Print On Demand Etsy: Ultimate Guide To Sell POD On Etsy

What is Etsy?

Etsy launched in 2005 as a niche platform for connecting and supporting crafters, artists who create and sell their handicrafts, artworks, and personalized goods. With a strong emphasis on one-of-a-kind products, Etsy has grown from a small niche market to one of the most prominent eCommerce platforms. 

According to Wallstreetzen statistics, Etsy has over 90 million active users including 4.7 million sellers in 2021 and is expected to increase 89.9% by the end of Q1 2021 when compared to the same period last year. Sellers shouldn’t overlook this giant cake!

What is print on demand Etsy?

To get started, let’s address the basic information of what print on demand is and how print on demand Etsy works!

Print on demand, usually called POD, is a type of dropshipping model in which the merchant works with the supplier to customize white-label products like t-shirts, mugs, or tumblers and sell them under your brand name as soon as the order has been placed. Meaning that you don’t have to pay any costs to operate the production or hold any inventory that you are not sure if they can be sold or not. You only pay for the product until after the product has been sold.

Usually, POD comes with fulfillment whereas as a merchant, you don’t have to deal with any packing, shipping, or inventory management processes. From printing to packaging and shipping, every stage will be handled by a third party with fulfillment services like Gearment. It sounds easy, doesn’t it? Yes, it is, but only if you find a good POD partner who is able to handle every problem sellers have had like Gearment!

Selling POD products on Etsy, is it accepted?

Even if POD is a great business model, is it allowed on Etsy? The good news is Etsy does allow you to sell print on demand products on its platform. If you are currently operating a POD business on other marketplaces, Etsy with over 250 million organic traffic is a fantastic marketplace to reach a larger audience as well as generate more revenue.

Organic and paid traffic to etsy.com on desktop. Source: semrush.com

Unlike Amazon, Etsy doesn’t assist you with stock management. Sellers will have to handle everything from managing orders and inventories to marketing themselves. You can work with POD fulfillment companies to customize white-label products like t-shirts, mugs, or tumblers and sell them under your brand name as soon as the order has been placed on the Etsy marketplace. POD fulfillment service providers enable your Etsy store to integrate with their platforms. Once someone buys from your Etsy store, that order is sent to your service provider for printing and fulfillment. 

Read more: Top 5 Best Selling Print On Demand Products To Sell

The potential of the print on demand Etsy:

1. Global Etsy market:

Etsy was first established as a very niche market where only specific handmade products were sold. It has developed and become one of the world’s biggest eCommerce platforms! There are around 90 million active customers and 4.7 million sellers creating a huge marketplace where both customers and sellers fall in love with. The number is forecasted to increase more year over year, showing the great potential of Etsy in the future! 

Etsy has been truly the global marketplace since one-third of its sales are international, meaning that you can even expand your businesses globally with Etsy. Not only that, the print on demand Etsy is growing dramatically recently since the POD market becomes more competitive and common in many developed countries. Etsy and POD is a winning combination since Etsy offers sellers a great solution for shop owners who cannot cover all handling and shipping processes to use the third-party services from partners.

2. Vietnamese Etsy market:

Because of the extraordinary development of technology and Vietnamese eCommerce as well as the changes in Vietnamese customers’ shopping habits, business owners and retailers are going outside of the box by starting to invest in pushing business models towards online-based. Choosing an appropriate eCommerce marketplace in Vietnam is such a decisive step for the development of online business. 

Shopee, Lazada, and Tiki are dominant players in the Vietnamese eCommerce industry that  constantly get updated with the new initiatives and changes to not only support online business owners and retailers but also adapt and serve to the continuous changing of customer’s needs. But, when it comes to POD,  Shopee, Lazada or Tiki are not really potential and suitable markets for selling POD. So if you are selling POD, Etsy is one of the best marketplace for you to run a POD eCommerce store and scale up your business globally. 

The market share of POD in Vietnam is not as big as others, but there are many POD Fulfillment companies owning Vietnam-based or US-based warehouses and factories with modern technology manufacturing processes, experienced personnel, and Vietnamese support team..

List of POD suppliers in US

• Gearment Fuflillment
• Printful
• Customcat
• Dreamship

List of POD suppliers in UK

• Teezily
• Moteefe

List of POD supplier in Vietnam

• Merchize
• Lenful
• Printway
• OTB Fulfillment

Why should sellers sell POD on Etsy? 

1. No need to hold inventory:

The costs for inventory, including costs to buy products in bulk, warehousing cost, operation cost and labour costs are huge. POD business model can eliminate all these costs putting some responsibilities off sellers’ plates. Also, print on demand Etsy is a common word in the industry as Etsy supports POD businesses more than enough to build their shops on the platform and the POD market on Etsy is growing tremendously year over year! 

2. Low cost:

Since you don’t have to hold any inventory before you sell any products, there are no inventory costs you need to cover for your eCommerce stores while the money saved can be used for marketing and other important things. This is a much lower risk business model compared to other models. Sellers run their business without worrying about the inventory backlogs. 

3. Easy to set up a store:

Registering an Etsy selling account is easy and only takes a few minutes. Gearment will guide you through the process of creating your own store on Etsy. You just need to follow the guide step by step. A plus point is that it’s free to open a basic shop on Etsy so you don’t need to pay any costs to register a selling account.

4. Huge load of traffic

Etsy is the world’s leading eCommerce platform that attracts up to 90 million active users globally, creating a huge marketplace on the platform. Businesses on Etsy can leverage this huge traffic for their stores. Make sure you do some research and get fully understanding how you can optimize this free giant traffic!

5. M-commerce presence: 

mCommerce sales, also known as mobile commerce sales, are set to reach $3.56 trillion by the end of 2021 and there’s no slowing down. If you want to reach the customer segmentation who made a purchase online using their mobile device, let’s think about selling POD on Etsy marketplace as Etsy has a great mobile app that works efficiently and has been used by many customers worldwide. In 2020, 61% of the company’s gross merchandise sales were generated through mobile devices. Selling POD on Etsy gives you a chance to gain higher sales and profit.

6. Personalize your storefront:

People make snap judgments. It takes only 1/10th of a second to form a first impression about a person. Websites are no different. Your shop home, the virtual storefront of your Etsy business, is often the first impression your brand makes on potential customers. A well-coordinated shop home captures visitors’ attention, inspires buyer confidence, and has the potential to build long-term loyalty.

Like other marketplaces, on Etsy, you can customize your storefront. Etsy allows you to list your products accordingly, brand your eCommerce store, including customize shop homepage, put shop title, logo, tagline and create your own policies.

7. Offer shipping label:

Unlike Amazon, Etsy doesn’t offer fulfillment service, but they made order fulfillment easier and more affordable with tools like shipping labels, calculated shipping, and shipment tracking. One important tip to minimize account suspension on Etsy is to use platform labels from the platform. Shipping labels have the power for sellers to gain more credibility from both customers and Etsy which really comes in handy to eliminate the probability of getting suspension from the platform. Only a few platforms offer this shipping label and Etsy is one of them so don’t forget to leverage this opportunity!

Read more: Tips To Minimize Account Suspension On Etsy, eBay, And Poshmark – Gearment Blogs 

How to start a POD store on Etsy

Step 1: Register for an Etsy account on Etsy.com

1. Go to Etsy.com and go to Sign in. 

2. Fill out the form to register. Use your email address to create an account, or select continue with Google, Continue with Facebook, or Continue with Apple.

3. Check your email inbox for confirmation email from [email protected] and follow the instructions to confirm your account. 

You’ll use this account to run your shop and to buy from other makers on Etsy. After creating your account, add your profile picture and bio to let other people in the Etsy community know who you are.

Step 2: Create your shop

After creating an Etsy account, all you need to do is:

1. Click “Sell on Etsy” at the top right of Etsy.com.

2. Click “Open your Etsy shop”

3. Select your shop language, country, and currency, then click “Save and continue”

4. Choose your shop name, then click “Save and continue”.

5. To complete the setup process, you list at least 1 item. You can upload any related picture from google and can delete it later.

Step 3: Set up your payment and billing details

To get paid on Etsy, you need to connect your bank account to your Etsy shop.

1. Fill out your personal information.

2. At the bottom of the page, select the country where your bank is located under “Where is your bank located?”

3. Enter your bank account details. You’ll also be required to verify this information.

4. Select “Save and continue”.

5. Add a credit or debit card.

Note: Shops based in Germany, Austria, or the Netherlands don’t need to add a credit or debit card

6. Select “Open your shop”.

Congratulations! Your Etsy shop is now live on Etsy.com. You can still add listings and make changes to your shop. Once your shop is open, you can manage your shop on the Sell on Etsy app.

How can Gearment sellers sell POD on Etsy?

Step 1: Have an Etsy store

Seller first open a free seller account on Etsy

Step 2: Connect the store to your Gearment account

Authorize our API’s access to your account

Step 3: Product creation

Create products on the Gearment app with your creative design ideas. You can definitely import products from your Gearment account to your eBay store through excel file.

Step 4: Publish your products

Set your desired selling prices and upload products to start your listing.

Step 5: Yay. Well done!

Now all you need to do is promote your products while our system will automatically fulfill and ship out your orders.

Why should you sell POD on Etsy with Gearment? 

The integration will allow store owners to save time and speed up the fulfillment process. Once the Etsy store and Gearment app are linked successfully, the app will automatically sync and process all orders on its own. Very minimum effort needed to fulfill orders with the integration we provide.

Yes, that’s all about Print on demand Etsy Gearment would love to share with you. Choosing a right platform partner that really fits with you is extremely important before you jump in this big eCommerce pie. POD Etsy is a highly recommended business model that we saw many sellers have been greatly successful as it is more friendly-beginner and has a lot of benefits stated above if compared to other giant platforms such as Amazon! Good luck and make your life a deal from now on!