My name is Jeff. I’m an Etsy print on demand seller, and I opened my shop in 2020. Since then I’ve made over 5,000 sales and over $100,000 in total revenue. I’ve learned a lot in that time and want to continue learning while sharing helpful information with other POD sellers.
On my YouTube channel also called POD Insights, I share tutorials and tips for print on demand Etsy sellers on everything from sales strategies to walking through listing details step by step. On the POD Insights podcast I’m going to share similar information that I hope helps you build a successful print on demand business. I’m planning to release episodes that cover everything from POD industry updates, platforms and suppliers, Etsy selling tips and best practices, and everything in between. I hope you stick around and find some helpful information to grow your business.
Let’s dive into episode 1, where we’re going to talk about the POD business opportunity in general, and on the Etsy platform vs. other sites, how I got started and whether this is still a good opportunity.
Getting Started
To start with, let’s think about why POD is such a great opportunity for anyone who is into any type of designing. No matter whether you’re a pro graphic designer, photographer, general photoshop user, or just someone like me who likes to create all types of designs in your free time, print on demand makes it possible to offer those designs to consumers with very little overhead cost involved. I say very little because depending not he size of your business and your business goals, it may or may not be 100% free. You can certainly get started for free on platforms like Redbubble or Merch by Amazon where you earn royalties for sales and are not responsible at all for fulfilling orders or contacting customers. But if you are interested in having more control over the products and your business in general, selling on Etsy, Amazon (seller central), or your own site is the way to go. These platforms give you a greater degree of control, but also put you more in front of the customer. You also have to pay your own fulfillment costs, and you will start to run into overhead expenses too, such as advertising, web hosting, upgraded software or graphics services, mockup services, getting a business address, and potentially filing for an LLC if your business expands. However it’s important to remember this is all up to you – you don’t have to incur those expenses if you don’t want to. POD is a terrific business opportunity because you have the freedom to decide how much time and resources you want to invest. You just have to adjust your expectations for revenue and profit based on how much you’re willing to put in.
My POD Journey
Many people start small (and free) and then start to get involved in paid services as their business grows, which is exactly what I did. I started out in the Merch by Amazon (MBA) program and on Redbubble. Once I saw that my designs would sell on Amazon, I looked into selling on Etsy and opened my shop in August 2020. At that time I was using photoshop, which I already had a paid subscription to (but it’s relatively cheap at $10/mo for the individual photography subscription) and making a lot of text-based designs since finding free graphics that include resale rights is not that easy. I was using a free PlaceIt account to make mockups and free Canva account to make things like size charts, my logo and shop graphics, and social media posts to promote my shop (not designs to sell because Canva does not give you resale rights). I started to make some sales on Etsy with designs that were themed around the 2020 election, and in the month before the election my sales really increased. I took some profits and invested in a couple subscription services including a full Placeit account when they ran a Black Friday promotion (I’m still getting that discounted price), and AllSunsets, a site that creates those retro sunset graphics because again, they were running a sale for an unlimited annual subscription for $20 and that allowed me to create a lot of new designs. I think I also started paying for the Printify premium account (monthly) at that time to improve my profit margins because I was making enough sales to more than recover the cost. After spending Q4 2020 adding tons of designs to my shop on t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, and mugs, I had some good profits going into Q1 2021. In spring 2021 I invested in two new things, a paid subscription to Vexels, which offers a huge catalog of designs of all kinds that can be used for resale – it really is a huge catalog they have and they add tons every month – and a subscription to Sale Samurai, the Etsy keyword research tool. I use both of those to this day to research what customers are searching for and then I go look for design components on Vexels to create a unique design to target that niche. That combination really took my shop to the next level and I had a huge Q3-4 in 2021 which pushed my all-time revenue over $100k.
Etsy vs. Other Platforms
So what’s right for you? I don’t suggest anyone just jump into a bunch of paid subscriptions at first. The best thing to do in my opinion is to start with as much free stuff as possible. Request a MBA account (it takes a while to get accepted), created a Redbubble account, and get used to the process of creating designs. If you’re a graphic designer or have design experience, then you’re already familiar with a huge part of the print on demand process, so you can focus on learning the selling platforms. Starting on Etsy is also relatively easy and you can begin with free accounts with platforms like Printify, Printful, and Gooten. The only real barrier to entry with Etsy is that you will have to pay for order fulfillment yourself, and this is before you receive the revenue from the sales. Meaning, Etsy will collect the funds from the customer for your sale, take their cut, and then deposit that into your account on a recurring basis (mine is set to weekly). But the customer expects you to start processing their order immediately, and print on demand platforms require payment up-front to fulfill the order. So you need to pay the order fulfillment cost (usually with a credit or debit card) and then pay yourself back with the payout from Etsy. If that’s not a barrier for you, selling on Etsy is not difficult. You have to learn more about the business overall because you control almost everything – deciding what products to sell, setting your pricing, creating product listings, handle customer service, etc. but you can learn all of that, and the only cost is your time. I really mean it when I say anyone can sell print on demand products. And that leads me to the last topic for this episode – is it worth it? Can you still make a profit?
Is it Worth it?
Yes. You 100% can still make a profit and if you enjoy making designs and the concept of running a business, whether full or part time, it’s worth your time. There is still a huge opportunity to meet consumer demand for items that work well in the print on demand industry like t-shirts, mugs, sweatshirts, and more. One of the reasons Etsy is increasing its transaction fee for sellers in April of this year is because their revenue in 2021 increased 16% from 2020 and they are looking for a larger cut to put back into marketing (at least that’s what they said in the article about it). Etsy does bring millions of shoppers to their platform every month and that is a great opportunity to get your designs in front of them. The same goes for selling on Amazon, whether it’s MBA or through seller central. It’s a terrific business model if you want to run your business from home with no inventory or significant overhead costs. Whether you’re just getting started or you’re already an experienced seller, I hope you check out future episodes of the POD Insights podcast, and don’t forget to check out the Youtube channel too. See you in Episode 002 where I’ll talk about the different POD platforms and the benefits & drawbacks of each.
Interested in any of the resources/tools mentioned in this post? Check out the POD Resources page.