Do you want to start your own business with little to no cost at all?
Well, you’re on the right track.
Print-on-demand is the way to go. Most people interested in building a business are raving about it, and we all know why.
It requires zero to little start-up budget. There won’t be a shortage of people to sell to because the market is always on the lookout for fresh designs. It’s a dummy-proof business model so there is little chance that you’ll lose money from it.
If you have some talent for designing or have the money to pay for a designer, this type of business is for you. But there’s one thing that you need to do first. You need to pick the best print-on-demand platform suitable for your business. It can be quite a challenge, for there are many options out there.
You’ll need to narrow down your choices and dig deep into each print-on-demand platform to get to your best pick.
So, we curated all the print-on-demand companies imaginable into this list.
Table of Contents
- What Is Print On Demand?
- How Does Print On Demand Work?
- Print on Demand Dropshipping
- Print on Demand for Etsy
- Is print on demand profitable?
- What are the Benefits of Print On Demand?
- What is the best print on demand site?
- How do I start a print on demand business?
- Print on demand products
- Print on Demand T-shirt Companies
- Why is it necessary to choose the Print On Demand Site that is right for you?
- Printful
- Printify
- RedBubble
- TeeSpring
- Gearbubble
- Gooten
- Pillow Profits
- SPOD
- Apliiq Dropship
- Teelaunch
- Print Aura
- Zazzle
- CustomCat
- Lulu Xpress
- T-Pop
- JetPrint: Print On Demand
- AOP+ Easy Print on Demand
- Society6
- Merch By Amazon
- TeePublic
- TeeFury
- Spreadshirt
- Design By Humans
- Amplifier
- Fine Art America
- CG Pro Prints
- Creative Fabrica
- Threadless
- SunFrog
- CafePress
- Scalable Press
- BookBaby
- IngramSpark
- KITE
- Inkthreadable
- OGO
- Wc Fulfillment
- GearLaunch
- Summary
What Is Print On Demand?
Print on demand (POD) is a business model where a seller partners with a printing company that prints designs on products. The POD company only prints the designs on the products once an order is placed. They then ship the items to the customer.
There is no inventory required. Customers buy the designed product they see on a mock-up that you list on an online marketplace or ecommerce store. It’s when they click “buy” or order that the fulfillment process begins. That’s why it’s called “on-demand.”
How Does Print On Demand Work?
Gone are the days when sellers struggle with keeping a huge pile of inventory in warehouses. With POD, they no longer have to worry about surplus products.
Here’s how it works. A seller contacts a supplier. This seller has the designs to print on the products. The supplier of goods usually takes care of both fulfillment and shipping.
You can market products even without a warehouse of stocks. The buyers will only see samples or mockups. You don’t need to have capital because you will get charged only when someone places an order.
In short, POD is booming for one main reason: it’s risk-free. Anybody can start their business as long as they have designs and an internet connection.
Print on Demand Dropshipping
Dropshipping means that the supplier will send the orders directly to your customers. You have to provide them with the customer’s address, and you’re all set.
It’s convenient for the sellers as they are not involved in the fulfillment and shipping.
Combining this feature with print on demand makes it convenient and affordable.
These perks have their downsides though.
Since this business model is so easy to do, everyone can try making money from it. This makes POD dropshipping a saturated market. So the competition for the best and most unique designs is steep.
Print on Demand for Etsy
Etsy has been a go-to marketplace for people looking for handcrafted, unique items. But lately, they are incorporating print-on-demand products into their repertoire of products.
The good thing about it is most buyers in Etsy are okay with paying a little more. They are accustomed to buying handcrafted goods.
Is Print on Demand Profitable?
Yes, you can profit from print on demand. Considering that you can create your own POD business with little to no upfront cost. There is little chance that you will lose money.
You will gain from it once you sell some items. But the amount you earn as profit depends on many factors. Some of the considerations are the platform, product pricing, and marketing strategy.
What are the Benefits of Print On Demand?
Its advantage is starting a product line hassle-free and risk-free. You don’t need a warehouse, inventory of products, and zero to little upfront cost. All you need to have are your designs and inclination for marketing your products.
Sometimes you don’t even need to market because the POD platform takes care of it. You will see which services help with this later when you read through the list.
What is the best print on demand site?
Choosing an ideal print on demand site for your business is crucial. It will help you have fewer headaches. After all, it’s the reason why POD is enticing to many. It’s hassle and risk-free. But it does come with challenges usually related to deciding which vendor you choose to work with.
Some POD sites on this list are more popular than the others. But there is not one perfect site that will suit every business owner’s goals in all aspects. You need to consider many factors. So to find the best POD site, you need to do some research.
How do I start a print on demand business?
Going from zero to hero with print on demand has never been easier. No more worrying about having to buy printing machines. There’s no need to keep stocks of products you want to print your designs on.
Today, everyone can start their own business with POD. You can get your designs out in the market, as long as you have internet access.
Print on demand products
There is a wide range of merchandise where you can print your designs. From mugs to jewelry, you name it; there’s always a print on demand provider who can cater to your needs.
Some POD platforms do well on particular products. So it’s essential to keep your target market in mind when choosing a platform.
Print on Demand T-shirt Companies
POD is not just about t-shirts, but undoubtedly, it is what many people buy from POD sites. Teelaunch, Print Aura, Printify, and Printful are some of the popular shirt POD sites.
But right now, most companies don’t just sell shirts. They also sell bags, pet accessories, and even shoes.
Why is it necessary to choose the Print On Demand Site that is right for you?
These print-on-demand companies seem to keep popping out of nowhere. So you need to pay more attention. They may look almost similar at first glance, however, if you get to know each company better, you’ll see how different they are. No matter how minute the difference is, it can affect how you conduct your business.
Ask yourself:
“Will my customers be happy with the products?”
“Do they ship fast?”
“Will I be able to earn a good amount of profits?”
These are some of the questions that needs to be answered.
Of course, one POD site cannot have it all, so you need to think of your priorities to choose the right platform.
Here is our complete list of the best print on demand sites to try in 2021:
Printful
Printful is one of the biggest and one of the most reputable POD companies. It’s a site that does printing in-house. Meaning, they have their machines and do the printing themselves.
There are lots of products you can design with Printful. They have apparel for men, women, and children. They also print on accessories such as bags, phone cases, and jewelry. Home essentials are also a part of their vast repertoire.
It is top-notch when it comes to product quality in the POD industry. But, it is one of the pricer platforms.
Printful can also create tags, inserts, and stickers. If you plan to develop your brand, this can be handy since you can have your logo shown on your merch.
You can connect Printful to Shopify, WooCommerce, and Squarespace, to name a few. Amazon and Etsy are some of the marketplaces the service supports.
It is most suitable for business owners who are starting to build a good reputation for quality. It is also helpful for those who aim to grow a loyal fanbase.
Read this Printful review for more details.
Printify
Just like Printful, Printify is a platform in which you will be able to create your brand. You can build your line of merchandise with it. Printify takes products to profits without hassle on your end as a designer.
They are a service provider that allows sellers to connect to a network of print vendors.
It’s recommended you order samples to help you choose the best printer to partner with. Once you’re done, you can connect it with your e-commerce platform or marketplace of choice. If you don’t have one, you can build your virtual store on social media to display your designed products.
They sell basics like T-shirts, hoodies, and tank tops. They also print on face masks, phone cases, bathroom, and pet stuff.
Printify partners with third-party print providers to do the printing for them. This is both good and bad news for business owners.
The upside is, you don’t have to be stuck with fixed costs of production. You can choose whichever printer you’d like based on the quality of output and prices. But the drawback with this kind of system is it compromises quality. Printify has nothing to do with the prints’ outcome. So it’s up to you, as the business owner, to make sure you pick the right print provider.
Printify provides its sellers with three plan options. Joining Printify is free, and you can add up to five stores to your account. If you want to have more stores, you will have to pay $29/month for a Premium account. They will also provide discounted prices that can go as high as 20%. There’s also an Enterprise plan that is offered to those who receive 10 thousand plus orders a day.
You can connect Printify to five major e-commerce platforms. Those are Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Wix, and PrestaShop. As for marketplaces, the platform supports Etsy and eBay.
Want to know more about Printify? Read this ultimate review.
RedBubble
Redbubble is a POD company based in Australia. It offers its services not only as a platform to design products but also to sell them. So basically, it is a marketplace that provides everything that you could need to sell your designs. You only have to create the designs and then market your goods through their platform.
You’ll have to promote your merchandise only on Redbubble. You are not allowed to sell your designs on any other platforms.
Redbubble’s aim is to be a medium for independent graphic artists to earn through print on demand. Specifically, artists who don’t have much knowledge with back and front-end operations.
Pricing is very much on the higher end. Redbubble outsources printing, so they have to pay a vendor to print for them and charge the seller a premium to be able to profit from the sale. They are transparent when it comes to top-ups. In general, they apply a 10% markup for the products you’re selling, but you have the option to increase it as you like.
You won’t be able to connect Redbubble to any e-commerce platforms nor marketplaces. When you use it, you don’t have any other choice but to sell your designed products through them.
You won’t be able to white-label your products either.
Read this article for more information on Redbubble.
TeeSpring
Teespring allows users to upload their graphics. But they can also use their online program to add designs on products. Teespring will give you a storefront. It means that they will provide a page where you can sell your products. You can drive traffic to your product page through Facebook or Instagram ads. You may also promote it organically.
Create a profile for your designed item and set a campaign for it. Campaigns may last for 3-21 days. Teespring will print all the accumulated orders once the campaign is over. So if you set a campaign for 12 days, you may lose clients since they will wait long for their orders to arrive.
Setting shorter durations for your campaigns is better (three days). Then you can relaunch them continuously.
Teespring has a Boosted Network to help you sell on six major US-based marketplaces. They sell on Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Etsy, Wish, and Rakuten. They also can feature your products on JD.COM, the most prominent Chinese online retailer. Teespring provides this as a free feature that you can enjoy if you meet a particular set of criteria.
One consideration is there shouldn’t be any inappropriate graphic content on your designs. Your trust scores must be high enough for the algorithm to pick you.
You can connect Teespring with Youtube Merch Shelf and Google Shopping.
Gearbubble
Gearbubble is also one major player in POD. It works just like most of its competitors. You will have to choose a product, design it using the app, and then Gearbubble will take care of fulfillment and shipping.
It stands out because it allows you to create your storefront and launch campaigns. You can sell your products with Gearbubble for free. But it will only allow you access to some basic features. If you’d like to sell on more platforms like Etsy, eBay, and Amazon, you’d need to pay extra.
Some of the items you can sell under this platform are shirts, hoodies, and jewelry.
Gearbubble is located in Nevada. Shipping takes 3-11 business days for orders in the US. For orders made overseas, it usually takes 14-20 business days.
Check this link for a more detailed description of Gearbubble
Gooten
Gooten takes all logistics concerns out from your to-dos. They have a global network of trusted vendors that does production and shipping for you.
They print on shirts, mugs, and many more unique items.
It’s easy to upload products in different stores at once. It also allows for using different tags, product descriptions, and titles.
There are many ways for your designs to come to life with Gooten. The methods they use are DTG, dye-sublimation printing, woven technique, and embroidery printing. They don’t do foil printing.
Gooten offers reasonable pricing for quality products.
Manufacturing of products is mostly within the US. One downside is they take longer to ship. For regular shipping, it takes about 12 business days from dispatch. It takes six business days for expedited and four business days overnight. They also ship to Canada and internationally. They have several international manufacturers to speed up delivery for customers abroad.
Gooten connects with some of the biggest e-commerce sites. Some of them are Shopify, Etsy, and Amazon. They also have a Gooten API that allows sellers to have more technical flexibility to the platform.
Learn more about Gooten. Read this complete guide.
Pillow Profits
Pillow Profits specializes in footwear. It provides a wide range of shoes and takes care of printing, packaging, and shipping products.
Pillow Profits’ footwear ranges from athletic sneakers to faux fur boots. They also print on other products like luggage covers, pillow covers, and leather bags.
They have two ways to ship items. One is Standard Shipping, and the second is through Express Line Shipping. The latter is pricier, but it reduces shipping time by about half. Customers will receive orders after 4-7 days post-production. Production time takes about 2-4 days.
Express-Line products have an extra shipping cost. So they are more expensive than standard products. The shipping time is significantly reduced from 10-15 days down to 4-7 days.
Unfortunately, Pillow Profits is an app that can only integrate with Shopify.
Click here to learn more about Pillow Profits.
SPOD
If you want a POD partner that has a good reputation and fast turnaround times, then SPOD could be the right choice for you. Just like Pillow Profits, this one can only be used exclusively through the Shopify app.
They even give their users a 20% discount for sample orders.
It is known to have the fastest shipping time. A huge majority of its orders( 95%) get dispatched within 48 hours.
They have a variety of printing techniques that they use depending on the product. They can do DTG, sublimation, special flex, and laser transfer.
Also, it is for people who want to offer customization to their customers. They have one of the best customization software that your customers can enjoy.
Apliiq Dropship
Apliiq is the perfect choice for you if you are aiming to build your own legitimate brand. Although they do not offer as many products as other sites, they provide high-quality items and can even create woven labels for you. However, if you don’t have an interest in marketing, don’t choose Apliiq. They require a minimum amount of orders before they start fulfilling them.
They design products using digital printing and screen printing. But since screen printing takes a lot of effort to set up, it can only be done if you order in bulk. Other options for designing apparel are cut and sew applique and embroidery.
When shipping orders, you can pay an additional 10% rush order fee so you can get it to ship faster. Another way is to have it expedited.
It can only be connected with Shopify at the moment. But they are also adding support for WooCommerce soon.
Teelaunch
Teelaunch is a POD application that connects directly to Shopify. There is no upfront cost at all. The only time that you would have to shell out some cash is when a customer orders from you.
You will shoulder the cost of the product, printing, and shipping. The difference between what you were charged and the price you set for your merch is your profit.
They make use of third party printers to help them with fulfilment. This set up may cause some inconsistencies with the quality so, just like with Printify, it’s best to order samples.
Teelaunch prints designs on general apparel using DTG technique. As for blankets and bags, they use sublimation. For other non-fabric items like jewellery, power banks, and coasters, the designs are laser etched.
They have production facilities worldwide so it won’t be a hassle if your customer is ordering from a foreign country.
Read this in-depth review to learn more about Teelaunch.
Print Aura
Print Aura is another POD site that is based in New York. It works pretty much like Printful, but they only use DTG printing.
They ship within the U.S., Canada and some international locations.
Print Aura can also be one of your options if you want to focus on branding. They can customize return labels, packaging slips, and neck labels for you. They also won’t require you to meet a certain minimum quantity of orders before fulfilment.
It integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, Storenvy, Etsy, and OpenCart.
Zazzle
Zazzle is a platform that also acts as a marketplace. So you cannot create your own site with them.
There are two methods for you to earn with Zazzle. First, you can be one of their designers and earn royalties. You are in command of how much you will make through their “Name Your Royalty” program. Second, you can create your products and sell them in Zazzle. And lastly, you can earn some commissions through their affiliate program.
They are also authorized to print licensed merchandise for huge brands like Universal Studios, Disney, and Marvel.
CustomCat
CustomCat is another POD app and is one of the leading names on this list — they offer more than 550 products to design. Some of the products they offer are shirts, bags, and towels.
Designing products is done by direct to garment printing, dye sublimation, and embroidery.
Their average shipping speed is about one week if within the United States and two weeks for international deliveries. All orders are shipped from Detroit, Michigan.
You can connect CustomCat with Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, BigCommerce. You can also use their API and CSV upload.
Read more about CustomCat in this complete guide.
Lulu Xpress
Lulu Xpress is a platform for authors to print high-quality books.
The unique selling point of Lulu Xpress is that it does not require you to order a minimum number of books. You can start selling to your readers with no upfront cost at all since it is free. But it can also benefit authors who sell their books at large quantities since they can enjoy discounted prices.
There are three ways for you to profit from your book with Lulu Xpress. You can sell on Lulu Bookstore, on your own website or globally through their network of retailers.
T-Pop
T-Pop primarily operates in European countries like the U.K., Germany and France. The service currently integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Etsy.
Some of the items you can print on are hoodies, tote bags, and aluminum bottles.
Just like most platforms, you can use it for free. You would only need to open your wallet after a customer purchases your designed products. They also take pride in using eco-friendly, “clean” products, inks, and packaging.
They can help you print on various types of products. You can design shirts, onesies
It can be an option for you if you would like to create your brand because there is no label displayed on their apparels.
JetPrint: Print On Demand
This POD platform has an impressive 4.6 rating on Shopify. They specialize in printing on watches where they print on the actual face of the watch. Apart from that, they also include printing on the back case and packaging customization.
They also work on other products like shoes, all-over printed clothes and home decor.
You will not need to pay any amount to use JetPrint. They will also take care of everything from printing to shipping so you can focus on creating designs or marketing your products.
AOP+ Easy Print on Demand
AOP+ Easy Print on Demand also has zero upfront charges, but they do have paid options that upgrade pretty well depending on the plan you purchase.
The most significant advantage is you get discounted rates that allow you to earn higher profits for $11.99/mo, you get to save 5%. Upgrade to the most expensive one, which is for $19.99, and you get a 10% discount.
They can also help you with branding by allowing you to customize packaging slips, labels and postal bags.
You are better guaranteed to receive quality goods with AOP since they manufacture their products in house. Check out their price list here.
Society6
You can sell any types of artfoms on Society6, but there are specific guidelines sellers must follow.
The market offers different products like shirts, throw pillows, and wall clocks.
Unfortunately, as an artist, you don’t have the freedom to price your designed products. They will only allow you to do that if you are selling art prints.
One thing that is good with Society6 is that it allows you to keep ownership of your art. It means that you can use your designs on other platforms too without breaching any intellectual property guidelines.
Merch By Amazon
Merch by Amazon allows artists to design products at zero cost. They will receive royalties by allowing Amazon to sell their designs on their platform. Amazon will handle everything - printing, shipping and customer service.
All you have to do is sit back and relax once your design is out there—no need to do marketing because you already have access to Amazon’s massive number of buyers. Also, your designs are not exclusive only for Amazon to use. You can go to another platform and use the same graphics to design products.
One significant difficulty though is Amazon does employ an invitation-only system. You also cannot connect Merch by Amazon directly with other POD sites and marketplaces.
TeePublic
TeePublic uses third party printers which can be a red flag when it comes to quality. But they do put some quality standards in place to ensure that their customers are getting excellent quality products.
The artists also get to have full rights to their designs.
Once you finish creating a design you just need to upload it. There are over 75 products you can choose.
Since TeePublic has its own marketplace, they provide you with an online store to display your designed merchandise.
Your designed products will be sold at discounted prices for the first 72 hours. Make sure that you promote it via your social media so that your followers can purchase them.
TeeFury
TeeFury is another POD site that ranks high in Shopify reviews.
They print on face masks, pins, hoodies and many more.
If you’re an artist who’d like to earn some cash from designing, you might want to consider trying it with TeeFury.
But the downside is there is no guarantee that TeeFury’s team will pick your design. If they liked it, you’d earn a dollar for each piece of the product sold. If your design becomes popular and is moved to the gallery, you make $2 per sale.
You also maintain the rights to your design which means you can use it with other platforms.
Spreadshirt
There are two ways to earn with Spreadshirt. First is to sell on their marketplace. It will be perfect for you if you are starting to build your presence. We don’t recommend that you settle for selling on Spreadshirt’s marketplace because they can only pay you a portion of the selling price.
Another way is to set up your store in Spreadshop. You can determine how much you’ll earn. But remember that it will be much harder to market your designs on your own. So try to first make sure that you make the customers like your brand while you’re still in the marketplace so you can bring them with you once you decide to sell via Spreadshop.
They ship from the United States and have three options: Standard (10-12 days), Premium (7 days) and Express delivery (2-3 days).
Design By Humans
Design by humans is both a print on demand company and an e-commerce platform. They provide virtual storefronts to their sellers.
What’s unique about Design for Humans is they hold contests in which people from their community can vote. The winner will be given cash rewards.
Its target market is mostly influencers, gamers, and content creators. They were also able to secure rights from brands and influencers so that artists who would want to design products can freely create fan merchandise. Some of the featured brands they currently have are Star Trek, Assassin’s Creed, Star Wars, and Rare.
The products you can print on are quite limited compared to what other POD sites offer. But they have the basics like shirts, sweatshirts, and mugs.
They operate in Chico, California.
Amplifier
The POD service Merchify now calls itself Amplifier. It has enhanced its services to include more varieties of shirts, stickers, and coasters. They offer bulk printing across all plans. But for the POD feature, you need to get any of the Starter, Standard, or Pro plans.
Amplifier also developed an Application Programming Interface (API), which allows you to place orders directly. Unfortunately, this API can only be accessed if you use their Pro account, which costs $200/mo.
You can connect Amplifier to the following if you buy any of their paid plans.
Shopify WooCommerce BigCommerce Magento Squarespace Weebly Gumroad Amazon Etsy
You can only connect Amplifier to Shopify with the free version.
Fine Art America
Fine Art America is an excellent avenue for graphic artists to showcase their talents. It functions both as a marketplace and also takes care of fulfillment.
As an artist, you will have the freedom to set the price for your work. It won’t be a problem either if you have customers located overseas because they have distributors located in various parts of the globe like Australia, the Netherlands, and England.
Fine Art America secures its customers with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Just like most POD platforms, they have a wide range of products. You can have them print on shirts, phone cases, tote bags, and more.
CG Pro Prints
CG Pro Prints is one POD site that caters mainly to photographers and artists.
It is different from other platforms on this list because it prints only on canvases, frames, and banners.
CG Pro Prints fulfills orders from Longmont, Colorado. Their turnaround time is three days for production. If you’re from the United States, you can expedite shipping or even have it delivered overnight. Unfortunately, orders going overseas can only be shipped under the standard delivery option.
You can also choose to dropship your works of art. Just provide them the address of your customer, and they’ll have it delivered to their doorstep.
Creative Fabrica
Creative Fabrica is different from other companies on this list. Instead of POD fulfillment, the company provides business owners helpful POD resources including digital designs that you can either print or embroider on products to sell in your store.
They have a wide array of design bundles that you can choose from. Some of the bundles can go as low as $3, while others can be for $100.
But if you pay their subscription fee, you won’t need to buy the bundles individually. For $29/mo, you can get unlimited access to all their graphic assets, embroidery designs, cut files, and commercial license.
Threadless
If you’re thinking of a site where you can have your creative artworks designed on products, Threadless can help you. They are known to print on shirts, but they also have other products like shirts, pullover hoodies, and hats.
You can sell your products through Artist Shops. Display your merchandise there and then post it on Social media to boost your sales.
You also get to maintain ownership to your artwork even though you used it to design products with them. Unfortunately, Threadless’s ratings are relatively low, but they do provide their customers with a 60-day guarantee where customers are allowed to replace or exchange items if they are not satisfied with the products.
SunFrog
It is considered to be a significant player in POD because it gets a substantial amount of visits. Like any other company, they have a wide range of products, but they are mostly known for their shirt printing.
They offer what most other POD sites do and also specialize in clothing like leggings, hoodies and of course, shirts.
Its unique feature for the seller is that it allows you to earn more. They don’t require you to meet a certain number of orders for them to fulfill it. You get a 35% commission for every sale. They also pay you an artist commission when other people use your designs on their products.
It does not integrate with any other e-commerce platforms because it is a marketplace. So when you create designed products, they provide you with promotional images and the storefront to display your products.
It is suitable for both artists and business people. For artists, they get to retain ownership for their artwork. SunFrog is just given some rights to the designs to use them on their products. Sunfrog gives artists some control by allowing them to monitor sales and create marketing campaigns for retargeting customers.
CafePress
CafePress has been around the block for a longer time than the rest of the new generation POD sites. It’s one of the pioneering companies. It was founded in 1993.
It is the precursor of Teespring. Its unique selling point is it allows you to use copyrighted stuff because they were able to secure rights to usage from owners. So it’s no problem if you want to include in your design TV shows, movies and others that are copyrighted. But you still have to read the fine print still to see the limitations.
They operate mainly in Louisville, Kentucky but the fulfilment takes place all over the United States.
Scalable Press
True to its name, Scalable Press allows POD business owners to scale their production. Their process is highly automated, and they also have multiple headquarters and production facilities in the US.
They take pride in shipping speed that takes about one to two days to about 90% in the United States.
Scalable press, just like any platform, allows you to pick a product to print or embroider on. It does custom designs using five techniques, namely: embroidery, screen printing, direct to garment, sublimation and poster printing.
As for integrations, you can connect it with Shopify and WooCommerce. They also order online or through their application programming interface (API).
BookBaby
Would you want to publish your own books?
If you have, then you may want to consider Bookbaby. They do offer their publishing services for both ebooks and printed books. But since this list is about POD sites, we’ll focus on the print on demand aspect of Bookbaby.
Print on demand is a brilliant solution to have books printed only when necessary. The author will only need to shell out a minimum cost, and they don’t have to worry about excess stocks.
But Bookbaby isn’t exactly POD. The author would need to order 25 copies initially to enjoy their print-on-demand feature.
It’s like a one-stop-shop to take care of everything, from editing to distribution.
But all these conveniences come with a hefty price. Check out their publishing packages on their site.
IngramSpark
Similar to Bookbaby, Ingramspark is another platform for authors. But it’s the main selling point is it is considerably more affordable than the former.
Although it’s the more affordable option, it does a pretty good job in the distribution section. It allows you to access the largest distribution network for both printed and e-books in the US, Ingram Book Group (IBG).
This one is a perfect option if you plan to target the printed books market since they have a vast network that includes physical bookstores.
KITE
Kite.ly is a POD app for Shopify that operates in London, UK. This app allows business owners to design and publish products more efficiently.
You simply upload one image and then choose all the products you want the design printed on. However, keep in mind that you might still need to adjust the graphics to your liking.
One downside of using Kite.ly is it ships from the UK, which means prolonged waiting and more expensive shipping fees if you live in the U.S.
Inkthreadable
Inkthreadable is another print on demand site based out of the UK. They offer 170 products to print on. You can design items like shirts, hats, and homeware.
It works well for people who would like to establish their brand. It can print labels, packaging slips, and stickers.
You can connect Inkthreadable with Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, and EKM, (an online store platform in the UK).
They use two printing techniques: Direct to Garment (DTG) and Dye Sublimation.
OGO
From the POD sites in the UK, we are now moving to one that is in Australia. They do ship worldwide and connect with Shopify.
You’ll need to take care of marketing, and they will handle the rest, from printing to delivery. OGO will charge you for necessary costs like the products, printing and shipping. You have full freedom with setting your profit margin.
Unfortunately, OGO does not do relabelling as of yet for regular POD orders. But they offer this type of service: relabelling and neck printing on 50 and up orders.
Wc Fulfillment
WC Fulfillment helps you get your designs on actual products on their site. They will provide you with a PSD file that you can edit in Photoshop.
But what if I don’t have Photoshop?
Well, no problem. There is a free website, Photopea, that you can use as a substitute.
They will also take care of production and shipping.
You can use their free version, but there is also a Premium plan for only $9.99 a month that allows you to save $2 per piece of product.
WC Fulfillment integrates only with Shopify. They won’t require any minimum amount of orders to fulfill. However, it would be best that you create test orders so that you can monitor the quality of the items being sent to your customers. They support a replacement for damaged goods, missing orders, and orders with wrong prints on them. You may need to follow some scripts they provided to handle these types of customer concerns.
GearLaunch
There are two ways to use Gearlaunch. First, you can connect it to your Shopify store. If you don’t want to use Shopify, they also have a user-friendly platform where you can design products, monitor campaign stats, and see the details of your customers’ orders.
You can add multiple storefronts under your domain the platform, which can be handy when you’re trying to do testing. Share the link of your stores to social media to gain more traffic.
What’s unique with Gearlaunch is the option to protect your customers against possible damage and theft of orders for $1.98. You also get a small commission when your customers opt-in to this option. They ship to various countries worldwide. Check the list of countries where you can send orders via Gearlaunch here.
Summary
For anybody new to the print-on-demand industry, choosing an ideal platform can be daunting. Primarily because of the endless number of options. There is no single site that is better than the rest, but you can choose one that fits you the most.
Some may provide convenience, quality products, marketing advantage, and competitive prices. It will be hard to find all the desired qualities in one site.
You can narrow down this list to your best picks until you eventually find the platform that is most suitable for you.
Although it can be paralyzing to have all of these options, it’s also a relief that you won’t get stuck with a platform if you’re not satisfied with it.
So, what are your picks? Are you already using any of these? If yes, comment down below. We’d love to hear from you.