Best platforms to sell graphic and design assets in 2024

Finding the right platform to sell your graphic design and digital assets can be overwhelming with so many options.

In this post, I'll cut through the noise and share the best platforms in 2024 to sell your graphic design work and creative assets so you can choose the right one to launch or grow your business.

You'll see the top marketplace picks for different purposes, from versatile ecommerce sites like Designhill and Creative Market to specialized platforms made for selling digital downloads like Marketsy.ai. I'll also cover emerging opportunities with NFT marketplaces and provide tips to maximize sales through marketing automation.

Introduction

The market for selling digital design assets online continues to grow rapidly in 2024. As more businesses and individuals seek convenient ways to purchase graphics, templates, fonts, and other creative materials, online marketplaces have emerged to meet this demand. For graphic designers, 3D artists, photographers, and other creatives, these platforms offer new opportunities to monetize artwork and expand customer reach.

This article provides an overview of the top sites to sell graphic design assets in 2024. It covers key factors to consider when selecting a platform, including fees, audience reach, file hosting options, and more. Whether you are just starting out or looking to improve an existing online store, the recommendations here will help you maximize earnings from your creative work.

How do I sell digital design assets online?

You can sell digital design assets in a few different ways:

Sell on Your Own Website

Whether your website is a portfolio or a landing page with contact information, it's a great place to sell your graphic design work.

• Having a contact page allows potential customers to inquire about purchasing your assets. You can list the types of assets available and pricing.

• Use a service like Gumroad or SendOwl to deliver digital products directly through your site. These services handle payment processing and delivery.

• Use Marketsy.ai to host your storefront and distribute your digital products, or integrate your storefront into any existing website.

• List limited edition prints or other physical products connected to your digital artwork that customers can purchase.

Sell on Marketplaces

Sites like Creative Market and Designhill make it easy to upload and sell a variety of digital asset types. You set your own prices and keep 70-85% of each sale. These marketplaces have large existing audiences of buyers.

Sell on Demand Print Services

Upload your designs to print-on-demand services like Redbubble, Society6, or Zazzle. They produce physical products featuring your artwork like apparel, home goods, electronics cases, and wall art. You earn a commission from each sale.

The key is having a shopfront that makes it easy for potential buyers to browse your work and make purchases. Handle payment processing and delivery through integrated services. Marketplaces and print-on-demand platforms provide the infrastructure while allowing you to focus on creating great designs.

Best Graphic Design Selling Sites in 2024

Exploring the top online marketplaces and platforms for selling graphic and design assets, focusing on user experience and profitability.

Creative Market: A Leading Platform to Sell Graphic Designs Online

A favourite among designers, Creative Market is a brilliant place to sell your designs online. You can sell graphics, fonts, photos and even 3D assets. Post them on the site and you'll have a potential market of more than 5 million members.

• Over 5 million potential customers

• Sell fonts, graphics, templates, 3D assets, and more

• Keep 70% commission on sales

• Easy upload and management

Marketsy.ai: A Platform for Designers to Promote and Sell Their Digital Assets Directly to Their Customers

A simple start and fine-tuning are the winning mixture of this solution. Your 3D assets, fonts, photos or graphics can be sold in your Marketsy.ai store being shown and secured properly

• A few minutes to launch the store-front

• Sell 3D assets, fonts, templates, graphics, and more

• 0% commission on sales

• Flexibility with no-code automations

Gumroad and SendOwl: Simple Solutions for Independent Creators

Gumroad and SendOwl are two popular platforms for creators to sell digital products directly to their audience.

Benefits

• Simple setup - Easy to create an account and start selling with minimal hassle.

• No monthly fees - Only pay transaction fees on sales.

• Custom branding - Apply your own branding and design.

• Email marketing tools - Send email campaigns to customers.

Considerations

• Limited exposure - You must drive your own traffic to the sales pages. The platforms themselves have little visibility.

• Less features than full ecommerce platforms.

Overall, Gumroad and SendOwl offer straightforward solutions for independent creators to sell digital goods through simple hosted checkout pages. They lack some advanced ecommerce features but provide an easy entry point to start selling downloads.

Payhip: A Versatile Platform for Selling Digital Downloads

Payhip is an ecommerce platform focused specifically on selling digital products.

Key Features

• Sell various digital file types - ebooks, PDFs, audiobooks, videos, photography, design assets.

• Flexible payouts - Payhip supports over 100 payout providers including PayPal and Stripe.

• Coupons and bundles - Create discounts and product packages.

• Detailed sales analytics - Track sales performance and customer data.

• Responsive checkout templates - Templates work well on mobile and desktop.

Payhip combines a simple setup with advanced digital commerce capabilities, making it easy for creators to build an online business selling downloads. It lacks some marketing features but provides a full-featured platform to sell digital goods.

Designhill: Empowering Designers to Create, Share, and Sell Their Work Globally

Designhill is another great option that allows you to sell logos, branding assets, illustrations, and more. You can set up a designer profile and get matched with buyer requests.

• Get matched with buyer requests

• 70% commission on sales

• Low platform fees

• Good exposure to potential clients

Redbubble: A Marketplace for Artists to Sell Their Unique Designs on a Variety of Products

Redbubble is a print-on-demand marketplace where you can upload designs and they handle the printing and shipping. When your work sells you earn a commission.

• Print-on-demand model

• No upfront costs or inventory

• Sell clothing, home goods, prints, stickers, and more

• Earn 10-30% commission

The key is finding marketplaces that match your type of design assets. Focus on sites frequented by your target audience and offer the kind of products or files they are looking for. With the right platform, you can start earning from your creative work online.

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Sell Designs to Clothing Companies and Beyond

Strategies for designers to partner with clothing companies and other businesses to expand their market reach.

Collaborating with Fashion Retailers Like Zazzle and Redbubble

Print-on-demand platforms like Zazzle and Redbubble allow designers to easily upload designs that get printed on products as they are ordered. This removes inventory and fulfillment challenges.

Some tips for successfully selling on these sites:

• Optimize designs for the specific products offered. For example, Redbubble has over 70 product types from apparel to home goods.

• Use relevant keywords in titles and descriptions to help people find your work. Research popular search terms.

• Create eye-catching product mockups to showcase designs.

• Promote new designs on social media and link to your store.

• Analyze sales data to identify and create more of your best-selling items.

The major benefit of these platforms is they handle printing, shipping, and customer service for you. So you can focus on creating.

Licensing Deals with Apparel and Merchandise Brands

Licensing artwork allows brands to use your designs on their products for an agreed fee and/or royalty percentage. This expands the reach of your work for more sales potential.

Some tips for licensing success:

• Research brands that align with your style and have licensing programs. Many apparel and gear companies do.

• Prepare a portfolio showing work relevant to each brand. Show final designs on products.

• Send a licensing proposal summarizing experience and ideal partnership terms. Follow up.

• Be flexible on negotiation to get the best win-win agreement.

• Promote when your work appears on products to gain exposure.

The major benefit of licensing is leveraging established brands with wider distribution for bigger impact.

NFT Marketplaces: A New Frontier for Designers

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have exploded in popularity recently as a way for artists and designers to sell their digital creations. An NFT allows the buyer to own the original version of a digital asset, even if copies exist. This opens up new potential to monetize unique designs.

However, entering the NFT space also comes with challenges. As a designer looking to sell NFT art, you'll need to understand the market landscape and choose a platform that aligns with your goals.

Selling Digital Art as NFTs: Opportunities and Challenges

Selling digital art as NFTs provides exciting new opportunities for designers:

• Scarcity and ownership: NFTs let you sell limited editions or even one-of-a-kind designs that buyers can uniquely own. This creates scarcity and perceived value.

• Global audience and demand: NFT marketplaces connect you with motivated buyers worldwide. Popular NFTs can sell for extremely high prices.

• Earn royalties: Most NFT platforms let you earn royalties each time your NFT resells to a new owner. This provides potential for ongoing passive income.

However, you may face hurdles in entering the NFT space:

• Highly competitive: You're competing with lots of other creators, so standing out is a challenge. Quality and smart marketing matter.

• Platform costs: Creating and selling NFTs involves platform fees plus blockchain gas costs. Upfront costs may not pay off.

• Tax implications: You need to report NFT earnings as taxable income in most countries. This can get complicated.

With careful planning, these challenges can be overcome. But it's important to understand that selling NFT art is not guaranteed success. The space is still rapidly evolving.

Choosing the Right NFT Platform for Your Assets

To maximize your chances selling NFT art, choose a platform that aligns with your creative style and financial objectives:

• Art style: Some NFT marketplaces cater to specific genres like 3D, photography, or avant garde designs. Select one that appeals to collectors of your type of art.

• Audience size: Look for platforms with an existing user base and sales volume in your niche. This indicates demand from motivated buyers.

• Fee structure: Platform fees can be high, especially on major markets like OpenSea. Balance costs against audience reach.

• Ease of use: If new to NFTs, choose an intuitive platform that simplifies listing and selling your digital artworks.

Evaluating these key criteria helps find the best marketplace for selling your NFT designs and reaching art collectors who appreciate your style of work.

Ecommerce Platforms: Setting Up Your Online Store

A robust ecommerce platform is essential for artists and designers looking to sell their work online independently. Three great options to consider are Marketsy.ai, Shopify and WooCommerce.

Marketsy.ai: the quickest way to launch your business

Marketsy.ai is an incredibly fast-growing platform where creators launch their stores for digital assets. Some of the designated advantages:

• A few minutes for store establishment.

• AI support with SEO-optimized content creation for products descriptions.

• No-code automations via integrations with Zapier, Web hooks and API integration.

• 0% commission on sales

The lightning-fast launch of a new store for your business makes Marketsy.ai one of the best solutions for digital products. And integrations with no-code platforms gives you unlimited flows customisation for any case and business model

Shopify: A Robust Platform for Your Design Business

Shopify is one of the most popular and full-featured ecommerce platforms available. Some key benefits for designers include:

• Easy setup with no coding required. You can launch a store in under an hour.

• Numerous beautiful themes and customization options to showcase your artwork.

• Secure and scalable hosting for your store as traffic grows.

• Tools for marketing, SEO optimization, email campaigns, and more to promote sales.

• Robust backend dashboard to manage orders, inventory, shipping, taxes, etc.

• Mobile responsive design so customers can purchase anywhere.

• Integrates with payment gateways, shipping carriers, and other services.

With its balance of simplicity and customization options, Shopify is a great fit for most design businesses looking to sell their work online. The platform handles the technical aspects so you can focus on creating.

WooCommerce: Customizable Ecommerce for WordPress Enthusiasts

WooCommerce is a popular ecommerce plugin that turns any WordPress site into a full-featured online store. Benefits for designers include:

• Complete design flexibility since it builds on top of WordPress.

• Ability to leverage other WordPress plugins for additional features.

• Very customizable checkout process, product pages, etc.

• Open source software with a passionate community behind it.

• Lower cost than some other paid platforms.

For designers who already have a WordPress site or prefer open source software, WooCommerce offers extreme tailoring of the user experience. However, it does require comfort with WordPress and a bit more technical skill.

Overall, both Shopify and WooCommerce are great ecommerce platforms for selling creative work online. Shopify offers a faster setup and less customization, while WooCommerce enables complete control over the user experience. Evaluate your technical skills, design needs, and business goals to decide which solution may work best.

Monetizing Your Design Skills Beyond Asset Sales

Diversifying income streams by offering design-related services and productized services can help graphic designers and artists maximize their earning potential. Here are some tips for going beyond just selling assets.

Offering Custom Design Services on Your Website

• Use website builders like WordPress and Shopify to create your own design services ecommerce store

• Plugins like MemberPress allow you to easily sell access to custom design services

• Offer packages at different price points - logo design, branding packages, web design, etc.

• Showcase past work and testimonials to build trust

• Offer unlimited revisions to encourage sales

• Use email marketing and landing pages to promote your services

Creating and Selling Online Courses and Workshops

• Identify your area of expertise - character design, Photoshop techniques, branding basics, etc.

• Break your knowledge down into a course curriculum - video lessons, downloadable resources, assessments, etc.

• Use platforms like Teachable, Thinkific, Podia to sell your course

• Promote through social media, email lists, affiliate marketing

• Offer premium course upgrades, cohorts, and exclusive groups

Diversifying into services and digital products allows designers to leverage their skills in new ways while creating passive income streams over time through educational content and resources.

Conclusion

Selling digital design assets can be a great way for graphic designers, artists, and creators to earn income in 2024. With the rise of sites like Creative Market, Designhill, and Redbubble, there are more options than ever to get your work in front of potential buyers.

Based on the information provided, here are some key takeaways:

• Creative Market continues to be one of the most popular marketplaces for selling graphic design assets like templates, fonts, graphics, and more. Their global audience and range of categories make them a top choice.

• NFT marketplaces are an emerging option for selling more exclusive digital art and designs. However, competition is high and building an audience first is important.

• Turning graphic design skills into a full-fledged business by selling assets takes work. Useful software tools and resources are available, but learning business and marketing skills is also vital.

• Along with specialized marketplaces, options like Marketsy.ai, Shopify, and WordPress allow creators to build their own stores to sell assets directly to customers.

Overall the options for monetizing graphic design skills continue to expand. Finding the right marketplace and products, developing business acumen, building out a brand and marketing strategy, and leveraging tools to create quality assets will be key to success. The demand for original digital content will only increase, making now a prime time for designers to start selling their work.