Do you want to start an online business but don't have a lot of money to invest? While some online businesses are easy to start, many are cumbersome to maintain.
Printify may be the answer to having an online business that could give you passive income.
Our Review: How to Make Money with Printify
To make money with Printify, you'll need to focus on eye-catching designs, effective marketing, and competitive pricing to maximize profits. You can set your profit margin, Printify fulfills orders, and you earn on the difference
Key Takeaways
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Printify is a print-on-demand service that connects sellers with printers to produce and ship custom products without inventory.
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It's free to use, but you pay for product costs and shipping. Premium plans offer discounts.
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You can sell on Printify's pop-up stores or integrate it with major e-commerce platforms like Shopify.
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Success requires effective marketing, competitive pricing, unique designs, and an understanding of your niche.
What is Print-On-Demand?
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Print-on-demand, also known as POD is when items are printed as soon as a customer orders them. By doing this it eliminates the need for the seller to maintain an inventory. It also eliminates upfront costs.
Now that you understand print-on-demand products, we can discuss ways you can take advantage of this process. One way is with Printify. Here’s a guide to Printify and making money using this platform.
How Does Printify Operate
Printify is a service provider that connects sellers with printers. Printify doesn’t produce printed goods nor is it a marketplace. It’s an aggregator. Their website says they work with 80 plus print providers and over 110 printing facilities.
Sellers are able to find printers for their designs on products through Printify. Think of Printify as a go-between between the seller and the printer.
Printify's printers take care of everything from printing the designs to delivering goods to customers.
How to Use Printify
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To start, you’ll need a design. You can either make one yourself or buy a design. Some places you can buy a design include:
Once you have a design, select a product from Printify you want the design printed.
Printify will mockup your design against a plain white background. You can use it for promotional purposes.
When someone clicks on your store’s buy button, Printify will be notified. At that point, Printify will charge your bank account for the production cost and shipping.
When you sell a product through Printify, two monetary transactions occur. One is that the money from the sale is deposited into your bank account.
And second, money will be automatically taken out of your debit or credit card that you have on file with Printify.
Printify will send the files to the printer you chose so they will know how to print the product’s designs.
Once the order is printed, the printer will drop ship it to the customer.
What is Dropshipping
Many e-commerce business model use drop shipping as a fulfillment option. It outsources the process of creating, storing, and shipping products to customers.
When you have an online store and a customer orders from you, you send the order to the drop shipper and inform the customer the product is on the way.
In Prinitify’s case, you don’t send the order to the printer/drop shipper, it’s done for you when the customer buys.
How Do You Sell Your Printify Products
You’ll need an online store to sell your products. If you don’t have one, you must manually submit the customer’s order. That defeats the passive approach to this platform.
However, by integrating a store, you’ll automate the order and processing time. This will save you time and let you scale your business.
Beginners Use a Pop-Up Store
Printify provides a pop-up store and allows you to create an online store. You'll generate a unique product page with a URL. It will be under the Printify.me domain.
This URL can be shared with:
- Friends
- Family
- Social media
It will allow anyone to purchase your products.
With the Pop-Up Store, customers can purchase products, and payment is sent to Printify. Printify notifies the printer to process, print, and ship the product to the customer.
All applicable sales taxes will be automatically added to the order at checkout. Printify manages the whole process.
You can customize the look of your Pop-Up-Store by:
- Uploading a logo.
- Adding links to your social media accounts.
- Selecting a theme.
The URL will contain your Printify store name for example (store-name. printify.me) so it will be unique.
For example, if your store name is Wonderland, your URL will be (wonderland.printify.me). Here is a preview of a Pop-Up-Store.
Integrating a Sales Channel with Printify
You can integrate Printify with various sales channels. These include:
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- Etsy store
- eBay US
- WIX
- PrestaShop
- BigCommerce
- Squarespace
- Walmart US
- Printify API
Use these integrations to automate all order-related tasks. This will free up your time to promote and sell your products.
Does it Cost Money to Sell on Printify?
The convenience of using Printify does come with a cost some of these are:
- Product pricing
- Shipping fees
- Image licensing
You always pay for products that are bought on Printify. The pricing is simple. Three plans are available, and some may bring your product costs down. The three plans are:
The free plan is recommended for merchants starting a new business. It allows you to have five stores per account and unlimited product designs. No credit card is required to start.
The premium plan is recommended for merchants with growing sales. It allows you ten stores per account with unlimited product designs.
You also receive up to a 20 percent discount on all products. This one is the most popular choice.
The price is $24.99 per month but you’ll save 14 percent if you pay yearly.
Finally, the enterprise plan is for merchants with significant sales. There isn't a set pricing for this plan; it's customized to the store.
This plan has unlimited stores per account. And it has unlimited product designs. There are additional discounts on all products.
Can You Actually Make Money Using Printify?
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You can make money with Printify. Some people make a living but it requires dedication and creativity. You need to have effective marketing strategies.
Many people make a few hundred or a few thousand dollars monthly. But most people don’t earn enough to earn a full-time income.
What is the Average Income for Print-on-Demand
According to ZipRecruiter, the average monthly income for print-on-demand is $4,639. That’s approximately $27 per hour for passive income online.
However, ZipRecruiter sees monthly salaries as high as $9,833 and as low as $1,583.
Is Selling Shirts on Printify Profitable
Selling shirts on Printify can be profitable, but you must price them correctly. Production costs on Printify range between $8 and $15 per shirt.
Other fees, like shipping, may eat into your profits. That's why you should mark up your product at least 40 percent.
How Do You Become Successful on Printify?
There are several things you can do to become successful on Printify. But the bottom line is that it takes a mindset, and you have to want to market your store. Here are some tools to succeed.
Choose a Niche
Choosing a niche will help you stand out. It will also build credibility. For example, you could focus on a theme or a profession.
Your theme could be seasonal items all year. Or a profession like teaching or nursing could be your niche. Whatever it is, you’ll become the go-to place for products within your niche.
Design Quality Products
Ensure your products are unique. You want something that’s outstanding. Create appealing designs that not only sell but will also get you referrals when seen on the street.
Set Prices
You want to make a profit, but you also want to be competitive. Look around and see what prices similar products are being sold for. Keep in mind how much it will cost to produce and ship the product. Printify recommends a minimum of 40 percent of profit margins. This will allow your business to grow.
Build an Online Presence
It’s vital that you build an online presence. You can do this by using:
- Social media
- Own website
- Other online platforms
When you want to make money online, you need to make sure that you define your target audience and potential customers.
Research What Sells
What’s hot right now? Look at the competition. Check out some of the big retailers like:
And get some ideas. Read reviews on popular products and learn what people say they want or don’t want. The more information you can arm yourself with the stronger your sales will be.
How Many Products Can I Create on Printify?
Image source: Printify.com
Printify sellers can create unlimited product designs for up to five stores with the free plan and up to ten stores with the premium plan.
You can add as many products as you like to your Prinitfy store. They can be organized into collections or categories. You want to make navigation easy for the customer.
Product Selection
Printify offers innovative products that aren’t usually seen in print-on-demand services. Most PODs offer shirts and hoodies.
But Printify offers:
- Tumblers
- Flip flops
- Fanny packs
- Area rugs
- Christmas stockings
Printify can offer these special items because it is a conglomerate of multiple POD warehouses. It’s not a single service.
Printify occasionally features limited products. One collection they offered was eco-friendly. It allows you to discover and provide new options.
Pros of Printify
It’s free to use and includes full access to:
- A large product catalog (over 800 products)
- Product editor
- Unlimited designs
It easily integrates with the most popular e-commerce platforms.
Printify is very easy to use and gives sellers control. You control the products you sell online and the providers you wish to purchase from.
This is important because it can impact:
- Pricing
- Lead time
- Shipping time
- Quality
They also offer services like a free mockup generator. They have the ability to connect to websites and online marketplaces.
Cons of Printify
There’s a lot of confusion about its advertised lead and shipping time. They say their lead time is short and takes one to three days. But that’s how long it takes to create the product. It doesn’t take into account shipping.
Consumers are accustomed to fast shipping. And if they have to wait a week or more they may complain or not buy again.
It also lacks custom product packaging. So, customers won’t receive branded packaging. Many businesses would prefer customization.
But although it doesn’t customize, it does give the seller the ability to use a custom sender address. This allows the product to arrive as if it were shipped from the seller, instead of a print-on-demand service.
Not all Printify printers are equal. Some have had problems with ink cracking or a consistent quality metric. Depending on which warehouse does the printing, it could be a bit of a gamble.
Who Should Use Printify
The low cost is great, especially for high-volume stores. It’s easy for beginners to start by using the Pop-Up-Stores. But there is the fear of consistency with the product.
Another reason it’s great for beginners is it’s completely free to use. You only have to pay for the shipping and product. That will come out of your sales.
And finally, if you have an e-commerce platform, this integrates well.
Frequently Asked Questions
Doing business on Printify is turnkey for ordering processing and dropshipping. But you still might have some questions. Here are some answers to the most asked questions.
1. Do You Need a License to Sell on Printify?
You don’t need a license to sell on Printify, but you must provide your tax information. Printify will be required by the IRS to report your earnings and send you a Form 1099 on such earnings.
2. Can You Sell Printify on Etsy?
You can sell Printify on Etsy. Printify is an authorized Etsy partner. You just need to link the two accounts.
3. Do You Pay Out of Pocket for Printify?
Printify is free to use, but you do have to pay for products, shipping, and tools to get you started. You don't pay for the production of your product.
Printify is a Print-On-Demand Service That’s Easy
Printify is easy to use and has an extensive product catalog. It offers over 800 different products for your designs.
Printify integrates well with popular e-commerce platforms like Etsy and Shopify. But if you’re new and not on these platforms Printify offers you a Pop-Up-Store.
Because it’s a print-on-demand service, you don’t have to keep stock on hand to sell. Customers order and the goods go to them. It’s passive income for you.
