Printify in 2026: What Every New Print on Demand Seller Needs to Know

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So, you’re thinking about jumping into the print-on-demand (POD) game?

Great choice—POD is booming, and there’s still plenty of money to be made when you build a shop on Etsy, Amazon, and/or Shopify.

When I first started, I definitely made a few whopper mistakes.

Lucky for you, I’m here to share what I’ve learned so you can skip the beginner headaches and jump straight to making sales. Let’s talk Printify and break down everything you should know before you start selling—including how much it really costs, the best print providers, the most profitable products, and a few insider tips to maximize your earnings.

Ready? Let’s dive in!

A woman and a man model t-shirts with print on demand designs. Above them, text reads: Printify 101: What you need to know to start your print on demand business. Geometric patterned background.

What is exactly is Printify and how does it work?

Printify is a print-on-demand (POD) platform that lets you create and sell custom products without handling inventory, production, or shipping. Here’s how it works:

Choose a Product – Printify offers 1,000+ customizable products like t-shirts, mugs, and hoodies.
Add Your Design – Use Printify’s Mockup Generator to upload and preview your design.
Connect Printify to Your Online Store – Printify easily syncs up with Etsy, Shopify or other marketplaces to list your products.
Sell & Printify Handles the Rest – When a customer places an order on Etsy, for example, it goes directly to Printify. One of Printify’s partner printers make and ship the product directly to your customer.

With no upfront costs and no inventory needed, Printify makes it easy to start and scale a print-on-demand business.

Your Designs + Printify + Etsy = Print on Demand Business

Printify vs. Printful: What’s the Story?

If you’ve done any research on print on demand, you’ve probably seen the Printify vs. Printful debate. There are two of the biggest product suppliers in the POD industry. Here’s what you need to know for 2026:

🔥 Big News: Printify and Printful have merged! They are still going to remain two separate websites, but we are hoping that POD sellers will soon get the best of both platforms—Printify’s affordable pricing and massive catalog combined with Printful’s premium-quality printing and fulfillment (and awesome custom embroidery options).

Right now, Printify is still the better option for Etsy sellers because of:

Lower base costs (higher profit margins)
More print providers = More options
Faster shipping choices

If you’re new to POD, Printify mostly likely is the smarter pick for your business —but keep an eye out for updates as these two giants join forces.

How Much Does It Really Cost to Start Selling on Printify and Etsy?

Printify is free to use (unless you upgrade to premium), but there are some expenses you need to be be aware of…

Paying for Orders Upfront

Every time you make a sale on Etsy, Printify needs to charge you for the base cost of the item and shipping. Because Etsy doesn’t pay you right away for your sale, you need some cash on hand – or a credit card – to cover those print orders before your profits hit.

Pro Tip: Have at least $200-$500 set aside for those first few sales to avoid the dreaded “Oops, I can’t afford to fulfill my own orders” moment.

Etsy Fees

In addition to the cost of printing and shipping, Etsy has a few fees as well. Here’s what to expect:

$0.20 per product listing
6.5% transaction fee
3-5% payment processing fee

Marketing, Research and Mockup Tools

There are some other optional expenses involved that you should highly consider:

Design Tools – You need at least one tool to create your art design for your products. There are several free options out there, but if you want to scale your business, you’ll probably need to invest in a tool like Kittl, CanvaPro, Ideogram, Mystic, etc.

Etsy Keyword Research Tools (SEO) – Like Sale Samurai, eRank or Everbee

Running ads on Facebook or Pinterest to drive people to your Etsy store

Mockup tools for your products so they really stand out on Etsy. (We’ll talk a bit more about this below.)

BOTTOM LINE: You don’t need thousands to start, but having a few hundred dollars on hand keeps things smooth and stress-free.

How to Price Your Products (So You Actually Make Money)

Two people are standing and laughing, holding drinks. One wears a shirt with bananas and Banana Bonanza, the other wears a shirt with MOOD. Text beside them shows a profit calculator for monthly earnings with inputs for selling price and daily sales. — *_{Source: Printify.com}*

Printify has a nice profit calculator you can use to help you decide how to price each product you’re selling. Please remember that this profit calculator only inlucludes Printify costs and not any fees you’ll pay to your marketplace, like Etsy.

Quick Example:

A sweatshirt costs $21 to print and $4 to ship (total $25). You sell it for $55 on Etsy.

The Printify calculator will tell you that your profit is $30, but you need to do a bit more number crunching to add in the Etsy (or other marketplace) fees.

After Etsy fees, you are usually going to keep about 50% to 65% of the profit listed on the Printify calculator. So in this example, you would keep about $15 to $20 for the sweatshirt sale.

The Best Manufacturers on Printify

Printify works with hundreds of product manufacturers, so newbies may find it a bit overwhelming when trying to choose the best one for their product. Here are a few that I really like for apparel:

SwiftPod – Fast, reliable, solid print quality
Monster Digital – Great for t-shirts and sweatshirts
Awkward Styles – Good pricing and customer satisfaction reviews

In 2025, Printify introduced the “Printify Choice” feature. It picks the best provider for you based on price, quality, and speed – at the time someone places an order.

Personally, If you’re a newbie and don’t want to overthink it, use Printify Choice and move on with your life. If you are selling t-shirts and sweatshirts and really love the service you receive (including fast shipping) from Swiftpod or Monster, then skip Printify Choice and just select your preferred vendor when you are creating your new product listing.

What Are the Best-Selling Printify Products?

If you’re overwhelmed by Printify’s massive catalog, here’s a cheat sheet of what I’ve found sells well on Etsy and gets good feedback from the customers:

Best T-Shirt: It’s a coin toss, but the top two choices are:
- Bella + Canvas 3001 – Super soft and reasonable pricing
- Comfort Colors 1717 – A thicker, eco-friendly tee
Best (more affordable t-shirt): Gildan 64000 – 100% ring-spun cotton fabric. It’s super soft and breathable.
Best Sweatshirt: Gildan 18000 – Cozy, affordable, and a customer favorite
Best Mug: Generic 11oz or 15oz white ceramic mug – Simple and profitable
Candles – Basic Scented Soy Candle is great

Check Printify’s Bestseller List to see what’s trending and see what people are already buying.

Give Printify a Try >

The Colors That Sell the Best

Offering too many color choices can really impact your sales. I’m not sure if you’ve ever done this, but if you have too many choices available, you get overwhelmed and decide wait before buying something. We want to make things as easy as possible for the buyers, so only offering 1 to 4 colors for each sweatshirt, for example, is usually best.

Now your next questions probraby is which colors should I pick? The best-selling colors typically are:

Black
White
Sand
Navy
Sport Gray

Depending on your designs, the red and pink may not look great, but blue and green are perfect. No matter what, limiting options to 1 to 4 colors for each of your listings will help your customers avoid decision fatigue and just order one (or two!).

INTERESTING NUGGET: Printify recently shared a surprise top trend for 2026:

“Single-color option reigns supreme among print-on-demand products. Items with just one color choice are the stars of the show in both apparel and non-apparel categories.”

Definitely a surprise to me, but I’m going to be putting this to the test this year.

Printify’s Default Mockups Are a Wee Bit Boring. Fix That.

Your first thumbnail image makes or breaks your sales on Etsy. While Printify offers some nice simple mockups of your product, you also need to create a few more.

If you have Everbee, you’ll be able to see what the top selling products are in your niche – and what mockups they are using! You’ll quickly start noticing which mockups are performing the best and usually they are sold as digital downloads on Etsy. A few popular Etsy brands include:

There are also subscriptions you can use that offer a library of mockups:

Placeit – Huge library of professional mockups
MyDesigns.io – Really nice mockups and offers the ability to bulk upload dozens of Etsy listings at once. It also connects directly to your Printify account.
ReWarx Studio

Your first thumbnail is your ad. Make it stand out. Here’s an example:

A smiling girl wears a white T-shirt with the text IN MY BUNNY ERA! surrounded by colorful flowers and bunnies. Next to her is a display of similar T-shirts, including white and pink variations, laid out in a row.

Printify will give you a basic t-shirt mockup like the pink ones on the bottom. I still use these pictures in my Etsy store, but the main Esty picture for your listing needs to be one that’s going to “pop” a bit more when people are scrolling through hundreds of images.

Final Thoughts: Is Print on Demand Worth It?

Absolutely! But you do need to keep a few important things in mind…

Have at least $200-$500 ready for upfront costs (i.e. Etsy shop set up, mockups, upfront printer fees, etc)
Price your products high enough to actually make money
Pick reliable print providers (we love Monster Digital and SwiftPOD for t-shirt and sweatshirt printing on Printify)
Offer a limited number of color options to avoid buyer decision fatigue (4 to 6 colors)
Invest in or create better mockups to increase clicks and sales

Printify is one of the best ways to start a profitable online business without dealing with inventory, shipping, or upfront costs. But the right strategy makes all the difference.

Get Started on Printify >