10 Things to Do BEFORE You Start Your Print on Demand Journey - POD Strategies for Beginners

In this video we're going to talk about 10 things   you should do before starting  print on demand. Let's go!! Thanks for joining me on this video my name is  Juna with Detour Shirts the channel all about   helping you design and sell t-shirts online. If  that's something you'd like to do don't forget   to hit that subscribe button. So in this video  I'm going to talk about 10 things you should   do before you start print on demand. So I  run a Facebook Group for print-on-demand.   Detour Shirts Facebook Group and I see all  the time in the comments of different things   people are going through starting their print on  demand and if they just did all these 10 things   they would be better off. So I put this list of  10 things together to help you any of you that   want to start print on demand or are on print on  demand just to get you ahead of those that don't   do all these 10 things. So you're going to want  to stay till the end to see all 10 things on this   list as well as another edition of trend credits.  This is going to be a good one. Let's get started. So the first thing you should do is read and  know about the terms of service so every print   on demand has a different terms of service  basically these are the things that you should   and shouldn't do these are the things that  could get your account in jeopardy and i see   it all the time people jump on print on demand  load up things that they shouldn't and get their   account closed and that's something you never  want to do is get your account closed because   then you just are stopped you can't upload anymore  and your print-on-demand journey is over before   it even started so make sure to read the terms  of service of each print-on-demand shop so for   example here's merch by amazon's terms of service  or content policies you can see some of the things   that they don't want you to do don't upload  illegal or infringing content that includes   things that are trademarked or copy written this  is where you can check trademarks don't upload any   offensive or controversial content and this is the  list and these are some other things not allowed   and every print on demand site has their own  content policies so learn those before uploading   and you're going to save yourself a lot of  headache so that leads right into thing number   two that you should do and that is to learn  about trademarks and copyright so one of the   biggest reasons i see that people are getting  kicked off of merch by amazon and redbubble   is trademark and copyright infringement so you  may be wondering what's the difference between   copyright and trademark so copyright here on the  left original works of authorship such as books   articles songs photographs sculptures choreography  sound recordings motion pictures and other works   so movies tv shows books songs any of those  things copyrighted okay don't take any of those   and trademark on this side on the right any word  phrase symbol and or design that identifies and   distinguishes the source of goods from one  party to the other so phrases and slogans like   where's the beef or liv moss or i'm  loving it right from mcdonald's so um   those are the phrases there's some other ones so  there's places where you can check on trademarks   and let me show you that so remember this list  here from content policies well these were the   places you can check for trademarks and in the us  it's uspto it looks like this uspto.gov and you   can search for trademarks here just click on this  and this and you can bookmark this by the way and   then basic word mark and you can check you know  if something's trademarked here so i'm loving it yes it is live it's mcdonald's right so things  like that so it's very important you know about   trademark and copyrights because again you don't  want to get shut down before you even started so   the third thing that you should know about is to  learn all the fees in each print on the manshom   each pod site some pod sites are totally free  and other pod sites actually cost you some money   so for example if you're running a shopify  store you're going to have to pay for shopify   you're going to have to pay for printful to print  your stuff and all those things etsy has fees   themselves if you're going to go the etsy route  there are other places where they're going to   charge you a shop fee so if you're going to sell  on their marketplace it might be free but to make   a shop it might cost you some money so look into  some of these print-on-demand shops make sure you   know what you're paying for what you're getting  is it totally free or is there gonna be some fees   and it's okay if there's fees but you should know  about it before getting into it so just a heads up   not all print on demand sites are free some of  them have some hidden fees that you may not know   about and make sure to check around ask around and  do your research so that you know how much you're   paying for when you get on these print-on-demand  sites so here's a good example of fees uh i'm on   cafepress.com one of the print on demand sites  that i use but you have to know these things   payment plan one no upfront cost so we have the  right to deduct ten percent per month from your   commissions up to a maximum of ten dollars  uh payment plan two prepay and save money   um six and six dollars 95 cents per month or  18.45 for three months so you can see here   there is a cost for their shop fee which you may  not have known so make sure you read all the fine   print the seller terms the terms of service every  print on demand shop has something different so   make sure you look into that before just jumping  in so the next thing you should know about is know   the profit margins so different print on demand  sites pay you differently for what you're selling   on different products uh different ways they pay  you so some print on demand sites will let you   mark up something and give you the difference so  there's usually a base price when this happens   so for example merch by amazon has a base price of  about 13 something dollars for a standard shirt as   you raise the price of the shirt you'll also get  paid more so that's the way that merch by amazon   does it but other places has a set price of a  t-shirt and they will only pay you a set price   so there are some places that all their shirts are  20 bucks for example and you only get four bucks   so make sure you know what the profit  is for each product that you're selling   some people have a straight 20 commission or a  straight 10 commission or straight five percent   commission that's different than actually raising  the price um and getting a different percentage of   the royalty so learn how much you're going to get  for each product so that you can do the math and   figure out how much you need to sell how many  t-shirts how many products you need to sell to   make the goal that you want to make so here's  red bubble for example you can see the markup   is at forty percent i marked that up at forty  percent but normally they start off at twenty   percent but as you raise them like like this  if i did 40 here you can see my margin went up   of what i could make up for a phone case in this  example so you can do this on any of your print on   demand sites and look at the margin or do your  research on what the margin is if you can't go   and find it without signing up but make sure you  look at this before uploading anything and know   what your margin is and how much you're going to  make on a sale so again this is just redbubble   and each print on demand site will have their own  markup different ways they mark it up different   ways that you can make a profit so another thing  you should learn how to do is to know how to   research so every print on demand site will have  their best sellers they'll have their own audience   and they'll have the things that sell well  on their site so on amazon for example   you can go in and type in their search bar and it  will kind of auto-complete on the things that are   trending or things that people are looking for  you can also look at bsrs to see what's selling   similarly on other print on demand sites you  can see what their best sellers are and kind   of just see what they're known for so do the  research before starting print on demand so you   know what is selling well you don't want to just  throw up any kinds of t-shirts or any designs on   products without knowing if it's going to sell  well on that site so learn how to do research   and learn what's selling well so that you know  what to design before putting it on a product   so here i am on amazon just to show you what  i'm talking about this is the search bar i'm   going to start typing um i'm i'm going to be a  big brother shirt so there we go and you can see   how many results there are are people looking  for it low bsrs wow that's good so you know that   so you know that's one way you can research on  what people are buying what people are looking for   maybe there's an interest in doing designs  for kids who are going to be big brothers   and take your own spin on that so that's one way  to research to do tools like this absolutely free   way to research you can go on other pod sites  and see what's trending and see if people are   looking for it and the results there so learn how  to research to find topics that people are looking   for and want to buy so another thing you should  know about before going on to print on demand   and especially for t-shirts is to learn what good  t-shirt design looks like so if you're gonna sell   t-shirts you actually need to know what good  t-shirt design looks like you don't have to   know how to design it you don't have to be a  designer but you got to have a base of what   people are looking for now if you're not  going to do t-shirts and you're going   to sell other products know what those good  products look like as well so if you're gonna   sell stickers what do what does a good sticker  look like so if you're gonna sell a water bottle   know what a good water bottle will look like  so you gotta know what the product is you gotta   learn what the product is really well before  you're gonna sell it i see so many comments in   my redbubble group of people asking why doesn't my  t-shirt sell i've been uploading tons and tons of   t-shirts well most of the time it's because those  t-shirts don't look like t-shirts people want to   buy so this will give you a big advantage at least  knowing what good t-shirts look like so now that   we have the internet there really is no excuse  for you not to know what a good t-shirt looks like   here i am on pinterest i can just type in t-shirts  and all day long i can scroll all day long and   look at t-shirts right you can look at uh funny  t-shirts or t-shirts for women or t-shirts with   saying t-shirt designs look how easy it is so  look at these these are what people are buying you   could go on amazon and type in t-shirts and look  at the vsrs and look at the different styles there   pinterest is a great way to start boards so if  you want when you find your t-shirts that you   like and see that are selling make a board for  it nice design t-shirts designs for women designs   for men designs for these holidays start making a  board so that you can see and gather data on what   a good t-shirt looks like and i'm just talking  about t-shirts but maybe you're selling other   things on print on demand make a board for that  and see what good design looks like study that   and figure out what it is so that you can be ahead  of those that don't know what good design sells   like and you can at least provide something that  people want to buy so the next thing i suggest   and it goes along with learning about good  design is learning about fonts if you're going   to use fonts in your designs make sure to know  what different fonts work well with each other   what different fonts work well for different  types of genres different types of top picks   learn about your basic fonts like thick fonts sans  serif fonts serif fonts do some research and look   what fonts are used the best find thick fonts  thick bold fonts that stand out that are easy to   read and start a collection of your favorite fonts  that you want to use and i would suggest starting   a collection of fonts so an affinity designer you  can favorite some fonts so you can put the heart   right there on affinity designer and it will save  it as a favorite font but you can also look on the   internet of what fonts work well for t-shirts  what fonts work well for men for women for kids   all the different topics and find at least 10  good fonts that are going to be your powerhouse   fonts that you can use on anything and after you  get those 10 you can branch out and look at for   some other ones but get to know the fonts you  don't have to know the names of the fonts but   just find fonts that work well on t-shirts or the  products that you're gonna use on print on demand   so one place that i like to go to find my fonts  is myfonts.com right here you can see they have   over a hundred and thirty thousand fonts now a  lot of these fonts are not free they're paid fonts   but there are other places if you're looking  for free fonts on the internet there's other   places and then they're just type in free font  just make sure that you have commercial license   for your fonts that you are not just using fonts  for personal use because when you're designing and   selling that's not personal use anymore that is  commercial use so find good fonts that are bold   like this and stand out easy to read so that's  a huge tip to make sure to find great fonts   that you can use on your products so the next  thing you should know is learn about the upload   sizes so every print on demand shop has different  upload sizes merch by amazon has their own size   for t-shirts and hoodies and pop sockets and  all those things redbubble has their own sizes   t public has their own sizes so every print on  demand shop has their own sizes and sometimes   they can mix and match but other times they  can't so for example you can use merch by   amazon sizes on redbubble but you can't use red  bubble sizes on merch by amazon so you're going to   want to know the upload sizes so that the design  fits perfectly on the product sometimes if you   don't use the right upload size it's not going to  look nice on the product there may be some white   space or black space or weird things that happen  on the on the product so make sure that you know   that the upload size for each product on  each print on demand site so for example   here on redbubble you can see apparel these are  all the different sizes for leggings socks pins   masks bags cases home decor so sometimes you need  to have the exact pixel size for it to work mugs   for example is one of them if you don't have this  exact size it may look different on your mug and   it may not stretch and look the way you want it on  a mug so same thing with postcards for example uh   it's best if you have this size or at least these  dimensions for it to work on a postcard so learn   about the different dimensions different upload  sizes for each of the products and each of the   print on demand sites and another thing and it's  kind of a catch-all is to know about each specific   print on demand site before joining so each print  on demand site is different as we've seen each of   them have their own terms of service each of them  have their own kinds of fees their royalties their   upload sizes and they have their own audience too  so learn about each one do your research not all   print on-demand sites are the same some of them  might actually work better for you than others   they might work better with your style they might  have better traffic just do the research and find   the ones that are best for you maybe it works well  with your art style maybe it has products that you   want to sell those kinds of things just do the  research on each print-on-demand site before   joining them so one thing you could do to find the  differences is go to youtube and you can just type   in redbubble versus and you can see all of these  red bubble versus teesprings printify and you can   do this with other print on demand shop i just  pick redbubble first so there's tons of videos   on the differences between different  print-on-demand shops so watch those   before joining and figure out which one is best  for you so the last thing i suggest that you do   is to have a plan you need to go into print on  demand having a plan so when i started merch by   amazon i did the research and kind of found  out what the royalties were how much i was   going to get paid for each t-shirt and how many  t-shirts i would need to make my monthly goal   and then how many t-shirts i would need to upload  to get that kind of sale so know ahead of time   that print on demand is not going to make you  money really quick it is something that's going   to take a long time to build up and if you're  not a designer you're going to have to have a   plan on how you're going to get the designs  to upload as well so go in it having a plan   knowing good research tactics knowing all  these 10 things actually so all these things   that i'm telling you in this video can help you  make a good plan and make sure that you reach   your goals so remember a goal without a plan is  just a whis so make sure you have a good goal   make sure you have a plan to get to that goal and  more importantly make sure that you do that plan   so that you can make that goal it's going  to take a lot of work a lot of consistency   and a lot of months and possibly years before you  reach the goal that you want so make sure that you   have a long term plan print on demand isn't a  get rich quick business unless you're selling   really high profit items and even then you're  gonna have to learn how to sell those as well so   be patient be consistent and have a plan on what  you're gonna do so here is the full list 10 things   to do before you start print on demand uh take a  screenshot right here keep this this can be used   for those that haven't started print on demand or  if you already started and you haven't done all   these 10 things make sure that you do all these  10 things this is great this will get you ahead   of most people that haven't started these things  and hopefully this is really helpful on your print   on demand journey so i think these 10 things  are really important for anybody starting print   on demand let me know in the comments if there's  another one or if you've done all of these things   or which one of these is most important to you i'd  like to hear it thanks so much for watching this   video and your reward for staying all the way  to the end is another edition of trend credits Thanks for staying to the end for this trend  credit. Here is your trend, "I'll be in my   office garden" so you can see here some low BSRs.  I'll be in my office. Here's another one. I'll be   in my office. uh so Merch Informer it's getting an  A. I'll be in my office garden. Lots of gardening   stuff popping up right now. It's getting to  be spring uh so you don't necessarily have to   follow this trend but garden things are trending  because spring is coming a lot more people are   gardening this year than they were before so  gardening has become a really popular niche or   niche however you want to say it so you can see  this is one example of that figure out your own   phrase for gardening if you don't want to do  this one i think there's lots of potential   here so again this is your trend i'll be in my  office garden shirt thanks again for watching   don't forget to like and subscribe if this video  gave you some value make sure to give it a thumbs   up and if you're not subscribed already hit  that subscribe button you can hit this little   one right here in the bottom corner if you're not  subscribed already i hope this video was really   helpful for you and as always guys keep creating  and keep learning i'll see you on the next one bye

Channel: Detour Shirts

Views: 46,941

Keywords: print on demand, passive income, print on demand for beginners, print on demand t-shirt business, print on demand business, print on demand 2021, wish I knew before starting print on demand, before starting print on demand, print on demand business tips, print on demand tips and tricks, how to start print on demand business, how to start print on demand, create and sell t shirts online, print on demand beginner, starting print on demand, starting a print on demand business

Id: iMR-IMcgnEE

Length: 19min 57sec (1197 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 12 2021