How to Make and Sell Care Card Instructions

Care instruction cards for tumblers, mugs, masks, rolling trays, stash jars, and more are much needed for Etsians and other shop owners who sell these items. They're busy creating products, so they don't always have time to design their own care cards.

Even without any experience, you can easily make care instruction cards and sell them on Etsy.

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How to make care instruction cards

How to Make and Sell Care Card Instructions PIPS

The easiest way to make tumbler care cards is to use a template. You can grab this care card template kit from my shop for just $7 and reuse it as many times as you'd like.

You can also draw these up in Procreate!

Swap out the fonts, add your logo, etc and they're 100% unique to your shop. You can even make your own care cards and sell them to other shop owners as a side hustle! For a full list of side hustle ideas, be sure to read one of the best blog posts everrrr: best side hustles for 2021.

how to make care instruction cards for tumblers

Items you can make care cards for:

tumblers
mugs
cups
stash jars
rolling trays
onesies
hoodies
tees
masks
anything handmade!

Pricing for care card instructions

Look around on Etsy and you'll see two types of care cards: digital, and physical.

If you're selling a digital version of your care cards, they will sell for less but you design them once and can sell them hundreds (thousands!) of times.

If you're selling actual printed, physical care cards, they'll sell for more per set but you do have to make them each time.

You can even offer both options in your shop!

Pricing digital care card designs

Pricing for digital care cards varies, but average for 1 item in my research (like a mug care card specifically) seems to be around $2. I found several sets for about $3 as well, but that doesn't mean you have to price yours that low. I recommend selling each care card individually, and then offering a bundle at a discount.

For example, if your care card designs are $2 each, bundle 6 of them for $10 instead of $12.

Pricing physical care cards

With physical cards, this means you're either using someone else's design (that you have rights to print and sell – like with my templates), or you're designing your own. Then, you're printing and sending them out. You can sell these in sets of 10, 25, 50, or even 100!

If a customer is selling 100 tumblers a week, they could keep you pretty busy with making tumbler care cards. 🙂

Print on thick cardstock or something more substantial than regular printer paper. You can even create business card size designs on a website like gotprint.com. Order 1,000 of them for less than $30. Divide them up into 10 packs of 100, sell each 100 pack for $20, and you've got a pretty nice profit! 🙂

Here's an example of an easy way to make care cards and sell them:

Use my templates, add a cute flower or change the font and/or instructions, send them to gotprint, and order 1,000 of them for $30. It's actually only about $18 for 1,000 but I'm estimating high on shipping.

Cost: $40 (cost of cards, shipping, and supplies for YOU to ship)
You sell for: $200 (add in shipping costs so customer pays them)
Time investment: less than 30 minutes
Profit: $160

Rinse and repeat with each type of care card you want to offer. Use the money from the sales of the first set of care cards to buy more of your other designs if you don't have the money to invest up front. The more you buy, the cheaper it is per card for you.

Make the unboxing experience special for your customer – whether it's another Etsy shop owner or the end user. I wrap everything in tissue paper and use matching “thank you” stickers. I also always include a handwritten note.

My kids help with these when we get busy, and when I've gotten a HUGE influx of orders at once I have typed out a letter and just signed my name with a handwritten “thank you” added to it, but people LOVE handwritten notes so I feel it's worth the time investment for me.

Pricing physical cards is a bit different because you have to make them every time. Factor in all of your costs, time, and fees. This shop sells a set of 96 care cards for $35 plus $2.99 shipping. That's not a bad investment when it can save you so much time as a shop owner, right?

Pro tip: I recommend giving “free” shipping when selling physical products. It helps get more sales. Just factor in that shipping cost to your pricing.

A note about Etsy fees

Remember, Etsy charges $.20 to list (share your Etsy referral link to get more free listings), and charges a percentage of your sale. Factor this into your pricing. Even if it's a digital item that you design once and sell over and over again, it's important not to charge too little and devalue your work.

I'm not the pricing police so I respect any price you set, but I do like to keep other sellers in mind and try not to undercut them when I'm deciding on my own prices. If you're running a business and will have to pay taxes on what you earn, so that should be factored in as well.

How to market your care instruction cards

PIPS How to Make and Sell Care Card Instructions

Create a Facebook fan page or group.

A Facebook fan page or group can be an amazing resource for your business, even if you're just getting started. The key to creating the perfect page or group:

choose a niche
be helpful, deliver value
post at least 3 times daily

Join Facebook groups!

Joining groups for crafters who make items that require care instruction cards is a great marketing tactic, but it's a long-term one. You can't just join a bunch of groups and promote your care cards the same day.

When joining Facebook groups, your entire goal should be to deliver value. Give more than you get. Make your profile pretty and leave your links in prominent areas (like your bio), and deliver value in the groups you're in.

As you're spending time in these groups and delivering value, you're going to grow your network organically. Crafters will see you are helpful, they'll be naturally curious and go to your Facebook page. There, they can see your shop link and more about what you offer.