How to make money with Print on Demand: The  ultimate guide

1. Choose a print-on-demand platform

Here’s what to consider:

• Print quality: Look for sharp designs, vibrant colors, and durable materials. Order samples to evaluate the product quality before committing.
• Product range: Opt for platforms with a wide selection of products. For example, Printify offers a Catalog of over 1,300 items to customize.
• Production and shipping speed: Choose platforms that can deliver products within 2-5 days, raising customer satisfaction, though international orders may take slightly longer.
• Pricing: Select a platform with competitive pricing that allows for healthy profit margins. Printify is free to use and a great option for newcomers to POD.
• Printing options: Ensure the platform provides flexibility with options like direct-to-garment (DTG), screen printing, and sublimation.
• Customer support: Reliable 24/7 support with quick response times via email, chat, phone, or social media is one of the key factors for ensuring smooth operations.

2. Niche selection and SEO optimization

Choose a specific niche that aligns with your passions and has demand. Consider trending niches like health and wellness, travel, books, mental health, or food. While seasonal trends can increase sales, remember they may decline after the season. For inspiration, explore 15 Print-on-demand niches for 2025.

After selecting a niche, focus on SEO tailored to your platform (Etsy, Amazon, Shopify). To optimize:

1. Analyze bestsellers’ descriptions, tags, and hashtags.
2. Use tools like Alura, Sale Samurai, or eRank to find low-competition keywords.
3. Check marketplace search bar suggestions for trending terms.
4. Add keywords to titles, descriptions, image filenames, and make the most of tags.

3. Create designs 

Producing high-quality product designs is essential when it comes to attracting customers. Focus on clear, polished visuals that resonate with your target audience. For beginners, Canva is a great choice – its intuitive tools make it easy to create designs from scratch.

If you want a more polished look, consider hiring freelance designers from platforms like Upwork to bring your ideas to life. For more tips, check out our graphic design guide for print-on-demand businesses. 

4. Upload the designs

Once your designs are ready, upload them to your chosen print-on-demand platform. Each platform has specific requirements for file types and image resolutions, so make sure your designs meet those standards.

Use mockup tools to create realistic product images. For example, demonstrate how a design will look on a t-shirt or how wall art might appear in a room. Realistic mockups give your customers a clear idea of what to expect, which can increase their confidence in your product.

5. Set your prices

Research pricing in your target market and niche to remain competitive. Your pricing strategy should cover all expenses – including design, production, shipping, taxes, and platform fees – while leaving room for a profit margin of about 40%.

Here’s a simple pricing formula:
Product cost (design, production, shipping, taxes) + Profit margin = Retail price

For example, if your wall art costs $6 to produce and you sell it for $10, your net profit is $4 per piece. Selling 100 pieces a month would generate $1,000 in revenue and $400 in profit.

6. List high-quality products

Connect your chosen POD platform to your own store on Shopify or marketplaces like Etsy, or Amazon. Fill out all required fields and include as much detail as possible about each product to increase its visibility and appeal.

7. Order and fulfillment 

When a customer places an order, the details are automatically sent to your print-on-demand partner, who handles the printing and shipping. You earn a profit after deducting fulfillment and shipping costs for each item sold.

8. Market your product

With your print-on-demand partner handling fulfillment, focus your energy on marketing efforts to reach your target audience and increase profits.

• Promote your products across multiple platforms through social media marketing to attract customers and grow your audience. Join relevant Facebook groups, create Instagram reels, and engage in Reddit threads to naturally highlight your POD business or listings. 
• Focus on less competitive keywords that may have a smaller search volume but will help your products get noticed.
• Influencer marketing is a powerful marketing strategy for quick results. On average, businesses earn over $6 for every $1 spent.
• Paid advertising is another option to generate traffic and sales. Start with social media advertising like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, or Google ads, then explore marketplace ads on platforms such as Etsy or Amazon.
• Email marketing campaigns are powerful tools for nurturing relationships with your audience, driving repeat sales, and keeping customers informed about new products, promotions, and updates.
• Encourage customers to leave reviews by including a review request card with each product and following up with order confirmation emails. Responding to both positive and negative feedback shows your commitment to customer satisfaction, builds a loyal customer base, and helps establish a strong, positive reputation for your online business.

1. Take action and set achievable goals

Start by signing up for platforms, designing, and listing products. Set small, realistic goals, like making your first sale. Celebrate these wins as they build momentum toward bigger goals, like scaling to $1,000 a month.

2. Stick to one product 

Go to the bestseller page on Printify and choose a product to focus on. Perfect that one item and keep testing it to optimize your sales. Once you identify which designs are resonating with customers, you can expand by repurposing those designs onto other products.

3. Avoid overwhelming customers with excessive color options

Offering too many color options can overwhelm your customers and lead to choice paralysis. Plus, some colors may run out of stock. 

Stick to a few popular, versatile colors, such as black, white, sand, navy, and sport gray,  as they tend to sell better.

4. Learn from failures 

Examine poorly performing listings by scrolling to the bottom or later pages of search results. These items often haven’t generated many sales. Take note of potential issues like poor design, lack of information, or other factors that could have impacted their performance. Learning from these mistakes helps you improve your listings.

5. Add more quality listings 

It’s important to regularly publish well-optimized products with quality designs.

Take AntiqueWhiteArt on Etsy as an example. They opened their store back in February 2023 and consistently posted around 1,200 listings (about two per day) since then. While their sales started slowly, they didn’t give up. 

After posting about 360 listings in 6 months, their sales began to take off. Today, they have generated nearly $400,000 in revenue.

Remember – your listings need to be authentic, well-researched, and detailed, with top-notch designs. Posting poor-quality listings won’t work, no matter how many you upload.

Aim for 1-2 high-quality listings per week. Consistency is key, but quality always comes first.

6. Use paid ads only on proven designs 

Organic growth builds traffic and sales over time, but once you identify successful designs, consider using paid ads to scale.

While ads can increase visibility, they come with risks. For instance, you might run ads to promote a product, but if visitors don’t like the design, you lose money without making sales.

Start by posting multiple designs, track which ones sell, and only invest in ads for proven winners to make the most of your ad budget.