To sell presets on Etsy, list them as digital files: an install guide PDF plus ZIPs of the mobile and desktop sets, since Etsy does not accept preset files directly. Use the 20 image slots for honest before-and-after pairs, tell buyers in the first lines that they download from a browser and need Lightroom, and check the fee math: a US shop keeps about $16.74 of an illustrative $19 pack before ads.
To sell presets on Etsy, create a digital listing, attach an install guide PDF and ZIP files holding the mobile and desktop preset sets, and fill the image slots with before-and-after pairs from your own photos. The listing converts when a buyer can see the look on a photo like theirs and can tell, before paying, exactly what they will download and where it installs.
Checked October 2026 against Etsy Help on managing digital listings, creating a listing, image requirements and downloading a digital item, Etsy's Fees & Payments Policy and Off-Platform Transactions Policy (updated 5 October 2026), Adobe's help on importing DNG presets and importing presets on mobile, and Adobe's trademark guidelines. Etsy does not publish sales by product type, so nothing here is ranked by revenue, and the image order is our recommendation.
A preset is harder to sell than a printable for one reason: the buyer cannot see the product. They see your photos and have to imagine theirs. Then, after paying, they have to move files through three apps to use what they bought. This guide covers those two problems, the gallery and the install, plus the packaging and the fees. For shop setup, payments and Etsy's rules in general, start with our guide to selling digital products on Etsy. If the pack is not built yet, the build is in how to make Lightroom presets to sell.
Who selling presets on Etsy suits
It suits a photographer or creator with a recognisable look, a folder of their own photos to demonstrate it, and no audience to sell to yet. Etsy brings buyers who are already searching. It suits you less if your photos are the weak part, because on Etsy the photos are the whole pitch.
- Good fit: one clear look, shown on varied photos you own, sold as a pack that works on a phone.
- Weaker fit: a large mixed bundle with no identity, or presets demonstrated on two near-identical photos.
- Not allowed: presets you did not make. Etsy's help page says digital items must be made or designed by you, the seller.
How to sell presets on Etsy: the listing system
- 01Package
PDF guide plus two ZIPs, inside Etsy's limits
- 02Write the guide
From Etsy download to a working preset
- 03Build the gallery
Up to 20 images and 2 videos, in a fixed order
- 04Write the listing
Title, tags and a description that states requirements
- 05Price after fees
Know what each kind of sale leaves
- 06Support and revise
Every buyer question becomes a line in the guide
Package the download: separate files, not one big ZIP
Etsy gives a digital listing five file slots of 20MB each, and its supported list covers formats such as .pdf, .jpg, .png and .zip but not .xmp or .dng. Presets therefore travel inside ZIP files. The mistake is putting everything, guide included, into a single ZIP: the buyer on a phone gets one file they cannot open and no instructions for opening it.
| Slot | File name | Contents | Why it is separate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | START-HERE-install-guide.pdf | The install steps for phone and desktop | Opens on a phone with no unzipping, so the buyer reads it first |
| 2 | Harbor-presets-MOBILE-dng.zip | One .dng per preset, numbered | The files most phone buyers will use |
| 3 | Harbor-presets-DESKTOP-xmp.zip | One .xmp per preset, numbered | For Lightroom on desktop and Lightroom Classic |
| 4 | License.pdf | What the buyer may and may not do | Readable before they install anything |
Three rules from Etsy's help page shape those names. The file names you upload are exactly what buyers see. They are limited to 70 alphanumeric characters, periods, underscores or hyphens. And they cannot be edited after upload, so name the files before you attach them. Etsy also shows the file types in the listing's Highlights, which is one more reason to keep a PDF in the set.
The install PDF that heads off the most predictable message
"I bought this, where are my presets?" is the message a preset shop should expect first, and the reason is structural. Between paying and editing, a phone buyer makes four hops, and each one is documented by Etsy or Adobe as a place people get stuck.
- 1Leave the Etsy app
Etsy says digital purchases cannot be downloaded through its app. The buyer signs in at etsy.com in a browser, opens Purchases and selects Download Files.
- 2Open the PDF first
It is the one file that opens on a phone straight away. Name it so it sorts to the top.
- 3Unzip the mobile folder
Etsy's own help says a phone may need its file manager or a compatible app. Lightroom on mobile cannot import a ZIP, so this step is not optional.
- 4Add the DNG files to Lightroom
Select the Add photos icon, pick the DNG files and select Add. Adobe notes a DNG preset may show a file load error when opened, and says to continue.
- 5Save each one as a preset
Open a DNG, select the Options icon, then Create Preset. Name it and save. The preset appears under User Presets.
- 6Or import the XMP files
In Presets, select Yours, then the Options menu, then Import Presets, and choose the unzipped .xmp files. Adobe says the mobile app imports .xmp, .DNG and .lrtemplate.
- 7Apply to their own photo
Open a photo, select Presets, then Yours. Remind them to set exposure first, since a preset cannot know how bright their photo is.
- 8Desktop buyers
Lightroom: File > Import Profiles & Presets. Lightroom Classic: the + icon in the Presets panel, then Import Presets.
Write the PDF as numbered steps with one phone screenshot per step, two pages at most. Put the first hop in the largest type on page one: download from etsy.com in a browser, not the app. Test both mobile routes on an Adobe account that is not paying for a plan, and lead the guide with whichever route worked there, because Adobe's pages do not spell out which preset features a free account gets.
Etsy gives you one more place to say it. A shop-wide note for buyers appears on their Downloads page after purchase. Use it for a single sentence: open the PDF first, and download in a browser. Our fix-it page for Etsy downloads that do not arrive covers the buyer's side, and is worth linking in your replies.
Keep one prepared reply for the buyer who writes anyway. It should restate the first hop, attach nothing, and ask which step of the PDF they reached. Most answers will be step one or step three. When the same step comes up twice, the fix belongs in the guide, not in your inbox.
Before-and-after gallery order: what goes in the 20 image slots
Etsy allows up to 20 photos and 2 videos per listing. A preset listing should use nearly all of them, because every pair is another chance for a buyer to recognise their own kind of photo. The order below is the one we recommend; it runs from proof, to contents, to reassurance.
| Slot | Image | Its job |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Your strongest before-and-after, split down the middle | Wins the click in search results. Landscape, with the pack name in small type |
| 2 to 4 | Three more pairs: indoor, backlit, a different skin tone | Answers "will it work on my photos" before the buyer scrolls |
| 5 | One photo run through every preset, as a grid | Shows the pack is one look with variations |
| 6 | What is included: file counts, mobile and desktop | Sets expectations for the download |
| 7 | What you need: Lightroom on mobile or desktop, and nothing ships | Filters out buyers who expected a print or a different app |
| 8 | Install in three steps, taken from your PDF | Shows there is a guide, and that a phone is enough |
| 9 to 16 | Pairs grouped by use: travel, portraits, food, interiors | Lets each kind of buyer find their own photo |
| 17 to 18 | The hard cases: night, mixed light | An honest pair here prevents a "not as described" complaint |
| 19 | License summary in one sentence | Answers the client-work question |
| 20 | How to get help: message the shop | Gives a stuck buyer somewhere to go other than a case |
Etsy's image rules set the format. It recommends listing photos at least 2,000 pixels wide and tall, and says the first photo should be landscape or square, since it supplies the cropped thumbnail and dictates the shape of every photo after it. Pick one shape and use it for all twenty. Etsy also compresses uploads and converts them to sRGB, and warns that images over 1MB may not finish uploading on a slow connection, so export in sRGB and look at the result on a phone. A subtle preset can vanish at thumbnail size; if slot one does not read as a clear change in a small crop, choose a different photo.
- The after was also retouched, cropped or relit
- Every pair is the same kind of sunny outdoor photo
- The before was darkened to exaggerate the change
- Stock photos the license does not cover
- An Adobe app icon pasted into the corner
- Same photo, same crop, one preset applied
- Indoor, backlit and night photos included
- The preset's name under each pair
- Your own photos, or ones you hold the rights to
- Compatibility stated in words: for Lightroom
Use both video slots. Etsy removes the sound, so plan them silent: one screen recording of a thumb tapping through the presets on a phone, and one of the install at speed. Our guide to Etsy listing videos for digital products has the full specs and a shot list.
Digital presets Etsy listing: title, tags and description
Etsy's listing help allows 140 characters in a title and suggests fewer than 15 words, stating clearly what the item is. Lead with the look, then the product, then the platforms. Our Etsy title formulas include one written for presets. You get 13 tags; spend them on the ways a buyer describes the look and the use, not on repeating the title. Our Etsy SEO guide covers how search matches them.
The description's first lines do a different job from the rest: they stop the wrong buyer. Put these five facts there, in plain sentences.
- What it is. The number of presets and the look, in one line.
- What it needs. Lightroom on mobile, Lightroom on desktop or Lightroom Classic. Say which files serve which.
- That nothing ships. It is a digital download.
- Where to download. From etsy.com in a browser, not the Etsy app.
- What is in the download. The PDF guide, the mobile ZIP, the desktop ZIP.
On naming: Adobe's trademark guidelines allow you to refer to its products to show compatibility, using wording such as "for" or "compatible with", and do not allow an Adobe trademark inside your product name or its logos and product icons without permission. Call the pack by its own name and describe it as presets for Lightroom. This is general information, not legal advice.
Etsy fee math on a $19 preset pack
Etsy charges a US shop a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee and 3% plus $0.25 for payment processing, which adds up to 9.5% of the price plus $0.45 on a plain sale. The $19 below is an illustrative price, chosen because it sits where the fixed $0.45 has stopped mattering much. It is not a recommendation; how to price Lightroom presets reports what 18 sellers ask on their own sites.
| How the sale happened | Fees | Total | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain Etsy sale | $0.20 + $1.24 + $0.82 | $2.26 | $16.74 |
| Buyer came from your Share & Save link | $2.26 less 4% back ($0.76) | $1.50 | $17.50 |
| Sale attributed to an Offsite Ad, 15% | $2.26 + $2.85 | $5.11 | $13.89 |
| Offsite Ad, shop past $10,000 (12%) | $2.26 + $2.28 | $4.54 | $14.46 |
| Pack on sale at 30% off ($13.30) | $0.20 + $0.86 + $0.65 | $1.71 | $11.59 |
Before Etsy Ads spend and income tax. Processing rates differ outside the US. Source: arithmetic on Etsy's Fees & Payments Policy and US Etsy Payments rate, checked October 2026
Two rows deserve attention. Offsite Ads is the fee you do not choose per sale: Etsy's policy charges it when a buyer clicks one of its ads and orders within 30 days, at 15%, or 12% for the lifetime of a shop once it has passed $10,000 in sales over 365 days. Shops under that line can opt out. And a 30% sale costs far more than Offsite Ads does, so discount on purpose, not by habit. The top row is the one you can influence: Etsy's Share & Save program returns 4% of the order when the buyer arrived through a link you shared, which our Etsy and Gumroad fee comparison works through. To run your own price, ad share and monthly goal, use the free Etsy profit margin calculator.
Selling presets on Etsy: the first two weeks
- 1Days 1 to 2: package and name the files
PDF, mobile ZIP, desktop ZIP, license. Check every file is under 20MB and every name under 70 characters.
- 2Days 3 to 5: build the gallery
Export the pairs at 2,000 pixels or more in one shape, add the contents and install images, and record the two silent videos.
- 3Day 6: write and publish
Title, 13 tags, the five-fact opening and the full description. Etsy says a new listing can take up to 48 hours to appear in search.
- 4Day 7: run a real purchase
Ask a friend to buy the pack on their phone and install it from the PDF alone while you watch. Fix every place they hesitate.
- 5Week 2: read and revise
Check which search terms brought visits in Shop Stats, answer every message the same day, and add each question to the PDF.
Mistakes that sink an Etsy preset shop
- One ZIP for everything. The guide has to be readable before anything is unzipped.
- Promising it works on any photo. No preset does. Say what it was built on, and show the hard cases.
- Writing "no refunds, ever". Etsy already tells buyers digital listings cannot be returned or canceled, and Purchase Protection can still apply when an order is not as described. Our shop policy templates have wording that matches Etsy's rules.
- Sending buyers to your own site. Etsy's Off-Platform Transactions Policy bans directing members to buy elsewhere, off-platform discounts and QR codes that lead off Etsy. Keep those out of the PDF, the images and your messages.
- Launching a second look as a bigger bundle. A new look is a new listing with its own gallery and its own search terms.
Growing an Etsy preset shop past the first listing
Etsy lends you its buyers; it does not hand them over. A shop that depends on one marketplace is exposed to every fee and ranking change, and the policy above limits what you can do about that from inside Etsy. The work that reduces the risk happens on your own channels: showing the look where photographers already are, and building a list of people who want the next pack.
That is where this guide stops. Our Digital Products program covers the rest: the lead magnet, the welcome email sequence, a landing page you control, and a lesson on platform risk.
- Split the download into a PDF guide, a mobile ZIP, a desktop ZIP and a license
- Check each file is under 20MB and named the way a buyer should read it
- Write the install guide, starting with "use a browser, not the Etsy app"
- Install from your own guide on a phone, with an Adobe account that has no paid plan
- Export 15 or more before-and-after pairs in one shape, 2,000 pixels or larger
- Put the five requirements in the first lines of the description
- Add the note for buyers that shows on the Downloads page
- Work out what you keep per sale with and without Offsite Ads
- Remove any Adobe icon from the images and any link to your own shop from the PDF
Selling presets on Etsy: FAQ
How do I sell presets on Etsy?
Create a listing, choose Digital files as the item type and attach your files: an install guide PDF plus ZIP files holding the mobile DNG set and the desktop XMP set. Fill the image slots with before-and-after pairs from your own photos, state the app and device the presets need in the first lines of the description, and price the pack after Etsy's fees. The presets must be ones you made.
What files do I upload for a preset listing on Etsy?
Etsy accepts up to five files of 20MB each and its supported list does not include .xmp or .dng, so presets go inside ZIP files. Upload the install guide as a separate PDF, because a PDF opens on a phone before anything is unzipped. File names are limited to 70 characters and cannot be edited after upload. Checked October 2026.
Can buyers download and install presets on a phone?
Yes, but not through the Etsy app. Etsy's help center says digital purchases cannot be downloaded in the app, so the buyer signs in at etsy.com in a mobile browser, opens Purchases and selects Download Files. They then unzip the folder with the phone's file manager and add the presets to Lightroom. Your PDF should walk through each of those steps.
How much does Etsy take from a preset sale?
A US shop pays a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee and 3% plus $0.25 for payment processing. On an illustrative $19 pack that is $2.26, leaving $16.74. If the sale is attributed to an Offsite Ad, add 15% of the order, or 12% once a shop has passed $10,000 in sales over 365 days. Checked October 2026.
How many photos can an Etsy preset listing have?
Up to 20 photos and 2 videos of 5 to 15 seconds each. Etsy recommends listing photos at least 2,000 pixels wide and tall, and says the first photo should be landscape or square because it sets the thumbnail and the shape of every photo after it. For presets, most of those slots should be before-and-after pairs. Checked October 2026.
Can I use the word Lightroom in my Etsy listing?
Adobe's trademark guidelines allow referring to its products to show compatibility, in wording such as for, for use with or compatible with, as long as the product really is compatible. They do not allow an Adobe trademark inside your product name, or Adobe logos and product icons, without permission. So write presets for Lightroom and keep the app icon out of your images. This is general information, not legal advice.
Can buyers return presets bought on Etsy?
Etsy does not let sellers set return policies on digital listings, and the item page tells buyers that digital listings cannot be returned or canceled. A buyer may still be covered by Etsy's Purchase Protection if the order is not as described or the file is never delivered. Accurate before-and-after images and a working install guide are what keep you out of that process.
The listing is live. Next, own the customer.
All Access includes the Digital Products program, which covers the lead magnet, the welcome email sequence, your own landing page and platform risk, plus Instagram Ignited for the audience side, AI Influencers and AI SaaS Builder, live coaching and the private community.
Run your own numbers, then keep up with the rules
The free Etsy profit margin calculator shows what a preset pack keeps after every fee, with and without Offsite Ads. The free Telegram channel posts Etsy fee and policy changes as they land.