Hey everybody!
In today's video, I'm gonna give you 10 important things
that you need to do before starting a print-on-demand store.
And unfortunately, there are a lot of consequences
if you skip over this 10 point checklist,
and none of them are good.
Some of these can lose you money from advertising campaigns
that was doomed to fail from the start.
Some of them can cause you massive headaches
from customer service issues.
And some of these can, unfortunately,
even result in your advertising campaigns
and your stores getting shut down.
Plus, in this video, I'm also gonna be answering
some of the most common questions that I get asked
about print on demand.
And no, this video is not your usual,
"Oh, don't forget that you've gotta have your designs
"on a transparent background."
Nope, I wanted to go beyond that
and talk about some of the important aspects
of print on demand that is often not talked about.
So some of the things on this list may surprise you.
So with that out of the way,
let's talk about the first one.
One: Only add a maximum
of five color variations to your product.
I'll tell you now, one of my absolute biggest pet peeves
is coming to a print on demand store
a subscriber's submitted to me to review,
and seeing that they have added
10 plus color t-shirt options to their store.
No!!
There are multiple reasons why this is a terrible idea.
Starting with the fact that you know,
it looks absolutely terrible and horrendously ugly
having a million, billion color t-shirt
on a white background in the image gallery.
The second reason is that giving customers
lots of options is usually a bad idea,
because of something called analysis paralysis.
Basically, when a customer sees lots and lots
of different t-shirt colors, they become overwhelmed
and don't know which to choose.
And so, ultimately, choose nothing at all.
And of course, the third reason is that sometimes
certain designs don't even look great in every color.
So when you're choosing between different colors,
something that's really good to keep in mind
is that when it comes to t-shirts,
Amazon Merch have found that darker shades
usually perform better, with black
being their top-selling t-shirt color.
Which is pretty cool to know.
Two: Check your print provider options
before selling internationally.
So, here is a common misconception
that I see a lot of people make.
They think that when they buy a shirt like this
from Printify, that it's Printify that is making it.
But often, this isn't true.
Instead, print on-demand services, like Printify,
often contract out to third party suppliers
and manufacturers.
With Printful, they will automatically choose
which manufacturer will create the item for you
based on what country your customer is located at.
But Printify doesn't let you do this.
Instead, they make you choose.
When you come to a product you want to sell,
be sure to scroll down and check out your different options.
As you can see, each of these providers
has different pricing.
And some offer more color options
for their t-shirts than others.
And they have different production times.
And importantly, some are based in different countries.
So for example, if you were mostly serving Europe,
then usually Textildruck Europa would be the supplier
you'd choose if you didn't need a color variation
that only T-Shirt and Sons creates.
And if you were selling predominantly to the USA,
then obviously you would want to come
and chose between these suppliers.
Most people, they're probably going to want to choose
The Dream Junction, since it has a great color selection,
a fast turnaround time, and it's the cheapest.
Three: Make sure that you have a credit card
or money set aside before you start a store.
So, another common question that I get asked is this:
"Sarah, I've added a pillow I've made
"with Printful to my store.
"If a customer buys it, who pays Printful for the item?
"Me or the customer?"
Good question!
And the answer is that you pay for that pillow,
not your customer.
I'm gonna show you an example of how this different
two transaction thing works,
but I'm gonna use Printify, because of the fact
that when it comes to pillows,
it's way cheaper than Printful.
With Printful, they cost $16.95 for their lowest option
for the standard square throw pillow.
Whereas with Printify, they start at $7.37
with a Printify subscription.
Much better.
So, anyway, moving on, you've gone ahead
and created this coffee pillow with Printify
that you're selling to baristas and cafes.
When a customer comes to your store and buys it
for $14.95, you will receive this $14.95
minus transaction fees, not Printify.
They get none of it.
Instead, what actually happens is Printify will by default
check your store once a day for orders.
When it checks and sees an order, it goes,
"Boom, let's fulfill it," and starts the process.
They will charge the credit card or debit card
that you should have added to your account in advance,
and you need to add this yourself in the settings.
You'll be charged the price of the pillow,
which, again, is $7.37 with a subscription.
They will make sure that the pillowcase is manufactured
and then shipped out to your customer.
And so, no, the payment that is paid to you
is separate from the payment that you make
to the print-on-demand provider.
They are two separate transactions.
And so, it's important to remember
that your Shopify payment will take several days
to arrive in your bank account,
with payouts differing from country to country.
And with PayPal, in the beginning,
it can take up to 21 days to get your money.
So make sure that you've either got a credit card
or some money set aside, so that you can
purchase these items in advance,
to tide you over in the meantime.
Credit cards are usually the best option for this
because you've normally got four to five weeks
to pay back the balance without accruing any interest.
And you will receive your payment well before that happens.
Four: Check if your written phrase is trademarked,
and avoid copyrights.
So there are two other common questions
that I often get asked.
The first is this: "Sarah, how do I know
"if a design is copyrighted before I use it or not?
"SOS, please help."
Okay, so to help me answer this question,
I actually found a t-shirt that features that phrase
that is being sold online.
Here is a t-shirt currently selling on Amazon
featuring this design.
And so, you see it, and you think,
"Huh, that's cool.
"I'd like to sell a t-shirt like this as well.
"But wait! Is it copyrighted?
"How do I check?
"I know that I can do a search for trademarks,
"But how do I do a search for copyrights?
"How do I know that this is copyrighted?"
Well, the answer is that you don't need to check.
Because by default, and law, the moment a piece of artwork
is created, it is, by default, copyrighted.
So yes, we know, without checking anything,
that this t-shirt design is indeed copyrighted.
Whump whump.
But, what you can do is use this design
for inspiration and to make your own version of it.
And so, I went to Canva, and I made my own quick design.
Now, no, this is not the world's best design ever.
Don't judge me.
There is a reason I hire people
to do my graphic designs for me.
But I just wanted to create a quick one as an example,
so that I could show you that absolute, 100% legally,
I can now take this different take on that design
and sell it on a t-shirt.
This t-shirt design here, while featuring the same words,
is visually different.
And that's what's copyrighted: The visual style, the art.
And something that's good to keep in mind
is that small phrases, like the world's best rabbit dad,
cannot be copyrighted.
So yes, even though this design is copyrighted,
as long as you redesign it in your own style,
then that's absolutely fine.
But, while small phrases like world's best rabbit dad
cannot be copyrighted, they can be trademarked.
This leads me to the second question I'm often asked.
"Sarah, how do I know if a phrase is trademarked?"
It's a good question, but, you know,
I've pretty much spoiled the answer already in this video.
Basically, when it comes to trademark phrases,
they are very easy to do a search for.
All right, so you've seen this t-shirt
is selling well on eBay, which it is,
and now you want to make your own version of it too.
How do you know if someone has trademarked the phrase
Freddie says relax?
Well, it's actually quite simple.
Each country has its own trademark search engine.
I'm here at the USA trademark electronic search system.
To check if this phrase is trademarked,
all I need to do is type is Freddie says relax
and do a search, and we do that,
we will find that nope, we get nothing, no result.
This phrase has never been trademarked.
Now let's compare what would happen
if I instead came back and typed in the phrase
let's get ready to rumble!
An extremely famous phrase that most of us will have heard.
If we type that in, take a look.
We see lots of trademarks.
Something to keep in mind though is that,
unlike with copyrights, which most countries have agreed
to protect by default, trademarks must instead be filed
in each and every country.
And so for example, just because something is trademarked
in the USA, doesn't mean that it would also
be trademarked here in New Zealand.
For example, many moons ago, Paris Hilton
famously trademarked the phrase that's hot,
to use on alcohol and clothing merch.
Well, if we go back to the USA trademark search,
we can find that old trademark that's hot.
It's now dead and has now been abandoned,
but we can see that it once used to be active
and had been filed by her.
Whereas if we come to the New Zealand trademark search
and look for that phrase that's hot,
we will not find any trademark at all.
Lots of trademarks featuring the word that's,
but not that's hot.
And so here in New Zealand,
anyone could've used that phrase.
And by the way, if you are enjoying this video
and would like even more free education
on how to start your own print on demand store,
then you should be sure to download our free ebook:
The 6 Steps That 6 Figure Online Stores Use
To Make Over $10,000 a Month.
You'll learn how to utilize print on demand
and drop shipping to build a successful online store.
And you will find a link to download that ebook
in the video description below.
Five: Have lifestyle photos for your products,
not just generic mockups.
Okay, so when you go ahead and you create a product
with a print-on-demand service, you usually get
a picture to help you promote your product, right?
Just one problem.
These simple mockup photos of a product
on a plain white background are terrible
when used for advertising.
Yes, if you want to run ads to sell your products,
then lifestyle images are key.
Well, you know, maybe not this one.
My good friend and print on demand millionaire,
Michael Shih very much believes that the reason why
he was able to make $100,000 with this one design
was because he used this amazing lifestyle image
in his ads, and I agree.
Luckily though, you can replicate Michael's success
by creating your own lifestyle images
without having to order your products in advance
and take your own photos,
thanks to an amazing service called Placeit.
With Placeit, you can take artwork designs
and place them onto lifestyle ads that feature models,
and they don't just have to be t-shirt images.
They have lifestyle photos for print on demand mugs,
and they have lifestyle photos
for different types of tote bags,
and they have lifestyle photos for pillows.
And, would you believe, they've even recently added photos
of hooded blankets, due to popular demand.
Using it is really simple.
Let's say I was selling this t-shirt from Printify.
Well, what I would do is I would come to Placeit
and choose which t-shirt that I wanted.
After you've chosen what color shirt you want,
all you need to do is come and upload that design
or picture that you've added to the t-shirt
that you created with Printify, and let it load.
Once loaded, you can resize it and place it
roughly in the same position as the t-shirt
you made with Printify.
Placeit will now generate a lifestyle for you
that is awesome to use in advertising.
This picture here is absolutely 99.99999% of the time
going to convert infinitely better than the generic product
on white background photo Printify spits out for you.
And here's another important tip
when you are choosing which photos to use with Placeit.
If possible, it's a great idea to find a picture
featuring something related to your design.
On Placeit, you can use the search filters on the left
to look up specif types of photos.
So for this one, I used the pet filter
and searched through the different photos
featuring people with their pet dogs.
By having a corgi featured in my image ad,
well, has a corgi t-shirt,
it is extremely effective and engaging.
Considering that it costs just $14 a month
for a Placeit subscription, I think that either that
or something very similar is an absolute no-brainer
for print-on-demand stores.
And I have a link to how you can get it
in the video description below.
Six: Don't just opt for selling t-shirts.
Now, look, don't get me wrong.
Obviously, t-shirts can make you a lot of money.
Yeah, so they're still good.
But they aren't the only type
of print on demand products out there,
especially if you're selling in your own store.
For example, leggings can sell for massive markups,
because their value is ambiguous.
The reason why they are ambiguous is that,
while you could go to your local mall
and potentially find t-shirts that feature dogs on it,
you are extremely unlikely to find anything similar
when it comes to leggings.
And so when a pug mother sees her beloved on leggings,
she is incredibly unlikely to have ever seen
anything like this before.
It is extremely unique and original.
Pricing is ambiguous.
Now lemme ask you a question.
How much do you think this cool steampunk hat here is worth?
For most of you, you're probably gonna answer,
"Eh, I don't really know."
You don't know because for most of you,
you've never seen anything like this before.
And as scientific studies have shown,
the way that most of us decide how much something is worth
is through price anchoring.
Is by looking at other similar products
and see what they sell for.
And so when you go and advertise the pug mother
this cool hooded blanket is an upsell,
she's likely never seen it before.
And so you have a lot more flexibility
'bout setting your price.
Seven: Check to see if your design
can be printed onto a different product.
This reminds me of how in this video,
Michael and I chatted about repurposing designs.
You see when a customer buys this t-shirt from him,
do you know what other product he offers them to buy?
This!
A mug featuring basically the exact same design.
This is usually the easiest way
to create effective upsells with print on demand,
by taking the same design
and then printing it onto another product.
Unfortunately, not all types of designs
work on all types of products.
This single image design is here.
It looks great on a t-shirt, but it doesn't really work
when it's printed onto leggings, does it?
So something that's good to keep in mind
are that designs that are patterns, like this,
the print really well onto pillowcases,
and onto blankets, and onto leggings,
and even onto tote bags.
Whereas this sort of single image design
may not work so well on leggings,
but it obviously works really well
printed onto t-shirts, or onto hoodies.
Plus they work with mugs as well.
And here's a tip for increasing conversions with upsells.
Place has a new feature where some of their models
feature both a t-shirt and a mug in the same picture.
That way, you can upload either the same design
or a slightly different design for each.
And then use this image when upselling the customer
to say, a mug, after they bought the t-shirt.
You bought the t-shirt, now buy the mug as well.
And by the way, if you have learned something
from this video and you would like to learn even more
about starting your own successful online store,
then you should be sure to subscribe
and click that little notification box
so that you don't miss out on any of our videos.
Eight: Add scarcity, but not to every product.
Scarcity can be a very effective way to get customers
to buy now, at the moment, for fear of missing out.
One of my favorite tactics in a Facebook ad
is to say that you've got a sale on,
but only until stocks last.
And to even add an inventory product bar
to your product listing, showing that stock is low
and that it will sell out soon.
However, this kind of gets ruined if your customer
starts clicking on other items in your store
and sees, hey, all of these items are on sale,
and they all seem to almost be out of stock.
"Huh, this seems a little suspicious.
"Maybe these items, they're not actually on sale at all.
"And maybe the store is just trying to trick me
"into thinking that they are."
So, if you're item has maybe 20 items in it,
consider having about three or four that are on sale
and that have scarcity timers,
and not have every item in your store
almost being out of stock.
The Shopify app that I used to add
the scarcity countdown bar was Sales Pop Master.
The app is free currently, and it's very easy to use.
Most apps like this cost money,
and so I highly recommend checking this one out
if you are on a budget.
Nine: Check to see if your niche is banned on Facebook.
Ya know, just imagine if you've gone to all the trouble
to create a store featuring print on demand rollouts
with erotic images and, unlike Sedita,
did not ask the question, "Is this a good idea?"
I'm really glad that you did ask, Sedita,
because if you had not asked that question,
you would have very quickly discovered
that Facebook's advertising policies
will make it a nightmare for you
if you try and promote your products
without your ads getting shut down
and potentially getting banned.
You would've discovered quickly
that Facebook's advertising policies
will make it a nightmare for you
to try and promote your products
without getting your ads shut down
and potentially getting you banned,
thanks to such broad policies like
activities must not be overly suggestive.
What does that even mean?
I'll tell you what that means.
Facebook has a lot of discretion to shut down
any adult product ads that they do not like.
And so, honestly, this is a niche I'd recommend
that you avoid, Sedita.
Now obviously, Facebook ads
aren't the only way to create products.
But, frankly, they are one of the best ways.
And so, it'd be quite a shame if you went to all this effort
to create this great product and create this great store
and then not be able to advertise your products on there.
So go through Facebook's advertising policies.
Be sure to take a look at what types of niches
and products are outright prohibited,
and what types of niches and products are restricted.
Now, I've certainly sold products on the restricted list.
But it does mean you'll have
a lot more scrutiny from Facebook.
So be sure to read the rules very carefully.
10: Find your most honest friend
or family member to get their feedback.
Look, here is the blunt, harsh truth.
It can be very, very difficult for us to step back
and be objective about the things that we create.
I still remember this one store view I did.
For this print on demand store here, Domainer Swag,
I was absolutely astonished to see that they thought
that selling this t-shirt here,
featuring the ugliest stop sign I have ever seen,
was even remotely acceptable.
But really, I shouldn't have been surprised,
because as I've talked before about on this channel,
most of us suffer from the psychological oddity
of illusionary superiority.
Essentially, the vast majority of people
think that they are above average.
This is why it is very important
to stake out your most honest friend or family member
that has a reputation for not beating around the bush
to give you their true, honest opinion
about whether your products or your store look ugly.
Even if the truth stings a little.
If Domainer Swag had done this,
then they probably could have avoided this disaster.
Thanks for watching this video.
And again, if you would like to learn
even more about starting and launching
your own successful print on demand store,
then you should be sure to download our free ebook,
The 6 Steps That 6 Figure Online Stores Follow
to Make Over $10,000 a Month.
And you'll find a link on how you can download the ebook
in the video description below.
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