Pinterest is a great tool for inspiration. There’s plenty of content on there, including food recipes, home decor ideas, arts and crafts, fashion, and more. However, did you know that you can sell and make money on Pinterest?
Pinterest is a popular social media network where you can earn money by selling your products. They have almost 300 million active monthly users. In fact, Pinterest’s average order value is up there with the likes of Instagram and Facebook.
Find more statistics at Statista
From the chart above, it’s clear that Pinterest has gained a lot of traction in the past 4 years, and looks to continue to do so. Pinterest is an awesome tool that eCommerce stores should grab by the horns.
If you’re planning on starting an eCommerce store, you might want to take a look at our review of the best eCommerce platforms. Website builders are a great way to build an online store without requiring any coding skills.
Our guide will help you to:
- Learn how to sell on Pinterest
- Understand the difference between Rich Pins and Buyable Pins
- Use affiliate marketing to sell on Pinterest
- Review the pros and cons of selling on Pinterest
#1: Learn how to sell on Pinterest
Selling on Pinterest starts with understanding what ‘Rich Pins‘ are. They are split into four categories: app, product, recipe, and article. A Rich Pin allows you to purchase a product that you find on Pinterest.
- Product pins: They include real-time updates about your product, including price, availability, and location.
- Recipe pins: These include the necessary information to create a recipe, such as ingredients, cooking time, and serving sizes.
- Article pins: If a user comes across an article they want to save, an article pin can help them do this. They will see the article title, author, and story description.
- App pins: These show an install button so users can download your app straight from Pinterest. App pins are currently only compatible with iOS.
In the example above, you can see the Rich Pin outlined. This tells the user the price and stock availability of the item. You can connect Rich Pins directly from your website to your Pinterest account. This means if you update your product details, they’ll automatically change on Pinterest.
eCommerce builders like BigCommerce offer tools and features that allow seamless integration with Pinterest.
Rich Pins displaying your item price and availability can be seen by millions of Pinterest users. This enables users to click through to your website and hopefully purchase your product.
Further reading:
BigCommerce Review – An in-depth review of BigCommerce and its features
Best Website Builders – An overview of the best website builders in 2024
How to Start Selling on Facebook – 3 easy steps to get you started with selling on Facebook
#2: Understanding the difference between Rich Pins and Buyable Pins
It’s time to cut through the jargon and really understand what Rich Pins and Buyable Pins are. In 2016, Pinterest launched a new feature called Buyable Pins.
These essentially cut out the middle man. Previously, if a user found a product they were interested in, like a t-shirt, they’d have to find it, click the pin to go to the online store, then purchase the product via the online store.
Buyable Pins are blue, so they should be easily identifiable on Pinterest. They work across mobile and web applications, so any user can interact with them. If you’re using Apple Pay, the process is made even simpler.
What’s more, as a seller, you won’t have to pay anything extra to Pinterest, so you won’t be losing out on sales revenue.
At the moment, Buyable Pins are only available in the U.S. In order to apply to use Buyable Pins, you’ll need to do the following:
- Create a business Pinterest account (or you can convert your personal account over to a business account)
- Agree to the Pinterest Buyable Pins guidelines (this covers certain products, confirming your profile, and ensuring great customer service)
As we know, millions of people are using Pinterest every month. This opens up a world of opportunity to sell your products online. Remember, if you’re using a website builder like BigCommerce or Shopify, it’s now even easier to connect and sell with Pinterest.
#3: Using affiliate marketing to sell on Pinterest
When you get paid by someone, or a company, to advertise or promote their product, this is known as affiliate marketing. For example, you might visit a website that contains affiliate marketing links or banners, linking to other products or services.
If you sign up as an affiliate, you’ll be provided with your own personal link. This link can track users clicking on the link, and record whether a sale is made or not. Once a sale is made, you’ll either get a percentage of the sale or a commission payout.
Using affiliate marketing to sell on Pinterest is actually easier than you might think! We know that millions of people use Pinterest on a daily basis. They are either browsing for particular products or inspiration. When they come across something they like, they can either pin it or complete a purchase.
Once you find an appropriate affiliate marketing programme, all you need to do is locate the company’s pins or products, and repin them yourself. Make sure you add your affiliate marketing link, then bam, you’re done!
Key things to consider before signing up to affiliate marketing on Pinterest:
- Some affiliate marketing programmes require you to have a website and provide proof of that website (if you don’t have one, don’t forget to check out our best website builders, to create a website in a matter of minutes)
- Make sure the descriptions are correct when you repin products
- Ensure repinned products contain the right relevant keywords
- You don’t need a large following for pins to be seen (just ensure the information is accurate)
#4: Pros and cons of selling on Pinterest
There are lots of pros (and some cons) of selling on Pinterest. As we’ve discussed, selling on Pinterest, or even signing up as to an affiliate marketing programme, can be very lucrative. However, as with anything, there are some drawbacks too.
| Pros | Cons |
| ✔ It’s an easy platform to drive traffic | ✖ Can be very time consuming |
| ✔ Great for visual brands, or design-focused products | ✖ Pinterest has somewhat of a niche audience |
| ✔ Offers a high conversion rate compared to other social media platforms | ✖ Pins are singular, meaning a user can only purchase one product at a time |
| ✔ Pins have a long lifetime value if they get re-pinned | ✖ Products can easily get lost amongst other pins or “similar products” |
| ✔ Pinterest can help to boost your SEO | |
| ✔ Free to set up and use | |
| ✔ Buyable Pins make it easy for customers to 1-click buy a product | |
| ✔ Can be used as a mobile or desktop app |
#5: Conclusion to selling on Pinterest
Pinterest is a massive social media channel with great opportunities for small and large businesses to sell products. Whilst there are other platforms like Facebook which are even bigger, Pinterest consistently seems to win in terms of the average money made per transaction.
People who use Pinterest tend to be looking for specific things. Whether that be a recipe, new dress, or home inspiration, the likelihood is that they’ll come across something that piques their interest.
If you already have a business and aren’t yet selling on Pinterest, you should definitely consider it. If you don’t currently have a website, you don’t need to worry about hiring a web designer to do your dirty work. Simply sign up to a website builder or eCommerce store builder like Shopify or BigCommerce.
Both Shopify and BigCommerce make use of Pinterest’s Rich Pins, so users will not only be able to buy your product, they can see information about your product too. However, Shopify would be my recommendation, simply because you can also use Buyable Pins, meaning your customers won’t have to leave Pinterest to buy your product.
Whether you choose to sell on Pinterest using your own website or by signing up for affiliate marketing, it’s definitely an avenue worth exploring.