Starting your own online store can seem like a huge undertaking. Where do you even start? There are so many moving parts, from design to printing and order fulfilment; not to mention customer service and the e-commerce side of things. 

It can feel like you’re spinning all the plates. However, with print on demand dropshipping services available, you can design, print, and ship all from the same place. Or rather, you can use a print on demand dropshipping service to do it for you.

Print on demand and dropshipping are two separate services but that doesn’t mean they can’t be combined. In this piece by the OddsMonkey team, we will look at what they are and what they do individually. Including how they make certain aspects of running an online store easier. However, the real value is in using a collective print on demand dropshipping approach to streamline things even further.

What Is Print On Demand?

Print on demand (POD) is a technology that does what it says on the tin. Instead of printing in advance, items remain unprinted until an order is placed. The service is used by people wanting to sell their own custom designs and learn how to sell products like t-shirts, mugs, and tote bags.

Traditionally, you would need to place a bulk order with the printing service and that’s before you’ve made any sales. Then, you would need somewhere to store those pre-printed items and hope that someone would buy them. Before all of that, though, you’d have had to source the blank items too. There are a lot of upfront costs and risks involved in this way of operating.  

Printing on demand minimises or even eliminates a lot of these risks, making it a ‘safer’ way to start your own business.  Although, don’t be fooled into thinking you can sit back and watch the money roll in.  You still have to put some effort into making it work.

What Products Can Be Printed On Demand?

There are very few boundaries when it comes to what can be printed on demand, whether you’re looking to sell physical accessories or make some cash for clothes with specific designs.

For example, 2020 saw an explosion in terms of online search for face masks. But the festival season and the start of the school year are responsible for an upsurge in searches for bum bags and backpacks. 

Fast-forward a little and a report from Shopify says these are the most popular print on demand items in 2025: 

1. Unisex t-shirts
2. Personalise baby clothing
3. Mugs
4. All over print hoodies – These are hoodies with a design across the entire garment, rather than just a motif on the front or back.
5. All over print yoga pants
6. Engraved jewellery
7. Posters
8. Champion hoodies
9. Tote bags
10. Belt bags
11. Stickers
12. Backpacks
13. Wall art
14. Cushions
15. Towels
16. Phone cases
17. Hats
18. Face masks
19. Bluetooth speakers
20. Water bottles
21. Socks
22. Custom puzzles
23. Flags
24. Gift wrapping blankets

As you can see, there’s not much that can’t be used for print on demand and with modern technology, the list is only going to grow.

It can be tempting to offer everything. However, too much choice can be a friction point in a customer’s buying journey. In fact, it could have a negative impact on sales. Combat this by doing research into what will appeal most to your target audience. Do the same in terms of colours for things like t-shirts. For example, research the most popular t-shirt colours and only offer five choices.

What Is Dropshipping?

Dropshipping is where someone else fulfils orders and ships them to customers on your behalf. The business selling the items (you) to the end customer doesn’t physically have the products in stock. 

Instead, orders are forwarded to a fulfilment centre to package and ship out to customers. Dropshipping of products is one of the best ways for people to make money while on maternity leave, as it requires no physical effort and is all done digitally.

The ‘traditional’ dropshipping method involves working with a third party seller and listing their items in your online store. You list the item for a slightly higher price as this is where your profit comes from. Once someone makes a purchase, you then buy the item from the original seller who then ships that directly to your customer. 

This has evolved into the AliExpress approach. There are millions of products listed on AliExpress which you can look through and curate for your online store.

What Is Print On Demand Dropshipping?

Print on demand (POD) dropshipping is a type of business model that involves you selling customised products online without the need to handle stock or shipping.

When your customers buy an item, the print on demand provider will print your design on the item and then ship it to your customer. 

You might be a designer considering starting your own POD business in order to gain some exposure and sales for your work.  Alternatively, you may already have a business that you want to add a POD sales funnel to.

Either way, print on demand dropshipping is a low cost and low risk way of branching out to generate income.

Print On Demand Dropshipping Sites

There are a growing number of print on demand sites which are expanding their services to include dropshipping too. On top of that, some POD sites also have built in design tools which mean that you can design onsite, rather than designing elsewhere and then uploading to the POD site. 

Below are some examples of the different print on demand dropshipping businesses out there.

Printify

• Printify has been a well established POD provider since 2015.
• Over 1,000 products in their catalogue.
• Can integrate with multiple sales platforms – Shopify, Etsy, TikTok, ebay, Amazon.
• Priintify is free to use and you pay when orders are placed (good for beginners).  There’s two other options too:

Printful

• One of the older POD providers established in 2013.
• A catalogue with over 437 products.
• No upfront costs.
• Can integrate with 22 sales platforms – Shopify, Wix, Etsy, TikTok, ebay, Amazon, Squarespace.
• You can add custom tags to your sold items to make it look like your business has processed everything.
• They offer a free plan so you only pay for the base costs plus any extras you choose.
• They also offer a premium plan for $24.99 per month. This includes up to 33% off products and reductions in branding options and sample orders.  Once you earn over $12k in sales, this plan becomes free.

Prodigi

• A catalogue range of over 500k.
• Global print and dropshipping.
• Can integrate with multiple sales platforms – Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, Wix, Squarespace.
• There’s a free plan so you only pay for the base costs.
• There’s also a Prodigi Pro option that costs £40 per month.  This includes product discounts, custom packaging and a dedicated account manager.

Spring – Formerly Teespring

• Better suited to those with existing audiences on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube.
• Platform integration with YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Discord and Twitch.
• It’s free to join with no upfront costs.
• Set your own prices and keep the profit after deducting the base cost and service fee (typically about 15%).

Gelato

• Over 140 print providers spread across 32 countries.
• 90% of orders are produced locally.
• Can integrate with multiple sales platforms – Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, Wix, Squarespace, Amazon.
• Gelato offers 50% off your first order.
• The Gelato base plan is free.
• You can also subscribe to Gelato+ ($25pm), Gold ($129pm) or Platinum (custom pricing)

Pros And Cons Of Print On Demand Dropshipping

Advantages of Print On Demand Dropshipping

• A cost effective option for any online shop wanting to increase its product offering and sales without large investments in stock, hardware, or people.
• Lower risk to running your own business. Because you don’t have to hold inventory or bulk print, it’s easier to change when things aren’t working. You can test your designs and ideas by adding or removing products in minutes.
• As soon as your designs are ready, you can put them on a product and update your online store. You don’t have to mess around with inventory levels because there is no inventory.
• Order fulfilment from packing to shipping is taken care of. As soon as an order is placed, the print on demand dropshipping service will ensure that the product reaches your customer.
• Depending on the POD service you use, customer service needs such as Returns may also be taken care of for you. Again, it depends which elements of the business you want to be hands on with.

Disadvantages of Print On Demand Dropshipping

• Let’s start with an obvious one. You have less control over the entire order fulfilment process than if you did it yourself. However, if you use a POD service that you trust, this isn’t a bad thing.
• You may not get to use personalised or branded packaging. For example, some POD services only offer white label packaging. However, others will use your branding, so check first if this is something that’s important to you.
• If there are any issues with an order, it could reflect badly on your brand as the customer ordered from you. However, this can easily be fixed through good customer service and communication.
• Although POD eliminates the necessity of buying in bulk, it does mean that your costs per item may be higher. This could mean lower margins. However, it’s likely that the convenience of print on demand dropshipping for running an online business is worth it.

How To Start Your Own Print On Demand Dropshipping Business

Find Your Niche

• The first stage of any online business should be to do your research. There are lots of areas to look into. For example, who is your target market? What products are they most likely to buy? 
• Even if your visuals are great, if they’re printed on the ‘wrong’ items, they’re unlikely to sell. 
• Research your target audience’s buying behaviour when they shop online. 
• What are they looking for and what methods do they use to find it? This is where you need to think about buyer personas and research relevant keywords.
• Analyse any competitors who are doing the same as you.  What are they selling and for how much? Is their brand any good?

The point of all this is to find your niche; where do you fit and what can you offer that no one else can? Once you’ve found your niche, it’s time to get creative…

Design And Choose Your products

• If you come from a creative background, this may be where you first got the idea to sell custom designs and products. Designing a motif, illustrating a character, or writing some copy to go on your products is where you get to use your existing skills.
• However, if you have no previous experience in design, you can still do this part yourself. Use a tool like Canva or PlaceIt. The free versions of both come with access to templates, photos, and fonts, which you can use for printing on products. 
• Once you’ve created your designs, make sure they are the right size for your intended products and then save or download the image files.
• Produce mock-ups.  Mock-up generators are great for those with little experience of Photoshop or Gimp.  This will save you money from having to use real items to see how your designs look.  There are free mock-up generators available.

Alternatively, if you really don’t want to design your own products, check out a site like Fiverr and find out how to sell on Fiverr instead. 

Freelancers from all kinds of creative disciplines can be hired to complete micro tasks, such as logo design or slogan-writing. These are perfect for print on demand products. If you hire a freelancer, make sure you check their licensing terms.

Set Up Your Online Store

Once you’ve got your designs and merch ideas ready, you need somewhere to sell them from. There are lots of options here. However, before we look at some examples, it’s important to choose something that integrates easily with a POD platform. This will streamline the process and leave you free to concentrate on other parts of your online business.

• An e-commerce site is an online shop or storefront. 
• E-commerce sites are usually set up to receive payments so that customers can easily buy things. 
• Using an e-commerce platform to create your online storefront will streamline the buying process; rather than you having to use plugins and integrations.

In terms of housing your online store, there’s plenty of options with most of them similar in their offering.  You might need to look around if you want to sell something a bit quirky. 

A very well known and reliable online shop is Shopify.  The Shopify system is set up to allow you to integrate with a number of print on demand providers.  Just check which online stores integrate with POD services before you choose.

Another option is learning how to sell on Etsy.  Whilst they do integrate with quite a few POD services, Etsy is more geared towards craft items.

Product Title And Description

• The more eyes you can bring to your site or product pages, the more chance you have of making sales. Product titles and descriptions are a fantastic way to do that. This is your opportunity to optimise your copy. 
• If you can, add tags too. Include keywords that your research highlighted as being relevant to your target audience.
• Make your product descriptions detailed so that site visitors and potential customers have everything they need to make a buying decision. 
• Also, make sure the information is correct as this could have an impact on the amount of returns or customer service you have to manage.
• Optimising product titles and descriptions for Google should help you climb the rankings. 
• Combine this with marketing efforts and paid advertising and you’re ready.

Product Photos

As this is using the print on demand dropshipping approach, you’re unlikely to have the physical products that you sell in your store.  Therefore, you should use a mockup of some kind so that the customer can see what the item will look like before they buy.

Some POD services include this in their package but it can be quite basic. An alternative option is something like PlaceIt which uses in situ models. This can be good in terms of matching the models to your brand. 

For example, if you’re targeting teens, use models which they’ll relate to. You can always expand your imagery to include customer photos as you make sales.

Tweak Things

• It’s imperative that you keep track of what’s going on in your online store.  Use any analytics software that’s on offer to track what journey your customers are taking.
• Are there a lot of customers leaving the store at a particular page? Figure out why this is.
• Monitor what’s selling and what isn’t.  This can help you focus your efforts on the money-making products and take a look if the less popular products can be tweaked to improve sales.
• Having access to data allows you to optimise your store for more sales.

Summary

Print on demand dropshipping can be a one-off adventure or an ongoing side hustle. Once your business is set up, you can be as hands-on or -off as you want, depending on the POD dropshipping business you’re using. It’s a fantastic way to earn a passive income.

Other Ways To Make Money Online

Print on demand dropshipping is just one example of how outsourcing order fulfilment can help you make money online. It’s not exactly the same but similar to another side hustle, Amazon FBA. 

However, dropshipping can also be used to sell pretty much anything. For more side hustle ideas, check out our make money online hub, or find out more about Matched Betting with our informational guides.

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