How to Supply Products for Your Sticker or T-Shirt Business

If you have thought about starting your own sticker, t-shirt, or other printed goods business you’ve likely grappled with the question, “How will I supply these products?” In this article, I’m going to break down the pros and cons of three different supply methods to help you select the best choice for your emerging business.

Print-on-Demand Suppliers

Print-on-demand is the fastest way to get your business started, with the lowest upfront cost. A print-on-demand supplier is a company that receives your customer orders and then prints, packages, and ships out the product. All you do is supply the design.

There are two main types of print-on-demand (POD) suppliers. Companies like RedBubble provide an all-in-one platform. Your designs are listed and sold directly through their website. This type of platform is completely hands-off as RedBubble handles customer service and all relations with the customer. However, you get less freedom with how your work is presented and their branding is likely on all products and packaging.

There are also white-label print-on-demand suppliers like Printful. You create an Etsy store, Shopify store, or other online storefront and link your POD supplier on the back end. When an order comes in, it’s forwarded to the supplier for fulfillment. Typically, you will need to operate as customer service and more effort will need to go into marketing your work. However, you get the payoff of being able to put your branding and logo on the items and packaging without having the responsibility of printing and fulfilling them yourself.

While specific POD platforms will vary, these are the general pros and cons.

Pros

Print-on-demand tip! I started my 5-star Etsy shop using Printful. I’ve been very pleased with their products and customer service team. They are easy to use and connect with Etsy, Shopify, and many other e-commerce platforms. You can check them out using this link!

Cons

• Lower margins — Print-on-demand companies also want to make a profit and printing one-off items isn’t cheap. While you don’t put in a large upfront investment, you are paying more per item than other methods.
• Lower quality and fewer product options — When you choose a print-on-demand supplier, you are limited to their product options and quality. This can vary greatly in the industry. Many suppliers offer good quality items that satisfy customers. However, if you are looking to sell higher-end goods or products with special printing techniques, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
• Less control — Whichever print on demand platform you choose, you are placing them in charge of quality control and orders. This can reflect poorly on your name if there are continual mistakes like incorrect or missing items. For a print-on-demand site like RedBubble, the customer would contact their customer service. However, for white-label suppliers, you will have to communicate between your customer and the supplier to fix the issue.

Purchasing Inventory

Another option for selling products online is to purchase the items in bulk from a print shop and then ship out the orders yourself. Obviously, there are far too many printers and product suppliers for me to cover the specifics, but below are the general pros and cons you can likely expect.

Pros

• Quality — If you do the research on your suppliers and order some samples, you’ll be able to find a great supplier that you can feel confident in. In addition, you are receiving the items to ship out so you can review the pieces before sending them to the customer and communicate with your printer if there are issues.
• Less work — With this supply method, you still have to pack and ship orders, but you don’t have to print or create the items. It’s a good middle ground.
• Great margins with bulk orders — The financial benefit of this option really depends on how much you order. If you are able to make larger orders you can take advantage of bulk pricing from certain suppliers to drive the cost per item down.

Inventory tip! I am a sticker seller and I’ve been very happy with ordering my products from Sticker Mule. Sticker Mule supplies high-quality vinyl stickers (keychains, shirts, coasters and more). You can also take advantage of their weekly deals and discounts. Get $10 off your first order with my link!

Cons

• Upfront cost — You’ll need to place an initial order of the products in order to sell them.
• Shipping and inventory — You’ll be shipping and storing the products yourself. It’s important to educate yourself on shipping and shipping costs as well as find a way to organize your inventory. If you put together a good plan and workflow for fulfilling orders you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches.

Creating the Items Yourself

The final option is to create the items yourself. Similar to finding a supplier, there are infinite routes you can take for this.

Pros

• Full authority over the products — You take on all the responsibility for producing the item. While this is more work it also means that you are in control of each part of the item and can choose the exact materials, quality, and specifications. It’s also important to consider your skill level and if creating the products yourself will satisfy the consumer.
• Best Margins — By producing the items yourself, you aren’t having to pay for additional labor from a supplier or printer (unless you start to hire people to help you). You can hunt around for the best deals on materials and will likely be able to produce the items at the lowest cost.

Cons

If you’d like to spy on my sticker business, click HERE!

This article contains affiliate links. If you choose to purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

This article was originally posted on Medium. https://medium.com/@murialbezanson/how-to-supply-products-for-your-sticker-or-t-shirt-business-14414a2bfcba