What is Printify and How Does It Work?

What is Printify and what is its meaning?

Printify is a print-on-demand platform that enables individuals to be online entrepreneurs and start their own merchandise businesses by selling clothes online. You can create, design, and deliver your own products with zero upfront cost. With Printify, it’s easy to set up an online store. You can choose over 200+ products, design and customize them, and start selling them online within a few clicks.

You just need to focus on product design and promoting it. Rest assured, everything will be taken care of by Printify. Printing, packaging, shipping, and delivery. The awesome part is that Printify is 100% free. However, there are some terms and conditions to it.

As a seller, you can also upload your own design and customize the product. Or, you can use their own mockup generator tool and kickstart product customization ASAP. Once you have created your product, you can either start selling it via the Printify store or integrate the product with any of your existing eCommerce platforms like Shopify or Etsy. When a customer places an order, Printify handles everything from production to shipping. You just have to sit back, relax, and enjoy reaping the profits.

What does Printify do?

Printify is an online print-on-demand service provider that enables individuals, entrepreneurs, and business owners to create and sell their own products online. It is the largest print-on-demand company and service provider, with 200+ product catalogs and vendors available. With Printify, the ease of creating new designs on products is just amazing and easy to set up. I especially loved their product range, which follows from canvas to pilows, from accessories to apparel and everything in between.

One of the biggest benefits of Printify is that they do not print the products in bulk. They only process the product when it has been sold or when a customer is ready to buy something or pay for it. They also look after the fulfillment so that you don’t need to worry about shipping and managing the inventory.

To give their users the best quality print and design options, Printify uses the best printing technologies in the world, which include the following:

Direct to Garment: In this type of printing, ink is sprayed into the fabric or product, and it soaks into the fibers after a few hours. It is similar to printing on paper but done only on clothing, apparel, and products. This process does not require any additional setup, and it is eco-friendly as well.

All-over printing: This is a high-quality method that gives the best printing result and output. It is a method in which your design or graphic is first printed on separate paper, and then the image is transferred to the product or t-shirt via heat. The ink starts heating and disintegrating into the fabric. This printing technique is used with materials made with polymer coating, which include mugs, coasters, mouse pads, and a lot more.

Digital printing: This is a printing technique that is done only on non-apparel products like paper, mugs, and other stuff. In digital printing, mapping is done by taking images one by one and then applying a small amount of ink to match.

Does Printify help you make money?

Yes, Printify surely helps to make money online by selling customized and uniquely designed products without worrying about inventory management, shipping processes, or fulfillment.

There are multiple ways in which you can surely make a good amount of money on Printify, and some of them are as follows:

1. Start your online store.

The very first way in which you can make money on Printify is by creating your own online store and selling products online. You can create a free account on Printify and start your online store within a few clicks. Later, browse through their product range and start designing it in your own way. You can use their editing tools and mock-up generators to create your own unique design.

Once you are done, you can promote the product online on social media and run paid advertisement campaigns.

2. Expand your existing eCommerce store.

With the help of Printify integrations, you can expand your existing online store and dominate the market and your niche. You can integrate it with WooCommerce, eBay, Shopify, Wix, Etsy, and more, broadening your horizons and exposure.

3. Blogging + Printify store

This is my personal favorite combination. It can help you make millions of dollars, provided that you are willing to do some hard work with consistency. You can start your printify store and blog side by side on the same platform. Prinfify allows you to create a blog, web pages, and other necessary marketing elements required to promote your online store.

You can also do the SEO of your store and blog posts and get them ranked on Google.

4. Affiliate Program

The other way in which you can make money via Printify is by enrolling in their affiliate program. If you run a blog, website, or YouTube channel in the business, eCommerce, or marketing space, then you can start promoting Printify to your audience and earn a commission for every premium plan they purchase via your affiliate link.

This program is 100% free of charge, and you can earn up to 5% commission on each referral for 12 consecutive months. It also has a 90-day cookie life, so even if a referee purchases their premium program on the 90th day from the day he visited Printify by clicking your affiliate, you will be getting a commission on that.

So what are you waiting for? Hop on the Printify website right now and start minting some money.

Is Printify legit?

Printify is a legitimate and well-established print-on-demand platform that has been serving businesses for over a decade. With a track record spanning ten years, Printify has gained a reputation for reliability and quality in the print-on-demand industry. They offer a wide range of customizable products, a user-friendly interface, and seamless integration with various eCommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Etsy.

Printify also maintains partnerships with reputable print providers, ensuring consistent product quality and timely order fulfillment. Customer reviews and ratings generally attest to Printify’s legitimacy, making it a trusted choice for entrepreneurs and businesses looking to start or expand their print-on-demand ventures.

How does Printify work?

Now that you have understood what Printify is and its meaning, it is important to understand how Printify works and how to make money on this platform.

1) Product Selection

First things first, you need to choose a product that you want to sell to others online. If you are starting a print-on-demand business for the first time, then I would suggest you do a bit of market research and check out which products are in demand.

At Printify, there are more than 200+ products to select from, ranging from different categories like apparel, kitchen accessories, home decor, and a lot more.

You can explore these products and select the best as per your niche and target audience.

2) Designing

Now comes the designing part, which is the most important task in the entire print-on-demand business. Printify gives you multiple options to create the best design for your product. You can either upload your own customized design from a computer, Dropbox, or Google Drive, choose an image from Shutterstock, or use the free designs that are already available with Printyf’s Mockup Generator Library.

While creating a design, make sure to follow these steps:

• For excellent quality, design, and look, make sure that you follow the guidelines for each product. You can read the guidelines on the right-side panel.
• Make sure that you work on size and placement. Place your design in the middle or center of the product in a pictorial form so that it is visible to all.
• Choose the right color combination and add text to your design only if it is relevant.

3) Publish

This is the easiest step, as you need to publish your product on your online store. You can either create an online store on Printify itself or connect your product directly to eCommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, and a lot more, as permitted by Printify.

4) Promote and earn money.

Now you need to promote your products online and make money. For promotion, there are multiple ways. For example, if you have your online store on Printiy, you can run paid advertisement campaigns or do SEO on your website to get organic traffic from search engines.

How to Use Printify and How to Get Started With It

1) Account creation

First, you need to sign up for Printify. You can do this by using your Gmail account or creating new login credentials. For quick setup, you can use Gmail. Once you have decided to create an account through Gmail, you will be redirected to a page where you need to fill in some basic information to get started.

After filling in all the relevant information, you need to select what you would like to do at Printify. It’s either designing a product, connecting your online store, or getting a sample product that you want to sell.

2) Design Section 

The design section at Printify looks very stunning, with loads of options available to play around with. You can select any product that you would like to sell online and get started with it. For example, if you choose to sell hoodies online, then a lot of sub-categories are available in terms of your target market, color of the hoodie, size, fabric, and a lot more. Once you have selected the hoodie, you can then start designing it.

For designing, you get complete control over the graphic and image design. You can upload any image or design that you have via your computer. There are also pre-made graphics available, which you can use to save time.

In the below example, I am using the pre-made text design.

You can also change the color of your hoodie, text design, size, and color of the fonts, edit them, write something new, or add more design to it.

You can then save your product and head over to publishing it. In this particular section, you need to write the product title and a little description about it. Make sure that you write an SEO-friendly description so that it can help you rank organically on search engines.

Final publishing of the product will be done only when you have connected your online store with Printfy.

3) Product Catalog

The product catalog is never-ending.

with Printify. I have already mentioned that there are more than 250 product options available to select from. You can opt for any of those products and promote them easily.

4) Orders and shipping dashboard

This is the place where you can track all your orders and shipping-related details. You can search your product shipment details by product order number, customer name and ID, or by product name. You can check whether the products are in production, produced, or in transit.

It also has a new feature called automated routing, which is used in case your print provider is temporarily unavailable due to stock issues or your selected print provider is experiencing significant delays. We can automatically route the affected items to a different print provider, so your orders can arrive on time.

5) Store settings or how to create an online store on Printify

If you don’t have your own online store on other platforms, then you can also start one on Printify for free.

Just head over to the store settings section, and you can start your online store by giving it a name. Go with a Cathy name along with a strong emphasis on branding and marketing.

Once you have created the name of your store, you need to enter your shipping address. This address will be shown on the product packages and labels to give end customers an indication of where the product has come from.

You can add your USA, UK, or DE address. Custom addresses can also be added, but they must be in the USA only.

Later on, you need to set up some preferences, such as order routing, which will automatically send your product order to another provider if the product is not available. This will allow you to save time and avoid losing your premium customers.

Besides, you also need to set up an order approval request. You need to choose when and how your orders are approved by your store.

Once you are done with these basic settings, you can move on to the branding and marketing parts.

You can design the packaging insert cards, which will be sent to your customers as a thank-you note.

After completing all these steps, you can launch your store.

6) Printify Premium Review

I know no one is a fan of monthly subscriptions, but trust me, a Printify Premium membership will not only allow you to earn more money, but it will also give you more opportunities for product design and earning more profits.

The free version of Printify does have everything from product quality, product range, image and design resolution, product availability, and design features. On the other hand, the premium version of Printify will help you save 20% on printing costs. Moreover, if you are a high-volume seller, you can save loads of money here.

7) Printify Academy

This is my personal favorite thing about Printify, which is its own academy and learning resource center. This is the place where you can watch and learn through expert webinars on various topics like SEO, marketing, business, designing, printing, and a lot more.

I would recommend you go through all their webinars, which are close to 50. These webinars will teach you not only about POD business but also how you can leverage other marketing channels to make your print-on-demand business thrive in the market.

Printify Features 

Now that you have learned about what Printify is, how it works, and how to create your online store on Printify, Let us now walk through each and every feature of Printify and discuss it in detail.

1) Product editor

The product editor option is the game-changing feature of Printify, which sets it apart from other print-on-demand companies. It will make your life easy and help you get the best design on your product with perfect measurements. You can also make small adults by increasing the size, width, and alignment to get the right design on your product and in the right place.

If you have created any design or image in Photoshop, you can directly download that design to your computer and then upload it to Printify using the download button.

The product editor tool is awesome, but I had some complaints about the 3D design, which could have been much better.

2) Integrations

Printify integrations are surely one of a kind. As of now, Printify offers integration opportunities with six different platforms, which is a lot more than what other print-on-demand companies offer.

Some of the top integration options include Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, WooCommerce, Etsy, and a lot more. You can also use the API integration feature to connect Printify with another platform. However, you must know how to do it because of the technicalities involved.

3) Order management

Order management is the most important aspect of any print-on-demand business, and Printify does it well. Your production and manufacturing start as soon as your customer places the order. You can keep an eye on all your orders on the Order Dashboard, which I have mentioned above.

The only drawback of the Printify order management system is that they don’t have a mobile app that you can use to track your orders and manage your store. Printful, which is a Printify alternative, has a mobile application that can be leveraged to manage everything from cell phones.

4) Mockups 

The Printify Mockup Generator is surely the best and free to use. It will allow you to experiment with images, colors, and sizes and design your ideal image as you like it. You can try different designs and see what design works best with your product. You can also preview how the actual mock-up will look on your product by using 3D images during the design process. The mockup generator is easy to use and comes with a drag-and-drop editing option and different size variants. 

Printify currently has two different kinds of mockup generators.

A) Clothes mock-up generator

The t-shirt mock generator is a great tool if you want to create a text image or design for your apparel or clothing product. With this mock generator, you can also print on the front and back sides of some clothing and apparel to make your product look even more attractive and appealing.

B) Phone case mock-up generator

The phone case mock generator comes with loads of design templates and image options to make your phone case look stunning. You can use the positioning tool to zoom in, rotate, resize, and design it to fit the phone case. There is also a drag-and-drop editor tool with which you can place the image or design in the right spot.

For best results, make sure that your custom designs are of excellent quality. You can then switch between phone case models and sizes to ensure your design suits all of them and you come up with a stunning product mockup.

5) Easy to use

Printify is an easy-to-use platform with simple and clean navigation and a user-friendly interface. The dashboard, tabs, categories, and other options are made very intuitively so that beginners can also use them. You can also easily integrate it with your favorite eCommerce platform and kick-start selling products online ASAP. However, the integration is slightly difficult as it requires technical know-how.

Another thing that I really liked about Printify was their transparency when selecting a product from their catalog.

You can see the cost of the product and the ratings of your printing partner. You can also check the shipping cost. Once you select a product and start designing, Printify will show you the retail margin and how much profit to maintain.

6) Free for life 

The biggest pro of Printify is that it is free for life. Yes, you can use the free plan of Printify that comes with a stunning mockup generator, integrations with some eCommerce platforms, seller support, and custom orders.

Free plans are good for those who are selling limited orders every day. Also, the free plan lacks certain advanced features and integration options. If you upgrade to their premium plan, then you can avail of a 20% discount on all the products that you want to sell. This will allow you to keep the profit margins high and make more money. The premium plan also comes with Printify Connect, a service that will take care of all customer returns and queries. However, Printify Connect will only work when you have your online store on Printify rather than other eCommerce portals.

7) Product Variety

This is something that you will love the most about Printify. The amount of product variety you get at Printify is immense and never-ending. You can choose from 800 different products and add your own design or customize the design as per your wish. There are some fashion-based products like hoodies, t-shirts, and shirts, and some home accessories like mugs, pillows, and cushions.

You can walk through their product categories and select the best for your niche and target audience.

8) Customer support 

What is the first thing that you should be looking for when choosing a print-on-demand service provider? If your answer is customer service, then you are 100% correct. Printify is known for its amazing customer service, which they offer via email or chat support. Of course, phone support is also available to enterprise plan users. Their chat support is available 24*7 for everyone, and their team is also very knowledgeable and can answer all your queries and doubts within a few minutes.

I personally talked with their agent for 5 minutes and found the team to be very polite and supportive. They will surely give the correct solutions and advice for the problems you are facing, either using their platform, with integration, or anything else.

What’s more? You can also reach out to their team via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and their other social media handles, where they quickly respond to the comments and replies of the user base.

Just make sure that you ask a relevant and genuine question.

Some of the cons of Printify

1) Shipping issues 

I personally felt that Printify could have been more transparent when it came to shipping-related matters. Though they are transparent about their product printing and shipping costs, they take too long to deliver products to customers. When you pick a product and a printing partner, you will see in how many business days the product will arrive at the customer.

However, that is the average product time and not the actual shipping days required to get the product delivered. This can get really frustrating because your customers might be expecting your product within a day or two, but it might get delayed.

This is the one drawback or con of Printify.

2) No custom packaging

 Another thing that I did not like about Printify is that they don’t offer an opportunity to brand and market your company’s name and logo.

You won’t get any chance to leverage branding on packaging. At most, you will be getting your store name on the card and sending it in the packages that go with products. However, it can’t be done sometimes.

Another con of Printify is that the gift packing is limited to three phone cases. Looking at how many different products Printify offers, this is quite surprising. Plus, they also don’t offer gift and personalized messaging options.

We would request that Printfy offer some more room for branding in packing so that users can take their business to the next level.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): What is Printify?