Key Tips for Print-on-Demand Success

New print-on-demand sellers should understand the costs, potential design theft, the value of shortcuts, and the importance of quantity over perfection in their business.

### 7 Things Every New Print-on-Demand Seller Should Know
* 💰 Print-on-demand is not completely free, as sellers need to cover **wholesale costs and platform fees upfront** before receiving profits.
* 🛡 Designs are likely to get stolen, so sellers should focus on **creating new designs** rather than chasing down copycats.
* 🎨 It's okay to use shortcuts and templates for designs, as not every product needs to be **100% unique**.
* 📊 Only a small fraction of products will actually get sales, so sellers should focus on creating a **large volume of listings** to increase chances of success.
* 🛠 Investing in tools like design software and research tools can significantly impact **business growth and profitability**.
* 🎯 Specific niches are often more successful than broad ones, as buyers are looking for **unique and personalized products**.
* 📈 Quantity matters as much as quality, with successful sellers often having **thousands of products listed** to generate **significant income**.

as a full-time print-on-demand seller, there are so many things that I have learned over the past few years that I really wish someone, when I was just getting started, had taken me aside and really just told me these things. I feel like I would have started out way further in my journey. So in today's video, I have made this specifically for new print-on-demand sellers or those of you who are thinking about getting started or just getting started. And this will include a list of seven of the things that I wish I knew right from the very beginning. A lot of these things, if you know them, you can start off way better than I ever did, meaning you can find success and make a full-time business way sooner than a lot of other sellers. And these can potentially save you so much time and money when you are trying to create a full-time business. So let's not waste any more time and just jump into all the things that I wish someone had told me right from the very beginning. Now, the first thing I think it

is so important for new print-on-demand sellers to understand, especially if they are contemplating starting this as a business model. Print-on-demand is not completely free to do. Definitely one of the things that I love about being a print-on-demand seller, and that I love about new people being able to start this, is it is a really low-cost business to start. You're not having to go out and get loans and start a business that's going to cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars in your first year, or potentially even thousands. But there are some costs associated with being a print-on-demand seller that you are going to have to think about making upfront. Now, the very first one that you really should think about is you need to know that you will have to be covering the wholesale cost of the items you are selling if you are selling on a platform like Etsy. So, the most common way to sell on a platform like Etsy is you, the seller, are going to connect with a manufacturing partner who is going to be

in charge of storing, creating, printing, packing, and shipping all of the items that you are selling on a platform like Etsy. So personally, I use the manufacturing partner Printify. You guys have probably heard me talk about them before. I truly can't recommend them enough just because of their price and the number of items that they have. But all of those wholesale items you see listed for all of their products, you are responsible for paying that amount of money to actually sell that item. So for example, when a customer buys a Bella and Canvas t-shirt that you have listed on Etsy for something like $24.99, you are immediately going to be charged the cost of that item, so something like $1 on Printify. But then you are not going to see the rest of that profit until the customer has received their item and possibly a little bit longer. So while you're perusing a place like Printify to see what items you want to sell, make sure you're taking note of all of the costs of the items because those are going to

be coming out of your pocket first before you get reimbursed, along with your profit. Now, there are also some other fees that you definitely need to be aware of before you get started selling. So, in addition to the actual wholesale cost of the item fees, you are going to have some fees from the platform you're selling on, especially on a place like Etsy. So, the very first fee you could encounter when you are setting up your account is a new account fee. So, this is something that is not always charged, but it can be up to $15 just to create your account. Now, the next thing that you will be charged is every single time that you create a listing, you are going to be charged 20 cents. Now, that listing is good for several months, but every time it renews, you will again be charged at 20. It's really not a lot, but definitely if you are making quite a few lists, which you probably should be doing, this can really add up. Now, one of the next fees that you definitely need to think about is the transaction fee on

Etsy. When you sell an item, so every single time that you sell something, Etsy is going to take their cut, which happens to be 6.5% right now. That automatically comes off of the total cost of what is sold. So even though you have the wholesale item being taken out, you already paid that 20% listing fee. Etsy doesn't care. They're taking 6.5% of the whole thing. So this can get really complicated to keep track of and figure out what all of your costs really are. So I definitely recommend using some kind of profit calculator. There is a great one in the tool Sal Samurai, which I'll also have listed down below. But you definitely need to make sure that when you are getting started as a print on-demand seller, you have a little bit of money that you are able to tap into before you're getting reimbursed from all of the orders. So if perhaps you make 10 or 20 sales in just a couple days, you need to be able to cover all of those.

Associated costs before the customer money actually gets in your pocket. Now, the next thing that I wish someone had been really clear with me and told me right from the very beginning because I think it would have saved me a lot of heartache is that your designs probably will get stolen. So, it's a really harsh reality. It's not fun to hear, but a lot of times, if you do make a really good item, if you make a best seller, there's a very high chance that people are going to start either stealing that design or just copying and making really similar style of designs. Now, there definitely is some recourse. You can go after every single person that does steal your designs, but you really have to weigh up if that is going to be worth it for you. It can take so much time sending people notices to take down your designs and to get them removed from platforms, so you could really spend hours a week chasing down every single person who has made an exact copy of all of your designs. Occasionally, I will go after people who

especially are taking some of my best sellers. Or I've really seen a decrease in my sales for certain items because of people making copies of them. But generally I just think that this is part of the print-on-demand business model. Things do get stolen often, so a lot of times I am forward-thinking. I am trying to make new designs as much as I can. And instead of taking the hours to chase down all of those people who are trying to profit off of stealing other people's work, I am just focusing on making my next best thing. That is kind of the trade-off of doing this business model. It is really unfortunate, and I wish there were a lot more safeguards to protect people's works. But sometimes it is just a harsh reality of this. So just be aware that once you do start having items that sell, there's a high chance that they could get stolen. But don't let that discourage you, and don't let that keep you from actually creating new things every single day. Because that's really what's going to help you grow.

this business is not chasing after all the people who are doing this the wrong way. Now, the next thing that I wish I really had a grasp of or someone had told me right from the very beginning is that it's definitely okay to be using shortcuts or things like templates when it comes to designing your products. Now, there's a few different ways that you can save a lot of time when it comes to designing. This really can be the most time-consuming part of the process, especially for new sellers who are really new at putting together designs that look cohesive and good. So, I actually highly recommend a lot of new sellers to try out using templates to get a better idea of what really works and what sells on platforms like Amazon and Etsy. Now, one of the things that I have done for a long time is anytime I create a design in a style I really like, I make sure to kind of bookmark that so that I can come back to it and kind of reuse the same thing over and over. So, on whatever design platform you're on, if

you have maybe a text-based design that looks really cool. Or you have a design you made with a nice graphic and some text. Sometimes that same thing can work for multiple different niches. So, for example, a couple of years ago, the kind of groovy wavy style was first getting really popular. So I created a few designs that I really liked in that style. I loved the colors, I loved how I had done the text, and I simply just kept that design. And every single time I had a new niche I was wanting to create something for that would work with that style, I just reused the exact same thing I had done. Not every single one of your products has to be 100% unique. And in fact, if you find something that works, you should keep doing that over and over again because your success is telling you what is actually going to be profitable. Now, another way you can do this and something that even after several years in this business that I still do almost every single time I create new listings is I will start with

a pre-made template. So, the design software that I use the most is called KD. I'll link them down below as well, but they have a library of thousands of different templates for things like t-shirts, mugs, and sweatshirts. So, a lot of times, you can really look up what kind of design you are looking for. So, for Halloween, for example, if you look up Halloween shirt, it will bring up all of their templates that have to do with Halloween. So, a lot of times, I will pick one of those templates, and I'm just going to swap out some of the text, sometimes some of the colors, and maybe a graphic. And then I have a design that's ready to go in just a few minutes instead of possibly taking me up to like 30 minutes or an hour. A lot of times, print on demand, it is a numbers game. So, if you can cut out a lot of the time working on things like designs and just keep moving on to the next product you're creating, you are going to make yourself more money in the long run even.

some of the top print on me cell some of the best sellers out there. They are using all sorts of shortcuts and templates. Another thing that you can definitely implement as well is downloading pre-made graphics from a place like Creative Fabrica. So if you haven't used them before, they're another subscription service, but definitely on the lower end in terms of cost. For a subscription, you can get access to all of their things for just around $5 a month, which is pretty good. And then you can download ready-to-use graphics, you can download different fonts, tons of things to use for your print on demand as designs. I almost never have created a graphic 100% from scratch just because I don't think it's a great investment of my time. I would rather find something that works really well that someone has already made and then kind of jazz it up with my own text in my own niche. So definitely if you're a new seller, get comfortable using these kind of shortcuts and tools because it's really going to help you make more money in

your business because you're able to get more designs out a lot faster. However, the next thing that I really wish that someone had let me in on is that as a print-on-demand seller, only a small fraction of all the products you ever create are going to actually get sales. Now, this is something I was not aware of whatsoever. I thought that maybe some of my designs occasionally wouldn't sell, but once I really had made it, that most of my designs would be selling every single day. And even now as a full-time print-on-demand seller, that is definitely not the case. What I have found is that anywhere from like 1 to 5% of all of your products are probably going to make up the majority of the income you're making every single month. So, it's not uncommon for sellers to have a handful of bestselling items that are selling multiple times every single day or week, making up the majority of their profit. And then every once in a while, they'll get sales from some of their other items. But as a print

on seller, it's impossible to know really what your next best seller is truly going to be. So, it's really important to have that volume of products so that you have a big enough pool to become your best sellers. So right now, if you only have maybe 50 different designs listed, even if you sell 5% of those, that's maybe only like two designs that are actually selling. And if you're closer to that 1% mark, that means that out of those 50 designs, none of them might be your actual best seller. So, it's really important in those early days to start bulking out your catalog so you have enough volume for items to become actual best sellers. And this really is to encourage you that if you feel like you aren't getting traction yet, there's probably nothing wrong that you're doing. You just don't have the same scale of products that those top accounts actually have. They're also probably only selling 1 to 5% of their items. They just have so many more items listed over much

more time so they actually can get a significant amount of profit every single month. Now, the next thing that I wish that someone had really said clearly to me when I first got started is that investing in tools really can be the difference in actually getting your business to really scale up and start making real profit every single month. Now, it's super tempting when you are just getting started. You really don't have any money coming in or maybe you're just making a few sales a month. You are super scared to reinvest that money in your business but this can really be what takes you to the next level. So, I definitely don't think you need every single tool on the market out there but there's a few key ones that if you can, I would definitely think about investing in because this can really help you make a number more sales every single month. So, like I mentioned before, I really value having a great design Suite so something like K is what I would recommend but there are tons of them on the market so just find one that really

works well for you, and that is going to be able to help you make almost anything you need to. I don't think that you need two or even three different design Suites if you just have one good one that is going to be totally great. And then the next thing that I really think that people a lot of times overlook is having a great research tool. As a new seller, it's going to be really hard and time-consuming if you are just trying to every single day on your own figure out what is going to sell. So you could spend hours and hours just scrolling through the first pages of Amazon or Etsy trying to piece together what is actually a good niche. So I highly recommend investing in tools like Merchant forer who's going to break down all that data for you or things like Sal Samurai which really helps you pinpoint good products to sell on Etsy and figure out what kind of SEO you need to be using. Now I know research can be one of the most tricky things to wrap your head

around, so I actually have a full free workshop for you guys linked down below in the description. I created kind of an hour-long class on one research method that you can use when you are trying to think of niches to sell. So if you sign up, I'll just send all of the information to your inbox, as well as the link to watch that workshop, and that can really help you get started. But investing in some kind of research tool definitely can be the difference in you making no sales or starting to make sales consistently every single month. Now, a lot of times these types of subscriptions are running anywhere from like $5 to $20 a month, which seems like a significant amount, but if you are aiming to make around $5 per sale, if those items are helping you make between two to even four additional sales every single month, they are paying for themselves. So it's definitely a worthwhile investment, especially when you are just getting started. I wouldn't skip out on those. Now, the next thing that was really a

surprise to me as a print-on-demand seller in that first year. I was selling is that people are looking for way more specific things than you can even imagine. So, it's really tempting for a lot of new print-on-demand sellers to go for those really generic broad niches that they know everyone loves. So, things like pets or really popular careers like nursing and teachers or big holidays like Christmas. Now, those are all fabulous niches, but they are just so broad. And as a print-on-demand seller, one of the amazing things we had the capability to do is get so hyp specific. So, a store like Walmart or Target, their drawback is that they have to appeal to the masses. So, they're not going to make a shirt that's as specific as maybe a Christmas golden doodle owner. That is just not going to appeal to the volume of people that they want. But as a print-on-demand seller, there might be a significant pool of people wanting that type of item, but they're not going to be

able to go to the big box stores to get it so in print Andaman you can get so hyp specific and there is likely a market for that. People are looking for more specific stuff every single day so you really can get super creative in the types of niches that you are going after now. As long as you have some kind of research tool or you've taken that Workshop that talks all about my research process, you'll be able to pinpoint if there is enough traffic even if it is hypers specific. But a lot of times people are being way more broad than they need to be, and especially for gifts, people are looking for really specific things so you don't have to be scared of being too niched down. That's really not a possibility. And a lot of times the more specific you can be, the more room in the market there is for you to actually find a ton of people wanting to buy your item. Now, the next thing that I really had to take a long time to learn as a recovering perfectionist

myself is that a lot of times as a print on demand seller quantity is going to matter just as much as quality. So I never recommend just slapping together things and throwing them out there without a thought to how they look or them being well researched. But really the biggest needle mover in getting your business to the next level to taking it maybe full-time or just where it's making you multiple thousand dollar every single month is going to be quantity. Now there probably is some some example of people that started making full-time income from just a handful of listings but that is definitely the exception not the norm. Most of the time print on demand sellers that make significant income every single month have thousands and thousands of products listed. Now I know that can be so daunting to hear but it just is a slow process that if you continue uploading items every single day you really are going to build up a significant catalog after just a year even if you aim for two new listings and Designs every single day which is kind of on the low

end of what you should be aiming for. At the end of a year, you're going to have about 700 listings uploaded, which definitely is enough volume for you to start making significant income. Now, one of the things that I really struggled with when I was getting started is spending so much time on each listing. Now, you do need to be thoughtful with your titles, with your descriptions, with the designs you're creating, but as you get going, you can work on getting faster and kind of taking shortcuts to make sure your items are good, but they are not always going to be 100% perfect, how you would want them. I've had to get comfortable with all of my items being around maybe 80 or 85% of the way that I think they should be, and then that last maybe 10 or 15%, that's going to take me maybe another hour. If I can get my items probably 80% of the way, that is going to be enough. Instead of spending an hour on each product, I would rather spend an

hour making several different ones that I can upload because that is going to have the most impact. Now, it's totally fine if you're just getting started. If things are taking you a little longer as you're learning, but as you go, just don't make it a habit to spend so much time on each listing. Now, the next thing that I really wish I knew more about as a new print and demand seller is what types of products I should be selling. Now, the biggest thing that I heard people selling was something like t-shirts, so that's definitely where I began my business. But I really didn't know how much opportunity there was in other types of products. So, I actually have a full video for you guys right here that lists out some of the best products besides t-shirts that you could be selling in your print on demand business. I definitely recommend giving that a watch. Thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you in my next video.

7 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Print on Demand

Hannah Ebeling

The Real Costs of Being a Print-on-Demand Seller

Print-on-demand is a low-cost business to start, but sellers need to cover the wholesale cost of items, along with platform fees.

Using a manufacturing partner like Printify means being responsible for paying the wholesale amount for each item sold.

In addition to the wholesale costs, sellers also need to consider platform fees, including account creation fees, listing fees, and transaction fees.

Managing Costs and Challenges in Print-on-Demand Business

5% cut from each sale, making it essential to use a profit calculator to track costs accurately.

It's common for designs to get stolen in the print-on-demand business, requiring a decision on whether it's worth the time and effort to go after the offenders.

Using shortcuts and templates for designing products can save time and is completely acceptable, especially for new sellers.

Efficient Strategies for Print-on-Demand Success

Using a consistent design style across multiple niches can be profitable and time-saving.

Starting with pre-made templates and graphics, such as those from KD and Creative Fabrica, can significantly speed up the design process.

It's important to recognize that only a small fraction of the created products will drive the majority of sales in a print-on-demand business.

Strategies for Increasing Product Sales and Scaling Your Business

It's crucial to have a large volume of products listed to increase the chances of finding best sellers.

Top accounts often sell only 1 to 5% of their items, so having a wide range of products is key to making a significant profit.

Investing in the right tools, such as a design suite and research tool, can greatly impact the monthly sales and scalability of your business, even if you're just starting out.

These tools can help you create more sales and save time on product research, ultimately boosting your business growth.

The Importance of Research Tools for Print-on-Demand Sellers

Investing in research tools can make a significant difference in sales for print-on-demand sellers, even with a monthly cost of $5 to $20.

Specific niche markets are more profitable than broad ones for print-on-demand products, allowing sellers to be creative and target a significant pool of customers.

Being overly specific is not a concern, as there is a growing demand for unique and niche products, especially in the gift market.

The Importance of Quantity in Print-on-Demand Business

Quantity of listings is crucial for the success of a print-on-demand business, often more so than the quality of individual items.

Building up a significant catalog with thousands of products is important for making a substantial income.

It's also important to consider a variety of products beyond just t-shirts for a successful print-on-demand business.