He Doesn't Even Like Candles — His Print-on-Demand Etsy Shop Sold $462,000 Worth of Them

Francisco Rivera, 26, was working part-time for the online tutoring company Outschool in Orlando, Florida, when demand for tutoring dropped as after-school activities resumed post-Covid. Looking for other income, he found a YouTube video about print-on-demand side hustles, where sellers design products, list them on marketplaces like Etsy, and let a manufacturer print and ship each order only after it sells.

He settled on neutral-colored organic candles with witty labels — a category he chose specifically because it was newer in the print-on-demand space, made a strong gift item, and tended to go viral faster than the T-shirts and mugs most other sellers were already crowding into, despite Rivera saying he isn't especially fond of candles and is actually allergic to them. He designs the labels in Canva, lists them on Etsy, and uses a service called Printify to connect with manufacturers.

According to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It, his Etsy shop brought in approximately $462,000 in sales in 2023, enough for him to quit his tutoring job that December. He estimates 30% to 50% of each sale is profit after expenses, which included nearly $55,000 in Etsy fees last year plus marketing and Printify costs. Listing a product on Etsy costs about $0.20, and he uses a borrowed Canva account rather than paying the $120 for Canva Pro himself.

Rivera typically spends about 20 minutes a day on the business, occasionally up to two hours researching trends and designing new labels, and spends the rest of his time pursuing a music career. "I'm making more than I ever have, doing less than I ever have," he said. The biggest downside, he says, is copycats who spot bestselling candles, replicate the designs or phrasing, and rank ahead of him in Etsy's notoriously opaque search algorithm, forcing him to file copyright infringement claims rather than try to out-optimize his listings. His advice to other sellers is to avoid getting attached to any one design — if it isn't performing, cut it, study what's already selling, and put your own spin on it instead.