Best Print On Demand sites for artists to Sell Their Art

In recent years, more and more people have come to the realization that your income does not necessarily limit to your daytime job only. With our special skills and expertise, we can easily find opportunities to make some extra cash outside our full-time job. As an artist, your ability to create beautiful arts is highly sought-after. One of the great mediums for artists to make money is through print on demand business. In this article, Merchize will help to list out the best print on demand sites for artists. 

1. How artists can make money with print on demand?

The creative power of artists allows you to have multiple sources of income. To make the best out of your talent, you can either sell their unique artwork or work on different projects for clients. However, these kinds of work are highly dependent on how much time you can spend on working. The more you work, the more money you can generate. On the other hand, if you don’t work, there will be no income. Even when you try as best as you can, your source of income is still limited. 

There are still other ways to create some sort of passive income for creative professionals. Musicians can make music and earn money from streaming platforms like Youtube or Spotify. Photographers can upload their photos on stock websites to earn royalty each time people download their images. Artists can sell printables and digital artworks online. These are a few examples of how artists can make money by selling their arts. 

Besides these traditional ways to create income, artists can make money by selling merchandise – physical products related to their brands or using their artworks. 

How to put your art on merchandise without upfront cost? 

Want to know the best way to sell merch without upfront cost? Print on demand is the best solution for you. Products will only be printed once the order arrives. With print on demand, there’s no need to worry about the inventory or shipping. Everything is handled by your print on demand suppliers, from manufacturing, warehousing to shipping. 

Here are two best options for you to sell art with print on demand:

1, Sell on print on demand marketplaces

Many of the top artists have made a huge profit out of selling merchandise thanks to their well-established brands or their huge following. If you are a small artist with a smaller to no audience, how can you sell your product? 

Well, doing print on demand is the best way to make merch for free – without upfront cost. By uploading your design on marketplace sites like Etsy, Amazon, eBay and making use of the existing visitors and shoppers on these websites to buy your merch, you can create a source of income without hassle. You don’t even have to have a large existing audience like top artists to monetize your arts. The best print on demand sites will take care of promoting and advertising your products. You only have to care about what you do best – create a wholesome design. As long as your art can capture the shoppers and meet the customer’s demand, you can gain money. 

Selling merchandise on print on demand websites for artists is one of the best and easiest ways to make some money. But the profit isn’t the best.

The low maintenance nature of print on demand business on these websites comes at the expense of the profit margin. You can sell your art for less money on these print on demand sites than what you can earn if you sell print on demand by yourself on your own website. 

Moreover, these print on demand websites for artists, you have no option to build your own brands. At best, you present as an individual artist, not a business brand at its full entity. 

2, Sell on your own stores with print on demand companies 

Compared to the previous option – selling on print on demand sites, this option offers more space for you to make the best out of your online business. Print on demand companies will only help you with the production, inventory management, and delivery of your products at best. Besides showing your best crafts, in order to get your print on demand business up and running, you have to do the advertising and marketing for your website, which involves a variety of skills rather than just design skills. You also need to build your own website to sell print on demand. It will require you to be at your best to maintain such business. 

In return, you can earn more money when working with print on demand services for artists. You have total control over how much you can sell for a product. Print on demand providers offer the best opportunity for you to operate a business, build your own brand without the inventor risks or upfront costs.

Read our guide on how you can start a profitable print on demand T-shirt store.

By weighing the pros and cons of each option, you can find the best choice that makes the most sense in your situation and match your expectation.

Now let’s run down our list of the best print on demand sites for artists, photographers, designers to make money.

How to find the right platform to sell your art?

There are multiple print on demand sites where you can upload your arts and earn money. Here are a few things that you had best take into consideration when choosing the best print on demand sites to introduce your arts. 

Traffic 

This is the key metric that best reflects how large the audience on print on demand art sites is. Obviously, the higher the traffic is, the better. Here’s one thing you should be careful of when checking the traffic metrics and finding the best sites to sell print on demand. 

Print on demand sites will have different sources of traffic – direct, referral, search, email, etc. However, there are two key sources that will tell you the true size of the audience on these websites best – organic search and direct traffic. If a print on demand site is able to attract a good number of organic visitors as well as direct traffic, there is a lower need to push the traffic and sales on the site through advertising. Of course, paid traffic of a print on demand site is still important. It shows that the website is doing the best in their abilityin order to assure that your products are promoted properly to the right people. 

Profit margin

Each print on demand site will have a different way to determine how much the artists can earn out of the sold items. Unlike print on demand companies where the sellers are entitled to set up their pricing and get the best profit, there is a limit to how much profit the artist can benefit from selling merchandise on print on demand sites. Profit margin limitation will directly affect how much you can earn on these print on demand websites. 

Copyright 

As an artist, it is always of high priority to protect the copyrights of your art. Whenever a designer publishes anything on site, they expect to see a certain level of protection over their print on demand copyright. No one wants to see their art robbed or benefit others. 

Copyright has been a big issue on many print on demand sites. Always be considerate of the copyright issues when choosing a print on demand site to publish your best art.

Competition

Competition is an important factor that affects the chance of being successful in a marketplace site. A print on demand website might have good traffic. But it also means tougher competition. For the best, you will prefer a print on demand website with slightly less traffic but less competition. 

2. Best print on demand sites for artists

It is possible for artists to upload their arts on multiple platforms and websites at the same time and maximize the profit to the best of their ability. But being on multiple platforms means a massive workload to manage and maintain all accounts. Plus, only a few can bring you considerable revenue, which makes them worthy of your time. Instead of being present on every single print on demand site out there, the best solution is to pick two or three sites to focus on. 

In the following, we will run down the list of the best print on demand sites for artists in 2023, explaining each option’s pros and cons, and how much they pay for artists as well as how you can sell your designs on these print on demand websites.

Redbubble

Founded in 2006, Redbubble is one of the best websites dedicated to print on demand products. The print-on-demand company is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. At the moment, this global online site for print on demand has opened two offices in San Francisco, US, and Berlin, Germany. 

How Redbubble works – Pros and cons

Basically, Redbubble functions as a marketplace website for print on demand. They are in charge of printing the product, shipping, managing the inventory as well as other related marketing activities to attract customers to the site. 

After signing up on this print on demand site, you can upload your artwork, choose products, and list your products for sale, all free of charge. Once a customer buys your product, Redbubble will print and deliver it to the door of the customer. 

Pros 

• Large traffic – best of all print on demand sites: Redbubble has a large number of monthly organic traffic to the site, which explains why many artists decide to choose this print on demand website as their main platform to sell their designs. On average, each month, Redbubble attracts around 30 million traffic in total, which is higher than any other standalone print on demand marketplace site. It is nearly double the number of the second-largest POD site – Zazzle. 
• No marketing attempt required to generate sales: One of the best features of Redbubble, as well as other print on demand sites, is that users don’t have to promote their store in order to generate sales. Instead of running expensive ads, designers can count on the organic traffic coming from search engines as well as direct traffic to the websites. Besides, Redbubble also allocates budgets to promote the listings on their website, assuring that products can reach the potential customers the best. 

Cons

• Small number of product options: While being the largest and best standalone print on demand website, Redbubble only offers around 60-70 product variants for sellers to print their arts on. The print on demand product collection of this site covers most of the essentials. But still, it is still a huge missing opportunity to generate sales and provide the best buying experiences for the shoppers on their print on demand site.
• Design copycats: A big issue in such a large marketplace website like Redbubble is copycat. It is easy for people to scrape for the best-selling items on Redbubble, which creates opportunities for others to steal and copy your designs. Sadly, it seems that Redbubble has yet shown its best to put an end to this issue. 
• Competition: A larger market size means fiercer competition – no surprise. And copycat thefts make it even worse. Now, you compete not only against other artists and designs on a site, but also against yourself, or, your copycats, to be exact. 

How much does Redbubble pay you? 

Artists and designers who upload their arts on this site will get a royalty when a product is sold. The default rate is 20%. The best part is that Redbubble does not limit the profit margin range – which means you can literally set it as high as 100% of the retail price. 

Even when you can set any price for your print on demand products, don’t set it so high that it shocks the shoppers and makes them abandon your products right away. The best profit margin on this print on demand website usually ranges from 10 to 30 percent. The best practice is to set the profit margins within the given range. 

With each item sold on the site, the royalty will be added to your balance and the minimum balance required for payment is $20, the print on demand site will pay the royalty either via Paypal or your registered bank account. The payment will be processed once a month.

How to sell art on Redbubble

It is quite simple to list your artworks on this print on demand site. The first step is to create an account on Redbubble, which is all free. It is required to confirm the payment information before you can sell on Redbubble. From this point, you can upload your work to the print on demand website. You can choose the best products to add your artworks and come up with the most attractive titles and descriptions that best describe your products. 

Last but not least, remember that you had best own the copyright of all the arts you add to your store on the site. 

Here is what you can do to optimize your listings to attract more sales:

• Use strategic keywords: Optimizing your titles, descriptions, and tags for high-volume search can increase the chance of your listings appearing on search result pages on the site.
• Create attractive and unique design: Finding a profitable and best niche is proven to be one of the best ways to boost sales, especially in the print on demand market. Invest your time to do some market research to find out trending niches and ideas to incorporate into your design 
• Customize your store: Redbubble allows you to customize your storefront on the print on demand site. It’s best to get a custom domain, change the header images, avatar, store description as well as add links to your social media profile, websites, portfolio. You can take this chance to introduce yourself, build trust and establish credibility with your customers. This is an opportunity for you to make the best out of this platform stand out from the rest. 

What sells on Redbubble?

Stickers, phone cases and mugs are the all-time best sellers on this print on demand website. Selling stickers alone will not generate much profit. Each sticker sale is only worth a few cents in terms of profit. The best practice is to upsell it with other items, like mugs, phone cases, t-shirts, for example.

In conclusion, Redbubble is one of the best print on demand sites for artists, designers, and photographers to try out, especially those who are new to print on demand. Its huge traffic and well-established popularity can assure a steady income for creative professionals. 

Zazzle

Zazzle was launched in 2005, a year before Redbubble went into business. The print on demand site had a successful beginning story. In 2007, it was named the “best business model” by TechCrunch at the first Crunchies Awards.

Despite the smooth beginning, as more competitors entered the market, Zazzle seems to lose momentum and fall behind its competitors like Redbubble. At the moment, Redbubble’s traffic is almost double that of Zazzle. Zazzle is no longer the best print on demandwebsite for artists and designers to sell print on demand.

But Zazzle is far from dead. In fact, the company has developed a strong community of sellers that continues to contribute and make money through thisprint on demand website. It is safe to say that Zazzle is still one of the best print on demand sites for artists to earn an income.

How Zazzle works – Pros and Cons

Similar to Redbubble, Zazzle allows independent artists to upload their designs on their website and make money from the royalty. This print on demand site is now providing a wide range of products covering different categories, including clothing, stationery, home and living, and more, allowing you to expand your product as best as you can.

Pros 

• Less competition – Obviously, the smaller organic traffic, compared to Redbubble, might come across as a turn-off. However, it can be a blessing in disguise. With a significantly larger amount of traffic, artists are elbowing into this print on demand website, which explains the harsh competition here. On the other hand, Zazzle attracts fewer sellers, hence lowering the rivalry.
• A large number of products: Zazzle claims that there are over 300 million unique products available on their site at best. 
• Personalization options for buyers: Buyers love a touch of personalization on products best. It is reported that 90% of customers are more likely to make a purchase if the business can provide a personalized experience. Fortunately, Zazzle is offering a personalization option for their buyers, which is a unique selling point for this print on demand site.
• Wide range of product options: Zazzle has the largest number of products out of all the print on demand websites on this list. A large collection of products allows more opportunities for you to maximize the benefit from your arts to the best of your ability.

Cons

• Not user-friendly interface: Zazzle’s user interface isn’t the best. Users usually complain that it is hard and time-consuming to create listings on the print on demand site as it has no bulk uploading feature. It means that you will have to upload one listing at a time. 
• Technical issues: Many users also report that they usually encounter bugs while using Zazzle. These bugs might have nothing to do with how much you can earn from this print on demand website. However, it can be very frustrating sometimes. It’s best to prepare yourself for any inconvenience that might happen while using Zazzle.

How does Zazzle pay you?

Zazzle calculates the artist’s profit in a similar way as Redbubble does. It means that you can set the profit margin for your print on demand product, and maximize the profit to make the best out of your business. 

Unlike Redbubble where designers and artists are free to set the price without any constraint, Zazzle has a rule that a profit margin over 15% is subject to transaction fees. This is something that you had best put into consideration when calculating the profit margins for your products.

How to sell art on Zazzle

Signing up for an account on Zazzle is free. With some simple set-up steps, your store on this print on demand site is ready and you are able to upload and sell your best design. 

What sells best on Zazzle?

This print on demand website puts a strong focus on content with Wedding and Holiday themes. Zazzle even dedicates a category for Wedding, Gift, and Occasion on their homepage. Products belonging to these categories are also the best products to sell on Zazzle. Customizable products are also a hot-selling option on this print on demand website. The best selling options on Zazzle are mugs, T-shirts, and stationary. 

Teepublic

Teepublic is regarded as one of the best websites that allow artists and designers to make money from print on demand. Launched in 2013, this print on demand site used to make t-shirts exclusively. However, later on, the company has expanded to other categories like stationery, mugs, phone cases. In 2018, Teepublic was acquired by Redbuble. However, these two print on demand websites still operate independently. 

How Teepublic works – Pros and Cons

Pros 

• Good organic traffic: Teepublic has a big number of organic traffic to their website, ranks only after Zazzle and Redbubble. On average, this print on demand website attracts around 4.5 to 5 million traffic through Search. Organic traffic also contributes to over 55% of the total search traffic to this site.
• Efficient upload process: One of the best things about this print on demand site is its efficient and user-friendly upload process which allows you to upload your design in quick few steps.
• Good growth indicator: While being a newer player in the market, Teepublic has shown some positive signals of its future growth. The branded search volume for Teepublic has consistently grown over the years. The print on demand site also receives overwhelmingly positive feedback on Trustpilot. Teepublic receives over 130,000 reviews and an average score of 4.3 on Trustpilot, a best-trusted website for review. It is one of the best scores that a print-on-demand website has received. 

Cons

• Low-profit margin: The biggest turn-off of this print on demand site is its low-profit margin. On other print on demand websites, it is up to the uploader to set the commission rate for their designs while Teepublic has already set a fixed royalty for their products selling on their website. For example, with each T-shirt sold, you will receive a fixed amount of $4. This number can even be lower during the sale period. It also means that you have no power to set the price to benefit you the best.

How does Teepublic pay you?

As mentioned above, Teepublic has fixed the commission rate on each item available on their print on demand site. 

• T-shirt: $4-$5
• Hoodie: $8
• Tank top: $4
• Phone case: $5
• Mug: $3-$4
• Pillow: $4
• Tote: $4
• Tapestry: $9
• Pin, magnet: $0.5
• Mask: $2

Your commission will be paid via your Paypal or Payoneer account once a month.

How to sell art on Teepublic?

To sell on Teepublic, you will follow the same process that it requires to onboard on other websites. Afterward, you can set up your own store and add your best design to this print on demand site. Each time a design is uploaded to the site, it will be automatically offered on sale for 72 hours. After this period of time, the price will go back to the normal price. 

Fineartamerica

FineArtAmerica is the best print on demand website for photographers. While the print on demand website is up for any types of designs and arts to be uploaded, its best-selling and main staple remains to be wall arts, prints with photographic images.

How Fineartamerica works – Pros and Cons

Artists and photographers can upload their images on FineArtAmerica. Whenever an order is made, FineArtAmercia will print your image into the product and ship it to the customer’s address. You don’t have to worry about the inventory or shipping. 

Pros 

• A good amount of organic traffic to the site: FineArtAmerica has the best organic-total traffic ratio. FineArtAmerica’s total site traffic is just about 40% of Zazzle’s, but surprisingly (6.5M vs 16M), this website has just about the same amount of organic traffic (4.4M vs 4.1M). Compared to Society6, who comes close in terms of total traffic, FineArtAmerica has double the organic traffic (4.1M vs 1.9M). This impressive number suggests that the site is going in the right direction with their SEO strategy. 
• Good user experience: FineArtAmerica has done a great job in designing a best user experience on their website. The site design is minimalized, well-organized, easy to navigate. Not only benefiting the buyers, a good categorization and filtering functionality on this print on demand website also increase your product’s visibility significantly.

Cons:

• Free listings for 25 designs only: Most of the best print on demand websites do not charge the sellers anything to get their images listed on their websites. But things are slightly different with FineArtAmerica where they only offer free listings for 25 designs at best. After the 25th design, you will have to sign up for a premium plan in order to continue uploading images on this print on demand website.

How much does Fineartamerica pay you?

Artists and photographers are allowed to set their own prices on the site, which is the best part. 

FineArtAmerica will pay you through Paypal. This print on demand website does not require a minimum balance on your account to process payment, which means that regardless of how much you earn, the website will pay you on a monthly basis. 

How to sell art on Fineartamerica?

First, you will need to sign up on FineArtAmerica’s website. After registering your account, you are able to upload your images on this website. You are entitled to upload 20 images for free. Besides working with individual artists, FineArtAmerica also collaborates with galleries to print their images.

The best-selling products on FineArtAmerica are posters, prints, wall decors, cards, and so on. FineArtAmerica is also one of the art selling websites with the best quality print on demand.

Society6

Compared to the two previous best print on demand websites, Society6 enters the competition quite late. But the site has successfully branded itself as a unique and cool website that is full of aesthetic designs. While it doesn’t have a wide-range audience, Society6 has attracted a good number of loyal customers. 

How Society6 works – Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Appealing user interface: Society6’s website should have the best design of all the print-on-demand websites out there. A good interface can make visitors happy and get hooked. It can also make your products appear more desirable to the shoppers. 
• Huge social media presence: Society6 has a big number of followers across different social media platforms, which is one of their best strengths. The aesthetic style of this print on demand website easily appeals to the existing users on social media. It also assures that Society6 knows how to promote your products properly using their strong social media presence.
• Multiple sources of traffic: Society6 knows how to capitalize on their huge followings the best and direct their existing audience on social platforms to the website. 
• Good engagement: Society6 has the highest engagement signals of all the best print on demand sites for artists. Pages per visit metric of Society6 is 5.59 which is even higher than Redbubble. Time on site figure is also high, 4:14 per visit, ranking only behind Redbubble. All of these make it a highly potential Redbubble alternative.

Cons

• Low search traffic: Compared to other print on demand websites mentioned above, Society6’s search traffic is significantly lower. Take FineArtAmerica for example. While both of them attract around 6 million traffic to their sites monthly, FineArtAmerica’s organic traffic is double Society’s. It means that your product can reach out to fewer potential customers. If you want to garner sales, you had best make your art stand out and fit the aesthetic of the site.
• Not compatible with your design: As mentioned earlier, Society6 has a very well-defined and distinctive design. In order for your products to really catch on here, it is best that your designs align with what Society6 is trying to present. If your style is vastly different from Society6’s preferred style, you might not find this print on demand website profitable. 

How does Society6 pay you?

Society6 still follows the commission payment model as other best print on demand sites on this list. But instead of letting you freely set the price, Society6 restricts the commission rate to below 10% for mostly all of their products with the expedition of art prints. This will heavily influence how much you can earn from selling your print-on-demand products. That means the profit gained on this site won’t be the best.

How to sell art on Society6?

Just like other best print on demand sites on this list, the entry barrier on Society6 is very easy. After registering an account on these websites, confirming the payment information, you are all set to publish your arts and ready to get sales. 

What sells best on Society6?

One thing that should be noted when onboarding to Society6 is that the print on demand site has a very distinctive style. The best-selling designs on this site will feature contemporary, minimalist, pattern designs with neutral and pastel colors. It’s best to make designs that match the overall theme of this site.  

Wall arts and home decors like rugs, pillows, blankets, and tapestries are some best-selling items on this marketplace. 

Teespring

Teespring or Spring is one of the best merchandise websites. First launched in 2012 TeeSpring is an print on demand site where artists and creators can create and sell products.  In 2021, Teespring was rebranded as Spring. 

How Teespring works – Pros and Cons

Just like other best print on demand sites, Teespring offers the marketplace to sell merch for artists. The company also handles printing and shipping. One best thing about Teespring is that the print on demand site offers a certain level of integration with other major e-commerce sites like Amazon or eBAy through its Boosted Network. 

The unique selling point of Spring compared to other print on demand sites is its merch integration with some of the best platforms for content creators, like Youtube, Tiktok, Instagram, and Twitch.

Pros 

• Solution for online content creators: If you are an artist with a considerable following on platforms like Youtube, Tiktok, Instagram, or Twitch, you will find Spring the best solution to sell merch to your existing audience. 
• Decent amount of traffic: While it has yet grown a significant traffic flow, the print on demand site is still ahead of other names like CafePress, Spreadshirt, and Threadless.

Cons

• Users handling the marketing: On Spring, the creators and artists are supposed to do their best to promote their designs, not Spring themselves. Your merch, once created, will not go right to the marketplace. Instead, Spring will only list your merch once it reaches a certain number of sales. And in order to do that, you must promote your products yourself. It might work for the artists and creators with an existing audience but it’s not the best choice for the regular sellers. 

How does Teespring pay you?

Spring allows you to set your own price. You can benefit from the difference between the retail price and the production cost. Unlike other best print on demand sites, on Spring, sellers can send payout requests, which will be processed within a week. Payment is processed via Paypal.

How to sell art on Teespring?

It is entirely free and very easy to register an account and start selling on Teespring. But as explained above, it will take some extra effort to get your listing featured on the site. In general, you will have to do some sort of promotion and marketing to ensure that your products are out there for people to buy. It is the best solution if you have already established your own brand and have a certain number of following.

What sells best on TeeSpring?

Apparel is the best selling product category on Spring. T-shirts and hoodies are some best suggestions you should go for when selling art on this print on demand website.

Cafepress

Cafepress is a US-based online marketplace website for print on demand. Users on this website can upload their images and have them printed on products. Cafepress offers services for customers who want to custom their own shirts, mugs, and more. It also allows artists and designers to start selling print on demand products on their site. 

How Cafepress works – Pros and Cons

Just like other best print on demand sites on this list, Cafepress allows artists and designers to upload their best arts, pick the preferred products and create listings. From here, you can count on Cafepress with the manufacturing and shipping of products.

Pros:

• Good reputation: Cafepress was among the very first platforms to offer print on demand services. Starting very early, in 1999, Cafepress had the first-mover advantage. At its best, Cafepress claimed to attract over 13 million members with over 325 million products available.
• Wide range of products: Cafepress owns one of the largest and best product categories on this list with over 300 items. It means that you will be offered plenty of options for you to put your art on.
• Fan portals: Cafepress also offers the fan portals program where you can submit your fan arts and get the profits from selling merch. The print on demand website holds the license to sell merchandise for some best-known TV shows and movies like Friends, Game of Thrones, Marvel, and more.

Cons

• Falling traffic: It seems that the best days of Cafepress were far behind. The popularity of this website has decreased over the years. These days, the organic traffic to Cafepress is only around 2.5 million a month, much lower than other top print on demand sites.
• Outdated interface: It looks like Cafepress needs to do their best in regards to their web design if they want to attract more buyers to their website and regain their best-in-market status. The print on demand website looks quite outdated and isn’t the best to navigate around. 

How to sell art on Cafepress?

You just need to create an account on Cafepress. In order to get your best design featured on CafePress website, you had best opt for the Premium Shop which will cost you an upfront cost to maintain the store.

How much does Cafepress pay you?

Cafepress has a different approach to reward the artists and designers who registered to sell on their site. There are three types of shops, namely Basic, CafePress, Premium. Depending on the option you choose, you will be charged differently.

• Basic Shop: It is free to list your products. However, the Basic shop plan only allows you to sell one product. The retail price and the profit margin are up to you. 
• CafePress Shop: There is no limit to the number of products you can add to your shop. But it’s not you who decides the retail price of the products. Instead, Cafepress will determine the price and your commission rate is fixed at 10%. The print on demand product options for you to put your art on are also limited. Also, these products will not be available in the Cafepress Marketplace. It means that you will take full responsibility for the promotion of your store. 
• Premium Shop: This is a subscription plan that can be charged monthly, quarterly, or annually. Premium Shop owners are entitled to all the benefits and best features, including unlimited listings, full product options, ability to set the price and margin. There is also a performance bonus if you reach a certain sales milestone.

CafePress will pay you either by check or Paypal. The minimum payment is $100 for a check and $25 for Paypal.

What sells best on Cafepress?

While having a diverse collection of products, this print on demand site’s best-selling items remain to be T-shirts. One of the best practices to drive sales for your t-shirts is to find a niche or combine several niches to create the best designs for your target audience. 

Spreadshirt

Spreadshirt is a website for print on demand. The website is owned by a German company called Spread Group. Besides Spreadshirt website, the company also owns TeamShirts and SPOD – a print on demand app on Shopify.

How does Spreadshirt work?

On Spreadshirt website, you can open a Spreadshop – a storefront where you can display your merch. Apart from providing the platform for your store, this print on demand site will take care of the printing, managing inventory, delivering as well as payment and customer services. You as the owner of the shop will benefit from the commission which is calculated by deducting total revenue from the product base price and printing cost.

Spreadshop also allows integration into your existing website. It might require a certain knowledge on front-end coding to make the best out of this feature. Moreover, it also allows shop owners to do some customization with the “HTML and CSS” setting option. 

From here, Spreadshop will take care of and fulfill all of the orders generated on your print on demand website. With this storefront, you have to do your best to promote and advertise your store. 

On the other hand, Spreadshirt Marketplace provides a shared space for all artists to sell their merch. Being on Spreadshirt’s site will spare you the work of marketing and advertising since you can take advantage of the existing visitors to the print on demand website. It is possible to be on both Marketplace and Spreadshop.

Pros 

• Availability of both marketplace and storefront: Sellers can have their own store on the site as well as present on the shared marketplace. It provides a certain level of flexibility and visibility. You have the choice to do the promotion for your designs or not. 
• Volume commission: It is possible for you to earn some extra cash if your store can reach a certain sale mark.
• Customizable shop: Spreadshop allows a certain level of customization. The print on demand site allows you to create a theme for your shop that will match your brand best.

Cons:

• Low traffic to the website: Spreadshirt is not the best when it comes to the traffic. The print on demand site does not attract enough traffic to help the sellers make a decent income. 

How much does Spreadshirt pay you?

Your income on this print on demand site will come from three sources – Design price, Affiliate Commission and Volume Commission. With every sale on this site, you will take 20% of the printing and product cost for the Design price and Affiliate Commission. If you are selling your best design on the Spreadshirt Marketplace, the profit margin is fixed. You can earn some bonus with the Volume Commission. 

How to sell on Spreadshirt?

You can register on Spreadshirt website in order to get your best design displayed on the Marketplace. If you want to run a separate storefront, you can go to Spreadshop to create your own. The registration on both platforms is free, allowing users to have the best of both worlds.

What sells best on Spreadshirt?

Apart from apparel, this print on demand site also offers stationery, accessories, as well as home and living products. According to the report released by Spreadshirt itself, T-shirts remain to be the best selling items on their website. The best-selling colors are black, navy and white. 

Threadless

Threadless follows a unique model that makes it a game-changer in the beginning. Starting out as a competition for artists, Threadless has created its business model around the idea of communal contribution. With a unique idea, this print on demand website has created some sort of buzz when it started out in 2000. Over the years, the reputation of the site has decreased. But it still attracts a loyal following thanks to a loyal community and is considered one of the best print on demand sites for artists.

How Threadless works?

This print on demand website offers a few ways for artists and designers to monetize their artworks to the best of their ability. Here’s how you can make money on this print on demand site.

• Design Challenge: This Design Challenge is the reason for Threadless’s existence. Artists will submit their artworks which will be voted on by the community. The designs with the best score will be printed into t-shirts. The winning design will also become a “regular” item on this website, gaining higher exposure for the artists. The prize comes in cash as well.
• Artist Shop: This option allows you to set up your own storefront on this print on demand website with a customizable theme at best. You will get a domain name ended with .threadless.com. All orders from this store will be fulfilled and shipped by Threadless. With this option, you can’t make use of the traffic from Threadless’s website.
• Threadless “Discover”: The last option allows your listing to be discovered from Threadless’s search. It means that your best designs will be visible and accessible to all visitors to this print on demand website. 

Pros: 

• Huge social media presence: Threadless has the best social media presence with most followed social profiles out of all print on demand sites on this list. Thanks to the huge following across different social media sites, Threadless can promote your best designs and brand effectively. It also adds another reason for you to submit your artwork to the Design Challenge.
• Unique style: Threadless is a welcoming space for artists and designers to showcase their best works and get rewarded for their creativity.

Cons

• Small organic traffic: The biggest challenge for this print on demand website is its decreasing and low organic traffic. In fact, organic search traffic only contributes about less than 20% of the total traffic on the site, which stands around 2 million a month. It seems that Threadless is not doing any SEO or their SEO strategy does go the right way. As a seller, it means that artists on this print on demand site can’t reach the massive numbers of users who are searching for products through search engines every day.

How much does Threadless pay you?

Each week, Threadshirt will give the artists with the best score a reward of $2500 in cash. 

You can either set your own price or let Threadless manage the pricing. Threadless claims that the Artist Compensation, a.k.a your profit, will be no less than 10% of the retail prices, even during the promotional event on the site. The profit will be paid to the artists via Paypal once a month. 

How to sell on Threadless?

You can choose between the three options above. While the last option is similar to other best print on demand sites mentioned above, the first option can be a new approach and a new challenge for you. While it is not easy to win first place, you can see the Design Challenge as an opportunity to gain a following and exposure to a large audience on their websites and on their social media handles. Combining these options will help you to earn some decent profit.

What to sell on Threadless?

While Threadless has expanded its product catalog to various options, t-shirts still remain to be the best selling items on this print on demand site. It is also regarded as one of the best t-shirt websites for artists.

Merch by Amazon

Merch by Amazon is technically not a print on demand site but a program created by Amazon for artists and designers who want to sell their merch on Amazon. Stills, it is an option that you shouldn’t skip. Powered by the largest and best e-commerce website in the world, Merch by Amazon offers a very reliable medium for artists and designers to monetize their arts. Amazon is obviously one of the best places to sell shirts online.