How to sell Canva templates on Etsy, your own store and Canva

Can you sell Canva designs? What the licence allows

You can sell Canva templates on Etsy and other sites, within the terms of Canva's Content License Agreement. Canva defines a template as a design that has a pre-determined layout and style which is intended to be further edited or customized by an end-user. Its licence lists design templates solely for use on Canva as a permitted use for both Free and Pro Content, so a template your buyer opens and edits inside Canva is the standard product.

The main rule is originality. Canva's help says it needs to be an original design, and you can't sell any Canva content on a standalone basis. Standalone use means using the Content in its original form, solely using a filter, changing colors, resizing, cropping, or outlining the Content. A planner page built from your own layout, text and a mix of elements is a design. A single Canva illustration recoloured and sold as a file is not.

Templates delivered as editable files for other apps, such as a PowerPoint or a Word file, fall under a narrower rule. The licence lets you Use the Free Content in templates for websites, social networking websites, documents, projects or otherwise for distribution and/or sale to third parties, but adds: If your Canva Design contains any Pro Content, you can't use it for these purposes. If a design mixes content types, the most restrictive category applies to the entire design.

Pro Content carries license to use Pro Content or Pro Template in a single Canva Design, so a design built only from Free Content leaves the buyer and you with the fewest restrictions. This page is general information about Canva's published terms, not legal advice.

How to create Canva templates to sell

These steps cover how to make Canva templates to sell, from the first design to the file a buyer downloads.

1. Pick one product type

   Choose a format buyers search for and edit themselves, such as social media posts, planners, resumes, menus or wedding invitations. A narrow set, for example posts for one kind of business, is easier to describe and photograph than a general bundle.

2. Build an original layout

   Start from a blank design or your own earlier work. Combine your own text, layout and several elements so the result is a new design. Canva says it needs to be an original design.

3. Check every element's licence

   Open each element's details and note whether it is Free or Pro. If you plan to sell files for other apps, keep the design to Free Content, because If your Canva Design contains any Pro Content, you can't use it for these purposes. Leave out Branded Content, which is made available for personal use only and may not be used for any commercial or promotional purpose, and Content labelled Editorial Use Only, which the licence bars for any commercial, promotional, endorsement, advertising or merchandising use.

4. Make it easy to edit

   Name pages clearly, group elements that move together, use placeholder text that tells the buyer what to type, and keep fonts and colours to a short list.

5. Create the Template link

   Share the finished design as a Template link. With a Template link, anyone can view and use it as a template. Creating one is only available to Canva Pro, Canva Teams, Canva Enterprise, Canva for Education, and Canva for Nonprofits users.

6. Put the link in a delivery PDF

   Make a short PDF with a button or link to the template, instructions on opening it in Canva, and your terms of use. This PDF is the file you upload to Etsy or your store.

How to deliver Canva template links

A Template link is built for this use: anyone can view and use it as a template. Share the Template link rather than giving buyers access to your original design.

Keep each link live for as long as the product is for sale. If you delete a Template link it'll also make the URL inactive, so deleting or recreating a link breaks every PDF you have already sold. If you need to replace a link, upload a new PDF to the listing and message past buyers.

If you work from a company email address, note one limit: when the creator uses a work email domain, link recipients with the same domain must be on a paid plan to access the Template links. Canva adds: This does not affect users with general email domains.

• Name the PDF after the product, so buyers can find it in their downloads.
• Say in the listing that the template is edited in Canva, and whether the design uses any Pro elements.
• Write terms of use in the PDF: personal or business use, no reselling the template, no sharing the link.

How to sell Canva templates on Etsy

On Etsy a template is sold as a digital item delivered via automatic download: the buyer pays and downloads your PDF.

1. Open the shop

   Set up an Etsy shop with Etsy Payments. Etsy charges no subscription fee on Etsy Standard, and each listing costs $0.20 per listing.

2. Create a digital listing

   Choose digital as the item type and upload the delivery PDF as the file.

3. Show the template, not the PDF

   Use the listing photos to show the finished designs, an example of each page and a screen that shows the template open in Canva. Buyers want to see what they will edit.

4. Write the title and tags around the use

   Name the product and the use, for example an editable Canva wedding invitation or a Canva Instagram post template for salons. Fill every tag with phrases a buyer would type.

5. Keep sales on Etsy

   Do not send Etsy buyers to buy elsewhere. Etsy's policy says any action to move a transaction off the Etsy platform is strictly prohibited.

6. Renew what sells

   Etsy says a listing expires after 4 months. Its automatic renewals feature will automatically renew your listings at the end of the four-month listing period, and each renewal is charged the listing fee of $0.20. Track which listings sell and turn off renewal for the others.

Fees to sell Canva templates: one $15 sale

The same $15 template sold on Etsy, on Gumroad and on a Shopify store, using each platform's own published rates. Etsy shows listings in its own search. On Gumroad outside Discover and on a Shopify store you find buyers yourself, so the lower fee comes with that work.

Where to sell Canva templates

Most sellers start on a marketplace and add their own store once they have repeat buyers. The table sets out the main channels and what each one charges.

For digital sales, Etsy also handles VAT under local laws in certain countries: Etsy is required to collect and remit VAT to the relevant tax authorities when you sell a digital item delivered via automatic download. If you sell in a currency other than your payment account's, Etsy adds a 2.5% conversion fee.

How to sell templates on Canva: the Creators program

Selling inside Canva itself works differently from selling on Etsy. Canva Creators publish templates and elements to Canva's library, where Canva users find them, and Creators share their work with hundreds of millions of people and earn royalties.

The program has Template Creators, Element Creators, and Education Specialty Creators. You need to submit an application and be approved. Template Creator applicants need a public link that doesn't require login, with 5–10 high-quality design examples. For elements, Canva says: As of 2025, we're not accepting new applications for Element Creators. Education Specialty Creators need to be a verified teacher with a Canva for Education account.

Canva Creators can run alongside an Etsy shop. The two reach different buyers: Canva users browsing its library, and Etsy shoppers searching for a ready-made design.

Example: one Canva template shop

Example, with assumed numbers: a designer makes social media post templates for hair salons. Each set has thirty posts built from her own layouts and Free Content only, so the same design can also be exported as an editable file if she later adds one.

She lists each set on Etsy at $15 as a digital download containing a delivery PDF with the Template link and her terms of use. Each sale costs $1.88 in Etsy fees. Once buyers come back for more, she adds a Shopify store for bundles, where the same sale costs $0.74 in card fees plus the monthly plan.

Where Nation fits

Questions about selling Canva templates