How to Make Money With Printify

E-commerce has been booming lately, offering exciting new opportunities. More and more people are choosing to shop online, finding it both convenient and cost-effective.

One promising business idea to consider is Print-On-Demand (POD). It’s a business you can dive into quickly, but don’t be fooled – while starting is easy, achieving success can be a challenging and intricate process. Success in the POD business requires a significant investment of both time and money.

Along the journey, Print-on-Demand businesses may encounter various obstacles, but how you tackle these challenges will ultimately determine your success. Services like Printify are dedicated to assisting designers, artists, and visionaries in bringing their creative ideas to life.

In this guide, we’ll delve into the strategies and steps needed to generate income through Printify.

What is Printify?

Printify is your go-to solution for all your printing needs. It’s a platform that lets you sell your unique designs on various products, and it takes care of the printing and shipping for you.

Starting a print-on-demand business with Printify is simple. They have a wide selection of products for you to customize with your designs, and the best part is, you don’t need to invest upfront. You get to oversee production and have orders shipped with your branding.

Setting up Printify is user-friendly, ensuring a smooth experience for your customers. Plus, you can easily link it to popular eCommerce platforms.

With Printify, you gain access to a network of over ninety print providers, and they handle order fulfillment, allowing you to focus on creating and boosting sales. It’s a win-win situation!

How Does Printify Work?

Starting with Printify is easy, thanks to its user-friendly setup.

Printify allows you to design custom products and sell them through over 90 different print vendors, offering a selection of more than 300 unique products.

You’ve got plenty of vendor options, including ArtGun, Fifth Sun, T Shirt and Sons, Prodigi, CG Pro Prints, and many more.

Picking the perfect manufacturer for your business comes down to considering factors like price, quality, and location.

Now, let’s take a look at how this platform actually works:

Step 1: Create

Begin by customizing your chosen product with designs, logos, art, or photos that truly represent your brand and business.

Step 2: Get Samples

Printify offers a variety of print vendors, and you can easily find the perfect fit for your business needs. The cool part? You can test their products by ordering a sample and assessing the quality for yourself.

Step 3: Add Products to Your Shop

Now that your products are ready, it’s time to start selling and making money. Whether it’s in your own online store or anywhere else you prefer, you’re in control. This step involves some effort on your part, as Printify can’t do this for you.

Step 4: Fulfillment Care

While you’re busy selling, Printify takes care of the nitty-gritty. They handle invoicing, manufacturer inquiries, and shipping, ensuring your orders are fulfilled without you having to break a sweat.

How To Earn Money With Printify: 9 Legit Ways

In this section, we’ll explore various ways that can boost your income with Printify:

1. Design Unique Graphics

If you run a Printify store, you’re already familiar with the basics of putting designs on various products. Whether you have a background in art or not, it’s time to tap into your creativity and create something that resonates with people.

No design software? No problem. You can start with free tools like Canva to craft eye-catching images.

Another option is to showcase your designs directly on Printify merchandise. Get creative with how you present the products. It could be an artsy interpretation of the item, unique usage ideas, or a fresh perspective.

We all have unique ideas and passions, and expressing your creativity in your own way can make your Printify store stand out.

For example, patterns are a hit for clothing, socks, and home decor. Instead of manually creating patterns, you can use AI and a lesser-known tool to quickly make captivating ones. If you sell on platforms like Etsy, here’s how to get started:

1. Sign up for a $10/month plan with Midjourney or use their free trial.

2. Join the Midjourney Discord community and enter a prompt chat.

3. Type “/imagine [Your keywords] + –tile.” For example: “/imagine light yellow and pink flowers blowing in the wind –tile.”

4. Click the “U” button to upscale the design for printing.

5. Download the image. It might not be a perfect tile pattern yet, but that’s okay.

6. Go to Repper and try the Free Trial.

7. Play with settings to adjust the pattern to your liking, ensuring it’s in 300 dpi resolution.

8. Add your new tile design to your Printify store. Connect it with Etsy and create your listing.

This unique design approach can make your Printify store stand out and attract customers who appreciate your artistic touch.

2. Use Ready-Made Designs

Running a successful print-on-demand business involves trying out numerous designs to find what clicks with your audience. While creating designs from scratch can be fun, it’s also time-consuming. That’s where leveraging premade designs comes in handy, and one great resource for this is Vexels.

Vexels gives you access to a treasure trove of ready-made designs created by real artists. These designs are tailor-made for Printify’s print-on-demand services, which means you can skip the design process altogether. Here’s how it works:

1. Browse and Choose: Simply browse through Vexels’ extensive library of designs and pick the one that catches your eye.

2. Customize with Ease: Use Vexels’ built-in editor to make any necessary tweaks to the design, ensuring it aligns perfectly with your brand and vision.

3. Save and Print: After fine-tuning your design, save it, and then head over to Printify to add it to your chosen product.

Vexels offers cost-effective plans starting at $21 per month. Considering the access you get to real graphic designers and their high-quality designs, it’s a worthwhile investment. However, for Printify businesses that are making money and want to avoid monthly fees, Vexels offers a lifetime plan. With a single payment, you’ll have unrestricted access for life. This can translate to better profit margins in the long run, making it a savvy choice for those planning for the future.

3. Drive Traffic with Blogging

Blogging is a fantastic way to boost your Printify store’s visibility and attract potential customers. 

Start by building a blog that revolves around topics people are actively searching for. For instance, if your print-on-demand store specializes in designs for reptile enthusiasts, create a blog centered on reptile-related subjects. As your blog gains rankings on Google, people interested in those topics will naturally find their way to your site. You can then effortlessly convert these visitors into customers with a simple ad promoting your niche products.

To kick off a profitable blog, you’ll need hosting and a domain name. If you’re not particularly keen on diving deep into the blogging world but still want to harness the power of free blog traffic, consider using WordPress. It’s a user-friendly website builder that eliminates the technical setup hassle.

Blogging is a popular and effective method for several reasons:

• Bringing in Targeted Traffic: Blogs direct readers’ attention to the specific topics you’re covering, making it easier to reach your intended audience.

• Boosting Search Engine Rankings: Quality blog content can improve your website’s ranking in Google’s search results, increasing your visibility to potential customers.

• Connecting with Your Audience: Blogs help your audience connect with your store and its owner on a more personal level.

• Generating Revenue through Affiliate Marketing: You can also make money directly through affiliate marketing on your blog.

Unlike online stores that may offer just a couple of pictures, a blog post provides a deeper, more authentic view of your products. Interested readers who engage with your blog content can quickly become qualified leads by clicking on your call-to-action (CTA) buttons and moving over to your sales page.

Having a blog helps your store stay relevant and competitive in the vast world of eCommerce. Google, the search engine giant, favors websites that regularly produce high-quality content. By doing so, you can avoid falling into obscurity and remain discoverable to potential customers.

4. Monetize Your YouTube Channel

YouTube, one of the world’s most popular video platforms, offers a great opportunity to earn money while sharing your content.

The best part about YouTube is that you can start posting content without needing professional services, making it a perfect way to make money from home.

To become a YouTube partner and start making money from your channel, you’ll need to meet certain criteria, like getting 1000 subscribers and generating 4000 hours of watch time. Once you’re approved, you can explore other ways to benefit from your presence on YouTube.

Wearing Printify merchandise in your YouTube videos is a smart way to advertise. It’s a great way to introduce specific products to your audience naturally, with or without explicitly discussing them. By connecting with your viewers and offering the content they love, you increase your chances of making sales or getting affiliate sign-ups.

T-shirts and hoodies are popular on social media platforms. Hoodies are big on TikTok merch stores, while t-shirts are dominant on YouTube and Spotify merch. You can use this trend to your advantage.

Time is precious for YouTube creators. The less time you spend on creating merch, the more you can focus on building your brand and making your video content successful. With Printify’s tools and services, creating custom products becomes as easy as clicking a subscribe button.

Printify offers a free and user-friendly Mockup Generator with all the features you need to create fun, unique, and inspiring merch for your YouTube store in minutes. Here’s how:

1. Upload images, add text in various fonts directly onto the product, create patterns, and insert your logo.
2. Customize the design to your liking and check the preview mode to see how your merch looks in real-life settings.
3. Make any necessary adjustments and list your products for the world to see.

By using YouTube and Printify together, you can turn your channel into a profitable venture. You’ll provide your audience with attractive merchandise while growing your brand. Check out our guide on how to create a YouTube channel.

5. Cash In on TikTok Videos

TikTok is the place to be for snappy video content, and it’s gaining massive popularity worldwide. If you’re looking to make more money off Printify, this is your playground.

TikTok is all about short videos, maxing out at just 15 seconds each. It’s like Twitter, but in video form, highlighting a single aspect or theme. This app is a hit with younger generations, surpassing even Instagram in downloads.

If you’ve got some personality, ideas, skills, or anything that can shine in a quick video series, TikTok is incredibly user-friendly. It offers a variety of effects, filters, and other fun features to help you create engaging content right from home.

Here’s the money-making magic: showcase your Printify products in your TikTok content. Whether you’re featuring different items or weaving them into your plot, theme, or storyline, TikTok’s vast audience can tap into your network.

TikTok’s short video format is perfect for catching the attention of potential customers. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to connect with a massive and engaged audience.

6. Boost Sales with Facebook Ads

Running targeted Facebook ad campaigns is a powerful way to attract customers and increase your Printify store’s revenue. Here’s how to do it effectively:

• Start Small, Experiment Big: If your store is on Shopify or another Print-on-Demand (PoD) platform, you’ll need to generate traffic to make money. Start by experimenting with ads, even with a budget as low as $5 a day. PoD businesses can have narrow profit margins, so it’s crucial to test what works best for you.

• Identify Your Ideal Customer: Begin by pinpointing your ideal customer. Consider demographics, interests, and behaviors to create a highly specific target audience. The more precise your audience targeting, the more effective your ads will be.

• Choose the Right Ad Format: Facebook offers various ad formats, such as images, videos, carousels, and collections. Select the format that best showcases your Printify products and aligns with your campaign objectives. Mobile-friendly formats often perform well.

• Create Stunning Visuals: Visuals matter. Use attention-grabbing images and engaging videos to display your Print-on-Demand products. Ensure your visuals are top-notch, well-lit, and correctly cropped for maximum impact. Pro tip: Vexels has a mockup generator that’s ideal for creating eye-catching ad visuals.

• Harness the Power of Retargeting: Retargeting ads enable you to display ads to users who have previously engaged with your brand or visited your website. This helps keep your brand top-of-mind and encourages potential customers to complete their purchases. Consider showing them a different set of designs than the initial ad for a fresh perspective.

• Continuous Analysis and Optimization: Regularly assess your ad performance and make necessary adjustments to enhance their effectiveness. Experiment with different ad formats, ad copy, images, and targeting options to discover the winning combination that works best for your Printify store.

With targeted Facebook ad campaigns, you can drive traffic to your PoD products and boost sales effectively.

7. Monetize with Newsletters

Starting a newsletter is a fantastic way to maintain direct contact with your audience. Unlike social media, no one can restrict or suppress your reach here. If you’re already collecting your customer’s emails, you should be sending them newsletters.

As your email list grows, a single promotional email can lead to a significant spike in sales.

If you don’t have email marketing software, consider using ConvertKit. It’s user-friendly, offers a free plan, and has everything you need to get started.

Begin by focusing on creating a top-notch email list. Encourage website visitors to subscribe to your newsletter by offering incentives like discounts or exclusive content. Ensure that the sign-up process is straightforward and easily accessible on your website.

Be casual, witty, and helpful in your newsletter. If your Printify store caters mainly to teachers, consider running a special promotion for summer break just for educators. Get creative with your content to keep subscribers engaged.

Keep an eye on your email marketing performance by tracking essential metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Analyze these insights to make necessary adjustments and optimize your campaigns for better results.

8. Join Printify Affiliate Program

Becoming a Printify affiliate is a simple way to make money from the comfort of your own home. It’s like turning an unused field into a thriving goldmine.

Start by signing up for an affiliate link with Printify. This link will be your ticket to earning commissions.

Place your affiliate link in a high-traffic environment. This could be on your website, blog, YouTube channel, or any other platform with a substantial audience.

When people click on your affiliate link, sign up, and start earning through their free Printify business, everyone wins. You’ve introduced Printify to new customers, and the result is shared success.

By helping others, you earn 5% of their total sales for an entire year. Importantly, this doesn’t affect your referred customer’s profits in any way. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

9. Provide Coaching Services

Offering online coaching on how to use Printify is a simple and lucrative way to make money from home. 

Through your Printify journey, you’ve likely developed valuable skills and insights. Why not put them to good use by helping others succeed with Printify? Your past experiences and knowledge can provide a unique perspective to assist others in improving their Printify ventures.

Spread the wisdom you’ve gained on your path to Printify profits. Helping others not only benefits them but can also inspire new ideas for your own journey. You don’t need to rent a physical space for this; you can provide coaching services from the comfort of your home.

How Much Can You Earn with Printify?

Your potential earnings with Printify depend on various factors, primarily the prices at which you sell your products. 

According to an evaluation of Shopify, a multinational e-commerce company, print-on-demand stores can typically earn a profit margin of 15% to 20%. So, if you sell 100 products a month, each priced at $15, and assuming those profit margins, you could make between $225 to $300 per month.

Customized clothing designs give you the flexibility to set your own prices. When you browse Printify’s catalog to choose the merchandise you want to sell, you’ll see the item’s price and shipping cost.

You can also compare prices from different printers to find the most cost-effective option (though cheapest doesn’t always mean the best quality).

Example: A men’s short-sleeve shirt in the United States starts at $7.30, with an additional $4.00 for shipping (starting price) for one item. So, your cost for a T-shirt would be $11.30 (or $9.84 with a premium subscription).

T-shirts on platforms like Etsy often sell for $10 to $15, so making a couple of dollars in profit is feasible. If you have a unique design, you might even sell it for $30 or more, depending on your market.

Keep in mind that platforms like Etsy typically charge fees. Etsy, for instance, takes a 5% fee, and if you use Etsy Payments, they’ll deduct an extra 3% plus $0.25. So, with fees and the actual shirt cost, you’re looking at around $11.30 for the shirt (if you sold it for $15).

To make a substantial profit, you’ll likely need to market your products toward the higher end of the price spectrum.

Effective marketing plays a crucial role in selling more products. The more you sell, the more you’ll earn. So, invest in marketing strategies to boost your Printify business and increase your income.

Read more: Best Ways to Make Money Online

FAQs

Q1: Which websites can I use with Printify?

Printify offers versatile integrations with various websites, including:

• Etsy
• eBay
• Shopify
• BigCommerce
• WooCommerce
• PrestaShop

For instance, by linking Printify with your Etsy store, you can simplify product creation and fulfillment, with orders seamlessly transmitted to Printify for processing and shipping.

Q2: What’s the best way to make money with Printify?

A highly effective approach is introducing Printify to potential customers. When they start their own Printify stores, you, as an affiliate, earn a percentage of their annual sales. This win-win strategy allows you to profit from their total sales. For more information, you might want to check out Low Hanging System, a popular POD course. 

Q3: How much do I need to start with Printify?

Starting with Printify requires minimal upfront investment. You can create a free account to access the platform and design your products. Your primary expenses come from product and printing costs, incurred only when a customer places an order.

There are no monthly fees for the basic plan, but you can upgrade to the Premium plan at $29/month for benefits like discounted product prices and priority support.

Q4: Is selling on Printify worthwhile?

Absolutely, Printify is a valuable platform for eCommerce entrepreneurs seeking to launch or expand print-on-demand businesses. It offers a wide range of customizable products, a user-friendly interface, integration with popular eCommerce platforms, and access to a network of print providers, increasing your chances of success.

However, keep in mind that products available through print-on-demand services often have a limited perceived value. This can restrict your pricing flexibility, potentially resulting in low or even negative profit margins, especially for products like T-shirts where extremely high prices may not be feasible.