Over the years, we’ve helped countless companies create and grow their ecommerce ventures. Lately, we’ve seen a growing interest in dropshipping and print on demand business models, that offer creators an easier, low-risk, and low-cost way to start selling online.
Printful is one of our favorite platforms for POD vendors by far, but Amazon Merch on Demand (previously Merch by Amazon) has some unique benefits worth considering too.
Here’s everything you need to know if you’re struggling to make the right choice for your business.
Quick Verdict:
We recommend Printful as the go-to option for print on demand sellers. It gives you a wider range of products to choose from, more options for selling on different channels, and access to convenient design tools you don’t get with Amazon.
Printful vs Amazon Merch on Demand: The Pros and Cons
Printful Pros 👍
- Hundreds of high-quality products in various categories
- Integrations with dozens of ecommerce tools and platforms
- Powerful design tools and customer support
- Excellent print quality and quality assurance
- Global fulfillment network
Printful Cons 👎
- Premium shipping does cost more
- Limited support with handling refunds
Amazon Merch on Demand Pros 👍
- Instant access to a worldwide audience through Amazon
- Prime shipping for more satisfied customers
- Analytical tools to track your success
- Easy to use environment
Amazon Merch on Demand Cons 👎
- Fewer product options
- Less opportunity to make a significant profit
The Features of Printful and Amazon Merch on Demand
Quick Verdict: You’ll find a lot more features on Printful’s platform and apps than on Amazon’s “Merch on Demand” platform, including dedicated design tools.
Both Amazon Merch on Demand and Printful are excellent options for companies looking to sell custom products online, with minimal risk. They both allow you to outsource your product development and fulfillment process to a reputable vendor.
Plus, neither option requires you to purchase any inventory that you need to store and manage yourself. However, the features on both platforms are a little different.
Printful Features
Printful is an all-in-one print on demand platform and partner. It offers retailers access to hundreds of white-label products they can customize to suit their target audience.
Products range from eco-friendly and premium garments, to accessories, home and living options and more.
When you launch your custom product business with Printful, you get:
- White label products: Browse through a library of hundreds of white-labelled and customizable products, organized into a host of categories.
- Printing expertise: Printful can customize your products with a range of techniques, including all-over print, embroidery, DTF, and DTG printing.
- Design tools: Printful’s design maker is one of our favorite tools for creators, with built-in templates, and an easy-to-use backend environment. We also love the mockup generator.
- Integrations: While you can’t sell directly through Printful, you can host your products on a variety of platforms, marketplaces, social channels and more with integrations.
- Resources: Printful offers access to a range of tools such as Etsy calculators, academy videos, and guides, to help you get your business started.
- Merchshare: Printful’s Merchshare service makes it easy to collaborate with a range of different people on design collections.
Amazon Merch on Demand Features
Merch by Amazon, or Amazon Merch on Demand is a little different to Printful. It’s specifically designed to help you sell custom products through the Amazon marketplace.
On the one hand, this means you get instant access to a huge audience, and Prime shipping. On the other hand, it’s harder to expand your business with omnichannel sales.
When you sell through Amazon Merch on Demand, you get:
- White label products: While Amazon doesn’t offer quite as many products as Printful, you can still create a range of hoodies, t-shirts, bags, and other products.
- A seller dashboard: Amazon Merch on Demand vendors get their own seller account, where you can track information and orders, and list products on the Amazon platform.
- Amazon shipping: Probably the biggest benefit of using Merch on Demand in our opinion, is access to prime shipping, so you can send orders to customers the next day.
- Analytics: Your Amazon Merch on Demand dashboard comes with analytical tools, so you can track your best-selling designs and increase revenue.
- Resources: Though Amazon doesn’t have any design tools, it does give you some resources and guides to help improve the quality of your designs.
Products and Design Quality
Quick Verdict: Printful makes it easier to produce high-quality items with design tools, a wider range of product options, and quality assurance methods.
One of the main reasons we’d recommend Printful over Amazon Merch on Demand for print on demand vendors, is that you don’t have as many options for what to sell on Amazon.
With Amazon, there are only a handful of white-label products to choose from, including long-sleeve and short-sleeve tops, t-shirts, tank tops, hoodies, and sweaters.
You can also create a few other items, like phone cases, popsockets, bags, and pillowcases, but there’s really no comparison to what you get from Printful.
Printful has hundreds of different products to choose from, including eco-friendly and premium clothing, t-shirts, polo-shirts, tank tops, and leggings. Other options include:
- Pins, patches and hair accessories
- Sweatpants, joggers and shorts
- Hats (beanies, snapbacks, bucket hats, and more)
- Bags (Toes, duffle, backpacks, etc)
- Footwear (shoes and socks)
- Tech accessories like laptop cases and mousepads
- Wall art, canvases, stationery, and blankets
- Drinkware and coasters
The options are practically endless. Additionally, since Printful gives you more ways to customize your products, with things like embroidery and all-over print, it’s easier to make your products really stand out from the crowd. While Amazon does have a pretty good reputation for selling high-quality products, we think it’s easier to create amazing items with Printful.
Ease of Use: Which Platform is Simpler?
Quick verdict: Both platforms are extremely user friendly, but Printful makes it easier to design your products and create mock-ups.
If you’re looking for simplicity with your print on demand solution, both Amazon and Printful are good choices. If, like us, you’ve used Amazon seller central before, you shouldn’t have any trouble using your Amazon merch on demand account.
You get the same simple back-end environment, and easy-to-navigate dashboard, with reporting tools, resources, and listing pages all located in one place. Plus, Amazon offers plenty of guidance to help you get started with your new account too.
The trouble is you don’t get many tools to actually help you create your products. All you can really do is upload designs to existing products – you can’t create designs on Amazon.
That’s where we think Printful really has an edge. It gives you the design tools and mock-up generators you need to create compelling product pages, and great items.
Plus, it’s extremely easy to start selling your products across multiple platforms, thanks to Printful’s intuitive integrations and API. Printful’s platform, and its apps for things like Shopify are straightforward and convenient, with virtually no learning curve.
Printful vs Amazon Merch on Demand: Pricing and Fees
Quick verdict: Both options are affordable for beginners, but you only earn royalties with Amazon, whereas you have more control over profits with Printful.
If you’re worried about the cost of starting your print on demand business, we have some good news for you. You don’t have to pay anything to use either platform. Usually, if you were starting a seller account with Amazon for dropshipping or selling your own merch, you’d have to pay some fees.
With Amazon Merch on Demand, however, there are no setup or startup fees at all. You don’t even need to pay for the base price of your products, or Amazon Prime shipping.
However, you also don’t get the full income from anything you sell. Instead, you’ll only earn royalties, which vary depending on the product, and where you are in the world.
Printful is also free to use, but you do pay for the price of producing your products and shipping them to customers whenever they’re sold. However, this also means you get to keep all of your profits. We honestly think this is a better option for most growing POD companies.
While you don’t have to pay a monthly subscription fee on Printful, you can consider applying for one of their “memberships”. These come with extra bonuses, for instance:
- Printful Growth: Free for users with more than 12k profits in 12 months, or $24.99 per month: 20% off DTG products, 30% off other product categories, branding discounts of up to 7%, product transfer assistance, and more.
- Printful Business: Only available to sellers with $60k in sales in the last 12 months: Up to 22% off DTG products, 33% off other product categories, 25% off sample orders, 9% off branding services, free embroidery digitization, priority support and more.
The Customer Support for Both Platforms
Quick verdict: Printful offers more customer service options, and more resources for beginners than Amazon Merch on Demand.
Though both Amazon Merch on Demand and Printful are ideal for beginners in the POD world, we know how important access to the right support can be. Unfortunately, there’s a big difference between the support you get from Amazon, and Printful.
Amazon only offers support to it’s “merch vendors” through email, although you can attempt to get in touch through the standard live chat option with your Amazon account.
The self-help resources are also pretty basic. You just get some standard FAQs and simple guides.
Printful, on the other hand, lets you reach out to their team through live chat, email, or phone. Plus, they have amazing self-help resources.
There’s a Printful academy for guides and videos, blog posts, downloadable resources, FAQs, and more.
Further reading 📚
Top Alternatives to Printful and Amazon Merch on Demand
Printful is one of our top choices for print on demand, but if neither Amazon or Printful appeal to you, there are a few great alternatives worth checking out:
Printify
Printful is very similar to Printful in a lot of ways. It offers a wide range of products to choose from, has great design tools, and integrates with a range of online sales channels. However, instead of producing products in-house, Printful partners with manufacturers around the world to create and ship your products.
Gelato
Another world-leading print on demand company, Gelato is one of the most reliable and trustworthy vendors around. It has production facilities in more than 32 countries, to ensure you can reach your customers quickly. Plus, it’s great for eco-conscious brands, with access to environmentally-friendly fabrics and inks.
Redbubble
If you don’t want to build a website or sell on a platform like Amazon, Redbubble is a great alternative. Like Amazon Merch on Demand, it allows you to sell products on an existing marketplace platform, without creating them yourself. However, you also get limited options for branding and differentiation.
Further reading 📚
Printful vs Amazon Merch on Demand: Final Verdict
Ultimately, Printful is our number one choice for POD vendors, but there are benefits to Amazon too, such as access to Prime shipping, and a massive worldwide audience. If you’re still not sure which option to pick – remember, you can always use both.
When to use Printful
We recommend Printful for:
- Companies that want to sell a wide range of high-quality products
- Access to excellent design and mock-up tools
- Omnichannel selling through a host of integrations
- Exceptional product quality and branding options
- Great customer service and ease of use
When to use Amazon Merch on Demand
We’d recommend Amazon Merch on Demand for:
- Companies looking to sell on a well-established marketplace
- Excellent next-day and fast-paced shipping
- High-quality products (though fewer options)
- People without enough budget to launch their own store
FAQ
Selling with Printful is definitely worthwhile. The platform gives you an easy way to access and customize a huge selection of products. Plus, you can easily integrate Printful with all of the sales channels you want to use – including Amazon.
Selling with Amazon merch on demand can be profitable, but only if you choose the right products, and promote your company enough. Remember, there’s a lot of competition, and you don’t earn the full income from your products, just a royalty.
Yes, with a caveat. Merch by Amazon allows you to outsource product development and fulfillment to Amazon. You don’t need any inventory, and Amazon does most of the work for you. However, you don’t get the same flexibility you’d get from other print on demand platforms.
People can make money with Amazon Merch on demand. You’ll earn a royalty on every product you sell, based on the product’s purchase price, and other costs. However, how much you actually earn will be dependent on your own marketing strategy, and ability to create great designs.
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