5 Of The Best Places To Sell Knitting & Crochet Patterns
If you’re new to designing, it can be hard to know where and how to sell your newly designed crochet / knitting pattern(s). I’ve been designing and selling patterns to supplement my yarn addiction for years and today, I’m going to share 5 of the best places to sell your knitting or crochet patterns.
**This post contains affiliate links, if you choose to buy something from this page, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. These help support the blog, and as always all thoughts & and opinions are my own.**
I’ve shared before about the best places to find free knitting & crochet patterns (you can read that post HERE), but if you are a designer, selling your designs as patterns is a great way to make passive income and support your yarn habit.
The best part is that once you’ve set it up, you don’t really have to do anything else to earn the money.
Whether you’re entirely new to the pattern selling process or you’ve been doing it for a while and are looking to expand and sell in new markets, there’s something here for everyone.
For this list, I’ll be comparing the particulars of each platform such as popularity, fees to get started, etc.
While it is true that you have to spend money to make money, if possible, I’ll also list any ways (such as codes) to save money on listing costs.
The 5 Best Platforms To Sell Knitting & Crochet Patterns On:
Etsy
Etsy.com
Our list kicks off with the behemoth that is Etsy. With 34 million website views per month, Etsy is well known around the world as the destination for handmade items.
But while it may be most well known as the destination for physical items, as long as it complies with their policies, digital products such as patterns can be sold on Etsy. And they do have a sizable digital market.
A word of caution about selling patterns on Etsy: make very sure that you mark that it is a pattern and not the physical item. Even then, be ready for some confused DMs
Etsy particulars:
Etsy takes a 6.5% (up 1.5% from April 2022) commission on every item sold, on top of a flat $0.20 listing fee per item.
This $0.20 listing fee is charged regardless of whether the pattern sells or not. (however, if you use my referral link HERE, you can get 40 free listings). The listing is active for 4 months, after that you’ll need to renew the listing which is another $0.20
But wait, there’s more!
On top of those fees, Etsy charges a payment processing fee for their payment system. Like the commission fees, these are also both a flat rate and a percentage of the item’s sale price.
This percentage varies by your country of residence, in the United States it is 3% of the sale price + $0.25.
Total fee: 9.5% + $0.45
Etsy uses PayPal to deposit your earnings, you do not need to have a business PayPal to sell on Etsy.
Ravelry
Ravelry.com
With 9 million users and 1 million users this is the no. 1 destination for both free and paid patterns.
If you’re just starting out selling patterns, this is a great place to start.
Ravelry particulars:
Ravelry has no listing fee and only charges a 3.5% commission if you sell more than $30 worth of patterns in a month.
If you make less than $30 in sales in a month you will only pay PayPal processing fees (2.9% + $0.35).
If your pattern sales exceed $30 per month, the 3.5% fee of total sales is billed monthly. Should you be among the lucky few that makes more than $1500 in pattern sales per month, this fee is only charged on EU sales.
You can also create a variety of promotions for your patterns, something that can help boost sales.
Ravelry uses PayPal for payment processing and to send you the sales revenue. Like Etsy, you can do this with a standard / personal PayPal account.
You can read more about Ravelry’s fees and fee structure HERE.
LoveCrafts
Lovecrafts.com
This UK based craft supplier also has a digital pattern market that compliments the craft supplies that are sold on their site.
LoveCrafts particulars:
There is no selling fee if your pattern selling revenue is below the threshold of $40 or above $1900. For all sales there is a transaction cost of 4% + $0.35.
If your sales revenue is below the threshold or above the selling fee cap, the transaction fees are the only fees that you will have taken out of your sales revenue.
For sales that are in between these two numbers, there is a 5% commission per pattern sold.
You can read more about the ins and outs of LoveCrafts’ pattern pricing on their website HERE.
There is no listing fee, but a downside to Lovecrafts is that they are very particular and will reject your pattern if it doesn’t comply with their standards. Once you’ve fixed the problems they have identified, you can resubmit it for approval to sell on the site.
Sometimes it can take a few rounds of editing before your pattern is approved to sell.
LoveCrafts uses PayPal to deposit your earnings.
Riblr
Riblr.com
This is the newest pattern selling marketplace / platform. Like LoveCrafts, it is a UK based company.
Unlike the other platforms on this list where you upload the pattern PDF, Riblr has a different interactive approach. This format does take some getting used to. You can read about their pattern editor more in-depth HERE.
Riblr particulars:
Riblr has a 4% commission rate with a $0.25 minimum. There are no listing fees, but the 4% commission is applicable on every pattern sold.
Riblr uses Stripe as their payment processor and those fees (2.9% + $0.35) are taken out of your profits in addition to the 4% + $0.25.
PayHip
payhip.com
Unlike the four other platforms on this list which are marketplace type platforms, PayHip is a way to sell your patterns directly to your clients through your Payhip storefront or your own website.
Payhip particulars
It’s free to set up your own shop and the only thing you pay is a 5% commission on any patterns sold plus the payment processing fees.
Payhip can be set up with either PayPal, Stripe, or both as payment processors.
Which One’s Best?
If you’re just starting out, I would recommend starting with Ravelry and Riblr, to build your pattern’s popularity.
Both of these are free to list with minimal commission taken per transaction, and both are marketplace platforms meaning that it exposes your patterns to more people. You also can create promotions to encourage pattern sales.
PayHip is great if you have a sizable website, social media following or email list that you can sell from. Since it isn’t a marketplace type site like the other sites I’ve mentioned here, it can be hard to grow using just PayHip.
Some sellers report great results from Etsy, but others complain about the high and steadily increasing commission rates.
My Pattern Sales Breakdown:
I see the best results from Riblr followed by Ravelry. At the moment, I don’t sell patterns on Etsy because the high commission rates don’t really yield much profit.
I don’t really see much of anything from LoveCrafts. Of the three platforms I currently sell on, it’s the one that I haven’t really put a lot of effort into since they are so picky.
Overall selling patterns is a great way to earn some passive income. For me it doesn’t replace what I make from selling physical items, but it is certainly easier and a nice way to supplement my yarn and Starbucks habit.
Which platforms do you sell patterns on? Leave your shop name in the comments!
