the essential guide to

Succeeding With Your

Creative Market Shop
part 1
Introduction to the Shop Owner Community
Helping Shop Owners Succeed 05
How the Community Helps Shop Owners 06

part 2
Getting Your Shop Up and Running
Understanding Your Potential Customers 08
Coming Up With Product Ideas 10
Choosing Product Names 16
Branding Your Storefront 17

part 3
Creating, Uploading and Editing Products
Start with a High-quality Product File 21
Uploading Your Product 21
Create Effective Descriptions 23
Create Ideal Product Screenshots 24

part 4
Licenses, Taxes and Customer Service
How Creative Market’s Licenses and Terms Work 26
How Taxes Work for Creative Market Sellers 27
How Customer Service Works at Creative Market 28
Customer Service Provided by Creative Market 29

part 5
Getting More Exposure for Your Products
Promoting Your Products in the Creative Market Platform 31
Get Featured by the Creative Market Team 31
Promoting Your Products Beyond Creative Market 32

part 6
Tracking Your Progress and Finding Help
Using Your Shop Dashboard To Track Sales 35
Finding Help 36
i'Ve been approved, now what?
A Checklist for Launching
Your Creative Market Shop
Name your shop

Upload a compelling avatar and shop banner

Fill out your shop bio and tax information

Include social media links and/or a website in your profile

Research what your first product might look like

Create your first product making sure that:

File names are clear

Folder structure is organized

The zipped file contains everything the buyer needs

You’ve provided instructions on how to use the product

Upload your first product making sure that:

Screenshots are clear and compelling

The name is descriptive

You have described it thoroughly, explaining why it’s useful

Proper tags are in place

You’ve clarified frequently asked questions

Share your first product with friends and colleagues via

Social media

Email

Messaging

Monitor your shop dashboard to track important metrics like

views and sales.
part 1

Introduction to
the Shop Owner
Community
 05

When you open your shop on Creative Market, you’re becoming part of
a thriving community of independent designers who share inspiration,
ideas, and support to bring each others’ ideas to life. Opening your shop
and getting active in the community connects you with like-minded
creators from all over the world, and it can also change your life.

Helping Shop Callie had been making and selling digital

Owners Succeed
Creative Market is dedicated to empowering
independent creators like you to make a
living on your own terms. By selling unique,
inspired design assets, you are also making
it easier for other creators at every skill level
to bring their own projects to life. That is no
small feat! With your help, our team aims to
change the very way people create. Just ask
a few of the Creative Market shop owners
whose growing success changed their lives
in wonderful and dramatic ways. Let’s look at
some of their stories.
With a product line that includes fonts, logos,
actions and mockups, Tom Anders Watkins
has created some of the most popular design
assets on Creative Market. And he did it
all in his spare time as a college student.
Since opening his shop, Tom has made over
$50,000 - and paid his way through college
as well.
Callie Hegstrom credits the Shop Owners
Community for the support and feedback that
has helped to make her shop, MakeMediaCo.
a featured shop on Creative Market. Although
assets on other platforms before she opened
her Creative Market shop in 2013, she credits
the marketplace and the community for
providing the platform that she needed to go
from a relative unknown in the world of digital
design to a successful independent entrepre-
neur.
Saddled with $35,000 in debt and about to
become a new dad, Dustin Lee turned to
selling Photoshop actions, design templates
and other digital goods on Creative Market.
His first month in the marketplace brought in
$800, and by the end of his first year Dustin
had made $117,000 USD! He squeezed in
time around a day job and being a parent to
develop his business, and he says having a
community to listen and offer feedback for
ideas has helped him grow and develop as a
designer and entrepreneur.
A graphic designer with a passion for creating
fonts, logos, and mockups, Skyla Design left
her full-time job to take a job cleaning toilets
two days a week in order to be able to create
and sell her own designs. Six months later,
she was making enough passive income from
her Creative Market shop, Skyla Design, to

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE

 06

leave the cleaning job and focus exclusively can start something as simple as a conver-
on selling designs online. As an independent sation or as long-lasting as a friendship.
creative, she can structure her schedule to
2. Get involved in a discussion thread
create new projects and spend more time
or start a new one. Share your own
with her children too.
experiences and knowledge with other
Jen Wagner specializes in type design, hand shop owners by contributing to ongoing
lettering and branding. Her Creative Market discussions, or introduce a new topic
shop, Jen Wagner Co, has given both Jen and thread for others to join.
her husband the freedom to live their dreams
3. Comment on a blog post. The Creative
- Jen to be a creative entrepreneur and her
Market blog features articles, tips and
husband to pursue a career in music. With the
how-tos for designers of all kinds. Browse
financial stability provided by her shop, Jen
the “Shop Talk” and “Community”
and her family were able to move to Nashville
categories for ideas and inspiration, and
to take advantage of its thriving music scene.
join the discussion by leaving a comment.
Working from her home in South Africa,
4. Join the Creative Market Partner
designer Nicky Laatz specializes in fonts,
Program. When you become a Creative
lettering and illustration. Her passion for
Market affiliate partner, you can extend
design and the support of the Creative Market
your brand’s reach and make money just by
community helped her shop hit $1,000,000
letting others know about Creative Market.
USD in sales. Now, Nicky’s husband also
As an affiliate, you’ll earn 10 percent of
works to support her design business, which
every purchase from an entire year from
means more time for both of them to spend
every new customer you refer to Creative
with their son.
Market. Every new customer you refer
helps to grow your partner empire and
How the Community gives you new ways to let people know
Helps Shop Owners about your own Creative Market shop.

Creative Market gives every shop owner a
place to share, learn, and find inspiration, and
there are plenty of ways to get involved. Here
are a few ideas:
1. Comment on other shops’ products.
Browse the marketplace and take a look at
the products being offered in other shops.
Leave a comment for the shop owner, or
ask a question about their products. That
Starting your Creative Market shop can be
both exciting and scary. But you don’t have to
go it alone. There is a dedicated community
of creatives ready to share their expertise and
experience, or just to chat when you need a
friend. Jump in and get involved — community
is the key to success!

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE

part 2

Getting Your
Shop Up and
Running
 08

Your Creative Market shop is a place for

creative dreams to flourish and reach a
worldwide audience of designers and
artists in search of the perfect design
element for a new project. Shop owners
love the freedom they have to make a
living from their own creative vision, but a
successful shop needs to be a combination
of an artist’s inspiration and a customer’s
aspiration to find products that offer not
only beauty but also practical value.

To find and reach the customers who will you’ll need to find ways to understand who
want to buy your products, you’ll need to those customers are and adjust your creative
shift gears from “designer” to “marketer.” vision toward giving them the products, and
Successful selling starts with figuring out who shopping experience, they’re looking for.
your potential customers are, what kinds of
products might appeal to them and how to Understanding Your
brand your store to be the go-to source for
the kinds of products you offer.
Potential Customers
One reason that businesses and shops fail
If you’re a new shop owner taking the first
is that they don’t clearly identify exactly who
steps toward being a creative entrepreneur,
their potential customers might be, and that
that can seem like a tall order. But Creative
makes it hard (if not impossible!) to design
Market provides tools and tips to help you get
products to appeal to them. You don’t need
started, including this very guide. Here are
sophisticated marketing tools to create a
a few suggestions for finding your potential
customer profile and learn what that ideal
customers, coming up with a viable product
customer needs and wants from your shop.
idea, and branding your storefront with a look
Some imagination and a few free online tools
and feel that’s uniquely and distinctively you.
can give you all the insights you need.
It may be tempting to quickly stock your
DEFINE YOUR CUSTOMER PROFILE
store’s shelves with every product you’ve
worked so hard to create. But to attract Who might want your product? While it’s
customers and keep them coming back, tempting to say, “everybody,” that simply isn’t

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE

 09
true. A customer searching for business logos
isn’t likely to stop by a shop that specializes
in wedding fonts and invitations. Take some
time to reflect on the characteristics of your
ideal customer. Write up a profile of that
person. You can even give them a name. Ask
yourself what they’d think of any new ideas
or products you have planned, and how they
might use them.
A customer profile can help you plan future
products, and it can also help you design the
look and feel of your store in order promote
your products in a way that appeals to that
kind of shopper. But along with knowing who
your customer is, it’s important to understand
what they want.
FIND FOCUS WITH THE VALUE
PROPOSITION CANVAS
Among the many marketing tools available for
getting insights into a customer’s motivations
to buy, the Value Proposition Canvas is
a simple way to map out the relationship
between what you offer and what a customer
needs and wants from your shop.
The Value Proposition Canvas was
developed by Swiss management theorist
Alexander Osterwalder to help businesses
design products that meet a clear customer
demand. This tool helps business owners shift
focus from what they think customer’s need to
what a customer really wants from them.
This Value Map breaks down the relation-
ship between a “supplier,” who creates
and provides goods and services, and the
customer who might need them.
CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE
JOBS, PAINS & GAINS
The map is based on three key proposi-
tions: jobs, pains and gains. The jobs value
focuses on what kind of jobs a customer is
trying to get done, while pains represent the
negatives surrounding the experience, such
as annoyances, disadvantages, or inconve-
niences. For design asset buyers, consider
the types of tasks that they face on a daily
basis. These are the kinds of activities where
your products will come in handy. Gains, in
turn, are positive outcomes the customer
might envision as a result of this transaction.
Consider how the purchase of any of your
design products might help the average buyer
achieve something he or she has been waiting
for. Successful market research produces
products that appeal to these three values.
The Value Map contains a section called
“Products and Services,” where you can
brainstorm potential design products that can
resolve a customer’s pains, gains, and jobs
to be done. If you’ve done your customer
research, you may already know, or can
envision, what those three things are for your
target audience.
For example, if your ideal customer is a
wedding planner, you might list their jobs,
 10

pains and gains and then design the kinds of products within your niche that can address all three.
Here’s what that example might look like in a Value Proposition Canvas:

Paper Lark’s Wedding Planning Forms are a great example

of honing into your ideal customers’ specific needs and
satisfying them.

Coming up with product ideas is another aspect of your

market research, though, and Creative Market has several
features that can help you figure out what kind of product
might be a top seller in your shop.

Coming Up With Product Ideas

There are plenty of ways, both external and internal to Creative Market, to research great product
ideas for your design assets.

EXTERNAL RESEARCH FOR PRODUCT IDEAS

To do external research for product ideas, browse design sites, forums and tutorials for insights
into what kinds of products experts use and recommend. Watch for roundups of the best fonts,
most popular templates and themes or other kinds of assets. You might also want to visit a few
forums and groups for designers and artists for insights about features users like and dislike about
currently trending products in their field. Watch for areas where your products could fill a specific
need that isn’t being addressed.

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE

 11

Our Team’s Favorite at well-designed brand packaging around

Sources to Spot Up &
Coming Design Trends:
BRANDING & PRINT DESIGN TRENDS
UnderConsideration’s Brand New is an
all-time designer favorite, and with good
reason. Edited and written by Armin Vit,
co-founder of UnderConsideration, Brand
New covers and reviews outstanding brand
identity projects. The blog has built such an
engaged community of designers that some
of the most interesting insights can be found
in the comments section. If you’re constantly
working on print design, make sure you also
check out Art of the Menu, a specialized
division by UnderConsideration.
The Dieline is another classic resource for
those who find inspiration in innovative
packaging. The team behind this site looks
the world and publishes a detailed recount of
the rationale behind each project as well as
lessons learned. You can even filter articles by
packaging substrate if you’re only interested
in trends related to paper, plastic, wood, or
metal — for instance.
NEW ILLUSTRATION & GENERAL
GRAPHIC DESIGN TRENDS
Best of Behance displays the latest work from
popular creative portfolios around the world.
You can also filter it by field (Graphic Design,
Photography, Illustration, etc.) and then sort
it by “Featured”. The result is a list of projects
curated by the Behance team, in a timeframe
of your choice (this month/week/today/all
time).
Dribbble’s Hot Shots of the Week is a special
view within Dribbble that lists each week’s
most popular uploads. Just navigate to the
week you’re interested in and check out

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE

 12
the most viewed or commented shots (your
choice). With Dribbble’s unobtrusive grid,
you can easily appreciate the types of color
palettes and visual styles that are dominating
the platform. Some of these shots are also
featured in their Weekly Replay blog series,
under a section called Hot Shots.
Abduzeedo’s Weekly Roundup and Daily
Inspiration Series are both great recounts
of emerging creative work that is worth
noting. Their selection is diverse, and spans
everything from 3D work to architecture and
fine arts. Aside from subscribing via RSS,
you can now sign up for their newsletter to
receive inspiration periodically.
Sidebar.io curates the top 5 design-related
links that you should check out every day and
serves them in a clean interface. You can also
choose to receive these picks in your inbox
every day by subscribing to their email list.
CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE
USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN TRENDS
Pattern Tap, by Zurb, is a handpicked
collection of user interaction patterns to
inspire designers to do more of what works.
The Zurb team offers it as part of their larger
library, which in their words has “accumulated
an arsenal of tools and knowledge that serve
as an invaluable resource to both inspire and
empower designers around the world.”
UI Interactions of the Week is an inspiring
weekly series published on Muzli’s Medium
blog. You can also download their Chrome
extension and get noteworthy creative
projects served every time you open a new
tab. Muzli joined InVision in 2016.
EMERGING WEB DESIGN TRENDS
Httpster is where you go to spot inspiring
page grids and unique typographic
treatments. The site does tend to lean towards
 13
a minimal aesthetic, but is equally helpful if
you’re working on a more elaborate design.
Interestingly enough, it was born when two
colleagues (@guvnor and @dominicwhittle)
found they were losing inspiring links for not
having a better way to capture them. Httpster
is their better way.
Siteinspire is another place to find innovative
web layouts created by designers around the
world. The websites listed here are curated by
Howell Studio. Just browse by “latest” to get
a sense of what’s trending in the web design
world.
TYPOGRAPHY TRENDS
Typewolf’s Favorite Sites of the Month
Series provides a detailed description of the
typographic details behind compelling new
websites. With the keen eye for type that
CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE
has always characterized Jeremiah Shoaf (@
typewolf himself), you can rest assured there’s
always something fresh to trigger new ideas
for your own work. Also interesting is the
ability to find inspiration by font, which might
be useful when you’re trying to visualize how
a certain type family is used in context.
BIG PICTURE, INTERDISCIPLINARY
DESIGN TRENDS
The Friday Link Pack by Swissmiss is a great
resource for ongoing inspiration in many
different creative fields. Swissmiss is a popular
design blog run by Tina Roth Eisenberg,
who is also the talented mind behind
Creative Mornings. If you identify as more of
a generalist, make sure to check out Tina’s
suggestions — they go from everything to
designer life to random tidbits that will make
your weekend.
 14
CO.DESIGN is where creativity, management,
and design news come together in a more
business-driven publication. Edited by Fast
Company, this site helps you understand
how design decisions and business shifts
coexist, why certain companies go down new
creative paths, and how to apply lessons from
divergent creative fields. Instead of telling
you that poly, 3D objects are on trend in icon
design, for instance, CO.DESIGN will explain
why Google is investing in that direction.
A definite must-read if you’re trying to catch
broader trends that have immediate business
implications.
Product Hunt’s Design Tools and Design
Books topic pages are great resources to
find new products impacting our space. They
include a top section labeled “Popular this
month” that comes in handy when you’re
trying to detect the latest and greatest, but
it’s also possible to sort listings by popularity,
date added, comments, or upvotes.
The Best of the Web Series by It’s Nice That
CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE
rounds up an assortment of interesting links
to inspire designers from any field. The series
includes a section called Who to Follow where
the team recommends a list of creative social
media accounts worth looking at.
Creative Market’s blog is our bonus source
number 16. Our team is constantly scouting
the web for extraordinary design ideas and
analyzing them for the creative community.
Head over to our Trends section to check out
an ongoing library of inspiration roundups and
trend alerts.
INTERNAL RESEARCH ON
CREATIVE MARKET
You can do some important market research
on Creative Market without ever leaving
the site. Our team lists internal site search
trends in the Shop Owner discussion area
every month. The “Top 100 Search Terms on
Creative Market” can provide useful insights
into the kind of products people are searching
for, and you might see some trends worth
following with products of your own.
Seasonal Calendar
for Creative Market Products
Use this calendar to inspire your production
and promotion tactics. We have created it
based on a combination of the seasonal
interest Creative Market users have
displayed over the years as well as general
market trends that affect our industry.
Note that certain months might be ideal to
market certain products, but those products
must actually be created in advance in order
to be ready for sale when their seasonal
rise comes. Therefore, our advice is to start
creating and uploading products around one
month in advance of their commercial peak.
To facilitate the planning process, you will
find advice on when to “Create and Upload”
and when to “Promote” certain seasonal
design products below. In the “Promote”
column, you’ll see a star ★ next to important
events to plan your sales. Also worth noting
is that a given season’s commercial peak
doesn’t always coincide with the actual
month in which its holiday takes place:
Christmas products, for example, start
getting popular around November, and have
an unexpected surge in July.
 16

Choosing Product Names

Coming up with an idea for an exciting new product your clients would love is the first step, though.
Your new product needs a name that instantly communicates to potential customers what it is,
what it does and why they should buy it.

And because naming a product properly is a key part of selling successfully, here are a few tips to
find a name that gives you a head start.

KEEP SEARCH TERMS IN MIND

It’s a good idea to keep search terms in mind when naming products and using words that are
both specific and evocative. Naming with SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, in mind can help
products to turn up quickly when people are searching for a specific kind of asset. Try using
Google’s free Keyword Planner to see which words and phrases have high monthly search
volumes and adjust product names to match the search terms people are using.

PowerPoint templates, for example, are some of the most widely searched products that drive
traffic to our marketplace. Understanding the importance of making his products easy to find,
Jean-Francois Robert, the shop owner behind Reshapely, uses the terms “modern powerpoint
template” in some of his product’s names.

A simple Google search is a quick way to see what kinds of products are trending now. Try out
possible product names and check the number of search results around each potential name. You
can also attract customers by giving products short, catchy names that suggest quality, craft and
an artisanal feel, such as “Kit,” “Studio” or “Shoppe.”

Making products part of a series can also boost their appeal and also help sell related products.
Make it clear right away what the product does and how it connects to other product lines.

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE

 17

Although SEO is important, making a product name

original and memorable helps it stand out from the
crowd.

CAPTURE THE PRODUCT’S “PERSONALITY”

Even intangibles like the product’s “personality” can
help to create a memorable product name. Though
that’s especially evident with fonts and illustrations,
it’s important to keep names of all products clear and
functional while also capturing the unique characteristics
that make them stand out.

Even if you aren’t selling fonts, the evocative and often whimsical names used in today’s
typography can offer ideas for naming your own products too. Originality is essential, but so is
appropriateness: finding a name that fits both the form and the function of the product. Take
shop owner Callie Hegstrom’s Ink Bandits font, a clear example of how to infuse a design asset’s
personality into its actual name.

Branding Your Storefront

Finding names for your products is only one of the decisions you’ll need to make about going
public with your shop. Your products are a part of your store’s overall brand: the way you want your
business to be perceived by others and a reflection of your “brand promise” — the value that you
offer to the customers whose jobs, pains, and gains you defined in your Value Map.

From the name you give to your shop to the colors and style of your logo and the look of your
products, every aspect of your shop’s appearance and feel should support your brand identity, and
you’ll want to take some time to consider what that is.

YOUR SHOP NAME

Just as you did when thinking about names for your products, you’ll need to research and reflect
on a name for your shop that reflects aspects of yourself and the creative vision you hope to share.

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE

 18
Many shop owners opt to use their own
names but style them in a way that reflects
their brand: others, like Feather & Sage,
choose a name that conveys a distinctive
message about their brand.
Since your shop is a reflection of your own
personality and creative vision, don’t be afraid
to let that shine through. Letting customers
get to know you is a way to build trust and a
personal connection, and your Shop Owner
Kit includes all the tools you’ll need to make
your shop visible.
YOUR BIO
Creative Market includes space for a 300-
character bio, so use it to describe your main
value offer. Add keywords for the products
and services you offer so customers can find
you when they search. Don’t forget to add a
bit of personal information to appear real and
relatable. Be sure to add your avatar and all
your social media sites. If you have your own
website, include its URL.
YOUR AVATAR
Your shop includes space for your avatar, the
image that represents you online, or your
logo. Add one that reflects your brand and the
value you offer, so that it’s easily recognizable
everywhere.
YOUR BANNER
The banner is key to showcasing your shop
identity. It’s the first thing your customers
will see when they find your shop. Use it to
tell them a bit about you, what you offer and
the niche you’re filling. Choose a niche that
CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE
appeals to you and design your banner with
the colors and styling to reflect that kind of
product. Consider showcasing your best
products in your banner for an easy way to
show customers what you do.
Text is important when setting up your
banner, too. By default, your name appears
beneath your shop banner in a readable,
sans-serif font. But this may not fit the look
and feel of your brand. Many Creative Market
shop owners stylize their shop name with a
different font that’s more reflective of their
brand.
Use your banner to showcase your best
work and attract the attention of your ideal
customer. Creative Market makes it easy
by including templates for both the banner
image and avatar in your new shop owner kit.
Our shop owner community is also there for
feedback, tips, and inspiration.
Carefully crafting your shopfront to sell your
brand and your products is a key to your
shop’s success. Your Creative Market shop
is a blend of your vision and personality, the
value you bring to customers in your niche
and the products you provide to help them
get jobs done, avoid pains, and reap great
gains.
How to Brand Your Storefront
There will be 5 key areas to consider when branding your Creative Market shop. Locate them in
the diagram below and explore ways to make a great first impression when users interact with
each of the elements.
➊
➋ ➌
➊ A Horizontal Banner. This is your shop’s cover
photo, often the first graphic users see when they
land on your storefront. Create a 1020x250px
image that communicates what you’d like to let
users know about your shop. Think about it as
a physical retailer would think about an outdoor
sign. Many shop owners use this space to display
their brand promise or slogan, a preview of their
preferred aesthetic, or even feature a seasonal
promotion buyers should be aware of.
➋ A Square Avatar. This thumbnail will identify
your profile virtually everywhere on the site.
Whether you participate in discussion areas,
comment threads, publish a shop update, or even
write a blog post, this small graphic will often be
the first thing potential customers see when they
aren’t familiar with your work yet. Many shop owners
go for a headshot or small logo as their avatar.
Whatever you decide, make it friendly, professional,
and under 5mb.
➍
➎
➌ The Shop's Name. It will appear on branded
areas like your shop’s header. Go for a name that
captures your aesthetic, personality, and gives
users a hint of what type of design discipline
you’re in.
➍ A Brief Shop Bio. You have 300 characters
to describe who you are and what you do. You
could use this space to talk about your personal
expertise or describe what the shop is about with
a more brand-centric point of view.
➎ Social Media & Website Links. Don’t miss
out on the opportunity to connect with potential
buyers by sharing links to other channels where
you publish great content. Our social profile fields
allow you to connect a wide variety of networks to
point your followers to other spaces where they
may learn more about you.
part 3

Creating,
Uploading and
Editing Products
 21

Your shop’s success depends on the quality of the products you sell and
the ease with which your customer can access them. From creating the
product itself to uploading and listing it on your site, careful attention to
each step can improve customer satisfaction and boost your sales.

Start with a High Quality
Product File
Even before you upload a product to the
site, it’s essential to be mindful of a few basic
considerations for creating a quality file that
customers can use efficiently. These consider-
ations include:
guide. Some shop owners also link to tutorials
and video demonstrations of their products.
Although these things aren’t necessary, they
can definitely go a long way toward helping
customers make the best use of your product.
For a great example of a video user guide,
check out the one Lisa Glanz created for her
Personalized Portrait Creator.

PROPER FILE NAMING

Be sure to include a descriptive file name
that lets your customers know what to expect
when they open it. Try to include your shop's
name in file names to avoid confusion with
similar products. Avoid special characters
((like / | \ @ ©) that may not be supported by all
systems.

PROPER FILE ORGANIZATION

Make sure that all elements of your files
are easy to identify and access before you
compress them into a .zip file. We highly
recommend the .zip format for its universality. Uploading Your Product
RAR or 7z aren't as easy to handle and open,
When you’re ready to list a new, single
especially for less savvy customers.
product, you’ll be taken to the Product Editor
USER GUIDES OR DOCUMENTATION to get started. You can also upload multiple
products with the Bulk Editor if you have a
Provide customer support in the form of number of new listings to post at once.
instructions for using your design product.
You may want to include a downloadable user CATEGORIZING YOUR PRODUCT

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE

 22
Place your product in the most relevant
category to help your customers find it easily.
The category you select will also define the
licensing options that apply to the product.
For products listed in the Fonts or Add-Ons
categories, you will not be able to add an
extended license. And if you choose to list a
3D item, note that the 3D category will not be
available unless you apply to open a 3D shop.
PRICE YOUR ITEM APPROPRIATELY
Once you’ve selected your product’s
category and subcategory, the Product Editor
offers a suggested price range for the item
based on an average of all products in the
same category as yours. But this is only a
suggestion. Choose a price for your item that
fairly reflects your time, expertise and effort.
YOUR PRODUCT LICENSE
Creative Market provides all the licenses,
so you don’t have to write the license terms
yourself or include license files or end-user
license agreements in your listing. Your
customers will see the license that applies to
the product when they make a purchase.
LIVE PREVIEWS
Live preview is available for the Themes,
Add-Ons/Actions and Add-Ons/Plugins, and
Templates/Websites categories. To add this
feature, first select the appropriate category
and subcategory. Then, click Add Property
and select Preview URL to add a link that
shows your product in action.
ADDING A VIDEO
You can add a video from YouTube or Vimeo
CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE
to use as a live preview or a tutorial for using
your product. Your video must be a public
video, not an unlisted or private one. First,
upload the video and click Share. Then, copy
the link and embed it into your product listing
using the field for Embed YouTube Video or
Vimeo URL.
CREATE IDEAL PRODUCT SCREENSHOTS
Your product description and the images that
go along with it can be potent selling tools
that showcase all the important features of
your product. Create product screenshots that
help to sell your products.
BE CUSTOMER-FOCUSED
Your product’s cover needs to grab attention
and clearly communicate the main benefit of
the asset. One way to do that is to show
results achieved with the product. In the world
of design, that could mean showing a finished
project done with the product, such as a
poster created with the font you are selling. In
the example below, shop owner Andrey
Sharonov displays how his Aurora script font
can be used to create stunning wedding
invitations:
 23

Before and after pictures offer dramatic evidence of how a product works. While this won’t work
for every product or shop, taking screenshots of projects before and after using the product can
bolster your claims about what it can do. This is particularly effective for items that transform
original artwork, such as brushes and actions. Here are a few examples of such before/after
product shots:

SCREENSHOTS TELL THE STORY

Your screenshots can function almost like a presentation that quickly reveals the key points buyers
want to know. Your screenshots can reflect your unique voice and brand identity, too.

Dustin Lee from RetroSupply Co. shows us how his Subtle Filtercrave demonstrates how Blog Photography Presets
Ink Brush Set adds retro-inspired textures to flat artwork. enhance a scene with three different “after” shots.

Create Effective Descriptions

Your product description is a place to answer your customers’ questions, showcase your brand,
and highlight key features of your product.

Keep the sentences short. People are scanning quickly, so help make it easy for them find the
information they need. Use bullet points and lists of key features, and keep the tone conversational
and easy to read. Make sure you clarify which software is compatible with the product you offer;
in certain cases, it might be useful to also mention the software that won't support it. If there's
content related to your product on other sites, make sure those links are easy to find and click.

Include testimonials from users of your product, reviews, and positive comments to show that
people are using your product and finding it helpful. Don’t forget to add a call to action (invitation
to do buy/download) in your description too — it can help turn a wavering customer into a buyer.

As a Creative Market shop owner, you have complete control over creating and marketing your
design assets. The decisions you make in the process of creating your product and posting it to
your shop are your own to make - so have fun and enjoy the process.

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE

How to Create the Ideal Product
Image & Description
➌
➊ Name your product with the end
customer in mind. You can combine literal
and creative terms, preserving the product’s
personality as well as its searchability.
➋ Upload several 1820x1214 graphics that
show the product’s main benefit, potential
uses, and key features. You can also embed
a YouTube or Vimeo video by just pasting
the URL in the video field.
➍
➌ Introduce the inspiration behind the
product, its technical specifications,
aesthetic style, potential uses, related
product links (optional), software require-
ments, and testimonials if you have them.
➍ Add labels to help your product get
found by the users who need it. Think in
terms of how an average user would go
about finding this item including tags around
its visual style, design trend, use cases,
related holidays, design discipline, materials
involved, top features, among others.
part 4

Licenses, Taxes
and Customer
Service
 26

Along with creating great products for hungry customers, the success of
your Creative Market shop also depends on some nuts and bolts practi-
calities: understanding what the site’s licenses look like, staying compliant
with taxes, and providing the best possible customer service through
your own means and the Creative Market system.

How Creative Market’s Customers who purchase your product are

Licenses & Terms Work
Our comprehensive set of licenses and terms
protect you and your products from misuse
and misappropriation and establish clear
limits on what your customers can do with the
products they purchase from you.
END PRODUCTS
When a customer buys a product from you,
they typically do so with the intent to create
an End Product - a unique item that is sub-
stantially different from your original product.
End Products can be created for a variety of
purposes, too, so your customer will choose
the license that best fits the type of End
Product they intend to create.
In all cases, though, End Products must
be significantly different from your original
product and take skill and time to produce,
and they can’t be sold or distributed in such
a way that they constitute direct competition
to your original product. End Products also
may not allow third parties to extract your
original product for their use, and customers
are prohibited from selling or distributing your
original product to others in any way.
free to manipulate it, alter it, or incorporate
it into their own original work; however, they
may not resell, sublicense, share or transfer it
in its original form, even for free. These terms
constitute an agreement among you (the shop
owner), the purchaser, and Creative Market,
and they are legally binding. Under these
terms, the customer assumes all risk related to
the use of your product in an End Product of
their own.
PERSONAL, COMMERCIAL, AND
EXTENDED COMMERCIAL LICENSES
On Creative Market, when a customer buys
a product from your shop, they are actually
purchasing a license to use your product.
You, the shop owner, retain full ownership
of the item, but you grant your customer
certain rights to use the product under
specific circumstances. Those circumstanc-
es are established both in the Terms and
by the specific license a customer selects,
Depending on how customers will use your
product, your customers may purchase a
Personal License, a Commercial License, or
an Extended Commercial License.
Personal Licenses allow customers to use
your product in an unlimited number of

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE

 27
personal projects. Use in both personal
projects and one personal social media
account is permitted. Purchasers of this
license type are not permitted to use your
product to make an End Product for sale, nor
use it for any business-related purposes.
Commercial Licenses allow your customers to
use your products in an unlimited number of
projects with up to 5,000 total End Products
for sale, as well as in one business social
media presence (owned by the licensee).
(A social media presence might include an
Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook account that
all forward to the same business.) Commercial
License holders can also use your product
to create unlimited physical advertisements
in local markets and digital advertisements
with unlimited impressions. For broadcast and
streaming purposes, the Commercial License
limits impressions at 500,000 lifetime viewers.
Commercial Licenses prohibit the customer
from using your product in native apps, web
apps, or games. It’s also important to note
that with the Commercial License, any End
Use must: (i) be significantly different than the
original Licensed Asset, (ii) require time, effort,
and skill to produce and (iii) not derive its
primary value from the Licensed Asset itself.
Extended Commercial Licenses allow your
customers to do the most with your products.
They can use your product in an unlimited
number of projects with up to 250,000 total
End Products for sale. They can use the
product in an unlimited number of social
media presences (owned by the licensee), as
well as in an unlimited number of advertising
and broadcast or streaming impressions.
(Again, one social media presence might
CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE
include multiple social media accounts- such
as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter- that
all forward the same business.) Extended
Commercial Licenses also allow the customer
to use your product in one native app, web
app, or game purchased or downloaded up to
250,000 times.
To read the comprehensive details about our
licenses, please visit our full License Terms
here. You can also read more Frequently
Asked Questions in our Help Center.
FONT LICENSES
Creative Market handles licenses for fonts
differently than it does for the rest of its
products because of the way fonts are used
by customers. Customers can choose from
four different font licenses from your shop on
Creative Market.
Creative Market’s Desktop Font License
permits customers to use your fonts in
most graphic design tools like Photoshop,
Illustrator, etc. while working on an unlimited
number of personal and commercial projects.
With the Desktop license, only the rasterized
version of the font may be used in websites,
web apps, or games. Additionally, only the
Licensee may use your font to create a
completed end product in design or print-on-
demand applications.
The Webfont License allows the customer
to use your font in an unlimited number of
websites or web apps that he/she owns - up
to an agreed upon number of pageviews.
Customers will be able to select and pay
for the pageview limit that applies to their
predicted use during the checkout process.
 28
An App License allows a customer to use
your font in one application, like a game or
a desktop app. However, the customer can
never use the font in a way that allows others
to extract or download it.
Lastly, the E-pub License allows a customer
to use your font in one E-pub title. The font
can be embedded in an E-pub, but it can’t be
extractable. An E-pub (electronic publication)
might include an e-book, e-magazine, or
e-card.
For a comprehensive look at our licenses,
take a look at our Font License FAQ page,
or our full License Terms. You can also read
Frequently Asked Questions in our Help
Center.
THE TERMS OF USE
When a customer purchases an item from you,
they also agree in full to Creative
Your customer is also prohibited from claiming
that your product is their own creation and
from registering your product or an End
CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE
product that contains it as a trademark. None
of the licenses on Creative Market offer
exclusive rights, so you are free to sell that
same product to anyone else as well. Your
customer also agrees that if they breach any
terms of the agreement, the license to use
your product can be terminated. The Terms
also place all the risk for using the project
solely on the customer, and frees you and
Creative Market of any liability related to the
product’s use.
HOW TAXES WORK FOR CREATIVE
MARKET SELLERS
According to US tax law, the government can
collect taxes for US-sourced royalty income.
Royalties are considered to be US-sourced
when a sale is made to any person residing
in the US. But the US government does not
assess tax on a sale between two non-US
persons. To comply with tax laws relating
both to US persons and those outside the
US, Creative Market withholds taxes from the
earnings from your Creative Market shop.
 29
If you are considered a US person for tax
purposes, Creative Market requires you to
fill out a W-9 form for withholding. Before
making a payment to the IRS for you, Creative
Market must have your US taxpayer iden-
tification number, or TIN - either a Social
Security Number or Employer Identification
Number. If you do not provide a valid SSN or
EIN, Creative Market is required to withhold
30 percent of your gross sales income and
deposit it with the IRS.
You are not required to pay the IRS directly
for taxes on your Creative Market income;
Creative Market itself does that. But as an
independent shop owner, you are required to
fill out a Form 1099-MISC to report your gross
Creative Market earnings on your personal
income taxes.
If you are not a US person for tax purposes,
royalty income that Creative Market pays to
you for creative content used in the US is
subject to a 30 percent withholding tax. But
if you reside in a country that has an income
tax treaty with the US, you could be eligible
for a reduced tax rate or an exemption from
withholding. If a transaction takes place
between two non-US persons, though, the US
government does not levy any tax against the
sale.
Non-US citizens or entities must complete and
submit a W-8 form. Without this information,
Creative Market is required to withhold 30
percent of your gross income from sales. If
your country has a tax treaty with the US,
you may be eligible for a reduced rate of
withholding or no withholding at all. You will
be required to report your gross earnings from
CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE
your Creative Market shop on your personal
taxes with a Form 1042-S.
For more information on taxable income and
withholding for your individual circumstances,
please consult the IRS directly or check with a
tax professional.
HOW CUSTOMER SERVICE WORKS
AT CREATIVE MARKET
Providing great customer service in all cir-
cumstances helps to establish your shop
as trustworthy and reliable and can keep
customers coming back. Responding promptly
and attentively to customer questions,
problems, and complaints can also create
opportunities for generating even more
business. Along with repeat business from
customers who want more of the products
they’ve purchased, good customer service
also opens doors for other selling strategies
such as cross-sells (selling a different product
to an existing customer) and upsells (selling
an upgrade, add-on or a higher priced
product).
There’s a lot you can do to provide quality
customer service right from your Creative
Market shop, but Creative Market also offers
its own customer services through the
marketplace itself to help your customers
have the best buying experience.
CUSTOMER SERVICE YOU CAN
PROVIDE AS A SHOP OWNER
You can create a positive buying experience
and prevent customer dissatisfaction simply
by setting up your shop in a buyer-friendly
way. Including features that make purchasing
part 5

Getting More
Exposure for
Your Products
 31

Opening a shop on Creative Market puts your products in front of a

worldwide audience of artists and designers looking for the very best in
digital design goods. But there are also plenty of other things you can do
get more exposure for your products and extend the reach of your brand.
You can promote your products both on the Creative Market platform
itself and beyond the marketplace to attract more customers and make
more sales.

Promoting Your Products your post — you have 36 characters or less.

in the Creative Market Next, write a brief message to your followers

Platform
The Creative Market platform itself provides
opportunities for shop owners to promote
products and share information about their
shops.
SHARE SHOP UPDATES
The Shop Updates feature lets you promote
your products to all your followers and let
them know what’s new in your shop. Use
Shop Updates to let everyone know about
your latest new product, announce a product
update or run a limited time sale or discount
on a product.
Posting a Shop Update is easy and takes just
a few minutes. Visit Shop Updates from your
shop dashboard and click on the option that
says, "Got an update to share?" then choose
a post type depending on the reason for your
update: New product, Discount or Product
Update. Add an attention-grabbing title to
that tells them what the update is about. You
have 200 characters for this, and it should
describe the most important details about
your update. You can even add emoji if you
like!
Shop updates can also be posted directly
from a product page itself, an important
feature for those who have just made updates
to products. Click "Update Followers" to share
your update with all your followers on the
site. Your shop updates appear in the Shop
Updates feed of your followers, and every
Sunday, your followers who have subscribed
to Shop Updates will receive an email that
notifies them of news and updates from the
shop owners they follow.
GET FEATURED BY THE CREATIVE
MARKET TEAM
Creative Market actively works to promote
and market outstanding products and shops
in the marketplace. Your shop can be featured
by the Creative Market team on several

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE

 32
channels.
EMAIL NEWSLETTERS
Creative Market’s regular email newsletters
feature products in several categories: New
Products, Free Goods, Trending Goods and
Popular Products.
THE CREATIVE MARKET HOMEPAGE
Your shop and products can also appear on
the Creative Market homepage if they've
become popular among buyers.
FREE GOODS OF THE WEEK
Each week Creative Market produces a
roundup of products offered for free. If you'd
like, you can submit one of your products to
be considered as a Free Good.
BLOG POSTS
Along with a wealth of design tips and
inspiration, the Creative Market blog features
articles by and about its Shop Owners. This is
a great way to showcase your shop to a wide
audience of readers.
CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE
HANDPICKED GOODS
Your products can be included in the
Handpicked Goods feature of curated design
products, both on the site’s homepage and on
each category page.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Creative Market promotes its shops and
products on its own social media platforms
too, with updates and announcements
appearing on leading sites such as Twitter,
Facebook, Pinterest and Google+. In that
way, mentions of your shop and products
can quickly reach a large pool of potential
customers.
Promoting Your Products
Beyond Creative Market
You can promote your products on your own,
too, with tools such as social media platforms
and your own blog.
SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Create social media accounts for your
 33

business on leading platforms, such as Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook, and begin following
influencers and tastemakers in your niche. Offer comments and participate in discussions and
reach out to these influencers and their followers with updates about your shop and products.

Creative Market makes sharing your products on social media easy. From the Marketing Tools
section of your Shop Analytics Dashboard, you can easily share your products directly to
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and more. To learn more about this sharing functionality, read our
blog post on the feature.

Additionally, Creative Market has made it easy to set goals for sharing your products on social
media. The more Shop Owners share their products, the more sales they get, and so set a goal
and start sharing your products on social media today!

BLOGGING

Consider starting a blog. Your blog can be a way to keep your customers and followers engaged
with your shop and your brand on a regular basis. Your blog can be a part of your business website
or stand alone on platforms such as Medium or Tumblr. Use the blog to tell readers the stories
behind your products, share your creative process and explain how you use various tools. Be sure
to link back to your Creative Market store.

Your blog can be a good way to build an email list of interested readers who want to receive
information from you. Urge your readers to sign upon your site to get regular updates and special
offers. Direct them back to your Creative Market shop with a link and a call to action. Your blog
can be a key tool for building authority and establishing yourself as trustworthy. It’s a way to keep
connected with people interested in your shop and products by consistently delivering information
that’s of interest to people in your design niche.

Your Creative Market shop showcases your products to the world. With the support of the Creative
Market platform and your own marketing efforts, you can get more exposure for your shop and
promote your products to this worldwide audience of customers who love good design.

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE

part 6

Tracking Your
Progress and
Finding Help
 35

When your shop is up and running, you’ll need to be able to track your
progress. With easy access to your shop’s key metrics, you can make any
needed changes to reach customers and boost sales.

Using Your Shop Dashboard to Track Sales

Along with managing your shop and products, your shop dashboard allows you to track sales
stats, taxes, payouts and important metrics such as total earnings, products sold and the all-impor-
tant conversion rate.

SALES AND EARNINGS

Your Sales dashboard provides a view of your shop’s total revenue and earnings along with other
sales statistics. Revenue is the total amount of money your shop makes from your products, and
your earnings are the bottom line amount you make after any taxes and fees are taken out. If you
have affiliate income, that total also appears next to your earnings and revenue totals.

The sales dashboard also allows you to view statistics from a specified period in graph form for an
easy visual snapshot of your shop activity in any given time frame.

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE

 36

PRODUCTS SOLD UNDERSTANDING YOUR SHOP'S

The dashboard also tracks activity around
your products, which allows you to see at a
glance what products are selling best. The
Recent Sales table includes data such as
the date a product was sold, the name of
the customer, the name of the product, its
total price and your earnings from the sale.
Select View All Sales to see a listing of every
transaction your shop has made.
VIEWS AND CONVERSIONS
Your dashboard also shows your shop’s total
views: how many times your shop page has
been visited. This information can provide
important insights about your shop’s visibility
and the reach of your brand. Along with
your views, your dashboard also tracks your
product likes, a useful indicator of your shop’s
overall appeal.
TRAFFIC
Your Shop’s Dashboard also includes a Traffic
section that displays the sources of traffic to
your shop. You can use this information to
understand where your customers are coming
from - both from within Creative Market, and
from external sources. The graph includes
information about traffic from Creative Market,
External Search (like Google or Bing) and
Social Media. Using this information helps
you see how changes you make to your shop,
social sharing, and other marketing efforts are
impacting your traffic and sales. To learn more
about how Creative Market’s Traffic tool can
help you better optimize your Shop, visit this
blog post to understand the Creative Market
traffic sources, and this blog post to learn
how to monitor external traffic sources.

You’ll also see your conversion rate, an

important metric for tracking what visitors do
when they go to your shop. The conversion
rate indicates the percentage of prospective
customers who “convert,” or take a specific
action you have asked them to do. In our case,
this conversion rate refers to actual product
sales: the percentage of people who made a
purchase out of the number of total visitors.

You dashboard calculates your conversion

rate for you and displays it along with your
views and likes on the right side of the page.
Low conversion rates typically mean low
revenue, so tracking this metric can help you
develop a plan for promoting your shop and
products for more sales.

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE

 37
CREATING SPREADSHEETS FROM
YOUR SALES STATS
The Sales page also allows you to generate
a spreadsheet in CSV (comma separated
values) format for your records. Sort the data
you want to add to the spreadsheet by shop
sales or referral (affiliate) commission. Then
choose the date range you want to capture
and click the Export as CSV box on the left of
your sales stats to generate a spreadsheet in
.csv format.
Finding Help
Your shop owner’s kit and shop dashboard
provide a comprehensive collection of tools to
get your shop up and running and track your
progress and sales. If you need more help,
though, the Creative Market community has a
number of ways to support shop owners and
help them succeed.
ASK YOUR PEERS FOR HELP
The shop owner discussion forums give
shop owners a place to share ideas, answer
questions and help each other solve
problems. If you’re struggling with a particular
issue in your shop, it’s likely that someone
else has experienced a similar problem - and
CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE
they’re happy to share what they know about
solving it. When you open your shop, you’ll
have access to the discussion forums and
other resources just for owners of Creative
Market shops.
Being active in the shop owner community
allows you to make connections and get new
ideas - and to feel less alone in your new
endeavor. And even if you’re a new shop
owner, your experiences and expertise can
help others solve problems, too.
LEARN SHOP OWNER TIPS AND
TRICKS ON THE CREATIVE MARKET
BLOG
The Creative Market Shop Talk blog category
is a rich source of tips, tricks and tutorials for
shop owners. It features articles and how-tos
on topics, such as how to price your designs,
tips for running a successful shop, easy
ways to promote your business and more.
With categories for Shop Tips and Tricks
and Community, the blog offers practical
information about running your shop along
with inspiration and insights from successful
shop owners.
USE THE CREATIVE MARKET HELP
CENTER
The Help Center has an extensive set of
FAQs for shop owners, with information on
all aspects of running a shop, from finances
and taxes to issues related to managing sales,
promotion, and marketing.
For specific questions not covered in forums
or FAQs, the Creative Market support team
is ready to help. Submit a support request
 38

with detailed information through the Contact

Support form for a direct response to your
question. You can add screenshots, files, or
links to products and sites if necessary to help
the support team solve the problem.

Creative Market is committed to the success

of all shop owners. With detailed reporting on
your dashboard and a rich store of resources,
the marketplace provides support and
inspiration to get your shop up, running, and
succeeding.

CREATIVE MARKET SHOP GUIDE