Are you interested in selling editable items that the customer can personalize in your ETSY shop? There are various ways to do this. One way is to take the orders yourself and spend time creating each and every order yourself. This is time consuming and if you have multiple orders at once, it could create delays in fulfilling orders.
Another way is to use a service like Corjl. Corjl is a website that allows you to sell items that customers can easily edit your designs and personalize them. It integrates with online platforms like Shopify and ETSY and protects your original designs.
You can either sell editable digital items or physical items, such as T-shirts. I have not tried physical items yet, but the idea is interesting.
The biggest advantage is that customers have a wide variety of tools to customize the design. They can change fonts and colors and you determine how much of the design they can change. This means your clip art is protected as well as any background designs.
The site includes some fonts (through Creative Fabrica) and a color palette that you can adjust to your design.
Of course, there is a cost, but there is a 15 day free trial to see if this is a service that you would like. The monthly cost is a base cost plus any items you sell. Of course, if this option turns out to be a profitable one, the cost might not be important.
Billed Annually:
Billed Monthly
You will be able to connect your ETSY, Shopify and/or WooCommerce shop to Corjl. In order to get the free 15 day trial, you will need to provide a credit card. If you decide during that trial that this is not for you, remember to cancel to avoid being charged.
You will then receive a sellers manual of how to use the program, create a design and instructions to provide in your listing for buyers to be able to edit the design.
Designs
If you want a background, you can upload images. These can be created in PowerPoint, Canva or any other design program you have.
Once you have logged into Corjl, the first step is to either create a new design, load a saved design, view your listings or view orders. Obviously, if this is your first time, you will create a new design.
If you select “Create New Design”, you will then have a choice of digital or physical products. And as you can see from the image, you can view a sample design. I found the sample design helpful in seeing the different parts of a design and how the layers worked together. The sample digital design is a birthday card, easy to replicate and repurpose to practice skills before creating your own design.
The sample physical design is a black T-shirt with an outline image and saying in Pink—editable of course. You can place a design on the front, back or both. Same design or different designs. The customer would then edit the design, and print the design on a shirt.
Creating a Digital Design
After selecting “Create a Digital Design” you will need to choose a layout. If this is your first time, you will not have any saved presets to use, but that is a great tool to use the next time.
Name your project—I like to keep the names simple. Add your tags. So if you are creating a Wedding Thank You Card, name it Wedding Thank You Card 1, add the tags wedding, wedding card, thank you card and thank you. These are tags that will help your customer on ETSY or Shopify find your products.
Select an artboard layout and size. You can have a single artboard, or artboard with a vertical or horizonal fold (cards). I chose 2 artboards per page and the 5 x 7 artboard size. Then click save.
Background
So I cheated a little. Instead of using PPT or Canva, I uploaded some of the elements directly into Corjl. I knew that I wanted the customer to add a photo and their signature on the back but not change anything else. So after designing what I thought I wanted the finished product to look like, I took out the photo and the signature.
Then I downloaded both pages as a JPG. Then I deleted all the elements and uploaded the JPG to the artboard, replaced the fake photo and added the signature line. This was my first product so I was experimenting as I went.
Customer Settings
Since the background contained the headings, thank you paragraph, leaf element and divider, I chose not to let the customer change the background for this product. After some investigation of these types of products, most listings either limit the number of downloads or limit the time period. I let the downloads be unlimited but the access to the file expires in 90 days.
This is more than sufficient time to upload a photo, add a signature and print it out. Maybe edit it a few times or change the photo, but unless the bride is having multiple weddings, this will not be needed after 3 months. The customer always has their downloaded file if they want more prints, but additional editing is probably not needed.
Listing
Once it is saved, then the listing is prepared for ETSY to connect to your shop. At this step, you will receive a demo which lets the customer see the product and edit it before buying. Note: They can do limited editing on the demo and cannot download it.
Then you go to ETSY and create a new listing just as any other listing. I included a slide in my photos to show customers how easy it is to customize and add that the demo link is available in the listing.
I uploaded a file of customer instructions that I received from Corjl as my product file since all the files will be downloaded after editing.
From the Customers Side
When you create a product in Corjl and list it in your Etsy shop, there are additional directions for the customer. I love the demo that you will have to show the customer exactly what they are getting. It is a simple 3 second video that shows the exact design. DEMO
You will also have a set of instructions that you can use so customers will know how to use the platform. You can specify which parts of the design are editable—such as fonts or colors. You can even allow customers to change the background of your design, although I have not used that option.
You also provide a demo for the customer so they can try before they buy. In you listing you may want to add that the watermark on the demo only. No watermark will appear on the purchased product.
If you want this Canva template to use in your listings click HERE. The link will open in Canva
You can also post the YouTube video from Corjl giving instructions on exactly how to edit the designs in that program. So customers will have written instructions (provided by Corjl) and video instructions. This helps with customer service, however you can expect more service related questions with custom items than with standard printable items. Here is that YouTube Video from Corjl.
I also did a video walk thru of creating this card, listing it and then connecting my ETSY product with the Corjl platform.