How exactly can you go about selling Printful print-on-demand items on Etsy? This print-on-demand article discusses how you can integrate these two platforms to start your online business, including setting up your Printful location for Etsy. We also cover what print-on-demand products are worth selling. Read on!
Introduction
While there are many dropshipping business structures that you can start, none beats selling print-on-demand products. These products are great for creating passive income, and they also come in a wide variety, allowing the business owner to choose their preferred items.
And since with print-on-demand products, you don't hold any inventory, this saves you from the risk of being left with a huge pile of products that never sell. On top of that, when you get an order, it's fulfilled automatically; you don't have to do anything apart from doing customer support.
If you are looking to make a good profit from print-on-demand products, you would do well to employ the Printful and Etsy integration.
Etsy is an online marketplace that allows you to market and sell your creative works to customers all over the world. On the other hand, Printful makes these products for you, even packing and shipping them straight to the customer!
Therefore, when you integrate Printful and Etsy, you get to focus on creating stunning designs and promoting your online store. Also, you won't have to worry about the technical aspects of your business or how the products will reach your customers. What better online business could there be than that!
How to Integrate Your Etsy Store with Printful
Connecting Printful with Etsy is a very simple, one-time process. It involves only three steps:
- Create and set up Printful and Etsy accounts
- Choose Printful platform as the production partner for Etsy
- Integrate (or connect) Printful with Etsy to ensure an automatic and quick fulfillment process.
How to Create and Set Up Your Printful & Etsy Accounts
Do you have both Printful and Etsy accounts? If not, you need to create one first. And the good news is that both platforms are free to register and sign up for. Also, the setup processes take just a few minutes to complete.
Consider how you can go about creating these accounts:
A. Creating a Printful Account
1. Set up a Printful account by simply signing up.
B. Creating an Etsy Shop
1. Create an Etsy shop by signing up for an Etsy profile.
2. On your profile, click on the “Sell on Etsy” button and click on “Get Started” to open your store, following Etsy's onboarding instructions.
3. Add your store preferences, such as currency, language, and country.
4. Give your Etsy store a name. Even if you are not yet sure about what store name to use, do not worry, as you can always change it later.
5. Under “Stock your shop,” create a list of the products you intend to sell. Creating a list of items is essential if you are to add Printful as your production partner.
However, you do not have to create a real list of your products; you can simply create a dummy mockup list of things that you won't sell and delete it immediately afterward.
Create your designs with Canva or find a freelance designer on Fiverr and use Placeit to show your item being held, worn, or used.
The image above is just an example, you have to create your own designs in Canva. You cannot take an existing one without modifying it.
Add a production partner
If you want, when you create your first listing during the Etsy onboarding process to create your shop, you can already add a production partner. You can mention Printful as your production partner. Otherwise, you can do it later (see point C).
6. Finish creating your Etsy account by entering your billing address and credit card information.
7. After setting up the shop, ensure that it is running properly and then go ahead to create a Printful account.
C. Printful as the production partner for Etsy
2. After signing up for a Printful account, you can now choose Printful as your production partner.
On the Etsy dashboard, go to the Settings tab and select “Production partners.”
3. Under the “Production partners” button, you will be required to answer some questions. The questions you will encounter are basically about your partnership, and they include:
- Why are you working with this partner?
- What is your role in the design process?
- What is this partner's role in the production process?
For these questions, provides simple answers.
D. Printful location for Etsy
4. Add your Printful location for Etsy under the production partner menu. It is from where your Printful production partner will ship your products to the customers.
Adding a Printful location for Etsy ensures that your customers know where your production partner is shipping products from. You can hide your production partner's name from buyers if you don't want them to know you use Printful.
While Printful has many shipping locations, you can simply use these locations for your address: United States of America, Chatsworth, or California. Also, you can just add a single location even if you ship products to customers globally.
5. Then, click on “Save partner‘ to save your answers and complete the setup for your production partner.
That's all, you've set up your Printful location for Etsy!
E. Integrate Printful with Etsy
However, note that even after setting up Printful as your print-on-demand production partner, you won't be able to fulfill your items automatically with the platform.
To set up an automatic fulfillment process, navigate to stores on the Etsy dashboard. Then, click on the “Connect to Etsy” button and agree to integrate Printful with Etsy.
Best Print-On-Demand Products to Sell on Etsy
Now that you have successfully set up your Printful and Etsy accounts, you can start selling your print-on-demand products. However, since you want to make the most profit out of your online business, you should choose the products you sell wisely. After all, while some items sell very well on the Etsy market, others have relatively low demand, such that selling these would generate little profit for you.
In addition to being popular among your target audience, the products you choose to sell should also be easy to design and highly versatile. Here are 6 of the best custom print-on-demand products that you can sell on Etsy and dropshipping with Printful:
1. Custom Printed Fabric
Craft supplies rank among the best-selling products on Etsy. And custom-printed fabrics are among the top craft supplies bought on the Etsy marketplace. Therefore, these products are worth adding to your product catalog.
When making custom-printed fabrics, create the kind that will inspire customers and bring their projects to life. For example, you can use Printful's Custom Printed Recycled Polyester Fabric to create beautiful designs for swimwear and activewear.
2. Tote bags
Tote bags are highly preferred by most people because they are strong and long-lasting. Most tote bags can last for more than a year if well taken care of. These bags are very eco-friendly, which makes them a better alternative to plastic bags.
For your tote bags to sell, do more than just create bags for holding shopping and other items. Create elegant tote bags that your customers will use as trendy fashion accessories and even use them to display their items. And in addition to designing stylish tote bags, make sure that there are sturdy and highly durable.
3. T-shirts
T-shirts are the most popular print-on-demand items sold on Etsy. And Printful also offers a wide range of t-shirt varieties that can be worn by both young people and adults; all you need to do is simply select the technique that best fits your design. For example, you can choose t-shirts with embroidery, all-over print, or simple print designs.
What makes t-shirts a good option for print-on-demand products is that they are easy to design and very popular. I mean, who doesn't wear a t-shirt in the world? Therefore, selling t-shirts on Etsy would guarantee you high demand for the products, in turn generating more profits for your business.
4. Flags
Flags make good home decor and allow homeowners to add a sense of personality to their living spaces. They are practical and remind customers of where they come from, their history, and what they most identify with.
When designing flags, you could display a specific country, musical band, or club. Also, design multi-purpose flags, flags that can be hung on the wall and also used as beach blankets or bed throws. And to add more personality and meaning to your customers' walls, you would do well to create all-over print flags.
5. Framed Posters
Everybody wants to make their living space feel comfortable and look elegant. And most people opt for wall art to achieve this sophistication and elegance. Framed posters are just the ideal wall arts to sell on Etsy since they are easy to design and only require a smooth surface to be printed. Also, these posters add warmth and personality to a home, which is why most interior designers and homeowners prefer them over other wall art.
Printful offers a wide range of framed poster options. One of the most popular options is the Enhanced Matte Paper Framed Poster, which comes already framed and in 11 different sizes. With this type of poster, each of your designs will look like an elegant and timeless piece of art.
6. Mugs
Mugs are just the ideal gift for any occasion, especially during the holiday season. In fact, during most holiday seasons, mugs rank among the highest most-sold items on Etsy. Customized mugs are not just a practical tool that a person can drink from, but they also feature beautiful designs that brighten up anyone's day.
However, since mugs are such a popular product during these seasons, you will need to be more creative than your competitors to make the most sales. Remember that your mug will be the very first thing that greets your customers on a gloomy or cold morning. Therefore, design your mugs such that they become the perfect companion for your customers on nights and gloomy mornings.
How to Get More Sales on Etsy
Selling the best print-on-demand products on Etsy is one thing, and generating more sales is another. In other words, to get good profits from your online business, you must do more than just sell the best demands. Consider the following four tips that can help you get more sales on Etsy:
1. Use Clear Photos and Descriptions
When customers search for products in your store, the first thing that they will notice is your product photos. Therefore, you want to add clear, creative, and visually striking photos that stand out and impress your target customers.
However, it could be that you lack the time and resources to take such clear, visually striking photos. If that is the case, you can take advantage of Printful's Design Maker. This tool provides you with a wide range of features that you can use to create eye-catching mockups. Also, it offers hundreds of different design elements, backgrounds, and layouts that can help you customize your mockups into beautiful designs.
In addition to adding good photos, remember to include good product descriptions. Your product descriptions should be easy to understand and provide an excellent shopping experience for your customers.
2. Offer Customized Options
In the year 2020, the top-searched phrase on Etsy was “personalized gift.” And even today, personalized gifts are still among the best-selling items on the online marketplace. In the Etsy store, ensure that the button for the personalization section is turned on. Also, ensure that the personalized orders in your Printful dashboard are ready for editing.
3. Make Your Products Searchable
If you are to make good sales on Etsy, your customers should find these easily. To make your products Searchable, include the right keywords in your product descriptions. Also, improve the SEO of your Etsy shop to get your products ranked high. These tips can help you improve the search engine optimization of your account:
- Use all the tags provided for your products
- Use the right keywords in all product titles and descriptions
- Choose the most relevant product categories and subcategories.
4. Offer Free Shipping
Every customer loves discounts. And one of the best discounts you can offer is free shipping. According to market research, consumers are 4-5 times more likely to buy items that come with free shipping.
Therefore, to boost your Etsy sales and attract more new customers, apply several free shipping strategies. For example, you could take advantage of Etsy's free shipping guarantee to customers in the US.
And the good thing is that free shipping does more than just attract new customers; it also makes your products much easier to find on Etsy. After all, the Etsy algorithm usually ranks higher stores that provide free shipping in their services (although this applies to store owners in the United States).
Conclusion
When it comes to selling print-on-demand products, you should consider integrating Printful with Etsy. Doing this automates your processes, giving you more time to focus on other aspects, such as marketing and coming up with catchy designs. Don't forget to set up your Printful location for Etsy before connecting your Etsy store to Printful.
Therefore, if you do not yet have an Etsy shop, open one today and integrate it with Printful; this will undoubtedly be a game-changer for you as a crafter or an artist!
What is the Printful location for Etsy?
Etsy asks you to include the Printful location in the production partner menu, so they know where your partner ships from. Printful offers a variety of shipping options. However, for the sake of convenience, we recommend using the following Printful locations: United States Of America, California, and Chatsworth in California.
Even if you're selling internationally, you don't need to add or specify many locations.
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