How to Make Your Own Stickers to Sell Online in 3 Steps

One of the most common ways for creators to monetize is by opening up a shop and selling custom stickers.

As a creator, you want to offer stickers your community will love. But what type of sticker is best for you? How do you make stickers and print stickers? Should you use a vinyl sticker, a die cut sticker, or a kiss cut sticker? What's the difference between a vinyl sticker and a holographic one? In this article, we try to guide you through the basics of how to sell stickers online to grow your community.

Why Make Custom Stickers?

Selling kiss cut stickers is one fun way to express your brand and earn extra income. They’re also an excellent merchandise option that you can sell a product at a low cost (usually between $4-$10). Since you can print most stickers on-demand with a printing company, they're easy to produce and to ship.

Plus, stickers are popular. In 2022, they were the third best selling product in the entire Fourthwall product catalog across over tens of thousands of creator shops. This is why you regularly see creators selling them on platforms like Fourthwall, Shopify, Etsy, Sticker Mule, Redbubble, and more.

Things to Consider Before Creating Your Stickers

Creating custom Kiss Cut Stickers for your YouTube channel, Twitch stream, Podcast, or any creative endeavor is easier than you might think. The first step of the sticker design process is to decide what kind of stickers you want to create. You can choose from a variety of options, such as logo stickers, animated stickers, character stickers, and more. 

If you’re not sure where to start, we recommend thinking about the following:

• Do you have a logo that fans love?
• Do you have any regular characters in your content?
• Do you have a catchphrase or something easily recognizable? 

You can also post a poll on YouTube, Instagram, or Twitter to ask your fans for their thoughts. It’s a great way to engage your community in your process. Plus it lets you involve your target audience in the sticker design process, so you can make stickers that connect with your audience.

What Types Of Stickers Can Creators Make?

There are two main types of stickers that creators sell, kiss cut and die cut:

• Kiss Cut stickers are cut with a machine (like a Cricut machine), so that the top sticker layer is separate from the paper backing. This means that on a single sticker sheet, you can offer multiple  designs to your fans with high-quality and vibrant colors.
• Die Cut stickers are cut to combine the sticker and backing material (sticker paper) into a single shape, so they're better for individual sticker designs. 

While die cut sticker and kiss cut sticker types are used by creators, we recommend using kiss cut stickers for your online store. Unlike die cut stickers that have delicate designs, the sticker paper backing on a kiss cut sticker makes it easier to ship after printing. You don't want your fans to receive bent stickers in the mail from the printer.

Each sticker can have a different look and feel, depending on what type of paper backing it's printed on and type of printer involved (e.g. an inkjet printer). The most common sticker paper types for creators are:

• Glossy paper or vinyl
• Holographic

Kiss Cut Stickers come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and textures (glossy, laminate, matte, and vinyl). This makes it easy to create a design that you can apply as a laptop sticker, water bottle sticker, phone case sticker, bumper sticker, or any other surface you can think of. The result is a product that you can easily show off on your videos, stories, or streams. 

How to Make Your Own Stickers to Sell Online

1. Design Your Stickers

Once you've decided on your idea, you can become a sticker maker by creating the artwork in a tool like Photoshop, Illustrator, or Canva. Here are some tips to make sure that your designs come out great for your fans:

• Use high-resolution images. The quality of your final sticker will depend on the quality of the art file you provide. Make sure your images are at least 300 dpi for best results. We recommend using PNG for designs with a transparent background (both Canva & Photoshop allow for this)
• Create files with an sRGB color profile. You want your design to look the same when printed as it does on screen. Make sure you create your print file in an sRGB color profile.
• Keep the cut line in mind. Kiss cut stickers are cut with outlines around the shape of your design, so make sure there is a clear boundary between the design and the background. 
• Avoid small details. Kiss cut stickers are cut using a blade, so small details may not come out as crisp as they would with a larger design. If you have small details in your design, consider making them slightly larger to ensure they are cut cleanly.

We've prepared a full guide of sticker printing best practices in our help center if you're curious to learn more about what works best for a sticker printer. 

2. Print Your Stickers

Once you have a design in mind, you're ready to find a sticker maker, so you can start printing. The easiest way to begin is with a service like:

• Redbubble. Redbubble is an online marketplace for dropshipping, which is good for individuals looking for a side hustle but not for creator with existing audiences.
• Etsy. Etsy is also a shared marketplace. Unlike a platform like Fourthwall or Shopify, you won't be able to launch an Etsy shop that's branded to you on their marketplace. 
• Fourthwall. Fourthwall is built for creators and powers your custom landing page that's 100% yours, so you can own your brand. Fourthwall also natively integrates with printing services like Printful so there's no inventory risk. Plus Fourthwall handles all customer support for your sales. That allows you to focus on creating more content and connecting with your fanbase and target audience. 

Unlike Printful, Printify, and Etsy, Fourthwall also offers a friendly user-interface for customizing your online store, making the process of launching stickers on your website simple and easy for anyone with a creative audience. Fourthwall allows you to upload your designs, add text and shapes, and experiment with different colors and backgrounds. 

Many successful content creators have already jumped on the bandwagon and started selling printed stickers as part of their monetization and dropshipping strategy. For example, you can see how YouTuber Oompaville used Fourthwall's sticker mockup generator to launch this sticker sheet along with his Sour Boys candy line:

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Stickers are a great way for your audience to show their support, and they're an easy addition to your next merch drop. Many supporters will happily add a sticker to their order, helping you make more on every order. They also help you to create a sense of community among your fans, as they will have a physical representation of your content. This is why printing stickers is a great option product with options for every genre of creator — from gamers to vtubers, artists, podcasters, comedians, and more.

3. Start Selling Your Stickers Online

Once you have your custom Kiss Cut Stickers designed and ready to go, it's time to start selling them to your audience. You can do this in a few easy steps:

1. Set a price. We recommend charging between $4-$10
2. Purchase samples to make sure you're proud of them
3. Make sure your audience knows that this is important to you on your next YouTube video or Instagram story
4. Celebrate and show love to your early buyers

Be sure to follow Fourthwall's detailed guided on how to get your first sales.

Wrapping Up

Sticker printing and dropshipping can be a great way to monetize your content and build stronger relationships with your audience. If you want to give your fans a sticker experience that they'll love, sign up with Fourthwall and create your first set custom stickers of today!