How to Start an Online Store With Printful in 2024

Launching a print-on-demand (POD) business can feel like embarking on an unfamiliar road trip without GPS: Daunting. You need directions!  So, to help you get started, I'm providing a guide to help you set up your online store with Printful. 

Hopefully, by the end, you’ll have a clearer idea of how to prepare your exommerce store for your first POD sale.

Sound good? Well, there's no time like the present, so let's dive in!

How to Start an Online Store With Printful – Step by Step

Step #1: Register for a Printful Account

First, you need to create a Printful account.  

This is easy; you can sign up for free using your Facebook, Google, Apple, or email account.

For a full run-down of everything Printful has to offer, check out our Printful review, and Printful pricing guide.

Step #2: Integrate Your eCommerce Platform

If you're already using an eCommerce platform to fuel your online store, you need to connect it to Printful.

Alternatively, if you've yet to build an e-store, we recommend using an eCommerce platform Printful integrates with (this makes connecting your store easier).

Don't worry; Printful has over 20 ecommerce marketplace and platform integrations to choose from, so there's a good chance they will integrate with the solution you're considering.

If you're yet to pick an ecommerce platform, here's a chart listing all the platforms Printful integrates with. I’ve included information about who each platform is best for, pricing, and how quickly you'll be able to get your store set up with Printful:

To connect your eCommerce store with Printful:

1. Log in to your Printful account.
2. Navigate to the left–side menu in your Dashboard.
3. Click ‘Stores' > ‘Choose platform.'

Then select your preferred ecommerce channel by clicking ‘Connect' and follow the on-screen instructions. 

Alternatively, if you have some web development skills and want to create your own custom integration, where it says ‘Manual order platform / API,' select ‘Create' (as shown in the screenshot above).

For more information on connecting Printful with your Shopify store, consult our guide: How to Connect Shopify with Printful – Step by Step Guide. 

Step #3: Pick Your POD Products

Now it’s time to pick the Printful products you want to sell on your eCommerce store. 

Printful boasts a vast selection of products (160+), organized into categories like men’s, women’s, and kid’s clothing (t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, etc.), hats, home and living items such as home decor and wall art, and accessories such as footwear, masks, and bags. 

Printful also works with 29 brands, including well-known names like Adidas, Columbia, Champion, and Bella + Canvas. 

Lastly, it's worth noting that various printing/customization styles are available to choose from, including:

• Embroidery
• All-over print
• Direct-to-garment (DTG)
• Direct-to-film (DTF) print

For some products, you can even combine direct-to-garment printing with embroidery. 

Step #4: Customize the Product

Once you've picked your Printful product, you’re automatically redirected to the Design Maker. 

From here, you can upload your pre-made design or create something from scratch.

If you're uploading a design, ensure it's a JPEG or PNG file, select ‘Uploads' from the left-side menu, and then upload your visual.

Pro Tip: To ensure the best possible result, follow the design guidelines for each product. These can be found on each individual product page. 

Alternatively, you can utilize the Design Maker's built-in tools to add the following to your Printful product:

• Fonts
• Clipart (there are over 300 to choose from!)
• Ready-made designs
• Premium Getty images ($1 per order placement)
• Background patterns

To access your templates, head to your Printful Dashboard and select ‘Product templates.'

Step #5: Push Printful Products to Your eCommerce Store

There are several ways to add Printful products to your online store:

1. From your Printful Dashboard, select ‘Product Templates,' followed by ‘Add to store.'
2. Or, from your Printful Dashboard, click ‘Stores,' then ‘Add product.'
3. Lastly, you can add Printful products to your store from any product page by clicking ‘Add to store.'

In each case, you're automatically redirected to Printful's step-by-step method for adding Printful products to your eCommerce store, so all you need to do is follow the on-screen instructions:

• Pick your product variants: I.e., select the product colors and sizes you wish to sell, then hit ‘Continue.'

• Select your preferred mockup designs: Next, choose the mockups you want to publish on your store's product pages. These showcase how your design looks on the final product. You have a choice between basic and custom mockups. The former comes with preselected settings and visuals on different models. Alternatively, you can customize mockups by changing backgrounds, layouts, and props. In either case, once you're done, select ‘Continue.' 

• Add product details: By product details, we mean adding a title and a thorough description. Although Printful offers pre-populated descriptions, I recommend customizing them to let your brand's voice shine through. Fresh content is also better from an SEO perspective, so it's a win-win! Then, when you’re done, select ‘Continue'.

• Set your product pricing: When setting your product's prices, there are a couple of things to consider. First, there's Printful's price, which includes product fulfillment. This is the product price you pay Printful once someone orders from your store. However, it's important to note that Printful's product price doesn't include taxes, shipping, or other additional charges. Then, there's your retail price, which is what you sell the product for on your eCommerce store. You'll need to ensure your retail price covers all the aforementioned costs and your profit margin. 
• Consider shipping costs: Building on the above point, you might also want to consider free shipping. If you select this option, shipping costs will automatically be included in your retail price. Once you're happy with your pricing, select ‘Submit to store' to push the product to your eCommerce shop. When a product is successfully added to your online store, you can see it from your Printful Dashboard. From here, select ‘Stores,' then ‘View Store.'

• Set your store’s taxes: You'll need to do some research to better understand your tax obligations. Then, armed with this information, you can set up your taxes.

Step #6: Set Your Shipping Costs

I touched on shipping costs above, but I only scratched the surface. When it comes to setting your POD shipping costs, you need to bear a few things in mind:

1. The cost of shipping displayed on your online store, I.e., what you charge customers for
2. The shipping rate Printful charges you to deliver the order to your shopper

Starting with the former, there are three shipping pricing strategies you could adopt:

1. Advertise your total shipping price (and ask customers to pay this). 
2. Increase product prices to include a percentage of your shipping costs, enabling you to reduce the advertised shipping cost.
3. Incorporate all your shipping costs into your product prices to offer free shipping.

The practicalities of setting shipping rates on your online shop vary depending on your chosen eCommerce platform. So, you'll have to consult your platform's self-help materials for information on how to do this correctly.

With regards to the shipping rate Printful charges you to deliver your customized products, Printful offers two shipping rate types:

1. A flat shipping rate: These are fixed shipping prices Printful charges you. These vary depending on the product's dimensions and weight, fulfillment location, and shipping destination. 
2. A live shipping rate: These are calculated in real-time during checkout to give your customers the best shipping rate available when they place an order. Live shipping rates are only available for Shopify, Woocommerce, Launch Cart, or Printful API users. To enable live shipping rates, navigate to your Printful Dashboard and click ‘Settings,' then ‘Store' and ‘Shipping.' 

Step #7: Select the Payment Method(s) You’ll Offer Customers

You need to set up a payment method on your eCommerce platform so that customers can pay for their orders. 

Like above, you'll need to follow your eCommerce platform’s instructions. Depending on your eCommerce builder's selection of payment gateways, you can typically offer customers different payment processors, like PayPal, Stripe, and Braintree. 

You also need to select a payment method in your Printful account to pay them for fulfilling your orders. To do this, go to your Printful Dashboard, select ‘Billing,' and then ‘Billing Methods.' 

All transactions occur through your Printful Wallet. This is automatically created once you sign up with Printful. Then, each time an order goes through, your credit card, Paypal, or Sofort account is billed, and money is deposited into your Printful Wallet to pay for the fulfillment cost. This happens automatically. Alternatively, you can manually add cash to your Printful wallet.  

Step #8 Market Your Store and Start Making Sales

The good news is that Printful offers a few tools to help you market your brand. 

The first is its Promo Maker tool, accessible from your Printful Dashboard. You’ll see it on the left-side menu of your Dashboard, right above the ‘Settings' icon. 

The Promo Maker tool is free to all Printful customers. You can use it to create appealing visuals for your Instagram and Facebook posts. There are more than 100+ templates to choose from in a choice of six sizes:

• Instagram post (square, portrait, landscape or Instagram story)
• Facebook post (image post or Facebook ad)

Alternatively, you can start from scratch if you don't want to use a template. 

I simply clicked on a template I liked and was immediately taken to the Promo Maker editing tool (within my Printful Dashboard). From here, I could add and edit text, insert clip art and animations, change the colors and font, and more. 

Once I was done, Printful allowed me to preview my Instagram post before clicking “save to download.” This last step enables me to return to my visuals at a later date and use them again and again. Pretty handy, right?

With your social posts created, it's time to establish your social media presence (if you haven't already). By this, we mean creating a Facebook business page and a business Instagram account. Don't worry; this is free. 

Here are a few tips for getting up and running on Facebook and Instagram:

• Create account handles that match your print-on-demand business name. This ensures consistent branding, which is essential for boosting brand recognition. It also makes your POD business easier to search for—a win-win!
  •  If your business name is taken, try a minor variation, but don't add a number to the end. This looks spammy, making establishing trust and credibility with potential customers harder. 
• Start posting on your socials. You could publish teasers of the designs you're working on to pique the interest of your audience before your design Printful product goes live. 
• Consistency is key, so aim to post at least once a day on your socials. 
• If you're offering a discount, promote it on social media. This can work wonders for engaging potential customers and driving traffic to your eCommerce store. 
• Build relationships with your audience by responding to their comments and questions on your socials. Again, this goes a long way toward building trust and encouraging customer loyalty. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Hopefully, I’ve covered everything you need, but below are a few answers to frequently asked questions I think might also help.

Further Reading

If you want to explore other POD options, check out some of our Printful comparison reviews:

• Gooten vs Printful: The Battle of the POD Companies
• Printful vs Redbubble: Which Is Better?
• Printify vs Printful: The Ultimate Print-on-Demand Services Comparison
• Printful vs Teespring: Which One Is the Absolute Best?
• Printful vs Spreadshirt: Which Print on Demand Service is Right for You?

How to Start an Online Store With Printful: My Final Thoughts

Hopefully, my guide to starting an online store with Printful has inspired you to consider print on demand (POD) as an inventory option for your eCommerce store. 

It’s worth remembering that success likely won’t arrive overnight, and lots of work and background research must be done first. 

Don’t be disheartened if sales don’t fall into your lap immediately. It can sometimes take months or longer to secure those sales.

However, the beauty of using a platform like Printful is that it integrates with an impressive list of eCommerce platforms and marketplaces. It also offers a good selection of products to customize and is free to use. Lastly, there’s no inventory for you to store. What’s not to like? 

That's all from me. Are you thinking about getting started with Printful? In the comments below, let me know how you get on, including which eCommerce platform you’re using and why. 

Good luck!