Sell This Digital Product Now If You Want To Make Money On Etsy

Alston opened his email and saw a notification from Etsy: $526 from selling a digital product. The product was not a course, not a template, and not a stock photo. It was AI-generated tattoo designs, a niche most people walk right past. He did not have a single tattoo on his résumé. He did not hire a designer. He used a free keyword tool, a paid AI image generator, Canva, and ChatGPT to write the listing. That was the entire operation.

This post walks through every step from that video so you can follow the same path. You will see which tools to use, the exact MidJourney prompt Alston typed, how to protect your images with a watermark so buyers cannot screenshot and steal them, and the specific file types that make tattoo artists willing to pay for your pack. There is also an important warning at the end of the video that most people skip, and it is the part that separates the people who actually make money from the people who spin out. Read to the bottom.

What You’ll Walk Out With

A step-by-step workflow for creating AI-generated tattoo design packs to sell on Etsy
The free keyword tool Alston used to find tattoo niches that actually have buyers
The exact MidJourney prompt format that produced sellable designs in under a minute
How to watermark your images in Canva so buyers see the work before they pay and thieves cannot steal it first
Why offering both PNG and PSD files makes your pack worth more to tattoo artists using Procreate
How to use ChatGPT to write a SEO-friendly Etsy listing in two minutes
Not sure which online income method fits your situation? Find out at finder.platformproof.com

The Digital Product That Made $526 on Etsy

Etsy is full of digital downloads: printable planners, wedding invitations, resume templates, social media graphics. Most new sellers pile into those same categories and wonder why their shop sits at zero sales for months. Tattoo designs are different. The demand is real. People search for specific tattoo ideas by subject, style, and theme every single day, and the supply from people who know how to use AI image tools is still thin.

What made the $526 sale happen was not luck or a viral listing. Alston identified a specific tattoo subject using keyword data, generated four design variations with MidJourney, packaged them properly, wrote an SEO-ready description with ChatGPT, and uploaded the zip file. The buyer paid, the file downloaded automatically, and Etsy sent the email. No inventory. No shipping. No customer service call. The product just sat there and worked.

The niche that triggered the sale in this video was a clouds tattoo design pack. That detail matters because it was not chosen at random. It came from a keyword tool that showed real search volume.

Step 1: Use a Free Keyword Tool to Find Tattoo Niches

Alston opens ATRS, a free keyword generator, and types in “tattoo design.” The tool returns a list of related search terms. Some of those terms are subjects: cloud tattoo design, San Judas tattoo design, geometric tattoo design. Each one is a potential product. The keyword list is your content calendar. Each term on it is a pack you can build.

The reason this step comes first is that you do not want to generate designs in a vacuum and then go look for buyers. You want to know that buyers are already searching before you spend time in MidJourney. The free version of a keyword tool gives you enough signal to make that call. You are looking for specific subjects, not broad categories. “Tattoo design” is too broad. “Clouds tattoo design” is a product.

Write down five to ten subjects from the list before you open MidJourney. That gives you a week of designs to create without stopping to do keyword research again. Volume compounds when you have multiple listings pointing in the same direction.

Step 2: Generate Tattoo Designs with MidJourney

MidJourney is the one paid tool in this process. It is an AI image generator that runs inside Discord. Alston describes it as the only paid tool he needs for this workflow, and based on what he shows in the video, it does the heavy lifting that would otherwise require hiring a freelance illustrator.

Here is the exact prompt Alston typed for the clouds pack: imagine cloud’s tattoo design white background use clean lines and leave one of white. MidJourney returned a grid of four images in about 30 to 60 seconds. He looked at the results, liked the style, and moved forward. He did not iterate on the prompt for an hour. He made a judgment call and moved.

Once MidJourney delivers the four-image grid, you do two things. First, save the full grid image: that becomes your main listing photo. Second, ask MidJourney to generate individual upscaled versions of each design. Those four individual files, plus the main grid image, give you five photos for the Etsy listing. Etsy lets you upload up to ten listing photos, and more photos usually mean more conversions because buyers can see the full scope of what they are getting.

The files from MidJourney save as web-format images by default. Before you do anything else, convert them to PNG. Etsy buyers expect PNG files and tattoo artists require them for clean edges and transparent backgrounds. Keep this in mind before you get to the upload step.

Step 3: Add Watermarks in Canva to Protect Your Work

Before any image goes into your Etsy listing, it needs a watermark. This is not optional. If you upload clean images as your listing photos, someone will screenshot them and use them without paying. The watermark is the lock on the door.

Alston builds the watermark in Canva. He creates a custom design at 350 by 350 pixels, a square format that works well for Etsy listing thumbnails. He drags the design image into the canvas, scales it to fill the frame, then adds a text layer with his brand name, GodBoldt Designs. He changes the color to bright yellow so it is impossible to miss, then stretches it diagonally across the full image so there is no clean section a thief could crop around. He even adds an X pattern so the overlay crosses in both directions.

The goal is not to make the listing photo ugly. The goal is to make it clear enough to show the design while being impossible to use without purchasing. A buyer who wants the design will pay. Someone who was going to screenshot and steal it cannot. Do this for every single listing image before you upload them.

Canva is free for this step. The paid version gives you more font and asset options, but you do not need it to make a functional watermark. What you need is a diagonal text overlay that covers the entire canvas.

Step 4: Create PNG and PSD Files to Appeal to Tattoo Artists

Most digital sellers on Etsy stop at PNG files. That is fine for casual buyers. But if you want to appeal to professional tattoo artists or people who use Procreate on an iPad, you need to offer PSD files as well. Procreate can import PSD files directly. Tattoo artists use Procreate to place designs before they trace or print them. Giving them a PSD file means they do not have to do any extra conversion work.

Alston mentions using Affinity Photo to create PSD files if you have access to that software. He also names Photopia as an online option for people who do not have Photoshop or Affinity. Either way, the idea is to export two versions of each design: a PNG for general use and a PSD for Procreate users. You then zip both formats together in a single folder. On a Mac, you right-click the folder and hit compress. The ZIP file is what you will upload as the digital download in Etsy.

Offering PSD files puts you in a smaller group of sellers. Most people doing this only have PNG. The extra file format increases the perceived value of the pack, and it reaches a subset of buyers, working tattoo artists who are more likely to come back and buy more packs if the first one worked well for them.

Step 5: Write Your Etsy Listing with ChatGPT

You have the designs. You have the files. Now you need a listing that Etsy’s search algorithm can find and that buyers can understand quickly. Writing SEO-optimized copy for a product you just made from scratch is the part most people spend too long on. Alston solves it with a ChatGPT prompt.

He types: You are an expert in Etsy marketing and Etsy listings. Please create an SEO-friendly listing for a cloud tattoo. Please include that they are Procreate ready. Also include tags for me to use. He pastes the result straight into Etsy and submits. The free version of ChatGPT handles this prompt fine. The paid version gives slightly longer output, but the free version is enough to get a listing live.

The tags ChatGPT suggests are just as important as the title and description. Etsy uses tags as search signals. If your listing says “cloud tattoo design” in the title but none of your tags mention “procreate tattoo” or “digital tattoo PNG,” you are leaving searchable traffic on the table. Let the ChatGPT output do the work and plug in the full tag list it gives you.

Step 6: Upload the ZIP File to Etsy

When you create the Etsy listing, the most important step people miss is checking the box that marks it as a digital product. If you forget that checkbox, Etsy will treat it as a physical item and expect you to ship something. Tick the digital product option and then upload your ZIP file in the digital download section.

Your listing photos are the five watermarked images: the full grid and the four individual designs. The ZIP file is the actual product the buyer receives after purchase. Etsy automates the delivery. Once a buyer pays, Etsy sends them a download link. You do not have to do anything. The file goes to them automatically.

Alston mentions that Etsy typically charges five to ten cents per listing. He includes a referral link in the video description that gives new sellers 40 free listings to start; his referral also earns him 40 free listings. If you are setting up a new shop, use that kind of link so your first month of testing does not cost anything.

Once the listing is live, let it sit. Do not tweak it every two days. Create the next pack. The model works at volume. Ten listings will outperform one listing, and 50 will outperform ten. Your job after publishing is to build more packs from the keyword list you made in Step 1.

Not sure which online income method fits where you are right now?

The Platform Proof Finder asks you a few questions and shows you the most realistic path based on your time, skills, and starting point. Try it at finder.platformproof.com.

Honest Drawbacks: What Alston Said Before You Jump In

Alston ends the video with a warning that is easy to scroll past but is probably the most useful part of the whole thing. He says: only do this if you are brand new and you have no other business started. If you already have something going (affiliate marketing, a YouTube channel, a service business), do not start this. Keep working on what you already started.

His reasoning is direct. Most people who watch videos like this one pick up a new idea every week. They start the Etsy tattoo shop for two days, then see a drop-shipping video and spend a week on that, then find a print-on-demand tutorial and set up a third half-built store. Nothing reaches the point where it works because nothing gets the full attention it needs. The tattoo design model requires volume. Volume requires days, not hours. You will not build 50 listings in an afternoon and then check on them in a month. You need to create designs every single day until the shop has enough listings to get discovered in search.

MidJourney costs money every month. That is the one ongoing expense in the stack. Canva and ChatGPT have free tiers. ATRS is free. But MidJourney requires a paid subscription. If you are not yet generating revenue and every dollar counts, factor that in before you sign up.

The other honest note: $526 from one sale is a single data point. It does not mean every listing sells or that the first listing sells in the first week. Etsy is a search platform. New listings with no reviews and no shop history start at zero visibility. The strategy works because digital downloads have no cost of goods and can sell indefinitely, but it takes time to build the search presence that drives consistent sales.

Who This Model Actually Works For

If you are starting from zero with no other income stream in motion, this is a legitimate low-cost entry point. The startup cost is a MidJourney subscription and an Etsy account. The time cost is real: creating and uploading a new pack every day is a commitment. But the upside is a passive income stream where every pack you create keeps earning without any additional work after it goes live.

If you already have another income method that is not yet profitable but has momentum, finishing that is the better play. Starting fresh with Etsy tattoo designs means splitting your attention, and split attention slows everything down.

Find Your X

Tattoo designs are one path. They are not the only path, and they are not the right path for everyone. The Platform Proof Finder is a free tool that asks you about your current skills, your available time, and what kind of work you are willing to do, then shows you the most realistic starting point based on your actual situation. If Etsy feels right, it will point you there. If something else fits better, you will know before you spend a month building the wrong thing. Start at finder.platformproof.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to know how to draw to sell tattoo designs on Etsy?

No. Alston says in the video that he is not a tattoo artist and has only one tattoo from 15 years ago. MidJourney generates the designs from a text prompt. Your job is to come up with the subject, write the prompt, review the output, and decide whether to use it. No drawing or artistic skill is required.

Is MidJourney the only AI image tool that works for this?

Alston specifically uses MidJourney and calls it the only paid tool in the process. Other AI image generators exist, but the quality and style-consistency of MidJourney output made it the right choice for tattoo-style line work in this video. If you use a different tool, check that it can produce clean line art on a white background with no filled-in areas, since that is what tattoo artists and buyers expect.

What is a PSD file and why does it matter for tattoo designs?

A PSD file is a layered image file format associated with Adobe Photoshop. Procreate, the iPad app used by many tattoo artists, can import PSD files directly. When a tattoo artist gets a PSD version of your design, they can open it in Procreate, resize it, adjust layers, and print it on transfer paper. Offering PSD alongside PNG makes your pack more useful to professional buyers who will pay more and come back for more packs.

Can I sell AI-generated images on Etsy legally?

Etsy’s seller policies require you to disclose if a product was made using AI-generated tools. As of the time this video was published, selling AI-generated digital downloads is permitted on Etsy with proper disclosure. Policies can change, so check Etsy’s current seller guidelines before listing. The key rule is honest disclosure, not a prohibition on AI work.

How do I find good keywords for tattoo design niches?

Alston uses ATRS, a free keyword generator, and types in “tattoo design” to get a list of related search terms. Each specific term on that list, like “clouds tattoo design” or “San Judas tattoo design,” is a potential product niche. The goal is to find subjects with enough search interest to attract buyers, not just make designs you personally like.

Why does the watermark need to cover the whole image?

If the watermark only covers part of the image, someone can crop around it and use the design without paying. Alston stretches the watermark diagonally across the entire image and adds an X pattern so there is no clean section to crop. The watermark is there to protect the product while still letting the buyer see what they are getting. A partial watermark does not protect anything.

How many listings do I need before I can expect sales?

Alston does not give a specific number in this video. What he does say is that this model works at volume and that you should create multiple tattoo designs every single day if you are going this route. Etsy’s search algorithm favors shops with more listings and more sales history. Getting a new shop to its first sale takes time. The more listings you have, the more surface area you have for search discovery.

What if I already have another online income method in progress?

Alston’s direct advice is to skip this and stay focused on what you already started. He says that jumping from method to method is the main reason people never make consistent money online. If you already have affiliate marketing, a service business, or any other income stream that is not yet profitable but has real momentum, finishing that is the faster path. Starting a new Etsy shop while splitting your attention with another project slows both down.

Sources

Alston Godbolt, “Sell This Digital Product Now If You Want To Make Money On Etsy,” YouTube: https://youtu.be/DDNOzfAkGkk
ATRS free keyword generator tool (referenced in the video)
MidJourney AI image generator: midjourney.com
Canva design tool: canva.com
ChatGPT by OpenAI: chat.openai.com
Photopia (online PSD conversion tool, referenced in the video)
Etsy digital downloads seller guidelines: etsy.com/help/article/3692

Helping 1 million working adults make their first $3,000 online with the skills they already have. Alston Godbolt, Platform Proof.