The 30 Best Personalized Products to Sell in Your Store
The best personalized products to sell use a cheap blank, take personalization fast, and make the buyer's input easy to collect. Engraved jewelry, photo canvases, pet portraits, monogrammed totes and custom stickers all fit. Below are 30 personalized and custom products, grouped by how they're made, each with its margin and how you collect the customer's name, photo or artwork.
How to choose the best personalized products to sell
Before you look at the list, check each idea against four questions:
- Blank cost vs. selling price. Personalization lets you charge a premium, but only when the blank is cheap compared with what buyers will pay for a one-off.
- Time per order. Typing a name into an engraver takes minutes. Illustrating a pet portrait can take hours. Labor eats margin faster than materials do.
- Shipping. Light, flat items ship cheaply. Heavy boards and big canvases cut into profit.
- What the customer has to give you. A short text field is easy. A high-resolution photo or a vector logo is where most custom orders go wrong.
The margins below are rough guides (high, medium or low) rather than fixed numbers. Your real figure depends on your supplier, equipment and pricing.
| Personalization type | What the customer gives you | Typical risk |
|---|---|---|
| Engraved | Text, sometimes a handwriting scan or logo | Typos in names and dates |
| Photo-printed | One or more photos | Low-resolution phone images |
| Monogrammed / embroidered | Initials, names, sometimes a logo | Font and thread color confusion |
| Custom artwork | A design or logo file | Files that aren't print-ready |
Engraved products
1. Engraved jewelry
Bar necklaces, rings and bracelets with a name, date or coordinates. Small, light and quick to ship. Margin: high, because blanks are inexpensive and engraving is fast. Input: a text field. Add a file upload if you offer handwriting or fingerprint engraving.
2. Engraved cutting boards
A popular wedding and housewarming gift with a family name or a handwritten recipe. Margin: medium to high, though weight pushes up shipping. Input: text for names. Use an upload for recipe cards or handwriting.
3. Engraved drinkware
Tumblers, whiskey glasses and flasks for groomsmen, teams and corporate gifts. Bulk orders are common. Margin: high. Input: text for individual names, plus a logo upload for business orders.
4. Custom wooden signs
Home name signs, wedding welcome signs and business signs. Margin: medium, because large sizes cost more to ship and pack. Input: text, with an optional upload for a layout or logo.
5. Engraved pet tags
Name and phone number on a small metal tag. Cheap to make and easy to sell as an add-on. Margin: high per unit, but the order value is low. Input: two or three short text fields.
6. Engraved pens and desk accessories
Pens, business card holders and desk plaques for corporate gifting and retirements. Margin: medium, and it works best in volume. Input: text or a company logo file.
7. Engraved keepsake boxes
Wooden or metal boxes for weddings, baby keepsakes or memorials. Margin: medium to high, as buyers expect to pay more for heirloom pieces. Input: text, and sometimes a photo for photo-engraved lids.
Photo-printed products
8. Photo canvas prints
The customer's favorite photo printed on canvas and stretched over a frame. Margin: high. Input: a photo upload. Watch out for low-resolution phone images that look fine on screen and blurry at size.
9. Photo blankets
Fleece or woven blankets printed with a single photo or a collage. Margin: medium to high. Input: several photo uploads, so allow multiple files.
10. Photo mugs
A classic starter product with a low price point and an easy process. Margin: medium, and competition is heavy. Input: one photo upload plus optional text.
11. Photo books and albums
Wedding albums, baby books and travel books. Margin: high per order, but layout work takes time. Input: many photos at once, often large files, which a basic contact form can't handle.
12. Custom jigsaw puzzles
A family photo turned into a puzzle. These are popular as holiday and anniversary gifts. Margin: medium. Input: a photo upload. Higher piece counts need sharper images.
13. Custom pet portraits
An illustrated or painted portrait made from the customer's pet photos. Margin: very high, because you're selling artwork, not a blank. The trade-off is hours of labor per order. Input: several reference photos plus a message field for notes like "she has one floppy ear."
14. Photo phone cases
Cases printed with a photo or design. Margin: medium. Stocking many phone models is the headache. Input: a photo upload and a model selector.
15. Photo pillows
Throw pillows with a pet, couple or family photo. Margin: medium to high. Input: a photo upload.
16. Photo ornaments
Seasonal ornaments with a photo and year. Margin: high, but sales cluster around the holidays. Input: a photo upload plus a text field for the name and year.
Monogrammed and embroidered products
17. Monogrammed tote bags
Canvas totes with initials. Popular for bridesmaids and teachers. Margin: high. Input: initials in a text field and a font or thread color choice as variants.
18. Embroidered sweatshirts and hoodies
Names, dates or small designs on the chest or sleeve. Margin: medium, with blanks costing more than tees. Input: text, or an upload for a small design that needs digitizing.
19. Monogrammed towels and robes
Wedding, spa and hotel-style gifts. Margin: medium to high. Input: initials or names in a text field.
20. Personalized leather goods
Wallets, passport covers and keychains with hot-stamped or engraved initials. Margin: high, because leather carries a premium. Input: short text fields.
21. Embroidered caps
Caps with initials, a team name or a small logo. Margin: medium, with stronger sales in bulk team orders. Input: text or a logo upload.
22. Personalized notebooks and stationery
Journals, planners and notecards with a name or monogram. Margin: high on paper goods. Input: a text field, with an upload for custom cover art.
23. Embroidered baby blankets
A name and birth date on a soft blanket, a reliable baby shower gift. Margin: medium to high. Input: text fields for the name and date.
Custom artwork and logo products
These are the best custom products to sell when you want buyers to bring their own design. They need the most care with files. Our guide to what makes artwork print-ready covers what to ask for.
24. Custom t-shirts
T-shirts printed with the customer's own design, from family reunions to band merch. Margin: low to medium per shirt, so you make it up on volume. Input: an artwork upload. File quality matters a lot here.
25. Custom stickers and labels
Die-cut stickers, product labels and packaging labels. Margin: high, as materials are cheap. Input: a design file. Vector files cut cleanly, so ask for them (see vector vs raster files).
26. Branded business merch
Logo mugs, pens, bags and apparel for companies. Margin: medium, with large orders. Input: a logo upload plus a message field for quantities and placement.
27. Custom enamel pins and patches
Pins and patches made from a customer's design. Margin: medium to high, but manufacturing minimums and lead times apply. Input: an artwork upload and notes on colors.
28. Wedding invitations and event signage
Invitations, seating charts and welcome signs. Margin: high, but expect rounds of back-and-forth. Input: text details plus uploads for photos, guest lists or inspiration.
29. Custom posters and art prints
Posters from the customer's artwork, maps or photography. Margin: high, especially on larger sizes. Input: a high-resolution file, sometimes hundreds of megabytes.
30. Custom 3D-printed items
Figurines, replacement parts and prototypes from the customer's model. Margin: varies with print time and material. Input: a 3D model file (STL, OBJ and similar), which can be large and isn't an image, so many upload tools reject it.
Want more product directions beyond personalization? See our print on demand ideas.
Collecting customer input without mix-ups
The products above succeed or fail on one thing: getting the right details from the buyer the first time. A few habits help:
- Match the input to the product. Use text fields for names and dates, and file uploads for photos, logos and artwork. Don't ask people to email files after ordering, because those emails are hard to match to orders.
- Make the upload required where it matters. A canvas print with no photo can't be made, so block add to cart until there's a file.
- State file requirements on the product page. Give the minimum size, preferred formats and whether you need a vector logo.
- Add a notes field. Customers often need to say "crop out the background" or "use the second photo."
- Keep files tied to the order. Files should arrive attached to the line item, so the photo for order #1042 never ends up on order #1043.
- Plan for late changes. People upload the wrong photo. Give them a way to swap it before production starts.
How File to Inbox helps
File To Inbox adds an upload field to the product pages you choose, so buyers send their photo, logo or artwork before adding to cart. You can make the upload required, cap the number of files and add a message field. Files are attached to the cart line item and can be delivered to built-in storage, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box or SFTP, with email notifications. It accepts any file type up to 5 GB each, including 3D models and large print files. You can also let buyers replace files after checkout until fulfillment starts. Plans start at $19/month with a 7-day free trial. See adding an upload field to product pages.
Don't have File To Inbox yet? Install it from the Shopify App Store →
Frequently asked questions
What personalized products sell best?
Engraved jewelry, photo canvases, custom pet portraits, monogrammed totes and photo ornaments are steady sellers because they suit gifting occasions. The best pick for your store depends on your equipment, your audience and how much labor each order takes.
Are personalized products profitable?
They often are, because buyers pay a premium for something made for them while many blanks stay inexpensive. Profit drops when an item takes a lot of hand labor, ships heavy, or gets remade because the customer's details or files were wrong.
How do customers send photos for personalized products?
The most reliable way is a file upload field on the product page, so the photo is attached to the order line item. Asking customers to email photos later makes files easy to lose and hard to match to the right order.
Can customers return personalized products?
Many stores make personalized items final sale because they can't be resold, but consumer protection rules differ by country. State your policy clearly on the product page and check the rules that apply where you sell.
What is the easiest custom product to start with?
Products that only need a short text field, like engraved pet tags, monogrammed totes or name necklaces, are the simplest. There are no files to check, and personalization takes little time per order.