Many people may confess that they have always had the secret desire to design unique printed goods. From those dreams, Print-On-Demand (POD) services like Printify can help designers, dreamers, and artists make products that empower them.
With POD platforms, indy designers can venture into the trendy world of fashion. In an ideal world, fabric designs would be inspired by the mind, and act as an inspiration to others.
You certainly would be reasonable to inquire why more people haven’t pursued these dreams. The simple fact is that there has always been a huge amount of capital needed to develop ideas. The designers of the world needed money, which has always been hard to come by.
POD services remove this problem from the equation of launching a brand and delivering inspiration to the masses. Printify is one of the leading POD platforms and offers anyone with an idea, design, or dream a great way to get into the market.
What is Printify?
Printify one of the best POD providers currently on the market, a platform where you can create and sell custom products. It offers simple set up and easy access to your customers, and it can interface with the most popular eCommerce platforms
Printify connects you to over ninety print provider locations, and because it handles fulfillment (No Canton Fair, no translators!), you can rest easy and focus upon creating and selling.
Just in case you may not be savvy with your tech terms, “print on demand” initially originated from the book industry, but has since expanded to other areas.
This label basically describes any business process in which nothing is printed until an order has been placed. This method not only curbs waste, but it also allows smaller and/or single printings, which are highly unique. Books, bags, mugs, or shirts can be truly one of a kind.
Another common term is eCommerce, which is simply the activity of buying and selling electronically, usually via the internet. Therefore, Printify is an excellent combination of both of these technologies, making design accessible to both the artists and the consumers.
Incidentally, the print on demand market is rapidly expanding.
The virtual world may be full of people making money on custom-designed pieces and online markets for those wares to be sold. Now is the chance to seize the day and get into a good trend before market saturation.
How to Use Printify
Having connected over 250,000 store wonders, Printify offers 250 custom products and 90 print providers.
It features a clearly designed website and the six-step Printify process is incredibly easy:
Create an account. By clicking the “Start Selling” button, you will be prompted to provide your personal information necessary for an account. You can then add a store name and get started making your first products.
Choose the product you would like to sell. Termed “raw items” these 250 plus products are the blank canvas upon which your design will be placed.
Create the design and place it on the chosen item. Most likely, design ideas and/or logos already will be done, so you can “drop” the design onto the product and edit it to fit.
Printify does have design tools to facilitate any uploads and their Mockup Generator helps hone that design and/or logo.
Pick the printing partner, also termed the provider. There are multiple options for high-quality suppliers, so before finalizing the design, request samples from the suppliers to ascertain which will work best with your design and your budget. Other factors to consider when choosing a print provider is if there are any restrictions regarding customization and color.
Offer the product on your site by having it delivered to your “store”. Printify offers integrations with Etsy, Shopify, and WooCommerce in order to quickly facilitate product placement.
Start selling (and making money). Once you hit “publish”, it is merely a matter of time for a sale. Once an order is received, Printify will handle the order fulfillment, manufacturing requests, billing, and shipping. Of course, the practical steps of selling and making money are a bit out of Printify’s immediate control, but their offered package makes it much easier for you to direct attention to marketing and content development.
Printify Products
Some examples of available products were mentioned above, but Printify actually has a large variety of choices for you and your designs.
Categories include the following:
- T-shirts: The favorite of almost every human on the planet, Printify has many options for this versatile clothing item – short sleeve, long sleeve, sleeveless, tank top, V-neck, scoop neck, crewneck, trim fit, and loose fit. You can put your design on the front, back, sleeves, or all over!
- Clothing: Yes, technically a T-shirt is an article of clothing, but given its popularity and specificity, it has a separate category. Clothing encompasses polo shirts, hoodies, jackets, dresses, skirts, and swimsuits. Accessories are not forgotten either since hats, socks, and leggings are also available.
- Shoes: For all of you who want to rock the runway (or the sidewalk), shoes are another option. Not just relegated to flip flops and sneakers, you can design high tops, high heels and the very important Doc Martin boots.
- Accessories: Although these accessories are not related to wearable fashion, they do enhance the look. Examples include tote bags, shopping bags, backpacks, and the phone case. Since Printify has more than 250 products, there are many more choices in this particular category.
- Jewelry: Wearable art at its finest, people love a unique piece of jewelry, so you can provide that by choosing necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings.
- Home décor: Probably the most well know of the fabric choices, home décor entails cushions, shower curtains, towels, bath mats, blankets, coffee mugs and a wide range of wall art.
- Stationary: For those who still handwrite letters and thank you notes, Printify has notebooks, cards, writing paper, and stickers.
As impressive as these offerings might be, Printify also has a stunning range of materials, sizes, cuts, and colors, with the products sorted by gender (male/female) and age (adult/kids).
Don’t forget that the Mockup Generator exists to help customize each product, allowing you to experiment with design placement, to write product information and to adjust pricing.
Printify Providers
From where do these lovely products come?
From our friendly suppliers, of course, and like the products they offer, Printify has an impressive list of excellent suppliers, each of which provides a wealth of information about their products.
This information includes color, sizes, minimum price, production time and even areas where the design can be printed (this is most applicable to clothing choices).
Each provider charges a different base price so it does literally and metaphorically pay to spend the time researching each one.
The location could be another vital detail, since most of the suppliers are in the US, UK, and China, and this could impact delivery, production, size, and pricing. Remember to request samples of merchandise before making a final decision.
Most suppliers should honor this request without any reluctance.
After deciding upon the best printing provider for your product, you can use the Mockup Generator to upload the design and play with your creation. Upon finishing the design, you will see a mockup and get a more definite description and price, which will “drop” automatically into your online store.
Prinitify Shipping
Since Printify handles the printing and shipping, the entire process really is as simple as choosing the supplier or provider, as discussed above. The provider should list the shipping rates for each country.
Depending upon your provider and destination, you can set up certain parameters of weight-based, flat rate and express shipping. Obviously, shipping times vary due to location of provider and destination, but it ranges from five to ten days with international estimated to be ten to thirty days.
Printify offers a shipping calculator which ensures that the correct shipping rate is charged every time, applying a flat fee to the products in the shopping cart.
Printify eCommerce Integrations
Many consumers and reviewers assert that the best feature of Printify is how it effortlessly integrates directly into the chosen online store. For those who use WooCommerce, there is a Printify WordPress Plugin and for those who prefer Shopify, there is a Printify Shopify App.
Etsy can be linked as well. These platforms are incredibly simple, requiring you only to click on the relevant button in your Printify dashboard.
Last-minute adjustments for pricing and sizes is offered, allowing further customization. There is even a calculation of how much profit can be expected from each sale.
As mentioned previously, once the design is complete, the product will “drop” automatically into your online store. It might be easier to imagine Printify as an extension to a pre-existing online store.
Printify has recently expanded its eCommerce store offerings, now offering integration to eBay and Wix Stores, with PrestaShop and BigCommerce in Beta testing.
Integrations Supported
- eBay
- WooCommerce
- Shopify
- Etsy
- Wix
- Prestahop
- BigCommerce
Printify Pricing
Now we get down to the proverbial nitty-gritty – cold hard cash, which is part of the reason you want to share your designs with the world. You might be thinking that Printify sounds perfect, but there must be a catch, right?
Actually, there isn’t.
There are no hidden fees, neither for a commission of for transaction. You pay when your product sells, and the remaining funds are entirely yours. Therefore, your profit depends on the sales price minus the total cost of printing and shipping.
The prime example for this, as seen on the website, is if you sell your custom designed T-shirt for $30.00 USD, and you paid $12.00 USD for its production, you will pocket $18.00 USD. It truly is that straightforward.
However, Printify does offer three different “plans”, each with different benefits. The more that you play, the more bonus features you receive.
Free Plan
The most basic is Free, which has been the basis for this particular written analysis.
This basic plan provides five stores, unlimited products, the mockup generator, integration platforms, manual order creation, 24/7 merchant support, and a self-serve help center, just in case things get crazy. The features of the free plan are included in the two paid packages.
Premium Plan: $29 Per Month
Premium is the second plan, with a fee of $29.00 per month.
For that monthly price, you receive access to ten stores, custom order import and up to 20% discount on all products. If you are a merchant whose sales are increasing, and you need more support, this plan might be of great interest
The 20% discount definitely helps lower the costs of bulk products, and Printify will give you a one-time joining bonus to use as you see fit.
Enterprise Plan: Custom Pricing
The third plan is Enterprise for merchants with ten thousand or more orders a day.
Custom pricing is offered along with unlimited stores per account and unlimited product designs. You will also receive early access to new features, custom API integration, dedicated account manager, and branded customer support. This plan is best for established merchants with a diversified portfolio of goods.
Given that there are so many wonderful aspects to Printify, is it possible that there are any negatives? At one point, Printify only allowed integration for Etsy, Shopify, and WooCommerce, but to rectify the situation, they are now offering eBay and BigCommerce with two more stores in beta testing.
However, brands are limited, with only neck labels being offered.
Nonetheless, Printify definitely is the best bet for on-demand printing. Of course, there are competitors out there in the digital world, but Printify consistently ranks as the best choice among reviewers and consumers.
An Easy Way to Get Into the Marketplace
Printify’s straightforward and user-friendly website makes the entire creating process ridiculously easy. Now, it is particularly easy to get your designs online and available to an entire world full of potential customers.
Because Printify handles the shipping, fulfillment, and billing, the designer does not need to invest a great deal of money or worry about inventory.
You can kick back and be that dreamer because Printify is the doer. Instead of having to work to build up your own suppliers, you can take advantage of the networks that Printify has already developed.
It is hard enough to be creative, and adding on the start-up costs and work involved in creating a multi-national supply chain is probably just too much for anyone who loves design.
The advent of POD platforms solves this issue and allows creatives to focus on design and marketing.
To Use Third Parties, or Not?
One of the ways that Printify slashes costs is by using a huge network of third-party suppliers. This approach has both upsides and potential downsides. First, one of the biggest advantages of this business model is that Printify can use companies that deliver good quality at low prices.
There are other POD services, like Printful, that offer consistent quality due to the fact that the company does all the production in-house. This comes at much higher prices in most cases, which can be a big downside for a small company that needs to have solid profit margins.
The argument for quality over price is a slippery slope, as it leads to the demand for custom production, and leaving the POD universe, which has the potential to become extremely expensive, and far riskier.
That said, if consistency is the most important thing to your business, you may consider a POD platform that does everything in house, or leaving the POD universe entirely.
Is Printify the Right Platform for Your Business?
Printify offers creatives and small businesses a lot of features at basically zero cost. While it is true that you need to have an existing online presence to use the platform, there are no other costs unless you decide to upgrade to a premium service plan.
The fact that Printify uses third-parties to complete all of your orders is going to be great for some businesses, and less attractive to others. If you want to make sure your customers will have a consistent product every time they order, a platform like Printify isn’t going to be the right choice.
On the other hand, if you want to make sure that both your business and your customers both get a great deal on printed goods, Printify makes a lot of sense. It will give you the margins your company needs, and your customers will have great printed products that will last.
If you want to learn more about what Printify offers, or how it may work for your geographic location, just click right here for more details.
Your business may or may not operate in an area that is cost-effective for Printify, so make sure you understand those aspects before you go any further (true for any POD platform).
The world of POD platforms is growing all the time, and no matter what your goals are, there is likely to be a POD platform that works for your business.
Be sure to read about the pricing plans, and all the terms before you invest your time in creating a relationship with a POD platform, and have a great time spreading your inspiration to the masses!
Printify
Pros
- Easy to Setup & Start Designing
- Great User Interface
- Free option
- Good range of products
Cons
- Uses Third Parties for Printing
