The Best Gratuitous Print On Demand Sites for Artists & Designers [March 2022]
by Michael Essek · Updated: March eight, 2022
This is my guide to the best Print on Demand sites for artists and designers.
Whether y'all're looking for the all-time place to sell shirts or merch online, or y'all just want to find more sites like Redbubble – this guide has got y'all covered.
I'll compare Redbubble vs. TeeSpring, plus many more – to help y'all discover the best place to postal service your art.
The 7 Best Print On Demand Sites:
First upwards, here's my list of the all-time Impress on Demand websites correct now: (click the name to jump to my in-dept review of each)
In this guide I'll discuss each of these Impress on Demand site in detail, explain why you should use them, and share my personal experience with each site.
And so I'll cover some other Print on Need sites (Zazzle, Spreadshirt etc.) – and give some recommendations for artists looking for a Impress on Need Storefront.
The Best Place To Sell T-Shirts Online? (Redbubble vs TeeSpring vs Society6 vs Zazzle etc…)
I've done some enquiry and gathered information for each site – looking at their full monthly visitor numbers, organic traffic, social media followers and more than.
For instance, here's how the monthly traffic and organic traffic for the best Impress on Demand sites shapes upwardly (these are average figures for the by half dozen months – as of December 2020):
On acme of this information, I'thou sharing my personal opinions and experiences of using these sites over the past half dozen+ years to sell thousands of products each and every calendar month.
Notation: All of the data in this article has been gathered in Dec 2020. Traffic estimates are just that – estimates – and should be treated as such. Farther Data on the data sources and techniques used to provide the data tin be found at the bottom of this guide.
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What Is A Print on Demand Website?
My definition of a 'Impress on Demand Site' is any e-commerce website that;
allows an artist to upload artwork
takes that fine art and makes it available for auction on products(T-Shirts, Posters, etc.)
prints that artwork onto a product, and ships that production to customers(without any interest from the artist)
pays the artist a royalty for any sales made
The best impress on demand sites (from an artist's perspective) will take lots of visitors, good organic accomplish (traffic from Google), and make it relatively like shooting fish in a barrel for artists and designers to upload and make sales from their designs. Such sites make it possible for y'all to get paid for your drawings, illustrations, artwork and designs without doing much more than uploading.
Print on Demand Sites vs. Print on Demand Companies (Redbubble vs Printful)
A Print on Demand Site is not the same every bit a Print on Demand Fulfillment Company.
Print on Demand (Fulfilment) Companies (like Printful) act every bit a white-characterization 'back-end' to an online shop, allowing artists to setup their ain shop on a custom domain, or to sell through a market place similar Etsy.
Impress on need companies are not places that customers get to buy t-shirts – they are instead services that artists and sellers can use to fulfil orders to their customers.
Whereas Print on Need Sites(like Redbubble) are self-contained websites where customers will go to buy products. A Print on Demand Site is a much simpler and quicker way for artists to brand money from their designs than a Impress on Demand company.
If y'all're looking for the ultimate guide to Print on demand companies similar Printful and Printify, you'll find it here: The Best Print On Need Companies 2022.
1. Merch By Amazon
I considered leaving Merch Past Amazon off this listing, because technically speaking it isn't a print on demand site.
Merch By Amazon is a Impress on Demand program that exists inside of Amazon (that is, Amazon's U.S., U.K., German, French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese sites currently) – it'south non a standalone website like the rest of the sites on this listing (sites similar Redbubble, etc.) – nor is it a Print on Demand fulfilment company.
Equally such it's difficult to become traffic and search information most Merch By Amazon – only I think it's condom to assume that if Merch By Amazon were a standalone site (if we could cutting information technology out of Amazon and treat it like a dedicated site) – information technology would dwarf all the other players here in terms of visitors, organic traffic and overall sales.
What's Skillful About Merch By Amazon:
It's Amazon, Duh
Merch By Amazon gives designers the ability to listing several pop clothes products onto the world's biggest online store, and one of the globe'due south most visited websites.
Amazon is both a huge marketplace and ane of the biggest search engines on the cyberspace (because people search directly on Amazon), so you should be able to attain more customers hither than anywhere else (at to the lowest degree in theory).
Prime Shipping & Amazon equally Seller
Merch By Amazon products are shipped 'Prime' – which makes Merch By Amazon i of the fastest fashion to get a shirt to a customer.
When you lot accept blueprint on Merch By Amazon – you also get all the added bonuses that come with having a product sold by 1 of the world's virtually recognised brands. (Just enquire yourself – would you lot rather buy from Amazon – or a lesser known company?)
Flexible Royalties
With Merch Past Amazon you can fix the royalty you want to earn per auction.
Of grade y'all express past the base rate of products – and you are in competition with other designers, simply you lot aren't tied in to a fixed royalty, similar with Teepublic.
What'southward Bad About Merch By Amazon:
Invite Just
You tin can't sign up for Merch By Amazon and start selling right away – you have to request an invitation and be canonical first.
Many of the other Impress on Need site listed in this guide has an 'open door' policy for new sign-ups.
Merch by Amazon'south turnaround on new invite requests varies, and there'due south no hard and fast dominion on how long it might accept – or whatsoever guarantee that yous'll be invited at all. So if you are thinking about it – go and asking an invite now.
Copycats, Improve-cats, Under-cutting, Oh my!
Due to the flexible royalties, the open nature of Amazon and the size of their marketplace – Merch Past Amazon has a longstanding problem with design theft, (copycats) or 'improve-cats' (people who take another's popular design and alter it slightly).
Merch By Amazon products all accept a public 'BSR' rating (Amazon'south internal 'best-seller' rank).
This makes information technology possible to see which Merch shirts are currently selling well, making information technology very easy for copycats and improve-cats to 'drink your milkshake'.
In other words – once you have a good seller on Amazon, it's likely to get copied very apace and listed at a lower price – and this is probable to drive downwardly your sales and/or profit.
Y'all can report Copyright infringement to Amazon, only the results are hit and miss, and Amazon doesn't do anything to stop copycats simply re-uploading the stolen pattern after their get-go copy was removed.
In reality this means that artists tin spend a lot of time playing 'whack-a-copycat'; searching for and reporting copyright infringement, just to come across information technology pop upward over again a few days afterwards.
Note: I should indicate out that the copycat / art theft event is by no means exclusive to Merch Past Amazon, although information technology is more pronounced hither – because of the public BSR issue, the flexible royalty rate and the size of the Amazonmarket.
I've likewise found almost all other Print on Demand sites to exist somewhat more consequent when information technology comes to removing infringing designs post-obit Copyright takedown notices.
Limited Branding Options For Artists
Merch Past Amazon has very express branding and audition building options for artists.
When you lot upload designs to Merch by Amazon you lot are actually just suppling designs to them, and nothing else.
There is no public 'contour' arrangement on Merch by Amazon similar y'all accept on nigh all other Print On Demand sites – so aside from a single line of text on each production (your brand link) – yous can't really utilize Merch By Amazon to build your contour or attracts fans or followers. (No contour or header images, no social media links, no artist bios).
This might alter in the futurity, merely correct at present Merch By Amazon is actually a cash-flow-just strategy for artists, albeit a potentially lucrative one.
And then Why Is Merch Past Amazon #1 On My List?
Merch By Amazon is still the best Print on Demand opportunity for artists because of their sheer size and attain. At that place is no other Print on Demand site that comes close.
What this means in practice – all else being equal – is that your designs are more likely to exist seen on Amazon, and hence more likely to exist purchased.
Is Merch By Amazon Profitable?
Merch By Amazon is profitable – equally there are no direct costs involved for participating. It's gratis to get an account, free to upload and free to sell on the platform.
And with the potential for loftier royalties and steady organic traffic, the average artist or designer will probably brand more from Merch By Amazon than from any other platform.
The large caveat hither is that not everything is equal!
In reality your earnings from Merch Past Amazon all depend on;
the target audition for your designs
how many designs you accept
how proficient your ideas and designs are
how good your descriptive data is (Title, Keywords, Bullet Points)
the existing contest on Amazon for like designs
the futuritycompetition on Amazon for similar designs (copycats / legitimate competition)
..but chances are that 100 designs uploaded to Merch By Amazon will probably earn more than than 100 designs on any other print on demand site – largely considering of the difference in traffic (potential customers).
Important Point: This is probably a skillful place for me to point out that – whilst traffic numbers are of course an important cistron in estimating sales – they are no guarantee of meliorate sales.
For example, y'all may find that your designs sell great on Society6, just don't make a dent on Merch By Amazon – because each site has very dissimilar customer demographics, and different levels of competition – and your designs simply work amend with the Society6 oversupply. In other words – traffic levels are not the be-all and end-all.
Finally – if yous were able to corner a fraction of the market place on Whatever of these sites – you would probably be looking at a very healthy income. So – don't exist too swayed by traffic numbers.
My Feel With Merch By Amazon
Unsurprisingly, Merch By Amazon dominates my royalty earnings – and has done since information technology first launched.
I don't run into any chance of that changing anytime shortly – because Amazon is the globe's biggest online market.
Then if you can get an business relationship invite, and you can cope with the copycat problem – then there is probably no more profitable way to license your T-Shirt designs online right now than with Merch By Amazon.
Sell On Merch By Amazon
2. Redbubble
Now that Merch By Amazon is out of the way, we can get into the 'true' Print on Demand sites.
Chief amongst them is Australian outfit – Redbubble.
Monthly Traffic*
Organic Monthly Traffic*
Percentage Organic Traffic
Organic Traffic Rank
Social Media Following
34M
9.5M
28%
1
1,352,764
Redbubble is the biggest standalone impress on need market place by total traffic and organic traffic, and has grown steadily over the by several years.
What's Adept Well-nigh Redbubble
Redbubble'southward Organic Search Traffic
Redbubble has huge organic reach – meaning it gets a lot of traffic from search engines.
This is expert new for contained designers and artists without a large following – because it means Redbubble is pretty skilful at getting your designs to bear witness up on Google – especially for 'long-tail' keywords and search terms.
So right now Redbubble is probably the best, easiest way to get your designs in front of the eyeballs of people searching on Google, for complimentary.
Redbubble'due south Brand Growth
Redbubble is becoming better known as a brand – equally this Google trends graph below for 'Rebubble' shows (people going to Google and searching for "Redbubble").
That's skilful news for artists for a number of reasons – not least because information technology means Redbubble is likely increasing it's visitor numbers – and not only via Google searches for niche or topic related terms. And the more customers Redbubble has, the more likely you lot are to brand sales.
Redbubble's Product Quality
Redbubble uses print-on-demand printing companies around the world to produce and ship it'southward products – and the quality of goods can vary significantly depending on the printing partner and the product in question.
Redbubble'south customer review score on TrustPilot has dropped in the past year, which could exist an indicator that Redbubble needs to practise some work to improve the quality of it's appurtenances.
Flexible Creative person Margins
Redbubble has flexible margins on it'due south products, and it's customers are often willing to pay higher prices on average than on other platforms.
Artist Branding Options
Because it was setup with artists in mind, Redbubble gives you some branding controls – like profile images, header images, links to your social media and more.
Redbubble too has internal 'follow', 'like' and 'chimera mail' features – and they promote and feature artists on their homepage. They as well accept a mobile app!
Google Shopping Ads and Re-Targeting
Redbubble uses Google Shopping ads and re-targeting to promote your designs – at no directly cost to you lot. This gives your designs an increased gamble of being seen by those people who are most probable to buy.
What's Not Good Nearly Redbubble
Time Consuming Upload Process
Redbubble offers a LOT of products – but this in turn means you can spend a LOT of time tweaking your artwork for each production.
In other words – the upload and configuration procedure for products on Redbubble is not the best. It's not the worst either – but it'southward no Teepublic (which is the all-time).
Copycats and Infringement
Redbubble is non immune to the copycat issue, and to copyright and IP infringement issues more broadly.
Redbubble currently doesn't seem to employ any automated scanning of artwork to compare it to existing designs, which means direct copycats can and practise appear, plus – because sellers have control over margins – others can undercut you, at to the lowest degree in theory.
But the issue is not as pronounced as Merch By Amazon – considering information technology's nowhere near as easy to see what designs are currently selling on Redbubble.
My Review Of Redbubble
Redbubble is holding steady. Their strong organic attain means that once you have a design on Redbubble – you have a neat run a risk of getting that design ranking on Google, and their own existing brand audition is well suited to my work.
Given the size and achieve of Redbubble, it really is an ideal platform for most any artist looking to tap into complimentary organic traffic. It is a great identify for popular culture and 'artsy' designs, simply isn't limited to just that kind of thing.
For example, if you lot're more of a society6-mode designer (florals, patterns, watercolours) – I would still get your piece of work up on Redbubble as well.
Sell On Redbubble
To maximise your success on Redbubble, check out my in-depth guide: How To Sell On Redbubble.
3. Teepublic
Teepublic is actually endemic by Redbubble – but notwithstanding currently maintains a split up site and divide accounts.
Teepublic has followed and in some ways improved on the Redbubble model – but there have been recent changes that make it less of an admissible market.
Monthly Traffic*
Organic Monthly Traffic*
Percentage Organic Traffic
Organic Traffic Rank
Social Media Post-obit
ten.1M
1.5M
15%
3
188,771
What'south Practiced Nearly Teepublic
Swell Organic Reach
Teepublic has the 2d third highest level of organic traffic, merely subsequently Redbubble and Zazzle.
That means Teepublic has become very skilful at ranking designs and categories on Google – and driving that traffic dorsum to Teepublic.
However, it seems Teepublic'due south organic traffic started to have a tumble in 2020. I don't know how accurate my figures are – but it appears Teepublic'south organic strategy may accept hit a snag. (Not that I take personally noticed this in my sales – Teepublic has remained potent throughout).
Best Ever Upload Process
Teepublic has (in my stance) the quickest and easiest upload process in the Impress on Demand world.
They may not offer as many products equally Redbubble or Society6 – but they however hit all the major categories, and manage to make configuring each product very simple. I wish others would take a leaf out of Teepublic'south book – it would brand uploading much less of a chore.
Increasing Brand Awareness
Teepublic is showing expert upward growth for make searches – every bit shown beneath. Like Redbubble, this implies Teepublic are condign better known and attracting more visitors – and that should be a good thing for artists selling on Teepublic.
In a similar vein – Teepublic have i of the highest Trustpilot rankings of any POD site. This ways they are keeping customers happy – and happy customers often return.
Less Incentives For Copycats
Teepublic's fixed royalty rates mean it's impossible to exist undercut by copycats and better-cats.
That doesn't mean copycats don't be on Teepublic – it merely ways they take to sell their designs at the exact same price as y'all… and then they don't take the incentive they exercise on Merch by Amazon or Redbubble.
What'south Non And then Practiced About Teepublic
Those Fixed Royalties Aren't Loftier (and they tin can become lower)
Teepublic's stock-still royalties are merely $4 for T-Shirts – falling to $two during sales times.
Despite this, Teepublic is usually matching or hovering just slightly beneath my monthly Redbubble royalties – which demonstrates that Teepublic's sale scheduling and promotions are really pretty effective.
In other words, the royalties on individual sales may be less – but Teepublic are so skilful at driving traffic during those sales, that my monthly total royalties stay high.
IP & Copyright Infringement
Like Redbubble, it'southward not easy for copycats to see what is selling, but it is still easy for them to infringe your designs.
Also, a lot of Teepublic's designs are IP infringing, or close to infringing – which might worry you lot if are concerned about the long term viability of the platform.
My Experience With Teepublic
I really like selling on Teepublic. Whilst other platforms have dipped over the years, Teepublic has kept growing, or has at to the lowest degree held steady.
In fact Teepublic is close to surpassing my monthly Redbubble earnings, and I've heard like reports from other artists and designers.
It'southward probably not the right platform for anybody – just if you're doing pop culture or funny designs primarily made for T-Shirts, then y'all'd exist crazy not to give Teepublic a try.
Sell On Teepublic
For a comprehensive guide to selling your work on Teepublic, bank check out my in-depth guide:How To Sell On Teepublic.
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iv. Society6
Society6 is a smaller actor than Teepublic or Redbubble(with nigh half the traffic of Teepublic) – but information technology has a large social media following and their traffic and make searches are holding steady.
Society6 may not have huge organic reach, just if you are creating piece of work that fits with their aesthetic and audition, information technology could exist a great place for your fine art.
Monthly Traffic*
Organic Monthly Traffic*
Percent Organic Traffic
Organic Traffic Rank
Social Media Following
three.82M
1.5M
39%
v
1,598,514
What's Expert About Society6
Society6 Knows What It Is
Society6 has a pretty well defined aesthetic – with a focus on mod home decor and wall art.
They are much less T-Shirt focused than Redbubble or Teepublic – and you'll find a lot more patterns, florals, watercolours, and abstruse art – and much less pop civilisation, bold, traditional novelty T-Shirt mode graphics.
This is good news if your artwork fits their style, and less good if it doesn't. But at to the lowest degree you know where you stand up. (Dissimilarity this with sites like Zazzle, Spreadshirt or Cafepress – where it is very hard to identify a target style or demographic).
Large, Existing, Make-Aware Audience
Regular promotional emails, and a big social media presence means Society6 can drive traffic from sources other than organic search.
This may but aid you lot if you get your designs featured somewhere – but if you piece of work does fit with Society6 and their mode – why couldn't it be featured and promoted past Society6?
Decent Percentage Of Organic Traffic
Their organic attain is all the same a healthy 39% of their total traffic, which means they are doing a decent task on the SEO forepart.
So your work on Society6 probably has some chance of also showing upwards on Google, and driving some traffic from there.
Artist Branding Options
Society6 offers a handful of branding options – similar an artist bio, a follow function – and the usual profile images and headers.
What's Not Skillful About Society6
Lower Overall Traffic, Low Organic Reach
Society6 just doesn't accept the traffic or organic attain that Merch By Amazon, Redbubble or Teepublic has.
That makes it harder to get eyeballs on your piece of work, unless of course yous are driving your own traffic (in which instance, run into beneath).
Their Style May Not Fit Your Way
One human being's meat is another man's poison – and Society6's focus on florals, pastels, watercolours, abstract wall art and homeware products does hateful it'southward possibly non the ideal identify for your funny popular civilization shirts.
That doesn't mean yous tin't brand sales…it just means it may be harder – if exclusively pop civilization-type stuff is your pattern bag.
Complicated Upload Procedure
Society6'southward upload process is complicated when compared to something similar Teepublic.
Sure, they have a lot more products, but it still makes uploading a somewhat daunting job.
Low TrustPilot Score
Society6 doesn't accept the best product-quality reputation, according to their electric current Trustpilot score:
My Experience With Society6
I've had designs on Society6 since 2015, merely they've never really been a big hitter on the royalty front for me.
I put this down to my designs – as they aren't really in line with Society6's audition and overall aesthetic (I do more 'straight-forward' T-Shirt designs – and such graphics don't often translate well to Wall Art, especially if you're looking for family friendly inspirational quotes for your Kitchen).
Yous'll know if Society6 is a practiced fit for your piece of work. If they are – invest some time and give things a gamble. If not, move on.
Sell On Society6
If your work fits on Society6, you may as well desire to checkout Spoonflower. They are a fabric and wallpaper site that serves a similar demographic with a like aesthetic mode to Society6.
5. Fine Fine art America
This is the first Print on Demand site on the list that I don't sell on personally – only I'm ranking information technology pretty high considering of it's decent traffic and reasonable organic reach.
Fine Art America is a lot like Society6 – in that in focuses on wall fine art (posters, prints, etc. ) – though like Society6 it does offer enough of other products likewise (just much less prominently).
Monthly Traffic*
Organic Monthly Traffic*
Pct Organic Traffic
Organic Traffic Rank
Social Media Following
iv.61M
1.8M
39%
4
271,596
What's Good Nearly Fine art America
Skillful Organic Accomplish
Non also shabby traffic or organic attain numbers.
Fine Art America has about half the total traffic of Zazzle, just with the same level of organic traffic. That says to me that they're doing something right when it comes to SEO and organic promotion of their products.
They're On The Up
Fine Fine art America has a positive upwardly trend on both their organic traffic, and their brand searches on Google. This tells me they are growing both through organic reach, and also becoming better known amongst customers.
Fine art America are also maintaining a decent review on TrustPilot:
Focused On A Specific Production, Easy To Navigate
Fine Art America is a well organised site with useful categorisation and adept sorting functionality – which ways you can see what's working and what customers are buying – to assist y'all better refine your designs and your targeting.
What's Not Great About Fine Art America
25 Designs Uploads Limit
Artists are limited to 25 art uploads unless you upgrade to a premium plan at $xxx/year. That means y'all'll have to practice some research and really niche down to a detail discipline in order to see if this site will piece of work for you lot.
One time you've made $30 within a year in royalties, I suppose it would then be worth upgrading then you can really push your designs.
Traffic Non Equally Huge As Redbubble / Teepublic
Traffic is somewhere betwixt Society6 and Teepublic, though with significantly less organic reach than Teepublic. But if you're interested in selling primarily Posters/Wall Art than T-Shirts – this is a good bet. They don't accept a 'style' or easily identifiable artful like Society6 though, which means you lot're going to have to do some enquiry and mayhap rely on their organic reach to bring y'all sales.
My Experience With FineArtAmerica
I don't have any experience with FineArtAmerica. I only recently signed upwards for an account myself.
But first impressions are that I like their style. It's an easy site to navigate, plus they are doing well on organic reach and overall growth.
If yous take designs that translate well to Wall Fine art, then FineArtAmerica is probably worth your time.
Sell On FineArtAmerica
Top Tip: If y'all're trying to find success on platforms like Society6 and FineArtAmerica that primarily focus on Wall Fine art – so make sure y'all design for the product.
Don't simply throw upwardly your existing designs on there – instead spend time thinking about how y'all can adapt your designs for posters, or create completely new designs that would be platonic as posters or prints.
And try to fit your designs inside some area that already exists on such sites (whether that's a specific topic, designs aimed at a particular audition, or trying to emulate a recognisable design style).
6. Displate
Displate are a very modest player, but with smashing growth and a very big social media following. Could they be the side by side big affair?
Their traffic is relatively small, but they are the dominant thespian in a growing product category (metallic wall prints).
Monthly Traffic*
Organic Monthly Traffic*
Per centum Organic Traffic
Organic Traffic Rank
Social Media Following
1.87M
307,600
16%
9
1,697,630
What's Skillful About Displate
Well Organised Site, Nicely Categorised
Similar FineArtAmerica – Displate is a well organised and well categorised site. When yous don't have peculiarly high organic reach, it'south beneficial to have collections and categories that help customers notice what they want – and gives artists a take chances to figure out where their work might fit best.
Growth In Organic Traffic
Displate are showing great growth in organic traffic.
Information technology may represent relatively pocket-sized organic traffic numbers correct now compared to other sites – but they're heading in the right direction (Displate is i of only 4 of sites I researched to bear witness growth in both make searches and organic traffic).
Huge Social Media Attain and Increasing Make Searches
Displate has great social media numbers (peculiarly on Facebook) – and are showing good growth in brand searches.
If your piece of work fits with their audition, you could go a piece of that activeness.
Displate also seem to exist keeping customers happy, based on their electric current TrustPilot score:
Easy Upload Procedure
Displate'south upload process is nice and piece of cake, as you lot would expect from a site that just offers one blazon of production.
What's Not Good About Displate
Yet A Small-scale Player
Those low traffic numbers hateful Displate probably isn't about to be stuffing your pockets with royalty monies. But getting in at the ground flooring of a growing brand is a smart movement – as it means you could dominate certain corners and niches every bit the traffic climbs.
Some Infringing Material
Displate are a younger company and it seems their platform is still a trivial bit 'wild due west'. At that place are enough of borderline infringing designs right now, which I imagine do contribute to a lot of sales. Hopefully that won't get an issue as time goes by.
My Experience With Displate
I can't say much nigh Displate – because I've only had a few designs up there for a few months.
I tin can say that their organisation is slick and easy, and they seem to exist running a tight ship on the promotion front.
Fourth dimension will tell whether they get a decent home for my designs in the long term, but they are showing some good signs so far. The good news is that it won't take y'all too long to upload your designs and so merely sit back and watch.
Sell On Displate
7. Threadless
Threadless is a complicated ane – considering information technology really offers artists a number of ways to sell their work:
Submissions / Challenges. You can submit art to Threadless' Design Challenges – (including their no-theme, open up-concluded challenge) – and if your Art scores highly and/or gets selected, it volition exist made bachelor for sale on the 'regular' Threadless.com
Threadless Artist Shops. Y'all can setup a Threadless Creative person Shop – which gives you a customisable storefront hosted with Threadless (eg. yourname.threadless.com), where they will handle all the printing and shipping and customer relations. (But you would take to drive all the traffic).
Threadless Search / 'Discover'. In one case y'all have an Creative person Shop with designs loaded, you can choose to include those designs within Threadless' 'Notice' department – meaning they tin be searched for and found by people inside the main threadless.com website (and non just via your storefront).
Then whilst options one and 2 are not really relevant when comparison with the other sites in this list – selection 3 means Threadless just about scrapes in as a Print on Demand site.
Monthly Traffic*
Organic Monthly Traffic*
Percentage Organic Traffic
Organic Traffic Rank
Social Media Following
1.27M
281,000
22%
10
2,996,354
What's Good About Threadless
Big Social Post-obit
Threadless has been in the game for a long time – 1 of the first online T-Shirt pioneers and big brand names.
Perhaps because of this, they still have a considerable social media following – greater than anyone else on this list, and one assumes a sizeable amount of electronic mail newsletter subscribers.
Threadless does striking information technology hard on the promo front – with daily emails and regular sales. And so if y'all can get designs featured on the 'regular' Threadless – you stand to benefit from that.
Consistent Style And Approach
Threadless tends to keep a fairly tight grip on information technology's manner and the blazon of designs they publish.
You won't find a lot of IP infringing or 'on the edge' stuff – information technology does tend to be home to truly independent, unique and original pop culture designs from individual designers. So if your piece of work fits that mold, it's worth a look.
Easy Upload Procedure
The upload and listing process for Artist Shops (and thereby the 'find' section) is pretty straightforward. It's no Teepublic, only it ain't a 1000000 miles backside.
What'south Not So Good Near Threadless
Low Traffic, Decreasing Organic Reach
Low traffic. If the SimilarWeb stats are to believed, it'due south behind Displate…and closer to the traffic level of Bonfire.
22% of Threadless' traffic comes from organic…which is some distance behind Society6, FineArtAmerica and miles behind Teepublic and Redbubble. That means Threadless has to rely much more on their own marketing and promotions to drive sales.
Decreasing Brand Searches, Poor Reputation
It seems Threadless' reputation has macerated somewhat of late. Information technology isn't growing its organic traffic, and searches for the term 'Threadless' on Google accept been dropping for a while.
Also their TrustPilot score isn't looking very healthy at time of writing:
Low Royalties
Disappointingly slim royalties – especially if y'all let Threadless manage your Shop's pricing and promotions. When Threadless does a auction, they really do a sale – with shirts as low as $12 (Probably the cheapest price of any Print on Demand site listed here).
With that kind of list cost, an artist can receive only $1 or fifty-fifty $0.50 for a shirt auction (In fact I've had shirts sell for $22 that earned just $1 – what's that about?). That's a worse percentage than Teepublic –where a sale shirt sold for $14 nets the artist $2.
My Experience With Threadless
Just before Quarter Iv (effectually September 2019) – I uploaded around 100 of my designs to Threadless (via a new Artist Shop, and thereby into their 'discover' arrangement). Over the post-obit Quarter (Oct-Dec 2019) those designs generated a few hundred dollars in royalties…with minimal promotion from myself (they did get something of a button from my branded Instagram account, merely nothing beyond that).
I think this is because the Threadless audition is pretty well matched to my piece of work.
Would those earnings have been college if I hadn't allow Threadless manage my pricing and promotions? I simply don't know.
Overall I'd say that Threadless works great as a simple storefront – and it gives you the power to get at least some potential exposure via their 'discover' system. But if you're looking for decent organic traffic and sales, you are unlikely to get that from Threadless – unless you get your designs selected every bit part of their master 'Threadless' collection.
Sell On Threadless
What Virtually Zazzle, Spreadshirt, CafePress, DesignbyHumans… etc?
There are a handful of Impress on Demand sites I haven't covered in detail in a higher place, and that's mainly because I tin can't personally recommend them.
So hither'due south a little something about those sites, and why I've left them out…
Print on Demand Sites With Decent Traffic, Merely Downwardly Trends
Zazzle is a site with very high levels of traffic (est. 9.9M visits a calendar month) – but very piffling of information technology comes from organic search (just 18%).
Spreadshirt is much lower down the traffic rankings (est. 2.9M visits a month), though with ameliorate organic traffic (51%).
According to my data, neither Zazzle nor Spreadshirt are growing their organic accomplish or their make searches (the blue lined graphs in a higher place).
I've had limited experiences with both sites – and not much success with either. More often than not I've institute both to be hard and complicated to launch products on, which has prevented me from getting a lot of designs upwards on them.
Given the high traffic of Zazzle, it is probably sensible for you to check them out, and perchance as well with Spreadshirt. Simply I can't personally recommend them, nor do they seem to be heading in the correct direction in terms of growth. Zazzle especially is a well established site (founded 2005) – which may make it harder to identify untapped opportunities and take on the existing contest.
Pocket-size Impress on Demand Players With Some Promise
Equally I've already mentioned – an contained artist doesn't need to sell on a site with millions of visitors a month to make some regular, sustainable and decent income from their art.
If you can just carve out a decent corner of a relatively small traffic site – you could still be looking at a decent chunk of income every month.
The following sites are not high on the traffic ratings, merely they may still exist worth your attention, depending on the friction match between designs and their audience.
DesignByHumans. Not a large player, with similar organic achieve to Threadless. DesignByHumans brand searches looks flat, but personally they accept been a steady royalty provider for myself – normally generating slightly more than Society6 every month.
Rageon. Relative newcomer with declining make searches, but growing organic traffic. I've had limited success with Rageon – and it has been very volatile and inconsistent.
TeeFury(and similar). It's worth mentioning that Shirt-A-Day sites like TeeFury haven't disappeared, and because they work on a slightly different model to most Impress on Demand sites – they may be worth your attending.
Unlike nigh Print on Demand sites, you will have to have your work selected in order to exist sold on a site similar TeeFury – and then information technology tin be a adept identify to hone your skills and ideas – plus if selected, your design is guaranteed a certain level of exposure on their sites, social media and electronic mail newsletters (at to the lowest degree for 24hrs).
Print on Demand Sites That Are Probably Non Worth Your Fourth dimension
CafePress aren't looking too attractive an offering right now…hovering somewhere above Threadless and Displate when information technology comes to traffic (est. 2.9M a month). Sadly, Cafepress' make searches accept dropped similar a rock, as has their organic traffic.
SunFrog are also not faring as well well…their traffic is tiny (est. 336k a month) and their organic attain isn't heading in the right direction either.
Other Print on Demand Options For Artists
If you're looking for even more means to get your art on products and shipped out to customers, y'all could also consider the following:
A Print on Demand Storefront (see below)
Selling on a marketplace (eg. Etsy, Amazon Seller Central) – using a Print on Demand visitor like Printful or Printify
Selling on your own site (using a platform like Woocommerce, Shopify etc.) – again using a Print on Demand visitor like Printful
Impress on Need 'Storefront' Sites for Artists & Designers with an existing following
If you take followers, fans – or an existing audience of any kind you'd like to sell to – OR you would just prefer to sell on your own personally-branded site (rather than through sites like Redbubble) – and so yous may want to consider a Impress on Demand Storefront.
A Impress on Demand Storefront is a customisable, fully hosted shop that will handle orders and fulfilment (and customer service) – only won't deliver you much (if whatsoever) organic traffic.
Print on Demand storefronts aren't designed to compete for traffic from organic sources (ie. Google) – but they are ideal for sellers who can marketplace or bulldoze customers from other channels (eg. Social media, YouTube, an electronic mail newsletter, your portfolio website, etc.)
It's perfect if y'all want a quick and like shooting fish in a barrel way to sell Merch to your fans or followers that looks more professional person than sending them to Redbubble or Teepublic – but it won't brand sales unless you do something to promote information technology.
So here'due south my recommendations for Artists looking for a Print on Demand storefront site:
1. Threadless Artist Shops
Threadless may not be the best Print on Demand site when it comes to organic sales, but they do make a nice looking Storefront – or as they call information technology: a Threadless Artist Shop.
Some of my favourite artists use Threadless as a storefront – people like Steven Rhodes and Hillary White Rabbit.
Threadless give you an like shooting fish in a barrel upload process, quick turnaround on products and a custom subdomain (eg. stevenrhodes.threadless.com) – plus their upload process is prissy and piece of cake.
Overall I'd say they're the first place to look if a storefront is what yous desire.
Sell On Threadless
2. TeeSpring
TeeSpring are an old name in the T-Shirt game, but their storefront offer is non too shabby.
TeeSpring has a good production catalog to choose from, plus everything else you'd look from a custom storefront – the ability to alter the style, add a header paradigm etc.
In that location are some other features TeeSpring offers like their boosted network and YouTube integration, if that interests you at all.
But overall I'd say they're another solid site to check out for storefronts.
Sell On TeeSpring
3. Blaze
Bonfire are a relative newcomer, and their system is loosely based around a 'entrada' model – ideal for fundraising and charities in particular.
But Bonfire do offering a free customisable storefront for anyone, and they have a slick and easy to use interface with squeamish looking product mockups.
Bonfire's storefronts aren't quite as customisable as TeeSpring'southward or Threadless' – because they proceed the Blaze branding quite prominent, and don't seem to create a custom subdomain (eg. yourbrand.bonfire.com)
All the same, you may find they're a better fit for you – depending on the mode of storefront you have in mind.
Did I Miss Anything?
I hope yous enjoyed my comprehensive guide to the Print on Demand sites for artists.
If you'd like to share your experiences with these sites, or recommend another site to add together to the list, exit a quick annotate below!
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Notes on the numbers…
• *The 'total traffic' and 'organic traffic' numbers are monthly estimates. The total traffic estimates came from SimilarWeb, and the Organic traffic estimates from Ahrefs. Take all the information with a pinch of salt – SimilarWeb in particular probably overestimate the traffic figures, according to this blog post.
• When I say 'brand' or 'branded' searches, I'grand talking about people going to Google and searching for 'Redbubble' or 'Teepublic'. To me this represents a rough guess of how well-known a site is, and that probably corresponds to their overall traffic and growth trend.
• The 'make trend' graph is taken from a Google Trends search for the visitor's proper name, eg. 'Society6' – over the past five years.
• The organic traffic trend graph is taken from Ahrefs and covers the past 12 months merely (not five years).
• All numbers (traffic, social media followers and TrustPilot scores) were gathered on the 6th March 2020.
• The raw data used for these figures is available inside my POD sites Airtable base. You can go access past clicking 'Download Now!' in the box to a higher place.
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