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The Daily Insight

How much money can you make selling greeting cards

Author

Mia Lopez

Updated on April 21, 2026

A small greeting card business can make about $45,000 per year. Larger companies, like Hallmark, make as much as $19.7 billion on Valentine’s Day alone.

Is there still a market for greeting cards?

The Greeting Cards market in the U.S. is estimated at US$7.3 Billion in the year 2021. … These markets are witnessing decline in growth, constrained by challenges posed by growing social media proliferation, and surging popularity of digital e-cards.

How much does a greeting card writer make?

Annual SalaryMonthly PayTop Earners$72,500$6,04175th Percentile$37,000$3,083Average$38,133$3,17725th Percentile$25,000$2,083

Which holiday sells the most greeting cards?

  • Christmas – 1.6 billion cards.
  • Valentine’s Day – 151 million cards.
  • Mother’s Day – 141 million cards.
  • Father’s Day – 93 million cards.
  • Easter – 57 million cards.
  • Halloween – 17 million cards.
  • Thanksgiving – 13 million cards.

How much do greeting card designers make?

While ZipRecruiter is seeing annual salaries as high as $95,500 and as low as $18,500, the majority of Greeting Card Designer salaries currently range between $25,000 (25th percentile) to $37,500 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $72,000 annually across the United States.

How do I start my own greeting card business?

  1. Step 1: Choose your niche. …
  2. Step 2: Write a business plan. …
  3. Step 3: Apply for licenses, permits, and insurance. …
  4. Step 4: Find a spot to sell your cards. …
  5. Step 5: Obtain small business funding. …
  6. Step 6: Order and manage your supplies. …
  7. Step 7: Market your cards.

Is card making profitable?

While many crafters sell their designs to the general public, focusing on professionals in need of attractive and unique greeting cards can be a highly profitable strategy.

Are greeting cards still popular 2021?

Today, Americans buy about 6.5 billion cards annually, according to the Greeting Card Association (GCA), with 1.3 billion selling during the holiday season alone. … But the annus horribilis of 2020 segueing into 2021 is actually looking like a pretty decent time to be in greeting cards.

How do you sell designs to greeting card companies?

  1. Create a marketable greeting card. The key to selling artwork as greeting cards is to understand the needs of a greeting card company. …
  2. Find greeting card publishers. …
  3. Submit your greeting card designs. …
  4. Follow up with the card companies.
Are Blank greeting cards popular?

What’s the most popular? Birthday card sales are 50% of the market. Friendship cards account for approximately 10%, and Blank cards are about another 10%. The next most popular categories are Anniversary, Thank You, Sympathy, Congratulations, Wedding, New Baby and Get Well.

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How much is the birthday card industry worth?

According to the Greeting Card Association, the industry is still alive and kicking. Seven billion greeting cards are purchased in the U.S. each year, and annual retail sales are estimated at over $7.5 billion.

What age group buys the most greeting cards?

Most cards card buyers are between 35 and 60, which is the age range when consumers know the most people, older and younger, AND are in life stages that include buying homes, getting married and having kids.

What is the biggest card giving holiday according to Hallmark?

  • Mother’s Day is always the second Sunday in May.
  • Mother’s Day is the third-largest card-sending holiday in the United States, with 113 million cards exchanged annually.
  • Almost 85% of adult men and women celebrate Mother’s Day.
  • Mother’s Day is the largest card-sending holiday for the Hispanic community.

What is the most popular day of the year to send cards?

December 15 marked the busiest mailing day of the year as people dispatch holiday cards and presents to friends and relatives across the country. More than 640 million cards, letters and packages are expected to be processed Monday, the Postal Service announced.

Can I make a living writing greeting cards?

If you are thinking about writing greeting cards for money, you may want to consider easing into the waters rather than trying to devote full-time hours all at once to this effort. The fact is that some people do nothing more than write greeting cards for a living, and they make excellent money doing so.

How much do Hallmark writers get paid?

Hallmark pays around $50,000 to $60,000 per script (plus residuals) on movies generally budgeted around $2 million to $2.5 million. In-demand writers like the Dobrofskys can earn a little more.

Does Hallmark accept submissions?

Hallmark does not accept or purchase unsolicited submissions of ideas, artwork, photography, or writing for our greeting card or Gift Books lines. … It is the Hallmark Channel’s policy not to accept or consider unsolicited ideas, proposals and/or other creative materials (e.g. scripts, treatments, stories, etc.).

What is the average cost of a greeting card?

Greeting card prices can vary from 50 cents to $10 – with a price point for every consumer. The vast majority are between $2 and $4. (Total price per year include boxed cards.) The cost of a typical counter card, however, is between $2 and $4.

How do I get a greeting card published?

You can go online to The Greeting Card Association for member publishers and submit to them. If you don’t happen to find the right publisher, consider self publishing your line and offering it on your web site.

Who is the largest greeting card company?

Hallmark Cards and American Greetings, both U.S.-based companies, are the two largest producers of greeting cards in the world today.

How do you become a hallmark artist card?

Most of the Hallmark positions require a bachelor’s degree and previous online writing experience. Submit a creative idea to Hallmark by entering one of its monthly greeting card writing contests at hallmarkcontests.com. You do not need a bachelor’s degree to enter a contest as you do to apply for a job.

Do greeting card companies buy photos?

How to Sell Pictures to Calendar Companies. Greeting cards use a variety of photographs to enhance the meaningfulness and saleability of their birthday, sympathy, special occasion and everyday cards. These companies often buy stock pictures from freelance photographers and insert them into greeting card templates.

How do I get paid for handwriting cards?

  1. Blue Mountain Arts. Poet-artist duo Susan Polis Schutz and Stephen Schutz founded Blue Mountain Arts 50 years ago. …
  2. Calypso Cards. Photo courtesy of Calypso. …
  3. Noble Works. …
  4. Oatmeal Studios. …
  5. RSVP. …
  6. Shade Tree Greetings. …
  7. Viabella.

What will replace greeting cards?

  • Make a Card Out of Found Objects. The most eco friendly way to avoid buying a greeting card (besides going digital) is to make one out of the paper and cloth items that you find in your home. …
  • Chalk the Sidewalk. …
  • Use Icing, Frosting, or Vegetable Letters. …
  • Write on a Photograph. …
  • Write a Letter.

How is the greeting card industry doing?

The global market for Greeting Cards is expected to slump by -3.6% in the year 2020 and will continue to decline, shrinking to a size of US$ 20.4 billion by the year 2027, trailing a post COVID-19 CAGR of -1.7% over the analysis period 2020 through 2027.

When did e cards become popular?

By mid-1996, a number of sites had developed E-cards. By mid October 1996, directly emailable greeting cards and postcards (“Email Express”) were developed and introduced by Awesome Cards, based on new capabilities introduced in the Netscape 3.0 browser.

Where are Carlton Cards made?

1956: Carlton Cards is purchased by American Greetings of Cleveland, Ohio. 1964: Carlton Cards moves from its downtown location to a new corporate headquarters and manufacturing location at 1460 The Queensway in Toronto, ON.

How many greeting card companies are there?

There you’ll find detailed information on over 150 greeting card companies across the US and Canada.

How much is the card market worth?

According to the publisher, the Global Sports Trading Card Market was valued at USD 13.82 Billion in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 98.75 Billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 23.01% from 2020 to 2027.

Who sells the most greetings cards in UK?

Despite the periods of non-essential retail closure, Card Factory remained the biggest card retailer in the UK in 2020 by a considerable margin. Card Factory’s market share of the volume of UK greeting cards was reduced to 20% (2019: 33%).

How many greeting cards does the average person buy a year?

90 percent of all U.S. households participate in the greeting card category, purchasing at least one greeting card per year. Those households on average purchase 30 individual cards per year. The average person receives more than 20 cards per year, about one-third of which are birthday cards.