Our BloggingTips Breakdown
Cons
- Etsy integration can inadvertently delete listings
- Higher shipping costs
- Not enough pricing flexibility
Pros
- Sell an item before paying fees
- No need to invest in inventory
- Helpful knowledge base
Our website is supported by our users. We sometimes earn affiliate links when you click through the affiliate links on our website
Contact us for QuestionsIf you’re looking for a print-on-demand drop-shipping service that can help you start your online store, Printful is worth considering.
It’s one of the most cost-effective and reliable services available.
Additionally, it has a wide range of products and printing options to choose from.
This Printful review will look closely at what the service offers and how business owners can benefit from it.
Overview of Printful
To begin our Printful review, let’s take a closer look at Printful to better understand what it is and how it got started.
What Is Printful?
Printful is a unique, on-demand service that provides you with the resources necessary to sell personalized products and accessories online.
The mockup generator allows you to place your designs onto an array of products, like phone cases, t-shirts, and hats.
Furthermore, Printful will print and ship your products for you, so you don’t have to worry about inventory or fulfillment.
Printful History
Founded in 2013 by Lauris Liberts, Printful provides a solution for creatives who want to sell custom-printed products but don’t want to deal with the hassle of inventory.
To accomplish its goal of providing dropshipping services to thousands of customers, Printful secured over $130 million in funding to continue its mission.
Pros and Cons of Printful
There are benefits and drawbacks to using Printful as an on-demand drop shipper.
Let’s take a look at some of them.
Pros of Printful
- Easily track orders
- Excellent product selection
- Fast shipping times
Cons of Printful
- Doesn’t ship to some European locations
- Difficult to mass upload items into your store
How Much Does Printful Cost?
Printful is beneficial because there are no upfront costs.
You simply upload a product and then sell it on an online marketplace or your website.
A few other companies have this same type of business model.
Print Aura, Printify, and Gooten are among the most popular print-on-demand fulfillment companies that drop ship.
There are a few more, but not many drop shipping printers in this industry work as well as Printful.
Printful only makes a profit when you, the customer, make a sale.
The same is true for the supplier.
Essentially, you select a product to sell, and Printful creates an initial retail price for that item.
In short, you create a free account, design your merchandise, and post them on your site.
You can do this completely free of charge.
Let’s assume you’re looking to sell t-shirts with your custom design on them.
Printful has a wide range of apparel available from various brands in a variety of materials.
The pricing, colors, shipping locations, and reviews for each item are all listed.
At the beginning of your product development journey, you’ll notice a pricing option and the potential profit.
If you consider that t-shirts typically sell for about $12 to $15, you might decide to charge $14.99.
You should see approximately $6 to $7 in profit using this example.
Is Printful Worth the Cost?
Printful is worth the cost.
You won’t need to put any money out upfront to start making sales of your creations.
Why Printful Is Worth the Cost
As you realize the benefits of this performance-based pricing model, you start to see why it makes sense to use Printful from a cost analysis position.
Overall, Printful places itself in the middle of the pack against competitors when it charges you the fees required to package and ship your items.
You shouldn’t run into challenges as you work to operate your drop shipping business with a profit.
The key is not to overcharge.
Set your product prices at amounts that most people expect to pay.
It will help your sales conversions and increase your overall sales numbers.
The Problem Printful Solves
Printful solves the problem of product development and inventory management for those who want to sell custom-printed products.
Further, it removes the need to deal with manufacturing, warehousing, and shipping those products themselves.
Why Would Somebody Want To Use Printful?
You’ll want to use Printful when you need to focus on the creative aspects of product design and let Printful handle the rest.
It is an important point because it’s often one of the main reasons people use Printful in the first place.
If you consider all that goes into product development, including marketing and sales, there is a lot to do.
So let Printful take on some of those responsibilities so that you can focus on the areas of your business that you’re passionate about.
Who Is Printful Best For?
Printful works best for those with an entrepreneurial mindset.
You should enjoy using the service if you want to start your own business or add Printful products to an existing eCommerce store.
Printful is also a good solution for bloggers, YouTubers, and social media influencers who want to easily create and sell custom-branded merchandise without upfront costs.
Why Printful Is Best for Entrepreneurial Influencers
Printful is a solution for entrepreneurial influencers because it’s easy to use, it has low upfront costs, and it offers high-quality products.
All you have to do is design your product and post it on your site or social platform.
When someone buys one of your products, Printful will print it, package it, and ship it to the customer for you.
Who Should NOT Use Printful?
Entrepreneurs with a focus on selling information products won’t find much use for Printful.
Why Infopreneurs Should Not Use Printful
Infopreneurs should not use Printful because the service is best suited for those selling physical products.
If you want to sell digital products, such as eBooks or online courses, Printful isn’t the right solution for you.
What To Think About Before Buying Printful
Before choosing an on-demand dropshipping service like Printful, be sure to consider these five essential factors.
1. Cost
The cost of using Printful is one of the most important factors to think through.
You’ll need to factor in the product’s base price plus Printful’s per-order fees for printing, packaging, and shipping.
Think about return costs as well.
Printful offers a free returns service, but you’ll still need to pay for the shipping.
Overall, Printful is a mid-priced option when compared to similar services.
2. Quality of Products
Printful offers high-quality products that it prints and ships with care.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that the quality of your product will also depend on the design you choose.
Printful offers a range of templates and design options, but it’s up to you to create a high-quality product design.
3. Ease of Use
Printful is an easy-to-use service that takes care of all the printing, packaging, and shipping for you.
All you need to do is design your product and post it in your store.
When someone buys one of your products, Printful will produce it and get it to the customer for you.
4. Range of Products Available
Printful offers a wide range of products that you can sell on social media or in your online store.
You can choose from a variety of templates and design options to create custom-branded products that are unique to your business.
5. Customer Service
Printful offers excellent customer service.
The company has a team of experts available to help you with any problems you may have.
Features and Benefits of Printful
By using Printful, you get these key features and benefits.
Designing Products
With Printful, you can design custom-branded products unique to your business.
You can choose from a variety of templates and design options to create products that are both high-quality and stylish.
Here are the main categories of product design offered by Printful.
Print On-demand for Online Stores
With this Printful feature, you can use the growing library of Printful design assets.
The company lets you print what you need with flexible order volumes.
Get your designs printed and delivered via Printful fulfillment centers located near your customers.
To get started, select your favorite design template from the Printful product catalog.
Use the Design Maker to create new designs or upload designs to the editor.
Add each new product to your online store. Let Printful do the rest.
Print On-demand for High-volume Customers
If you already run a high-volume eCommerce business but struggle to create inventory fast enough, consider using Printful.
You can have merchandise created on-demand and eliminate losing revenue on unsold stock or markdowns.
Print On-demand for Merchandise
Use this feature if you’re an organization like a school or sports team.
Or YouTube, TikTok, and other social media creators can use it.
Printful’s on-demand merchandise service helps you to create personalized branded apparel, merchandise, campaign items, promotional gifts, and more.
You can take advantage of warehousing, white-label merchandising, fulfillment services, large-volume printing, and more.
You might also find this feature helpful when conducting live events.
Inside this area of your Printful account, you can easily create event accessories like tote bags, stickers, and mugs.
Print On-demand for Promotional Products
Use Printful to produce promo products such as the following.
- Promotional gear
- Employee gifts
- Giveaway gifts
- Souvenirs
Printful Mockup
Printful’s mockup generator is part of the creation process, where you can see how your product will look before you sell it.
After finishing a mockup, you can download your artwork to use in your store or save it for later.
Selling Products and Integrations
Save all finished product lines to your online store.
Then, start selling to earn money. Printful’s integrations make this simple.
Keep in mind that you can get started by taking orders from your website and then dropshipping products to customers straight from the Printful interface.
However, at some point, you may want to expand the functionality of Printful.
Do that through its integration features.
For instance, you might integrate your Printful account with Shopify to track the entire customer path through your business.
The process is simple because Shopify lets you download the free Printful app inside the Shopify interface.
Once integrated, use the Printful mockup generator to build out the product line.
Set your fulfillment services, shipping prices, and order notifications.
Then, any orders made via Shopify will automatically go out via Printful’s dropshipping services.
Additionally, you might connect an already successful Etsy, eBay, or Amazon business to Printful.
Other integrations include the following.
- Magento
- 3Dcart
- Wish
- Wix
- ECwid
- WooCommerce
- Storenvy
- Squarespace
- BigCommerce
- Weebly
- PrestaShop
Sample Orders
Always use the “sample orders” feature to make sure you like the quality of the products you design inside your Printful account.
It costs a little to use this feature, but it’s well worth it.
Printful gives you a 20% discount when ordering sample products to test the quality.
If Printful ships your products from North Carolina or California, you will receive free shipping for sample orders.
The free shipping only applies to the states and territories of Canada and the United States.
You can only get two sample products when using this feature.
As well, Printful only allows you to send one sample order each month to yourself.
However, work hard to build your business bigger.
Printful will send you additional sample orders after you create at least $300 of revenue per month while integrating into an eCommerce store like Shopify.
Once you reach this level of sales, you can then order up to three sample orders each month.
Printful will let you sample up to four items inside each sample package.
Sampling orders before sending them to customers will help cut down on returns.
If you don’t like the quality you see inside a sample order, it allows you to contact the Printful customer service staff.
Let them know your concerns, so they help correct any quality issues.
Printful Customer Service
If you’re having trouble with your account, or want assistance while working within it, Printful’s customer service staff may be able to assist.
For example, you might run into the aforementioned quality issues with sample orders.
Or, you may need help integrating your Printful account with another piece of software.
Does Printful Offer Customer Service?
Fortunately, Printful provides excellent customer service.
The team is quick to respond and always willing to help.
They’re also available 24/7, so you can get help when you need it.
What Types of Customer Service Does Printful Offer?
You can contact Printful by phone, email, or live chat.
Printful also has an extensive knowledge base that can help you troubleshoot any problems you may have.
Use the knowledge base to see if you can quickly find an answer to your challenge.
Printful has taken the time to detail the solutions to common issues that most sellers run into.
It’s often quicker to find the answer in the knowledge base.
Of course, contact customer service for personalized help if you’re still stuck.
Why Should You Trust Us?
If you’re at all concerned about the credibility of our Printful data and suggestions, don’t be.
We’ve done a comprehensive study of the platform, including significant research into what its customers think after using the service.
What Printful Users Are Saying
Laima L. was a great customer service agent to talk to. Not only did she answer my questions, but she went above and beyond my expectations.
She sounded professional but not like a robot, which I appreciated.
Thanks to her, I feel like I’m getting a better understanding of print on demand with Printful.
Slavo Matush
Printful provides an expansive, high-quality product range that is continually growing.
Its integration with eCommerce platforms is seamless and user-friendly.
Fraile Art.
I appreciate how integrative Printful is with my Launch Cart store—it makes it quick and easy to design products that go up for sale immediately.
There’s no lag time, and the quality is amazing!
I’m looking forward to filling my store with lots of great stuff made possible by this seamless integration.
Kymberley Page
I’ve been using Printful for over 12 months now, and I haven’t had a negative experience.
Orders arrive on time or sooner than expected, and customer care is outstanding.
If you’re considering another printing service, don’t do it. Printful will get the job done correctly each time.
Kaleb Lewis
Printful Alternatives
Consider the following three Printful competitors to evaluate whether using Printful makes sense for your business.
1. TeeSpring
With TeeSpring, you can create and sell custom apparel, including t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, tank tops, and more.
The company also offers a wide range of other products, including mugs, phone cases, towels, blankets, and tote bags.
How Does TeeSpring Differ From Printful?
TeeSpring is a bit more expensive than Printful.
It also offers a smaller product range.
Who Is TeeSpring Best For?
TeeSpring is best for businesses that want to create and sell custom apparel quickly and easily.
The company has no minimum order requirements, so you can sell just one item if you want.
2. Printify
Printify is another print-on-demand drop shipping service.
It offers a wide range of products, including apparel, home decor, phone cases, mugs, and more.
In all, you can select from over 250 products when using Printify.
Printify also has no minimum order requirements and integrates with all the major shops.
How Does Printify Differ From Printful?
Printful does all of your printing and fulfillment “in-house.”
Printify outsources these services.
With Printify, you’re not dealing with them directly.
Instead, you’ll work with its printing and shipping partners.
Another difference is screen printing.
You can get this service with Printful.
However, Printify doesn’t offer it.
If you want to have a service providing a warehouse for your products, you can’t do it with Printify.
You can get this feature with Printful.
Who Is Printify Best For?
Printify works best for any business that needs to create products without any upfront fees.
It’s also a quality option when you want a mockup generator, a simple back-end editor, and no minimum order requirements.
3. Spocket
Spocket is a print-on-demand and drop shipping service for businesses of all sizes.
It offers over 25,000 products from 250 suppliers in 47 countries.
You can find products in categories like apparel, home decor, phone cases, mugs, and more.
How Does Spocket Differ From Printful?
Spocket’s customer support responds more quickly than the Printful customer service team.
It also gets products shipped to customers more quickly.
However, Spocket doesn’t offer as many integrations as Printful does.
Lastly, you need to pay for plans that range from $24.99 to $99.99 per month to use Spocket.
Who Is Spocket Best For?
Spocket is best for small businesses and entrepreneurs looking for a Printful alternative.
It’s a nice choice for anyone with the budget to pay its pricing plan costs while gaining access to more products and features.
Wrapping Up
Building an online store is difficult for many online business owners and influencers.
With its many moving parts, it’s challenging to create products, list them, and deliver them to customers while navigating other business tasks like content creation.
Printful solves all these problems.
After a thorough Printful review, we are confident that by using Printful, you can run a clean online drop shipping business that adds revenue to anything else you might offer to your audience.
Are you ready to try Printful?
Printful Printful 
