Printify vs Amazon Merch on Demand: Which is Best for POD Sellers?

Printify vs Amazon Merch on Demand, which is the better option for print on demand sellers? Personally, after experimenting with both platforms myself, I’d say Printify wins hands-down. Amazon Merch on Demand makes it to set up your new business, and provides access to some excellent fulfillment services, but Printify gives you the power to scale.

With Printify, you can sell a wider range of high-quality customized products across a host of different channels (including Amazon). Plus, you get access to more advanced design tools, bonus services (like Printify Studio), and a free tool for launching your own pop-up store.

In my opinion, it’s a no-brainer, but if you want more guidance, read on for a full head-to-head comparison of Amazon Merch on Demand, and Printify.

Amazon Merch On Demand Vs Printify: The Quick Verdict

Printify is the better print on demand platform overall. I love that Amazon gives you the power to boost customer service with the delivery speeds of Amazon Prime, but Printify offers so many additional benefits. AI-powered design tools, a pop-up shop creator, and a wider product catalog are just some of the great things Printify has to offer.

Merch by Amazon Pros and Cons

Printify Pros and Cons

Printify vs Amazon Merch on Demand: Pricing, Fees, and Profit Margins

Want to launch your print on demand business with minimal upfront fees? Good news, both Amazon Merch on Demand and Printify allow you to get started for free. Both platforms also allow you to sell shirts with minimal upfront fees. The pod business model enables entrepreneurs to sell custom-designed products without managing inventory, as platforms like Printify and TeeSpring handle production, shipping, and customer service.

Selling t shirts on Amazon is a profitable and growing business opportunity. The vast market size and growth potential for online t-shirt sales make it an attractive option for entrepreneurs.

Amazon Merch on Demand Pricing

There’s absolutely no fee for selling on Amazon Merch, and there are no “premium” plans available. However, you also don’t exactly earn all of the profits from every sale.

Amazon pays its designers “royalties” from each sale, and they’re not exactly fantastic. For instance, selling a $15.99 t-shirt will earn you a royalty of about $1.93. You can’t set your own prices and manage your own profit margins, like you can with Printify, which means the selling price is determined by Amazon.

On the plus side, this does mean there aren’t any upfront costs to worry about at all. You don’t have to figure out the base price of a product, or how to manage shipping fees. You just list an item for sale and wait for the profits to roll in.

Printify Pricing

Printify also allows you to launch a POD store for free, but it follows a slightly different process. You don’t pay anything for a free Printify account, but when a customer places an order with your company, you pay for the base cost of the product from your chosen manufacturer (this can vary). You could also potentially pay for the shipping if you want to offer free delivery.

The good news is that you maintain full control over your profit margins. If a manufacturer charges $11.99 for a shirt, you can charge your customer any price you choose, including setting a regular price and a sales price. Printify’s core product prices are pretty affordable too – particularly compared to alternatives like Printful.

If your business starts to grow, you can upgrade to a premium plan with Printify for $24.99 per month (paid annually), which upgrades your 5 store limit to 10 stores, and gives you up to 20% discounts on all products. There’s also an enterprise plan, for high-volume sellers, with custom pricing, and extra discounts on products. Plus, you can pay for extra services from Printify, like web development support (Printify Studio).

Printify vs Amazon Merch on Demand: Core Features of Print on Demand Platforms

So, both Printify and Amazon Merch on Demand give companies a low-cost way to start a business. But how do they stack up from a feature perspective?

Demand sites play a crucial role in this ecosystem by providing platforms that facilitate print-on-demand services, helping independent creators generate traffic and sales. Printify, for instance, offers a wide range of products, including wall art, which allows designers to cater to diverse customer preferences and artistic styles.

Product Variety and Quality of T Shirts

Let’s start with something essential to any creator investing in print on demand, product variety, and printing quality. Printify is the clear winner from a variety perspective. It gives companies more than 900 products to choose from, ranging from popular options like t-shirts, to more unique solutions like branded coffee.

Alternatively, Amazon only really supports a handful of basic products, such as t-shirts, tote bags, and sweaters. I couldn’t find anything particularly “unique” on the platform, which seriously limits your opportunity to scale your sales by building a robust product portfolio.

The good news is that Amazon does have a great reputation for maintaining product quality, as the company uses the latest equipment to print design, and follows strict quality assurance protocols. They also handle customer support for you, so if there are any issues with the quality of your designs, Amazon will deal with refunding or replacing the order.

Unfortunately, Amazon doesn’t offer any discounts on sample products, if you want to order and evaluate your products yourself. However, you (and your customers) do get free shipping if you spend more than $25 on the merch platform.

Printify also promises its manufacturers use cutting-edge printing machinery and adhere to high quality standards. However, there is some variation in what you can expect to get, since you’re working with such a wide range of manufacturers. Again, you also don’t get any discounts on sample orders, if you want to test the product quality yourself.

Design and Customization Options

Another area where Printify really stands out over Merch by Amazon, in my opinion, is in design and customization options. With Printify, there are tons of different ways to customize your products with unique images, patterns, all-over print, and even branded labels.

The design tools you get make it easy to create truly impressive products. There’s even an integrated generative AI tool that can create unique images for you based on basic prompts. I also love all the free assets you get on Printify to help you add extra components to your designs. Additionally, Printify's network of global providers requires manual association with each product, while Gelato's advanced routing algorithm selects the most suitable print provider based on delivery location, enhancing fulfillment efficiency.

Amazon’s design tools and customization options are extremely straightforward. You can really only upload a design, resize it, and position it in the right location on a product. There are no AI tools, and no real options to add your own branding.

Integrations and Sales Channels

Ultimately, the more channels you can sell through, the more likely you are to make a significant profit. Amazon does give you the opportunity to sell on one of the most popular ecommerce marketplaces worldwide. It also gives creators permission to sell their designs anywhere, but you won’t get any direct integrations that make connecting different channels easier.

Printify, on the other hand, is a lot more flexible. It doesn’t have it’s own marketplace, but it does allow you to create a “pop-up store”, for free, so you can sell your products instantly without having to manage and run your own ecommerce site.

Printify also directly integrates with some of the most popular ecommerce platforms, from Shopify to Wix, as well as marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy. You can even connect the platform to TikTok shop if you want to take advantage of social media selling. Additionally, Printify makes it easy to set up an online store, providing a custom retail space for your products without the complexities of managing a full ecommerce website.

On top of all that, you can access Printify’s custom API, to create automated workflows that connect all of your different apps and tools directly.

Printify vs Merch by Amazon: Customer Support

Finally, we come to customer support. I think Printify wins again in this area. Amazon Merch on Demand limits the number of contact channels for its vendors. Merch vendors can only contact the team directly through email, but Amazon is known for being extremely responsive.

There are also some basic self-help resources available online, but nothing close to Printify’s huge selection of blogs, videos, tutorials, guides, and FAQs. Printify also delivers rapid customer support through chat and email, and most of the manufacturers you’ll work with through the site are extremely responsive and helpful too.

You can also purchase additional services from Printify, like design support and assistance with transferring products. The good news is that both Printify and Amazon Merch on Demand are very straightforward platforms, so you shouldn’t need a lot of extra help. However, Printify does provide a better level of end-to-end support for beginners.

Printify vs Amazon Merch on Demand: The Verdict

So, which platform is best? In my opinion, the obvious answer is Printify. It’s the more robust and powerful platform, offering a wider range of product options, more customization for your items, stronger design tools, and endless sales channels to choose from.

Amazon Merch on Demand does give you access to a leading global marketplace (to help you attract customers), and fast shipping with Prime, but that’s about it. In every other area, it falls behind Printify, limiting your scalability and growth as an online seller.