How to Use Mockups to Improve Your Etsy Shop

If you’ve ever read an Etsy guide one of the first things they tell you is that high-quality images are one of the most important things. When people are going through the Etsy search, your images are the very first thing they see. So if your pics are total garbage no one’s going to click on your product meaning you won’t get any sales. The customers have no way of knowing that the actual item your selling is amazing if the pictures showing it off aren’t amazing. Now I’m gonna tell you why investing in mockups is an easy and awesome way to totally transform the quality of your shop aesthetic!

Taking your own pictures is all fun and games until you realize a. how gosh darn expensive cameras are and b. how tricky it is to get good lighting that properly shows off the quality of your item. That’s why I use mockups. Now obviously mockups aren’t for everyone. For example, if you’re selling jewelry than you’re going to have to take pictures of your product. But if you sell mugs, cards, notebooks, t-shirts, etc. This is an awesome choice for you!

What are Mockups?

Mockups are high-quality images of items such as mugs or t-shirts, that allow you to place your design on them digitally. This allows your customers can see what they are ordering. It’s like a preview of the actual item without actually having to make it! They come in loads of different styles so you can almost always find exactly what you need.

They usually display the item in a specific scenario which helps your product and your business stand out in the crowd.

Here’s an example of one in my shop:

I did not shoot this picture. Sadly, I did not get to enjoy that donut after hours of trying to get the perfect shot. I simply uploaded this image (without my design) into a photo editing software. I then pasted my design onto it, resized it, and placed it to where it should be. Now customers can get a sense of what their product will look like and it was minimal effort on my part. Both parties are happy!

Why Mockups?

Mockups are a cheaper and easier way to advertise your products using professional grade images. First of all, if you outsource your products like I do then you don’t need to purchase every single one of the products. You can digitally upload your design onto an image instead of spending time taking photos. If you have a large shop this can get expensive and time-consuming especially if you’re just starting out. By using mockups you can immediately upload your design and start selling your product!

Without mockups, people like me who are using websites like printful will have to spend money to manufacture and ship each product they sell, wait for it to arrive (which can be a very long time if you’re not in the US), and then spend time taking pictures of it. Not only are you spending about 10 dollars (give or take) on each product that you want to sell, but you have to wait weeks to start selling the designs you create. Mockups usually go for about 35 dollars for a pack of 12 -15 and you can use them over and over again. This is the cost that it would take to order and photograph three items if you weren’t using mockups. So purchasing them pays for itself almost immediately!

Where to Purchase Mockups

I get most of my mockups on Creative Market. There are tons of great options and if you sign up for a free account you get six free design products every single week!!!!

Here are some of my favorite mockups from Creative Market:

1. 15 oz Ceramic Mug Mockups – what I use for all my mug listings in my Etsy Shop
2. 13 Greeting Card Mockups – I use these to style all the greeting cards I sell.