look at how to sell editable Canva templates from your website or blog.

What do you need to sell templates from your website

To be able to create your own shop and sell from your website you’ll need:

• a sales page
• an email marketing provider like Mailerlite or Convertkit
• a payment gateway like Stripe or Paypal

There are some online tools that will make it easier to sell digital products from your website like Woocommerce, SendOwl and ThriveCart.

Woocommerce is a free WordPress plugin that is an ok budget option, but it can be a bit technical to implement and it is quite a big plugin which means it can slow down your site.

SendOwl is an easier option that has a free 3 month trial and after that you’ll pay $9 p/m plus 5% of sales (minimum $0.50 per order). SendOwl is a great budget option to test the waters with.

ThriveCart is my absolute favourite tool ever. ThriveCart has a lot more functionality than SendOwl, is easier to use and has the best checkout pages!

With ThriveCart you can really take your digital product sales to the next level with its customisable sales & checkout pages, up-sells, down-sells, bump offers, email list segmentation, an affiliate platform and so much more.

ThriveCart even has a full blown course platform, so if you’re thinking about adding online courses to your selection of digital products, this is the tool you need!

And the best thing about ThriveCart is that is has a (limited time) Lifetime Deal (and no other charges ever) so if you think this might be the tool for you, make sure to claim your ThriveCart account before it runs out!

If you want to find out more about this awesome tool, make sure to read my full review here:

ThriveCart Lifetime Deal + Review

How to sell digital products with ThriveCart

ThriveCart is a great platform for selling digital products and super easy to use, so let’s have a look at how to sell your templates with ThriveCart.

Once you’ve got the link to the Canva PDF with your template links on it, you need to set up a new product in ThriveCart.

Follow the steps below to do this:

Step 1

In the top menu select Products and in the next page click the blue button Create product. In the popup select Digital product and click the button Create new product.

Step 2

On the next page you name your product. You won’t need to add a checkout page URL, ThriveCart automatically creates this for you. Click Next.

Step 3

Now you need to choose your currency and determine your product price.

You can choose from the following payment options:

• One-time fee
• Subscription
• Split pay
• Pay your own price

You can also choose to set a trial period or a product quantity limit if you want.

Step 4

Next you have the option of setting up a bump offer if you have one.

Step 5

Under the Processors tab you’ll need to add your payment processors like PayPal, Stripe etc.

Step 6

Next you need to click on the Fulfilment tab in the top menu to let ThriveCart know what you would like it to do after someone buys your product.

Here you can add a support email or URL, and in the dropdown on the right you need to select: Send them to a URL.

In the Success URL box you past the URL of the PDF that you saved in Google Drive.

Step 7

Next you need to click on the Checkout tab to create your checkout page or sales page.

Here you can select which cart type you want.

Step 8

After this you need to click on the Design tab. Here you can launch the sales page editor and start creating your sales page from scratch.

If you don’t know now how to build a sales page and want to save yourself a ton of time you could buy ThriveCart with my affiliate link and get my Sales Page Template Bundle as a BONUS in your invoice.

Once you have my Sales Page Template Link, you simply click on the button: Import a design and paste the link in the box that shows up.

Step 9

Now this Sales Page Template will open up in your ThriveCart Editor where you can simply replace the text with your own and add your own images and brand colours.

Step 10

When you sell digital downloads from your blog you simply add a mockup product image and a button to a page on your website, and you link this button to your ThriveCart sale page.

This is how you sell Canva templates from your website with ThriveCart!

Let me know if you have any questions about ThriveCart or selling templates in the comments below, and if you’re interested in ThriveCart make sure to check out my ThriveCart Bonus here:

FAQ about selling Canva templates

Can I create my own template in Canva?

Yes you can create a template in Canva with the template link function. When your design is finished go to Share in the top right corner and then click on template link. This will create a link to your design that you can share with someone. When someone clicks the link the design will open in their Canva account as a copy. Now they can edit it without editing your original file.

What are Canva templates used for?

Canva templates are often used in online business for things like eBook creation, social media post design or video slides etc.

Can you make money on Canva?

Yes, you can make money on Canva by selling your own templates and design elements. At the time of writing Canva is not accepting any new contributors, but this may change so if you’re interested in selling templates on Canva check out how to become a Canva contributor here.

Can I sell Canva designs?

You can sell designs that you create in Canva. You can’t however sell templates or graphics from Canva as your own work. You can use Canva’s graphics to create your own designs and sell them. For more info check out Canva’s licensing and copyright rules.

What is unaltered media in Canva?

Unaltered media is a design that has been purchased or accessed on Canva and used as a final design without making changes. A design like this is not your own work and can not be sold as your own work. If you want to use media from Canva in your final design, you need to make sure it is no longer recognisably connected to a Canva design.

Can I use Canva elements for commercial use?

According to Canva, all free photos, music and video files on Canva can be used for free for commercial and noncommercial use. So if you create your templates with with free Canva elements you’re good to go!

Can you share Canva designs between accounts?

Yes you can!

Here’s how to share a Canva design with someone to edit:

1. Open the design you want to share.
2. Select Share from the top menu bar
3. Use the dropdown under Collaboration link to share with Only your team (for Canva for Teams users only), or Anyone with the link (which is the same link you use to create your Canva templates.)

Can you upload your own template to Canva?

Yes you can upload your own template to Canva. If you have the Canva template link saved somewhere, you simply click on it and it will open your template in Canva.

Can I use Canva to sell on Etsy?

Yes you can use Canva to create templates and other digital products and then start an Etsy shop to sell templates on Etsy.

To find out more about selling Canva designs on Etsy, read:

How To Sell Digital Products On Etsy

To find out more about the differences between the free version of Canva and Canva Pro make sure to read my Canva Pro review here.