T-shirt business with print on demand is a great business model when you want to start a business for free and without inventory. Print on demand is a business model where your chosen print on demand partner takes care of printing and delivering the products to the customer. Starting your own t-shirt business is also super easy. Your responsibilities in this business model include designing the prints and providing customer service, depending on where you sell your t-shirts.
So there are essentially three different approaches to selling your own print-on-demand t-shirts. The first option is to simply upload your own design to websites that handle everything for you. They market your product, take care of order fulfillment, and handle customer service. This business model is completely automated.
Second option is to use marketplaces and integrate the print-on-demand service provider’s system there. In this case, in addition to designing the products, you will be responsible for marketing and customer service.
The third option is to have your own online store, where you are responsible for not only the design, customer service, and marketing but also the maintenance of the e-commerce platform itself. This option requires the most effort from you, but on the other hand, in this business model, you get to keep more from the sales because there is no marketplace or other service provider taking their share in between.
Of course, you have the possibility to use all three of these methods to sell your print on demand t-shirts. Let’s go through some related matters next, and I’ll also provide tips on where and how to sell t-shirts.
T-shirt business on print-on-demand platforms
If you want to have a completely passive income from a print on demand t-shirt business, I recommend using various platforms where you only need to upload your own design and then sit back and wait for earnings.
Amazon has the most traffic among these types of websites. Amazon offers a merch on demand membership, but it’s not freely accessible. Content creators are selected by Amazon. It’s worth trying to get in because Amazon has a lot of traffic, and if you get your own design for sale there, you can make a lot of money. This service works in a way that Amazon takes care of everything for you after you have uploaded your design to their platform.
Another place where you can upload your own design is Teepublic. This site also has a lot of visitors and they take care of the marketing and delivery of the product for you, so you don’t have to worry about customer service either. This is my favorite service when it comes to uploading designs because the user interface is really user-friendly and putting your design in the service is quick.
The third highly popular print-on-demand service is Redbubble. The operating model of the service is similar to Teepublic, meaning they handle everything for you after you upload your design. There are also plenty of other products available where you can use your design. Based on my experience, Redbubble is usually the place where beginners start their own print-on-demand business.
T-shirt business on marketplaces
Okay, let’s next examine the print-on-demand business on a marketplace. The most popular marketplace for this is undoubtedly Etsy. Etsy is also a great place to find inspiration on what sells and what types of niche t-shirt designs are worth creating. However, remember not to directly copy designs made by others. With the Everbee extension, it’s easy to analyze competitors’ sales. You can analyze individual listings and entire shop listings to see what kind of products sell.
However, to sell on Etsy, you first need to choose a print-on-demand partner who manufactures and delivers your products upon order. The top three print-on-demand suppliers are Printify, Printful, and Gelato. So, Printify is a highly popular print-on-demand partner with a wide range of products available. Printify integrates with various platforms such as Etsy, WooCommerce, and Shopify. In the video below, you can see how to put a design on a t-shirt and then list the product for sale.
Creating an account on Printify is completely free, and using the service is free as well, so you can start your print on demand business without any costs!
T-shirt business through your own webshop
Let’s talk about the third option next and then see how you can create designs for print-on-demand products without being a graphic designer. So, the third option is setting up your own online store. The most popular options are Shopify and WordPress-based WooCommerce. Shopify is the easier choice when it comes to maintaining the store because its technical maintenance is completely handled by Shopify, whereas maintaining WooCommerce is entirely your responsibility, and there is no customer support available in case of any issues. Naturally, Shopify is also a more expensive option than WooCommerce, but again, you have to consider if you want to do more or less work yourself. By the way, if you’re interested in setting up a WooCommerce online store, you can find a related video about the topic at the end of this post.
One advantage of having your own online store compared to other options is that your profit is higher than when using full-service print-on-demand websites or marketplaces. Of course, there are costs associated with running your own store, and it is not completely free, but if you have a high sales volume, you will have a better return through your own store. On the other hand, you have to drive traffic to your store yourself, and marketing can be quite expensive.
Designs without being a graphic designer
You can easily create designs for your product even if you aren’t a graphic designer. Services like Placeit can assist with this. Placeit offers a wide range of mockup images, as well as ready-made templates for creating t-shirt designs and clipart images that you can use. The above YouTube video also demonstrates how you can utilize Placeit for designing.
When seeking ideas for your design, you can use ChatGPT AI bot as your assistant. First, look for inspiration and a profitable niche, for example on Etsy, and ask the bot to generate suitable phrases for your t-shirt. Remember to check that the phrase is not copyrighted. There are many different services available online for checking, including some that offer free checks.
Links:
Gelato
Printify
Printful
Amazon
TeePublic
Redbubble
Everbee
PlaceIt
Creative Fabrica
Etsy
Shopify
Disclaimer: Some of the links are affiliate links, which means that I earn a small commission from any potential sales. However, clicking on the link does not incur any extra costs or require any specific actions from you.
