Add an editable field, such as a name or a date, to a design in Alomations, and the listing reaches Etsy with personalization already switched on. When someone orders, their text arrives with the order and is placed into the design, so you do not retype a name from an order note into a print file.
This feature is for print-on-demand sellers who sell custom names, dates and family details: wedding party shirts, teacher gifts, pet mugs, matching family sets. If you currently tick the personalization box listing by listing and rebuild a file for every order, this is the part of the job it takes over.
What Etsy personalization allows
Etsy's personalization tool is the box on a listing where the buyer types their details. Etsy lets you add up to 5 personalization fields per listing, of three types: a text box, a list of options, and a file upload (Etsy's personalization guide). A text box can have a character limit from 1 to 1,024 characters, which Etsy says should be based on your design.
The same guide covers the other limits. A list of options can include up to 30 options. You can add one upload field per listing, and buyers can upload up to 10 files of up to 100 MB each, in .jpg, .png, .svg, .heic or .pdf. Each field can be required or optional, and add-on pricing works only on optional text fields, between $0.20 and $500 USD or the equivalent.
Where personalization usually goes wrong
Done by hand, a personalized Etsy listing has several places to slip:
The listing goes live without personalization switched on, and buyers send their names by message, if they send them at all.
The sample name from the mockup ends up in the title, the tags or the description, so the listing seems to sell a shirt that says "Emma".
The title never says Custom or Personalized, so the listing may miss buyers who search for exactly that.
At order time, someone retypes the name from the order note into the design file, and a typo creeps in.
The wrong design or size gets matched to the order when several personalized listings look alike.
None of these are hard problems. They are repetitive ones, and repetition is where mistakes happen when you sell many personalized items a week.
How a personalizable design works
The whole flow fits into a normal listing run:
Make or open the design and add an editable field for the part the buyer changes, such as a name or a date.
Pick your mockups and template, choose live or draft, and start the run.
The listing reaches Etsy with personalization on. Because the design is personalized, the title says Custom or Personalized, and the sample name is detected and kept out of the title, tags and description.
The buyer orders and types their text into the personalization box.
The order arrives resolved: the design and the variant are matched, the buyer's personalization text is attached, and the text is placed into the design.
You fulfill through our production partners from the orders screen, or print and ship the order yourself.
The run publishes the listing live in your shop or saves it as an Etsy draft, depending on one setting, and the personalization comes from the design either way. For the run itself, see what a listing run is.
By hand compared with a personalizable design
| Step | By hand | With a personalizable design |
|---|---|---|
| Turning personalization on | Ticked on each listing | The listing reaches Etsy with it on |
| The title | You remember to add Custom or Personalized | Added because the design is personalized |
| Sample names | Can slip into tags and description | Detected and kept out of the copy |
| Reading the order | Copy the text from the order note | Text attached to the resolved order |
| Making the print file | Retype the name into the design | The buyer's text is placed into the design |
| Production | Upload the file to a provider | Fulfill from the orders screen, or print yourself |
Designing a field every name fits
A personalized design has to look right with "Al" and with "Maximiliana". Leave enough room in the layout for the longest text you will accept, choose a font that stays readable when it shrinks, and keep the field away from seams, folds and the edges of the print area. Our guides to designing for short and long names and where to put names and dates go through layouts that hold up.
Personalized lettering also has to work on every garment colour you offer. Alomations makes light and dark versions from one design, and a light variant turns lettering white even where it touches the drawing, so a name stays readable on a black shirt as well as on a white one.
After your first personalized run, open the listing in Etsy and read the personalization box the way a buyer will. Clear instructions about what to type, and how long it can be, prevent many follow-up messages. Our article on writing personalization instructions buyers follow has examples.
Buyer photos work the same way
Text is not the only thing a buyer can add. A design can also hold a slot for the buyer's photo: the photo arrives with the order, is cropped around faces and detail, and can be redrawn in a look before the print file is prepared. Pet portraits, family photo gifts and memorial designs all start this way. Read more in buyer photo slots.
Checks that still belong to you
Automation places the text, but it cannot know what the buyer meant. Read each personalization before you pay for production: a misspelled name from the buyer is still a misspelled name on the shirt, and a quick message to confirm is cheaper than a reprint. Set a processing time that leaves room for that check.
If a production partner makes your items, Etsy requires you to disclose that partner in the relevant listings (Etsy's guide to creating a listing). Personalized items are no exception.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to switch personalization on in Etsy myself?
No. When the design has an editable field, the listing reaches Etsy with personalization on. You can still open the listing in Etsy afterwards to read the box as a buyer sees it.
What can the buyer change?
The editable field you added, such as a name or a date. Everything else stays as you designed it.
Can I charge extra for personalization?
Etsy supports add-on pricing only on optional text fields, between $0.20 and $500 USD or the equivalent. Building the personalization into the base price is the simpler option when every buyer personalizes.
Does this work with buyer photos too?
Yes. A design can hold a slot for the buyer's photo, which arrives with the order, is cropped around faces and detail, and can be redrawn in a look before printing.
Start on the Alomations free plan, with no card required, and check what each plan includes before your first personalized run.