Print on demand

Most of the work comes before any sale: making designs, building mockups, writing listings and finding buyers. A provider such as Printful or Printify only charges you once an order exists, and Shopify says you hold no inventory.

In Printful's Etsy example, a $20 shirt costs $9.25 to make and $4.75 to ship, and Etsy fees take $2.35, leaving $3.65. At an assumed 20 minutes of your time per sale, you'd keep roughly $11 an hour. Design time and ad spend are not included, and your own price and pace will change it.

The catch is thin margin. Printful says most sellers net $3 to $8 per shirt (its own claim), and Shopify lists marketing among the main expenses. It suits people with a niche audience and patience. Skip it if you need money soon.

Who pays whom on each order

Your customer pays you, and you pay the provider for each order. Printful's pricing page says you set the retail price, the customer pays you, and you pay Printful for product, fulfillment and shipping. Printify charges your card or balance when an order comes in, and your profit is paid out in the sales channel, not by Printify.

Printify suggests a 30–50% margin on base product cost, a provider suggestion, not a measured result. On a Shopify store, card processing is charged on each sale. For withdrawal timing and fees, see how side-hustle payouts work.

What print on demand sellers keep per shirt

Printful's own Etsy examples leave very different amounts depending on the blank.

Every row is Printful's own figure or example, not measured seller results. Pricier blanks don't always keep more: the premium organic example leaves under a dollar. Printful also cites top sellers at $250K-$300K in monthly revenue, before costs.

Waiting on payouts, and falling Etsy sales

New Etsy sellers' funds are generally eligible for deposit 14 days after a sale. Marketplace reporting says many Etsy sellers have seen steep revenue declines, which they blame on mass-produced and AI-generated listings. Those are reported accounts, not measured data.

Startup costs: plans, listings and samples

The required costs are Etsy's per-listing fee and any one-time shop set-up fee Etsy shows during onboarding; everything else is optional.

Samples have no listed price because it varies by product. Printful's Growth plan takes 25% off sample orders, and its Design Maker and Mockup Generator are free.

Where to sell: Etsy, Shopify, Printful and Printify

Pair a storefront (Etsy or Shopify) with a provider (Printful or Printify).

• Etsy if you'd rather pay per listing than a store subscription. Etsy requires naming the production partner, and Printful says that is done manually per listing.
• Shopify if you want your own storefront instead of marketplace listings.
• Printify if you'd pay a subscription to lower catalog prices. Its blog lists a Gildan Softstyle tee as its cheapest unisex tee, at $8.47 base in an undated post.
• Printful if your sales will pass the level where Growth becomes free.

Finding buyers without relying on Etsy search

Buyers come from a niche audience, Etsy Ads and, on a Shopify store, social channels. Shopify says specific niches such as dog lovers typically lead to more effective marketing, and a Shopify store can also sell through social integrations and marketplaces like Etsy.

Etsy recommends a $3-5 daily budget for testing ads and at least 30 days before adjusting a campaign. Etsy's Offsite Ads fee is 15% of attributed orders for shops under $10,000 in prior-year sales (about $3 on a $20 order). It applies only to orders from those ads, and you can opt out. Printful's guide notes that paid ads require higher margins.

Best print on demand products and POD vs dropshipping

Apparel, drinkware and home décor are the top three POD categories on Shopify, and POD differs from dropshipping because the design is yours.

Products and base costs

Printful's poster page lists a starting base price of $6.75 for an enhanced matte paper poster, before shipping.

POD versus dropshipping

In both models you hold no stock and pay the supplier when an order comes in. Printify says dropshipping has no customization option, so it isn't limited to printable goods, while POD is for sellers who want to sell custom products with their own designs. Shopify's dropshipping guide says supplier-fulfilled shipping can be slow and outside your control.

Rules: Etsy partner disclosure, AI and IP

Etsy's rules apply first, because you design, list and answer for every item. For items you designed, Etsy requires you to disclose a production partner; you can hide the partner's name but must give a descriptive title. Etsy allows seller-prompted AI art with disclosure in the listing description. Its October 2026 update bans bot-generated listings with no human involvement and requires at least one unedited photo of the actual item, with possible exceptions.

Etsy says sellers, not Etsy, are responsible for the legality of their listings, including trademark and copyright. Business licenses and sales tax registration vary by state and city, so check your state revenue department and your city or county business office.

Taxes: a platform may send a Form 1099-K, but income is taxable with or without one; see taxes on side income.

Risks: returns, shipping delays and IP strikes

Both Etsy and Printify can cut you off. Etsy can end selling privileges after repeat IP notices, and Printify may suspend service and withhold money owed if it believes you breached its terms.

Returns and delays can land on you. Printify offers no refunds for wrong size or changed mind but reprints or refunds damage and manufacturing errors reported within 30 days. Printful says change-of-mind returns are the seller's cost. Printify gives no reprints for shipping delays unless the package is lost. Printful's summary of Etsy policy says Etsy Purchase Protection can refund buyers for non-arrival, damage or late orders.

Competition is growing. Amazon now lets any U.S. customer design custom merch, and TechCrunch frames it as a challenge to merch platforms, though how much it costs small sellers hasn't been measured.

Who this suits, and who should skip it

It suits you if:

• You can make designs yourself, or you already know a niche audience such as dog owners.
• You can wait out a testing period: Etsy advises running an ad campaign for weeks before adjusting it.

Skip it if:

• You need cash within weeks, since new Etsy sellers wait for deposits and ads need weeks of testing.
• You want control over print quality and delivery, since the provider's terms put carrier-delay risk on you.
• You'd rather not design or market. Affiliate marketing has no fulfillment, data annotation pays by the hour, and the ecommerce category has ways to sell products you don't design.

Your first week: from shop to first listing

1. Pick one niche and one product, such as a shirt.
2. Open an Etsy shop. You must be 18 to own the account, Etsy charges $0.20 per listing, and it may show a one-time set-up fee during onboarding.
3. Connect a provider on its free plan. Printful's Free plan costs $0 a month. Printify charges your card or balance by default 24 hours after an order arrives.
4. Order a sample, which gives you the actual-item photo Etsy asks for. Sample prices vary by product.
5. List the shirt and name the production partner on each listing, as Etsy requires. Disclose any AI involvement in the description.
6. Price from the base cost. Compare against Printify's suggested 30–50% margin and Printful's examples before choosing a blank.
7. Add ads only after the margin allows them, testing at $3-5 a day.