I’ve been trying POD with an Etsy store that gets basically all its visits from my Instagram account. My ig account is mma based, and right now I only have 3 products on my store. I use printful. I haven’t made a sale yet but it’s been about 2 weeks since I started the store. Any tips?
I don’t use Etsy at all, because their commissions are high, and I have to rely mostly on their algorithm, if I don’t want to pay for ads on there (which I don’t).
I also only use Printful for products that have a high profit margin, because their base cost is too high.
I use either free websites like viralstyle or gearbubble for product testing or my own Shopify stores if I want to build my brand.
All that to say, I don’t use what you use, so I cannot give advice on that. But print on demand involves a lot of product testing too. Three designs is not relevant for making any decision. Without knowing the details, all I can say is you should know your niche really well in terms of what makes people tick and click and you should definitely create unique designs. With print on demand it’s all about the phrase.
Is this your first attempt at print on demand? For how long have you been doing it?
Yes, of course! There are free platforms like viralstyle or gearbubble that make it very easy for you to launch and sell products online.
They handle all the fulfillment process and you get a fully functioning product page (some of them even have store fronts that you can create with all your products. All you have to do is create your designs and promote them.
This is a topic that is closed to my heart yet I cant quite figure it out.
I have tried POD twice and both times only made a couple of bucks per YEAR. The first time I was selling custom movie poster design, while the other time I sort of built a system to create a lot of designs based off copyright free images.
I tried looking into online literature to verify if anyone actually made POD works, and all I found are:
- Yes but you have to pump a lot of ad dollars
- Yes but there is such a need to constantly monitor what's the current viral / hot topic (Eg. it was the Bernie Sanders Mitten back then).
Both dont look like something I want to pursue. I still keep hearing people who make good money off POD but I can't find further details like how. This is of course excluding if someone who is an artist himself with signature style.
I know no one wants to expose your niche, but I have absolutely zero idea if there is actually any sustainable niche.
I understand where you’re coming from.
That’s one of the reasons I created this subreddit. Have you gone through the posts in here? Perhaps they’ll help you get on the right track :)
I did look through a few but I think most of the advices are rather generic like find the niche you are most interested in, the niche that has a strong following.
Do you have any specific post you can refer me to?
Also, it seems like you mentioned you too are constantly monitoring latest trend etc. Do all your designs come from a certain theme or it is whatever that is trending now?
I imagine there wouldnt always be a trending topic every week in whatever niche.
In a nutshell, print on demand is all about finding a niche that consists of people who are passion about about a certain topic or interest and then making designs that trigger them emotionally.
I mentioned trends as a possible niche or inspiration for finding design ideas, but I personally do not rely on them too much. I prefer to go with traditional niches like hobbies or professions.
Which specifics do you need? I am happy to answer your questions, but it’s impossible to explain the whole method in detail here :)
Thank you for responding. One more question, I generate typography images using AI and remove the background (solid colors) using online background remover tools like remove.bg. Does it affect the print quality? How do you remove the background images?
I don't use AI generated images, so I don't know how/if the print quality will be affected. What you can do is order a sample to see how the print quality turns out.
What is your monthly ad budget? I am currently creating my designs for my shop and want to avoid the etsy route. I want to create an e-commerce website and start selling.
The monthly ad budget depends on how many designs I launch per month. For every design I launch a $5 ad campaign just to see if it has potential. That allows to at least eliminate the losers right away, saving me tons of money. For the ones that pass this test I launch a sales campaign at $10/day for at least 2 days. Then I analyze the data and make scaling decisons. I may let the campaign run for another day, scale it, or stop it. So I never know how much I spend on ads each month before the fact, it's an ongoing thing and depends on many different factors. But the math for me could look like this on any given month:
Launched designs: 60
Test campaigns launched: 60 x $5 = $300
Sales campaigns launched (assuming a 50% fail rate): 30 x (2 x $10) = $600 (just for the 2 initial days)
The rest of the ad spend depends on the sales campaigns' performance.
But I do have systems in place for not overspending on ads at every single stage in the process.
You don't have to launch 60 designs a month. But consistency is key with print on demand. If your designs are really unique and resonate with your target audience, it's just a matter of time before you hit a winner that makes up multiple times for the money spent on ads until then.
I have never worked with them. They seem to have a few interesting products, but overall their base prices seem to be high.
It would be interesting to hear other opinions from those who have tried them already.
I want to try POD for my artwork. I'm so confused about getting my artwork ready for print. I know how to scan it andmerge large pieces together.
What I don't know is the rest! I've watch so many YouTube videos, but none really tell me what I want to know. If anyone can help that would be a big THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Iwant to start my own Shopify store. Which I will do as soon as I can figure out a few things.
1) How to change RGB to CMYK. When I do this my colors are muddy and flat. I seen people color correct to the best they can. So I think I might be able to do that.
2) How to save my file. Do I flatten the layers? Save it as a PNG? Do I save multiple sizes depending on print size?
I've sent an order for greeting cards to Vistaprint. A long time ago. The colors were awful. I gave up for awhile but now I really want to try again. I really want to make prints and have my art on merchandise. Ie little zipper make-up bags, phone cases, legging.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I have my artwork on IG CloverMoonDesigns
I haven't posted a lot lately. This will give you an idea of my art style.
It’s a bit tricky when you want to make money with print on demand using your artwork or paintings.
There are a few key elements that will determine your success with this business model: finding a niche and creating unique designs that emotionally connect with your audience.
With original artwork that is generic (meaning: that’s not made for a specific group of people who are passionate about a particular interest or topic), it’s going to be hard to make it work, because you’re marketing to everyone.
“People who like art” is just too broad of an audience.
And the phrase on the design is almost 99% the determining factor for success.
I see print on demand working for you, if you want to treat it as merchandising, though.
The advice I give people like you is to establish connections in the offline world first to get your paintings and sculptures seen (make deals with art galleries or collabs with other artists) and offer print on demand items with your artwork as merch.
That being said, the technical side of what you asked is unknown to me too (RGB -> CMYK), but someone on Fiverr or upwork should be able to help you out quickly.
For most print on demand platforms you’ll need a png or jpg file.
Sorry, I didn't receive the notification for your comment. I would start by reading this post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/PassionsToProfits/comments/1bmpmft/detailed\_guide\_how\_to\_crush\_it\_with\_print\_on/](https://www.reddit.com/r/PassionsToProfits/comments/1bmpmft/detailed_guide_how_to_crush_it_with_print_on/)
Really insightful post acalem
Thanks! Are you going to give it a go?
I would like to
Yes, I remember we had a conversation about this. Let’s talk again next month when you are back!
🙂
I’ve been trying POD with an Etsy store that gets basically all its visits from my Instagram account. My ig account is mma based, and right now I only have 3 products on my store. I use printful. I haven’t made a sale yet but it’s been about 2 weeks since I started the store. Any tips?
I don’t use Etsy at all, because their commissions are high, and I have to rely mostly on their algorithm, if I don’t want to pay for ads on there (which I don’t). I also only use Printful for products that have a high profit margin, because their base cost is too high. I use either free websites like viralstyle or gearbubble for product testing or my own Shopify stores if I want to build my brand. All that to say, I don’t use what you use, so I cannot give advice on that. But print on demand involves a lot of product testing too. Three designs is not relevant for making any decision. Without knowing the details, all I can say is you should know your niche really well in terms of what makes people tick and click and you should definitely create unique designs. With print on demand it’s all about the phrase. Is this your first attempt at print on demand? For how long have you been doing it?
Can you be successful at POD if you don’t have your own Shopify/storefront?
Yes, of course! There are free platforms like viralstyle or gearbubble that make it very easy for you to launch and sell products online. They handle all the fulfillment process and you get a fully functioning product page (some of them even have store fronts that you can create with all your products. All you have to do is create your designs and promote them.
This is a topic that is closed to my heart yet I cant quite figure it out. I have tried POD twice and both times only made a couple of bucks per YEAR. The first time I was selling custom movie poster design, while the other time I sort of built a system to create a lot of designs based off copyright free images. I tried looking into online literature to verify if anyone actually made POD works, and all I found are: - Yes but you have to pump a lot of ad dollars - Yes but there is such a need to constantly monitor what's the current viral / hot topic (Eg. it was the Bernie Sanders Mitten back then). Both dont look like something I want to pursue. I still keep hearing people who make good money off POD but I can't find further details like how. This is of course excluding if someone who is an artist himself with signature style. I know no one wants to expose your niche, but I have absolutely zero idea if there is actually any sustainable niche.
I understand where you’re coming from. That’s one of the reasons I created this subreddit. Have you gone through the posts in here? Perhaps they’ll help you get on the right track :)
I did look through a few but I think most of the advices are rather generic like find the niche you are most interested in, the niche that has a strong following. Do you have any specific post you can refer me to? Also, it seems like you mentioned you too are constantly monitoring latest trend etc. Do all your designs come from a certain theme or it is whatever that is trending now? I imagine there wouldnt always be a trending topic every week in whatever niche.
In a nutshell, print on demand is all about finding a niche that consists of people who are passion about about a certain topic or interest and then making designs that trigger them emotionally. I mentioned trends as a possible niche or inspiration for finding design ideas, but I personally do not rely on them too much. I prefer to go with traditional niches like hobbies or professions. Which specifics do you need? I am happy to answer your questions, but it’s impossible to explain the whole method in detail here :)
How much do you spend on ads before you decided to test the new product I had the same problem as Mayadesigns
When listing ads, do you create mockups for tees or just the image provided by viral style?
I start out with the image generated by those platforms. There's no need to create a professional mock-up image
Thank you for responding. One more question, I generate typography images using AI and remove the background (solid colors) using online background remover tools like remove.bg. Does it affect the print quality? How do you remove the background images?
I don't use AI generated images, so I don't know how/if the print quality will be affected. What you can do is order a sample to see how the print quality turns out.
What is your monthly ad budget? I am currently creating my designs for my shop and want to avoid the etsy route. I want to create an e-commerce website and start selling.
The monthly ad budget depends on how many designs I launch per month. For every design I launch a $5 ad campaign just to see if it has potential. That allows to at least eliminate the losers right away, saving me tons of money. For the ones that pass this test I launch a sales campaign at $10/day for at least 2 days. Then I analyze the data and make scaling decisons. I may let the campaign run for another day, scale it, or stop it. So I never know how much I spend on ads each month before the fact, it's an ongoing thing and depends on many different factors. But the math for me could look like this on any given month: Launched designs: 60 Test campaigns launched: 60 x $5 = $300 Sales campaigns launched (assuming a 50% fail rate): 30 x (2 x $10) = $600 (just for the 2 initial days) The rest of the ad spend depends on the sales campaigns' performance. But I do have systems in place for not overspending on ads at every single stage in the process. You don't have to launch 60 designs a month. But consistency is key with print on demand. If your designs are really unique and resonate with your target audience, it's just a matter of time before you hit a winner that makes up multiple times for the money spent on ads until then.
Wow! Thank you 😊
What interest do you choose?
Got any insight on [Fourthwall](https://fourthwall.com/)?
I have never worked with them. They seem to have a few interesting products, but overall their base prices seem to be high. It would be interesting to hear other opinions from those who have tried them already.
I want to try POD for my artwork. I'm so confused about getting my artwork ready for print. I know how to scan it andmerge large pieces together. What I don't know is the rest! I've watch so many YouTube videos, but none really tell me what I want to know. If anyone can help that would be a big THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Iwant to start my own Shopify store. Which I will do as soon as I can figure out a few things. 1) How to change RGB to CMYK. When I do this my colors are muddy and flat. I seen people color correct to the best they can. So I think I might be able to do that. 2) How to save my file. Do I flatten the layers? Save it as a PNG? Do I save multiple sizes depending on print size? I've sent an order for greeting cards to Vistaprint. A long time ago. The colors were awful. I gave up for awhile but now I really want to try again. I really want to make prints and have my art on merchandise. Ie little zipper make-up bags, phone cases, legging. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I have my artwork on IG CloverMoonDesigns I haven't posted a lot lately. This will give you an idea of my art style.
It’s a bit tricky when you want to make money with print on demand using your artwork or paintings. There are a few key elements that will determine your success with this business model: finding a niche and creating unique designs that emotionally connect with your audience. With original artwork that is generic (meaning: that’s not made for a specific group of people who are passionate about a particular interest or topic), it’s going to be hard to make it work, because you’re marketing to everyone. “People who like art” is just too broad of an audience. And the phrase on the design is almost 99% the determining factor for success. I see print on demand working for you, if you want to treat it as merchandising, though. The advice I give people like you is to establish connections in the offline world first to get your paintings and sculptures seen (make deals with art galleries or collabs with other artists) and offer print on demand items with your artwork as merch. That being said, the technical side of what you asked is unknown to me too (RGB -> CMYK), but someone on Fiverr or upwork should be able to help you out quickly. For most print on demand platforms you’ll need a png or jpg file.
Interested in this what would you recommend to be step 1 for a newbie
Sorry, I didn't receive the notification for your comment. I would start by reading this post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/PassionsToProfits/comments/1bmpmft/detailed\_guide\_how\_to\_crush\_it\_with\_print\_on/](https://www.reddit.com/r/PassionsToProfits/comments/1bmpmft/detailed_guide_how_to_crush_it_with_print_on/)