The Best FREE Print On Demand Sites for Artists & Designers [March 2022]
past Michael Essek · Updated: March 8, 2022
This is my guide to the best Print on Need sites for artists and designers.
Whether y'all're looking for the best identify to sell shirts or merch online, or you just want to find more sites like Redbubble – this guide has got you covered.
I'll compare Redbubble vs. TeeSpring, plus many more than – to help you notice the all-time place to mail your fine art.
The 7 Best Print On Need Sites:
First up, hither's my list of the best Print on Demand websites right now: (click the proper name to jump to my in-dept review of each)
In this guide I'll discuss each of these Print on Demand site in detail, explain why you should use them, and share my personal experience with each site.
And then I'll cover another Impress on Demand sites (Zazzle, Spreadshirt etc.) – and give some recommendations for artists looking for a Print on Demand Storefront.
The Best Place To Sell T-Shirts Online? (Redbubble vs TeeSpring vs Society6 vs Zazzle etc…)
I've done some inquiry and gathered data for each site – looking at their total monthly visitor numbers, organic traffic, social media followers and more.
For example, here's how the monthly traffic and organic traffic for the best Print on Demand sites shapes up (these are average figures for the past half-dozen months – every bit of December 2020):
On top of this data, I'm sharing my personal opinions and experiences of using these sites over the past half-dozen+ years to sell thousands of products each and every month.
Notation: All of the data in this commodity has been gathered in December 2020. Traffic estimates are simply that – estimates – and should be treated as such. Farther Data on the data sources and techniques used to provide the information tin can exist 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 art and makes it available for sale on products(T-Shirts, Posters, etc.)
prints that artwork onto a production, and ships that product to customers(without any interest from the artist)
pays the artist a royalty for whatever sales made
The best impress on need sites (from an artist's perspective) volition have lots of visitors, skillful organic accomplish (traffic from Google), and arrive relatively easy for artists and designers to upload and make sales from their designs. Such sites make information technology possible for you to go paid for your drawings, illustrations, artwork and designs without doing much more uploading.
Print on Demand Sites vs. Impress on Demand Companies (Redbubble vs Printful)
A Print on Need Site is not the same as a Print on Demand Fulfillment Visitor.
Print on Demand (Fulfilment) Companies (like Printful) deed as a white-label 'back-terminate' to an online store, assuasive artists to setup their own shop on a custom domain, or to sell through a marketplace like Etsy.
Print on demand companies are not places that customers go to buy t-shirts – they are instead services that artists and sellers can apply to fulfil orders to their customers.
Whereas Print on Demand 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 make money from their designs than a Print on Demand company.
If you're looking for the ultimate guide to Print on need companies like Printful and Printify, you lot'll find information technology here: The Best Print On Demand Companies 2022.
1. Merch By Amazon
I considered leaving Merch By Amazon off this list, because technically speaking information technology isn't a print on demand site.
Merch By Amazon is a Print on Demand program that exists inside of Amazon (that is, Amazon's U.South., U.Yard., German, French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese sites currently) – it's not a standalone website like the rest of the sites on this list (sites like Redbubble, etc.) – nor is it a Print on Demand fulfilment company.
As such it's difficult to get traffic and search data well-nigh Merch By Amazon – but I recall it'southward rubber to assume that if Merch By Amazon were a standalone site (if nosotros could cut it out of Amazon and care for information technology like a dedicated site) – it would dwarf all the other players hither in terms of visitors, organic traffic and overall sales.
What's Expert About Merch By Amazon:
It's Amazon, Duh
Merch By Amazon gives designers the ability to list several pop clothes products onto the world's biggest online store, and i of the world's most visited websites.
Amazon is both a huge marketplace and one of the biggest search engines on the internet (because people search straight on Amazon), so you should be able to reach more than customers here than anywhere else (at least in theory).
Prime Aircraft & Amazon as Seller
Merch Past Amazon products are shipped 'Prime' – which makes Merch By Amazon one of the fastest way to go a shirt to a customer.
When you have design on Merch By Amazon – you too get all the added bonuses that come up with having a production sold by 1 of the world'southward about recognised brands. (Simply ask yourself – would you lot rather purchase from Amazon – or a bottom known company?)
Flexible Royalties
With Merch Past Amazon you can fix the royalty you want to earn per auction.
Of grade y'all limited by the base rate of products – and you are in competition with other designers, just y'all aren't tied in to a fixed royalty, similar with Teepublic.
What'southward Bad Virtually Merch Past Amazon:
Invite Simply
You lot can't sign up for Merch By Amazon and start selling right away – you have to request an invitation and exist canonical first.
Many of the other Print on Demand site listed in this guide has an 'open up door' policy for new sign-ups.
Merch past Amazon's turnaround on new invite requests varies, and there'due south no difficult and fast rule on how long it might take – or any guarantee that you'll be invited at all. And then if you lot are thinking about information technology – become and request 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 By Amazon has a longstanding trouble with design theft, (copycats) or 'improve-cats' (people who have another'southward popular design and modify information technology slightly).
Merch By Amazon products all have a public 'BSR' rating (Amazon'southward internal 'best-seller' rank).
This makes it possible to meet which Merch shirts are currently selling well, making it very piece of cake for copycats and ameliorate-cats to 'drink your milk shake'.
In other words – once you have a expert seller on Amazon, information technology's probable to go copied very quickly and listed at a lower price – and this is likely to drive downward your sales and/or profit.
You can report Copyright infringement to Amazon, simply the results are striking and miss, and Amazon doesn't do anything to stop copycats simply re-uploading the stolen design after their first copy was removed.
In reality this means that artists can spend a lot of time playing 'whack-a-copycat'; searching for and reporting copyright infringement, just to see it pop up again a few days later.
Notation: I should bespeak out that the copycat / fine art theft issue is by no means sectional to Merch Past Amazon, although it is more pronounced hither – because of the public BSR issue, the flexible royalty charge per unit and the size of the Amazonmarket.
I've likewise found almost all other Print on Demand sites to be somewhat more consistent when it comes to removing infringing designs following Copyright takedown notices.
Limited Branding Options For Artists
Merch By Amazon has very limited branding and audience building options for artists.
When you lot upload designs to Merch past Amazon y'all are really only suppling designs to them, and zero else.
There is no public 'profile' system on Merch past Amazon similar you have on almost all other Print On Demand sites – so bated from a single line of text on each product (your brand link) – you can't actually use Merch By Amazon to build your profile or attracts fans or followers. (No contour or header images, no social media links, no artist bios).
This might change in the future, simply right now Merch Past Amazon is actually a cash-menses-simply strategy for artists, albeit a potentially lucrative one.
And so Why Is Merch By Amazon #1 On My List?
Merch By Amazon is nevertheless the best Print on Demand opportunity for artists considering of their sheer size and accomplish. At that place is no other Print on Need site that comes close.
What this means in practice – all else being equal – is that your designs are more than probable to be seen on Amazon, and hence more likely to be purchased.
Is Merch By Amazon Assisting?
Merch Past Amazon is profitable – as at that place are no directly costs involved for participating. It'due south free to get an business relationship, free to upload and complimentary to sell on the platform.
And with the potential for loftier royalties and steady organic traffic, the average artist or designer volition probably make more from Merch By Amazon than from any other platform.
The big caveat here is that non everything is equal!
In reality your earnings from Merch Past Amazon all depend on;
the target audience for your designs
how many designs yous take
how skilful your ideas and designs are
how adept your descriptive data is (Title, Keywords, Bullet Points)
the existing competition on Amazon for similar designs
the futurecompetition on Amazon for like designs (copycats / legitimate competition)
..only chances are that 100 designs uploaded to Merch Past Amazon will probably earn more than than 100 designs on any other print on demand site – largely because of the departure in traffic (potential customers).
Of import Betoken: This is probably a good place for me to indicate out that – whilst traffic numbers are of course an important factor in estimating sales – they are no guarantee of meliorate sales.
For instance, you may notice that your designs sell swell on Society6, only don't make a dent on Merch By Amazon – because each site has very different customer demographics, and different levels of competition – and your designs simply work ameliorate with the Society6 crowd. In other words – traffic levels are not the be-all and end-all.
Finally – if you were able to corner a fraction of the market on ANY of these sites – you lot would probably exist looking at a very healthy income. So – don't be likewise swayed past traffic numbers.
My Experience With Merch By Amazon
Unsurprisingly, Merch Past Amazon dominates my royalty earnings – and has washed since it first launched.
I don't see any chance of that irresolute anytime soon – considering Amazon is the globe'south biggest online marketplace.
And then if y'all can get an account invite, and you lot tin cope with the copycat problem – then there is probably no more assisting 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 tin 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
ix.5M
28%
1
1,352,764
Redbubble is the biggest standalone print on need marketplace by total traffic and organic traffic, and has grown steadily over the past several years.
What's Good About Redbubble
Redbubble's Organic Search Traffic
Redbubble has huge organic reach – meaning it gets a lot of traffic from search engines.
This is proficient new for independent designers and artists without a large following – because information technology means Redbubble is pretty good at getting your designs to show upward on Google – especially for 'long-tail' keywords and search terms.
So right at present Redbubble is probably the best, easiest way to get your designs in front of the eyeballs of people searching on Google, for free.
Redbubble'southward Brand Growth
Redbubble is becoming better known as a brand – every bit this Google trends graph below for 'Rebubble' shows (people going to Google and searching for "Redbubble").
That's good news for artists for a number of reasons – not least because it means Redbubble is probable increasing it'southward visitor numbers – and not simply via Google searches for niche or topic related terms. And the more customers Redbubble has, the more likely yous are to brand sales.
Redbubble's Product Quality
Redbubble uses print-on-demand printing companies effectually the world to produce and ship it'due south products – and the quality of goods tin can vary significantly depending on the printing partner and the product in question.
Redbubble'southward client review score on TrustPilot has dropped in the past year, which could be an indicator that Redbubble needs to do some work to better the quality of information technology's goods.
Flexible Creative person Margins
Redbubble has flexible margins on it'southward products, and information technology'south customers are often willing to pay higher prices on average than on other platforms.
Artist Branding Options
Because information technology was setup with artists in mind, Redbubble gives you some branding controls – like contour images, header images, links to your social media and more.
Redbubble also has internal 'follow', 'like' and 'bubble mail service' features – and they promote and characteristic artists on their homepage. They also accept a mobile app!
Google Shopping Ads and Re-Targeting
Redbubble uses Google Shopping ads and re-targeting to promote your designs – at no direct cost to y'all. This gives your designs an increased gamble of existence seen by those people who are well-nigh likely to buy.
What's Not Good About Redbubble
Time Consuming Upload Process
Redbubble offers a LOT of products – but this in turn ways you lot tin spend a LOT of time tweaking your artwork for each production.
In other words – the upload and configuration process for products on Redbubble is not the best. It's non the worst either – just it'due south no Teepublic (which is the best).
Copycats and Infringement
Redbubble is not immune to the copycat issue, and to copyright and IP infringement problems more broadly.
Redbubble currently doesn't seem to apply any automatic scanning of artwork to compare it to existing designs, which means direct copycats can and do appear, plus – because sellers have control over margins – others tin can undercut yous, at least in theory.
Just the issue is not as pronounced as Merch By Amazon – because it'southward nowhere near as like shooting fish in a barrel to see what designs are currently selling on Redbubble.
My Review Of Redbubble
Redbubble is belongings steady. Their strong organic achieve means that once you have a design on Redbubble – you have a corking hazard of getting that design ranking on Google, and their own existing brand audience is well suited to my work.
Given the size and reach of Redbubble, information technology really is an ideal platform for almost any artist looking to tap into free organic traffic. It is a great place for pop civilisation and 'artsy' designs, simply isn't limited to only that kind of thing.
For example, if you're more of a society6-fashion designer (florals, patterns, watercolours) – I would even so get your work upwards 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 really owned by Redbubble – merely nevertheless currently maintains a dissever site and separate accounts.
Teepublic has followed and in some ways improved on the Redbubble model – only there accept been recent changes that arrive less of an open-door market place.
Monthly Traffic*
Organic Monthly Traffic*
Percentage Organic Traffic
Organic Traffic Rank
Social Media Post-obit
10.1M
one.5M
fifteen%
3
188,771
What's Skillful Near Teepublic
Great Organic Reach
Teepublic has the second third highest level of organic traffic, just subsequently Redbubble and Zazzle.
That means Teepublic has get very good at ranking designs and categories on Google – and driving that traffic back to Teepublic.
Withal, it seems Teepublic's organic traffic started to have a tumble in 2020. I don't know how accurate my figures are – but it appears Teepublic's organic strategy may have striking a snag. (Not that I have personally noticed this in my sales – Teepublic has remained stiff throughout).
Best Ever Upload Process
Teepublic has (in my opinion) the quickest and easiest upload process in the Print on Demand world.
They may not offering as many products as Redbubble or Society6 – just they nevertheless hit all the major categories, and manage to make configuring each product very simple. I wish others would take a leaf out of Teepublic'southward book – it would make uploading much less of a task.
Increasing Make Awareness
Teepublic is showing expert upwards growth for make searches – equally shown below. Similar Redbubble, this implies Teepublic are becoming better known and alluring more visitors – and that should exist a good thing for artists selling on Teepublic.
In a similar vein – Teepublic take one of the highest Trustpilot rankings of whatever POD site. This ways they are keeping customers happy – and happy customers ofttimes render.
Less Incentives For Copycats
Teepublic's fixed royalty rates hateful information technology's impossible to be undercut by copycats and improve-cats.
That doesn't mean copycats don't be on Teepublic – it just means they have to sell their designs at the exact same price as you… then they don't have the incentive they do on Merch by Amazon or Redbubble.
What's Not And so Good Virtually Teepublic
Those Fixed Royalties Aren't High (and they can go lower)
Teepublic's stock-still royalties are merely $iv for T-Shirts – falling to $2 during sales times.
Despite this, Teepublic is usually matching or hovering simply slightly beneath my monthly Redbubble royalties – which demonstrates that Teepublic's sale scheduling and promotions are actually pretty effective.
In other words, the royalties on individual sales may exist less – but Teepublic are so expert at driving traffic during those sales, that my monthly total royalties stay high.
IP & Copyright Infringement
Like Redbubble, information technology'due south not piece of cake for copycats to see what is selling, simply it is all the same piece of cake for them to borrow your designs.
Also, a lot of Teepublic's designs are IP infringing, or close to infringing – which might worry y'all if are concerned about the long term viability of the platform.
My Experience With Teepublic
I actually like selling on Teepublic. Whilst other platforms have dipped over the years, Teepublic has kept growing, or has at least held steady.
In fact Teepublic is close to surpassing my monthly Redbubble earnings, and I've heard similar reports from other artists and designers.
Information technology's probably non the correct platform for everyone – only if you lot're doing pop civilization or funny designs primarily made for T-Shirts, and so you'd be crazy not to give Teepublic a try.
Sell On Teepublic
For a comprehensive guide to selling your work on Teepublic, check out my in-depth guide:How To Sell On Teepublic.
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iv. Society6
Society6 is a smaller player than Teepublic or Redbubble(with near one-half the traffic of Teepublic) – just it has a large social media post-obit and their traffic and brand searches are belongings steady.
Society6 may not have huge organic reach, just if you lot are creating work that fits with their aesthetic and audition, information technology could be a great identify for your art.
Monthly Traffic*
Organic Monthly Traffic*
Percent Organic Traffic
Organic Traffic Rank
Social Media Following
3.82M
one.5M
39%
5
1,598,514
What's Adept About Society6
Society6 Knows What It Is
Society6 has a pretty well divers 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 than patterns, florals, watercolours, and abstract art – and much less popular culture, bold, traditional novelty T-Shirt manner graphics.
This is good news if your artwork fits their way, and less good if it doesn't. But at least y'all know where you lot stand up. (Contrast this with sites like Zazzle, Spreadshirt or Cafepress – where it is very difficult to identify a target style or demographic).
Large, Existing, Make-Enlightened Audience
Regular promotional emails, and a large social media presence means Society6 tin can drive traffic from sources other than organic search.
This may only assistance y'all if you get your designs featured somewhere – but if you piece of work does fit with Society6 and their style – why couldn't it be featured and promoted by Society6?
Decent Percent Of Organic Traffic
Their organic reach is however a healthy 39% of their total traffic, which ways they are doing a decent job on the SEO front end.
So your work on Society6 probably has some chance of also showing up on Google, and driving some traffic from there.
Creative person Branding Options
Society6 offers a scattering of branding options – like an artist bio, a follow function – and the usual profile images and headers.
What's Not Good Almost Society6
Lower Overall Traffic, Low Organic Reach
Society6 merely doesn't have the traffic or organic reach that Merch Past Amazon, Redbubble or Teepublic has.
That makes information technology harder to become eyeballs on your work, unless of grade you lot are driving your own traffic (in which example, come across below).
Their Style May Not Fit Your Style
One man'southward meat is another man'southward poisonous substance – and Society6's focus on florals, pastels, watercolours, abstract wall fine art and homeware products does mean it's perhaps non the ideal place for your funny pop culture shirts.
That doesn't mean you can't make sales…it but means it may be harder – if exclusively pop civilization-type stuff is your design pocketbook.
Complicated Upload Process
Society6's upload process is complicated when compared to something like Teepublic.
Certain, they have a lot more than products, but it still makes uploading a somewhat daunting task.
Low TrustPilot Score
Society6 doesn't have the best product-quality reputation, according to their electric current Trustpilot score:
My Feel With Society6
I've had designs on Society6 since 2015, only they've never really been a big hitter on the royalty front for me.
I put this downwards to my designs – as they aren't actually in line with Society6's audition and overall aesthetic (I do more 'straight-forward' T-Shirt designs – and such graphics don't oftentimes translate well to Wall Art, especially if y'all're looking for family friendly inspirational quotes for your Kitchen).
You'll know if Society6 is a good fit for your work. If they are – invest some fourth dimension and give things a chance. If not, movement on.
Sell On Society6
If your work fits on Society6, yous may also want to checkout Spoonflower. They are a fabric and wallpaper site that serves a similar demographic with a like aesthetic fashion 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 – but I'yard ranking it pretty high because of it's decent traffic and reasonable organic attain.
Fine Art America is a lot like Society6 – in that in focuses on wall art (posters, prints, etc. ) – though like Society6 it does offer enough of other products also (just much less prominently).
Monthly Traffic*
Organic Monthly Traffic*
Percentage Organic Traffic
Organic Traffic Rank
Social Media Following
4.61M
1.8M
39%
iv
271,596
What's Skilful About Fine art America
Expert Organic Reach
Not too shabby traffic or organic reach numbers.
Fine Fine art America has about half the total traffic of Zazzle, merely with the same level of organic traffic. That says to me that they're doing something correct when it comes to SEO and organic promotion of their products.
They're On The Up
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 achieve, and as well becoming better known amidst customers.
Fine Art America are also maintaining a decent review on TrustPilot:
Focused On A Specific Product, Like shooting fish in a barrel To Navigate
Fine Art America is a well organised site with useful categorisation and good sorting functionality – which means you lot can see what's working and what customers are buying – to help you improve refine your designs and your targeting.
What's Not Not bad About Fine Art America
25 Designs Uploads Limit
Artists are limited to 25 art uploads unless you upgrade to a premium programme at $thirty/year. That ways you'll have to do some research and really niche downwards to a particular subject in order to run into if this site will work for you.
Once you've made $xxx inside a year in royalties, I suppose it would so be worth upgrading and so you can really push your designs.
Traffic Not Equally Huge Every bit Redbubble / Teepublic
Traffic is somewhere betwixt Society6 and Teepublic, though with significantly less organic reach than Teepublic. Merely if you're interested in selling primarily Posters/Wall Fine art than T-Shirts – this is a skilful bet. They don't have a 'style' or hands identifiable aesthetic like Society6 though, which means you're going to have to do some research and perhaps rely on their organic reach to bring you sales.
My Experience With FineArtAmerica
I don't have whatever experience with FineArtAmerica. I only recently signed upwards for an account myself.
But first impressions are that I like their fashion. It's an piece of cake site to navigate, plus they are doing well on organic accomplish and overall growth.
If you have designs that translate well to Wall Art, and so 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 Art – then make sure you lot design for the product.
Don't just throw up your existing designs on there – instead spend time thinking about how you lot can conform your designs for posters, or create completely new designs that would be ideal as posters or prints.
And effort to fit your designs inside some area that already exists on such sites (whether that'due south a specific topic, designs aimed at a particular audience, or trying to emulate a recognisable design way).
6. Displate
Displate are a very small role player, but with not bad growth and a very large social media following. Could they exist the adjacent big thing?
Their traffic is relatively pocket-size, just they are the dominant player in a growing production category (metal wall prints).
Monthly Traffic*
Organic Monthly Traffic*
Pct Organic Traffic
Organic Traffic Rank
Social Media Following
1.87M
307,600
xvi%
nine
1,697,630
What'due south Good About Displate
Well Organised Site, Nicely Categorised
Like FineArtAmerica – Displate is a well organised and well categorised site. When y'all don't have especially high organic reach, information technology'south beneficial to take collections and categories that aid customers discover what they desire – 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.
It may correspond relatively small organic traffic numbers right at present compared to other sites – just they're heading in the right direction (Displate is 1 of only 4 of sites I researched to prove growth in both brand searches and organic traffic).
Huge Social Media Achieve and Increasing Make Searches
Displate has great social media numbers (especially on Facebook) – and are showing proficient growth in brand searches.
If your work fits with their audition, you could become a slice of that action.
Displate also seem to be keeping customers happy, based on their current TrustPilot score:
Easy Upload Process
Displate's upload process is nice and piece of cake, as yous would expect from a site that only offers 1 type of product.
What'southward Not Adept Almost Displate
Nonetheless A Small Histrion
Those low traffic numbers mean Displate probably isn't nigh to exist stuffing your pockets with royalty monies. But getting in at the footing floor of a growing brand is a smart motion – as information technology ways you could dominate certain corners and niches as the traffic climbs.
Some Infringing Material
Displate are a younger company and information technology seems their platform is withal a little chip 'wild west'. In that location are plenty of deadline infringing designs right now, which I imagine do contribute to a lot of sales. Hopefully that won't become an issue every bit time goes past.
My Experience With Displate
I can't say much well-nigh Displate – considering I've simply had a few designs upwardly there for a few months.
I can say that their organization is slick and easy, and they seem to be running a tight ship on the promotion front end.
Time will tell whether they become a decent home for my designs in the long term, only they are showing some good signs so far. The skilful news is that it won't accept you too long to upload your designs and then but sit back and watch.
Sell On Displate
7. Threadless
Threadless is a complicated one – because it actually offers artists a number of ways to sell their work:
Submissions / Challenges. You can submit fine art to Threadless' Design Challenges – (including their no-theme, open-concluded challenge) – and if your Fine art scores highly and/or gets selected, it will be made bachelor for sale on the 'regular' Threadless.com
Threadless Artist Shops. You can setup a Threadless Artist 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. (Simply you would have to drive all the traffic).
Threadless Search / 'Discover'. Once you have an Artist Shop with designs loaded, you can choose to include those designs inside Threadless' 'Discover' section – meaning they tin can be searched for and found by people inside the master threadless.com website (and not just via your storefront).
So whilst options 1 and two are not really relevant when comparing with the other sites in this list – option 3 means Threadless only about scrapes in equally a Impress on Demand site.
Monthly Traffic*
Organic Monthly Traffic*
Pct Organic Traffic
Organic Traffic Rank
Social Media Following
1.27M
281,000
22%
ten
two,996,354
What's Adept About Threadless
Big Social Post-obit
Threadless has been in the game for a long fourth dimension – one 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 listing, and i assumes a sizeable amount of email newsletter subscribers.
Threadless does hit it hard on the promo front – with daily emails and regular sales. So if yous can get designs featured on the 'regular' Threadless – you stand to benefit from that.
Consistent Style And Approach
Threadless tends to go along a fairly tight grip on information technology's style and the type of designs they publish.
You won't find a lot of IP infringing or 'on the edge' stuff – it does tend to exist home to truly contained, unique and original pop civilization designs from private designers. And then if your piece of work fits that mold, it's worth a look.
Like shooting fish in a barrel Upload Process
The upload and listing process for Creative person Shops (and thereby the 'find' section) is pretty straightforward. It'south no Teepublic, only information technology own't a meg miles behind.
What'south Not So Expert About Threadless
Depression Traffic, Decreasing Organic Reach
Low traffic. If the SimilarWeb stats are to believed, it's behind Displate…and closer to the traffic level of Bonfire.
22% of Threadless' traffic comes from organic…which is some distance backside Society6, FineArtAmerica and miles behind Teepublic and Redbubble. That means Threadless has to rely much more than on their own marketing and promotions to drive sales.
Decreasing Make Searches, Poor Reputation
It seems Threadless' reputation has diminished somewhat of late. It 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 good for you at time of writing:
Depression Royalties
Disappointingly slim royalties – peculiarly if you allow Threadless manage your Shop's pricing and promotions. When Threadless does a auction, they actually do a sale – with shirts equally low as $12 (Probably the cheapest price of any Print on Demand site listed here).
With that kind of list price, an artist can receive just $1 or even $0.l for a shirt auction (In fact I've had shirts sell for $22 that earned just $one – what's that nearly?). That'southward a worse percent than Teepublic –where a sale shirt sold for $14 nets the creative person $two.
My Experience With Threadless
Merely before Quarter Four (around September 2019) – I uploaded around 100 of my designs to Threadless (via a new Artist Shop, and thereby into their 'discover' arrangement). Over the following Quarter (Oct-December 2019) those designs generated a few hundred dollars in royalties…with minimal promotion from myself (they did get something of a push from my branded Instagram account, simply nothing beyond that).
I retrieve this is because the Threadless audience is pretty well matched to my work.
Would those earnings have been higher if I hadn't let Threadless manage my pricing and promotions? I simply don't know.
Overall I'd say that Threadless works slap-up as a simple storefront – and it gives you the ability to get at to the lowest degree some potential exposure via their 'discover' system. Simply if you lot're looking for decent organic traffic and sales, you lot are unlikely to get that from Threadless – unless you get your designs selected equally part of their main 'Threadless' drove.
Sell On Threadless
What About Zazzle, Spreadshirt, CafePress, DesignbyHumans… etc?
At that place are a handful of Impress on Demand sites I haven't covered in detail above, and that'southward mainly because I tin't personally recommend them.
So here's a lilliputian something virtually 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) – just very little of it comes from organic search (just xviii%).
Spreadshirt is much lower downwards the traffic rankings (est. 2.9M visits a calendar month), though with improve organic traffic (51%).
According to my data, neither Zazzle nor Spreadshirt are growing their organic attain or their make searches (the blueish lined graphs to a higher place).
I've had express experiences with both sites – and not much success with either. Generally I've found both to be difficult and complicated to launch products on, which has prevented me from getting a lot of designs up on them.
Given the high traffic of Zazzle, information technology is probably sensible for y'all to check them out, and mayhap likewise with Spreadshirt. Simply I tin can't personally recommend them, nor do they seem to exist heading in the right direction in terms of growth. Zazzle specially is a well established site (founded 2005) – which may make information technology harder to identify untapped opportunities and have on the existing competition.
Pocket-size Print on Demand Players With Some Hope
As I've already mentioned – an independent creative person doesn't demand to sell on a site with millions of visitors a month to make some regular, sustainable and decent income from their art.
If y'all 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 non high on the traffic ratings, but they may nevertheless be worth your attention, depending on the match betwixt designs and their audience.
DesignByHumans. Not a large role player, with like organic reach to Threadless. DesignByHumans brand searches looks flat, but personally they have been a steady royalty provider for myself – usually generating slightly more than Society6 every month.
Rageon. Relative newcomer with failing brand searches, just growing organic traffic. I've had limited success with Rageon – and information technology has been very volatile and inconsistent.
TeeFury(and similar). Information technology's worth mentioning that Shirt-A-Twenty-four hours sites like TeeFury oasis't disappeared, and because they piece of work on a slightly different model to most Print on Demand sites – they may exist worth your attending.
Unlike most Print on Demand sites, you will have to have your work selected in order to be sold on a site like TeeFury – so it can be a skilful place to hone your skills and ideas – plus if selected, your design is guaranteed a sure 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 Not Worth Your Time
CafePress aren't looking likewise attractive an offering right now…hovering somewhere above Threadless and Displate when information technology comes to traffic (est. 2.9M a calendar month). Sadly, Cafepress' make searches take dropped like a stone, as has their organic traffic.
SunFrog are also not faring too well…their traffic is tiny (est. 336k a month) and their organic reach isn't heading in the right direction either.
Other Print on Need Options For Artists
If you're looking for even more ways to get your art on products and shipped out to customers, you could as well consider the following:
A Print on Need Storefront (see below)
Selling on a marketplace (eg. Etsy, Amazon Seller Central) – using a Print on Need company like Printful or Printify
Selling on your own site (using a platform similar Woocommerce, Shopify etc.) – once more using a Impress on Demand company like Printful
Print on Demand 'Storefront' Sites for Artists & Designers with an existing following
If you accept followers, fans – or an existing audience of whatsoever kind yous'd like to sell to – OR you would simply prefer to sell on your own personally-branded site (rather than through sites like Redbubble) – then you may desire to consider a Print on Need Storefront.
A Print on Demand Storefront is a customisable, fully hosted store that will handle orders and fulfilment (and customer service) – simply won't deliver yous 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 tin can market or drive customers from other channels (eg. Social media, YouTube, an e-mail newsletter, your portfolio website, etc.)
Information technology'south perfect if you want a quick and easy way to sell Merch to your fans or followers that looks more professional than sending them to Redbubble or Teepublic – just it won't make sales unless you do something to promote information technology.
And then here's my recommendations for Artists looking for a Impress on Demand storefront site:
1. Threadless Creative person Shops
Threadless may non be the best Print on Demand site when it comes to organic sales, but they do make a dainty looking Storefront – or every bit they call it: a Threadless Artist Shop.
Some of my favourite artists use Threadless every bit a storefront – people like Steven Rhodes and Hillary White Rabbit.
Threadless give you lot an easy upload process, quick turnaround on products and a custom subdomain (eg. stevenrhodes.threadless.com) – plus their upload procedure is nice and easy.
Overall I'd say they're the first place to await if a storefront is what you want.
Sell On Threadless
2. TeeSpring
TeeSpring are an erstwhile name in the T-Shirt game, just their storefront offering is not likewise shabby.
TeeSpring has a expert product catalog to choose from, plus everything else you'd expect from a custom storefront – the ability to alter the manner, add a header image etc.
There are some other features TeeSpring offers like their additional network and YouTube integration, if that interests yous at all.
Merely overall I'd say they're another solid site to cheque out for storefronts.
Sell On TeeSpring
three. Bonfire
Bonfire are a relative newcomer, and their organization is loosely based around a 'campaign' model – ideal for fundraising and charities in detail.
Only Bonfire do offer a free customisable storefront for anyone, and they take a slick and easy to use interface with nice looking product mockups.
Bonfire'due south storefronts aren't quite as customisable every bit TeeSpring's or Threadless' – because they keep the Bonfire branding quite prominent, and don't seem to create a custom subdomain (eg. yourbrand.bonfire.com)
Nevertheless, y'all may observe they're a better fit for you – depending on the style of storefront you have in mind.
Did I Miss Anything?
I hope y'all enjoyed my comprehensive guide to the Print on Demand sites for artists.
If yous'd like to share your experiences with these sites, or recommend some other site to add to the list, go out a quick comment 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. Have all the information with a compression of salt – SimilarWeb in item probably overestimate the traffic figures, according to this blog mail.
• When I say 'make' or 'branded' searches, I'1000 talking about people going to Google and searching for 'Redbubble' or 'Teepublic'. To me this represents a rough estimate of how well-known a site is, and that probably corresponds to their overall traffic and growth tendency.
• The 'brand trend' graph is taken from a Google Trends search for the visitor's proper noun, eg. 'Society6' – over the past 5 years.
• The organic traffic trend graph is taken from Ahrefs and covers the past 12 months simply (not 5 years).
• All numbers (traffic, social media followers and TrustPilot scores) were gathered on the 6th March 2020.
• The raw information used for these figures is available inside my POD sites Airtable base. You can get admission by clicking 'Download At present!' in the box above.
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