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An In-Depth Review of Printify

Printify

Printify is a powerhouse in the print-on-demand industry, offering a vast array of over 250 products in their catalog. With years of e-commerce experience under their belt, they provide an extensive range of creative and diverse options for any online store integrating with their services.

When you’re setting up your first products for a print-on-demand store, it’s crucial to know where you’ll source them from, and Printify is an excellent choice.

Strengths of Printify

1. Unparalleled Product Selection

Printify excels in offering exciting and unconventional products that you wouldn’t typically expect from a print-on-demand service. While every print-on-demand integration offers shirts and hoodies, Printify goes above and beyond, featuring tumblers, flip-flops, fanny packs, pet beds, Christmas stockings, area rugs, and more.

This expansive product selection is made possible because Printify is a conglomerate of multiple print-on-demand warehouses rather than a single service. This network of print houses enables Printify to offer any item that at least one of its warehouses can print.

Additionally, Printify occasionally introduces limited-edition products or special item collections, such as the ‘Eco-Friendly’ range, providing a great way to discover new options for your store.

Printify’s product selection is undoubtedly one of its biggest strengths, making it a valuable resource for any store exploring print-on-demand, as it offers options you’re unlikely to find elsewhere.

2. User-Friendly Product Editor

Printify’s product editor is a game-changer. It provides you with all the necessary data about the image you’re working on, including the exact measurements of your design. This feature makes it infinitely easier to make small adjustments, eliminating the need to drag elements around and hope for the correct positioning.

Moreover, if you’re a Photoshop user, Printify offers a convenient download button that allows you to directly download the design template PSD to your computer, work on it within a dedicated graphics editor, and then upload it back to Printify.

While there are some minor imperfections, such as the guesswork involved with 3D designs and the lack of Printful’s ‘pattern’ feature for repeating small designs across a product, these are minor complaints compared to the overall quality of life that the Printify designer offers.

Like most print-on-demand services, you can freely explore the editor and familiarize yourself with mapping designs to products before making any orders.

3. Competitive Pricing

Printify’s pricing is impressively low, making you wonder how some of their print houses make a profit. Many of the products they offer come at remarkably low prices, reflecting thin margins for the printers.

However, as a business owner, you’re more concerned about your bottom line, and Printify delivers in this regard. For instance, the popular Bella Canvas 3001 shirt can be sourced from Printify for $12.47, including shipping, while the same product on Printify’s biggest competitor, Printful, costs $16.94.

While there may occasionally be a touch of «you get what you pay for» when it comes to different warehouses offering varying prices, historically, there hasn’t been a significant connection between the price at a warehouse and the quality they provide.

It’s also worth noting that you can choose from each of Printify’s 90+ print suppliers on a per-product basis, allowing you to shop for the best deal. Keep in mind that shipping costs vary by supplier, so it’s not always obvious which printer offers the best value.

4. Printify Premium

While no one is a fan of monthly subscriptions, Printify Premium is worth considering. The standard (free) tier of Printify isn’t a watered-down version; it has everything you need to source print-on-demand products, with no limits on image resolution, product availability, or product designer features.

Printify Premium is a monthly subscription that saves you up to 20% on printing costs for $29.00 per month. If you’re a high-volume seller, this can be a significant advantage.

You can get an idea of how much you could potentially save by checking out Printify’s product catalog, which displays the discount amount for all items.

The Positives

1. Integrations

Printify offers direct integration with six platforms, surpassing the standard offerings of many print-on-demand (PoD) companies. Among these integrated platforms are industry giants like Shopify and Wix, providing seamless access to a broad e-commerce market. However, it’s worth noting that some notable platforms, such as Squarespace, are absent from Printify’s integration roster.

This limitation is partially mitigated by the fact that Printify offers API integration, allowing you to plug it into virtually any platform, as long as you have the technical know-how.

However, the reality is that anyone running a shop on a novice-friendly website builder like Squarespace is unlikely to bother with the API integration. The public API is primarily intended for self-managed online stores or third-party plugin developers, but a first-party solution is always preferred.

If you’re using one of the six platforms they integrate with, the integration process is quick and easy, with no glaring issues.

2. Order Management

Printify operates with minimal intervention once an order is placed, ensuring seamless business operations. Production commences immediately after a customer’s purchase, ensuring timely fulfillment.

However, Printify’s order management is slightly hindered by the absence of a mobile app. Unlike competitors like Printful, which offers a mobile app, Printify lacks this convenience, making it less convenient for entrepreneurs to manage orders while on the move. Introducing a mobile app would greatly enhance the user experience and streamline order management for Printify customers.

It’s worth noting that Printify doesn’t offer storefronts as part of its system, so the store management is focused on handling the products once they’ve been ordered. For order details that aren’t related to the printing side of things, you’ll typically use your store’s management system (e.g., Shopify, BigCommerce, Wix, etc.).

3. Mockups

The mockups provided by Printify are of excellent quality, often closely resembling the actual product you receive. However, there is a limited range of options available, which can restrict the variety of mockups you can choose from.

Like most mockup generators that come as part of print-on-demand platforms, the mockups tend to look bland and generic. While they may be suitable for product pages, they probably won’t suffice for marketing purposes. For better marketing visuals, consider premium mockup generators, PSD templates, or, even better, order samples and hire a photographer.

The Drawbacks

Print Consistency

We must discuss the issue of print quality, particularly recognizing that the quality varies among Printify’s 90+ partnered print warehouses.

It’s highly recommended to buy and test a sample from the specific warehouse before selling at volume. While the same product ordered from the same warehouse tends to have consistent quality, the fact that there’s always a gamble is a significant negative.

Printify Verdict

Printify is a reliable option for stores seeking a diverse range of products. Many of their «off the wall» items are way more appealing to showcase in advertisements than a plain T-shirt. Even if you’re already integrated with a different print-on-demand service, it’s highly suggested to add Printify to your e-commerce store just to have access to those extra options.

Additionally, Printify offers the lowest prices in the market and comes with a stellar product editor. The service boasts numerous advantages outweighing its drawbacks.

Nevertheless, as previously noted, the issue of print consistency underscores the importance of ordering a product sample before featuring it in your store. This significantly raises the buy-in cost for Printify, and beyond that, some may feel more comfortable working with a service that guarantees high quality 100% of the time.

So, who should use Printify?

Printify is excellent. Its low product cost positions it as one of the most profitable platforms available. This becomes especially valuable at high sales volumes. As long as you test samples beforehand, quality issues should be minimal.